Say NO to depression with Mediterranean diet

For those with depression, counseling about healthier foods — along with increased consumption of Mediterranean-type foods — may help relieve symptoms, a new study suggests.

Though the study is small, it did have striking results: Those who got dietary counseling were five times as likely to recover compared to those who got social support, according to the report published this week in BMC Medicine.
The Australian researchers suspect that the healthier diet might work by lowering inflammation all over the body and by protecting brain proteins that may help defend against depression.

“If we don’t eat enough nutrient-dense foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, this can lead to insufficiencies in nutrients, antioxidants and fiber and this has a detrimental impact on our immune system,” said the study’s lead author, Felice Jacka, a professor of nutritional and epidemiological psychiatry and director of the Food and Mood Center at Deakin University in Australia.