The Happiness Effect

Increased satisfaction with life is a little-known benefit of eating more fruits and vegetables

- Melissa Diane Smith

Q: My mood hasn’t been good for quite a while, and I’d like to start the new year on a brighter note. I’m wondering: Is it possible to change my diet so that I become a happier person? —Veronica W., Portland, Ore.

A: Research certainly suggests it’s possible. And the mood-boosting nutritional habit to adopt is one you probably never considered before.

We’ve all heard that we should eat our fruits and vegetables because they’re “good for us.” Studies have long shown that the risks of cancer and heart attacks are greatly reduced by a regular intake of these foods. Now science has found another reason to consume more fruits and vegetables: Eating enough of them boosts happiness and could make us happier people.

Satisfaction-Boosting Results

In a study published last year in the American Journal of Public Health, researchers asked more than 12,000 people about how many fruits and vegetables they typically ate—once in 2007, and again in 2009. The subjects also rated their overall life satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 10 during both of those surveys.

Researchers looked at how each person’s fruit and vegetable consumption and happiness changed over those two years, and found that with each extra serving of fruits and vegetables people ate, the happier—or more satisfied with life—they felt.