A powerful mood booster could be sitting in your fruit bowl. And adding this furry food into your diet could improve your vitality and mental well-being in as little as four days.
When we think of vitamin C, we tend to think of oranges and citrus fruit. But another fruit contains almost twice as much vitamin C as an orange per serving: kiwifruit.
In a recent study, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, researchers from New Zealand examined how eating kiwis can influence our mood. Within just four days of eating two kiwis a day, the participants began to see improvements in mood, self-esteem, optimism and purpose, peaking after two weeks.
"It's great for people to know that small changes in their diet, like adding kiwifruit, could make a difference in how they feel every day," co-author Tamlin Conner, a professor in psychology at the University of Otago in New Zealand, said in a statement.
The researchers believe that these changes in mood may in part be down to the fruit's high vitamin C content. Previous studies have shown that vitamin C intake is associated with improved mood, vitality, well-being and lower rates of depression, while vitamin C deficiency has been associated with higher rates of depression and cognitive impairment.
The research team split the 155 participants in the study into three groups—those receiving a daily 250mg tablet supplement of vitamin C; those receiving two SunGold kiwifruits; and those given a one tablet placebo. At the end of the study, both those taking vitamin C and eating kiwis reported improvements in mood, but only those eating kiwis reported an improvement in self-perceived success.
"This helps us see that what we eat can have a relatively fast impact on how we feel," Ben Fletcher, who conducted the research as part of his Ph.D. at Otago, said in a statement. "Our participants had relatively good mental health to begin with so had little room for improvement, but still reported the benefits of kiwifruit or vitamin C interventions."
He added that, while participants taking vitamin C tablets did show some improvements, they saw the most significant effects after consuming whole kiwifruits, suggesting that there may be some other nutrients within the whole fruit that can also contribute to mental well-being.
"We encourage a holistic approach to nutrition and well-being, incorporating various nutrient-rich foods into your diet," he said.
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