We Can't Say We're Surprised: Mediterranean
Diet is Linked to Lower Rates of Depression

'People whose diets were more strongly associated with the Mediterranean diet were less likely to be diagnosed with depression during the four and a half years they were followed up. They had about one third of the risk of those who ate a diet least like the Mediterranean diet. The researchers say that how much fruit, nuts, and legumes (such as lentils and beans), as well as the types of fats or oils they ate, were strongly linked to a lower risk of depression. They think that the fatty acids found in olive oil may be one factor in lower rates of depression, although they conclude that the overall effect of the diet may be more important than singling out individual foods.'
--from a recent article in The Guardian, part of a series published in conjunction with the British Medical Journal. This is especially worthy of attention for Northeast Ohioans, since our unusually overcast weather--especially the long, pewter-colored gray skies of endless winter--lead to what I think of as a generalized form of low-grade regional depression. The psychiatric community has a name for this--Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. You can review the American Psychiatric Association's suggestions for counteracting SAD here.