Walnuts And Depression

1 min

Here are more positive findings about the connection between food and mood. This news comes from the University of California, Los Angeles where researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine found that eating a quarter cup of walnuts daily was linked to a lower likelihood of depression. The investigators reported that more than 26,000 American adults responded to a questionnaire about what they had eaten over the course of two days as well as how often they experienced symptoms of depression, such as trouble sleeping or sleeping too much, losing interest in doing things, feeling tired, having little energy and difficulty concentrating. When the researchers analyzed the responses, they found that depression scores were 26 percent lower among those who reported eating walnuts and eight percent lower among those who ate other nuts compared to people who didn’t report eating nuts. The team wrote that these findings were particularly true of women, who are more likely than men to report depression. Overall, the study found that participants who ate walnuts were more likely to have greater interest in activities, higher energy levels, less hopelessness, better concentration and greater optimism. The study was financed by the California Walnut Commission but independently conducted by the UCLA researchers.

Source:
Lenore Arab et al, “Lower Depression Scores among Walnut Consumers in NHANES,” Nutrients, January 26, 2019, doi/10.3390/nu11020275

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