| 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. |