Diet Key Factor in Teenager Mental Health

The quality of diet is related to mental health in teenagers.
Consumption of lots of fruit and veg can keep mental health problems at bay among teenagers, so says recent Australian research.
The study of 3,000 young people aged 11 to 18 discovered that those who sticking to poor diets high in processed and junk foods are more susceptible to suffer mental health problems like anxiety and depression.
The study was undertaken by Felic Jack from Deakin University’s Barwon Psychiatric Research Unit in Victoria and it is the forerunner in highlighting the association between quality of diet and mental health disorder in adolescents.
In 2005 and 2007 the participants answered questions about their diets and psychological symptoms.
The study found that teenagers who ate healthy diets had fewer mental health problems than those with poor diets.
The study also found that improvements in diet quality were mirrored by improvements in mental health, while poorer diet quality was related to poorer psychological functioning.
Jack said the finding suggested it could be possible to stop some mental health problems developing in adolescents by ensuring they ate healthy diets.
Young people having proper good nutrition is key for adolescents as it is when they are growing quickly and it is a very important time for adequate nutrition .
Research highlights that a fifth of Australian adolescents have some kind of mental health problem, due to genetic and environmental factors like stressful events when very young.
Parents can help protect their kids by serving and ensuring they eat two servings of fruit and five servings of veg a day, avoiding junk foods and sticking to wholegrain foods and lean meats.