Evolution in well-being and happiness after increases in consumption of fruit and vegetables

OBJECTIVES To explore whether improvements in psychological well-being occur after increases in fruit and vegetable consumption. METHODS Longitudinal food diaries were examined on 12,000 randomly-sampled Australian adults over 2007, 2009, and 2013. The study estimated fixed-effects regression equations on individuals’ happiness and life satisfaction. It adjusted for a large set of other influences, including people’s changing incomes and personal circumstances. Prospective analysis, Granger-causality tests, and instrumental-variable estimation were also done. RESULTS Increases in fruit and vegetable intake were predictive of increases in happiness and life satisfaction. Well-being improvements were of up to 0.24 life-satisfaction points (for an increase of 8 portions a day), which is equal in size to the psychological gain of moving from unemployment to employment. Improvements occurred within 24 months. CONCLUSIONS People’s motivation to eat healthy food is weakened by the fact that physical-health benefits accrue decades later. This study offers a new possibility. Public-health policy could emphasize immediate well-being improvement from healthy eating. POLICY IMPLICATIONS Citizens could be shown longitudinal evidence that ‘happiness’ gains from healthy eating can occur quickly and many years before enhanced physical health