Study: Mediterranean diet may prevent depression
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Already recommended for reducing the risk of developing heart disease and cancer, a Mediterranean diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish can also help reduce depression, according to a new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Researchers from the University of Navarra in Spain and the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, analyzed the eating habits of 10,094 healthy Spanish volunteers. After clinical follow-up at 4.4 years, individuals who followed the Mediterranean diet most closely had a greater than 30 percent reduction in the risk of depression than those who had the lowest Mediterranean diet scores.
Researchers calculated the study participants’ adherence to the Mediterranean diet based on nine components (high ratio of monounsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids; moderate intake of alcohol and dairy products; low intake of meat; and high intake of legumes, fruit and nuts, cereals, vegetables and fish).
Adherence to the Mediterranean diet is thought to reduce inflammatory, vascular, and metabolic processes that may be involved in the risk of clinical depression, according to the researchers. "The specific mechanisms by which a better adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern could help to prevent the occurrence of depression are not well known," they wrote. The Instituto de Salud Carlos III funded the study.
Source:
Almudena Sanchez-Villegas; Miguel Delgado-Rodriguez; Alvaro Alonso; Javier Schlatter; Francisca Lahortiga; Lluis Serra Majem; Miguel Angel Martinez-Gonzalez Association of the Mediterranean Dietary Pattern With the Incidence of Depression: The Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra/University of Navarra Follow-up (SUN) Cohort Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009;66(10):1090-1098.
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The South of France has an abundance of seafood and fish of course, and dishes like bouillabaisse are staples. They also eat a lot of garlic, which is where the "garlic-eaters" tag for the French comes from.
That said, I would be a little dubious of any claims to the effect that the South of France has a moderate alcohol intake lol! On the contrary, my extensive knowledge of the area (I lived there for six years) leads me to believe that they love to party down there, the weather is good, the people have the reputation of being fun, expansive and voluble, and many people still drink extended aperitifs, a practice which is on decline in the rest of France.
:)
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