Switching to a 10-day Mediterranean-style diet improves mood and cardiovascular function in a controlled crossover study

Lee et al. (2015) explored changes in mood and cognitive and cardiovascular function in response to a 10-day Mediterranean-style dietary intervention. The foods associated with countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea include legumes, olive oil, and fish, and are linked to a reduced risk of developing depression. This crossover study randomly divided 24 women into two groups differing in diet: one was given a Mediterranean diet for 10 days and the other remained on their regular diet for the same length of time, before the diets of both groups were switched to those of the other group for another 10 days. In this study the Mediterranean diet was found to be a mood enhancer (raised contentment and alertness) and improve memory recall and cardiovascular features. These findings were not affected by the order in which diets were adopted, and shows promise for treating mood disorders long-term. [NPID: mood, cognition, mediterranean diet, depression, contentment, alertness, memory, cardiovascular function, well-being]

Year: 2015

Reference: Lee, J., Pase, M., Pipingas, A., Raubenheimer, J., Thurgood, M., Villalon, L., Macpherson, H., Gibbs, A., & Scholey, A. (2015). Switching to a 10-day Mediterranean-style diet improves mood and cardiovascular function in a controlled crossover study. Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif.), 31(5), 647–652. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2014.10.008

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