Eating tomatoes twice a week increases your wellbeing makes you happier and prevents depression.
A new study published in the journal of affective disorders this year by a group of researchers from china and Japan revealed that eating tomatoes may not be a cure for depression but it can help lowering the chances of falling into depression.
The team analysed the behaviour of around 1000 elderly people, all over the age of 70 before coming to this conclusion.
This age group was chosen in consideration of the fact that because of older people’s lifestyle and condition they are known to be prone to fall into depression, (loneliness, isolation, general wellbeing, etc). 34.9% of the participants in fact had either mild or severe depressive symptoms.
These people were observed for a period of time during which the researchers were able to check their daily diet and mental wellbeing.
The research concluded that those who eat tomatoes two to six time a week were 46% less likely to fall into depression than those who did not eat tomatoes. Moreover it is noteworthy to record that other fruits and vegetables were also evaluated but did not have any effect on their general well being.
Furthermore researchers found that participants who eat tomatoes everyday reduced the risk of falling into depression by 52%. The research came about and developed from the assumption that lack of anti-oxidants and depressive symptoms were known to be linked to each other. Tomatoes are known to be rich in anti-oxidants. Lycopene is known to be one of the most powerful anti-oxidants and tomatoes contain a lot of it. Lycopene has also been hailed by many researchers for its anti-cancer potential (manly prostate and heart).
This is great news to the 14 millions of Americans who suffer from this disease. Nevertheless it should be also noted that tomatoes alone do not offer neither cure nor a substitute to the traditional medical treatment or expert advise. These new findings may be useful, tomatoes may be consumed to control certain stressful situations such as post partum depression or if we know that we are going through a difficult period we can consume tomatoes more often.