Is Psychological Well-being Linked to the Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables?

David Blanchflower, Andrew Oswald and Sarah Stewart-Brown

No 18469, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Humans run on a fuel called food. Yet economists and other social scientists rarely study what people eat. We provide simple evidence consistent with the existence of a link between the consumption of fruit and vegetables and high well-being. In cross-sectional data, happiness and mental health rise in an approximately dose-response way with the number of daily portions of fruit and vegetables. The pattern is remarkably robust to adjustment for a large number of other demographic, social and economic variables. Well-being peaks at approximately 7 portions per day. We document this relationship in three data sets, covering approximately 80,000 randomly selected British individuals, and for seven measures of well-being (life satisfaction, WEMWBS mental well-being, GHQ mental disorders, self-reported health, happiness, nervousness, and feeling low). Reverse causality and problems of confounding remain possible. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of our analysis, how government policy-makers might wish to react to it, and what kinds of further research -- especially randomized trials -- would be valuable.

JEL-codes: I1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hap, nep-hea and nep-ltv
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Published as David Blanchflower & Andrew Oswald & Sarah Stewart-Brown, 2013. "Is Psychological Well-Being Linked to the Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 785-801, December.

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Journal Article: Is Psychological Well-Being Linked to the Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables? (2013)
Working Paper: Is Psychological Well-being Linked to the Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables? (2012)
Working Paper: Is Psychological Well-being Linked to the Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables? (2012)
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