A Healthy Diet Can Alleviate Depression In Young Adults

It's no secret that eating a healthy diet is essential for being healthy physically, but what about mentally? A new study says that eating a healthy balanced diet can actually help improve depression symptoms for those entering their 20s.

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The study, found in the journal "PLOS One", analyzed subjects, with an average age of 19 years old, over a three week period. They were told to reduce their intake of sugar, fatty meats, carbohydrates, processed meats, and soda. Their diet also had to include five servings of vegetables, two to three servings of fruit, and three servings of grains and protein.

In the end, Heather Francis, neuropsychologist and lead author of the study, says subjects who ate the healthier diet showed improvements over those who continued to eat poorly. She says depression risks are linked to high-processed foods.

"Simply cutting down processed food intake and increasing fruit, vegetable(s) and fish resulted in improvements in depression symptoms," says Francis.

The results also indicate that those participants who continued their healthy diet past the three weeks of the study maintained their positive attitudes. Turns out an apple a day keeps the doctor away for both your physical and your mental health!