New study finds Mediterranean diet to reduce risk of depression

The Mediterranean diet is surely one of the best choice for maintaining physical health and improving body metabolism. Some of the new reports have claimed that the popular diet style is not just good for the body but is also good for the brain. The new study has been published at the Nature journal Molecular Psychiatry which has found that a Mediterranean diet also reduces the risk of depression, to quite an extent.

The research was conducted by the team from University College London, which looked back to 40 earlier studies and analyzed the connection between the diet and the risk of depression. Various methods were used for analyzing what people ate. Some people used the DASH diet score while others followed the Dietary Inflammatory Index. Four of the studies concentrated specifically on the consumption of the Mediterranean diet and depression risk over the years.

The team working on the research also made sure that they considered all the aspects including smoking, age, sex, physical activity level, body size, income and overall health. When everything was considered, strong links were noticed between eating healthy, Mediterranean diet and reducing depression risk. Study author, Camille Lassale in The Conversations aid, “We found that people with a more Mediterranean-like diet had a 33 percent lower risk of developing depression than people whose diet least resembled a Mediterranean diet”. The figures have also compared people who stuck close to the Mediterranean diet than those who ate it less frequently. Studies were compared that looked in to specifically at the inflammatory components like sugar and saturated fats.

It was noticed that people who ate the least inflammatory diets were at 24% less risk of depression. Moreover, the healthy Omega 3s that are found in fatty fish can also help in permeability of brain cells. It specifically works in the hippocampus that is known to be affected in depression.

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