Evolution of Well-Being and Happiness After Increases in Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables
Open accessAbstract
Objectives. To explore whether improvements in psychological well-being occur after increases in fruit and vegetable consumption. Methods. We examined longitudinal food diaries of 12 385 randomly sampled Australian adults over 2007, 2009, and 2013 in the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey. We adjusted effects on incident changes in happiness and life satisfaction for people’s changing incomes and personal circumstances. Results. Increased fruit and vegetable consumption was predictive of increased happiness, life satisfaction, and well-being. They were up to 0.24 life-satisfaction points (for an increase of 8 portions a day), which is equal in size to the psychological gain of moving from unemployment to employment. Improvements occurred within 24 months. Conclusions. People’s motivation to eat healthy food is weakened by the fact that physical health benefits accrue decades later, but well-being improvements from increased consumption of fruit and vegetables are closer to immediate. Policy implications. Citizens could be shown evidence that “happiness” gains from healthy eating can occur quickly and many years before enhanced physical health.
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“loneliness and a higher perception of happiness [51].”
Background
- Authors
- Mujcic, R., & J.Oswald, A.
- Affiliations
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Redzo Mujcic is with the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Andrew J. Oswald is with the Department of Economics and Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
- ORCID
- Mujcic, Redzo
- Venue
- American Journal of Public Health
- Publisher
- American Public Health Association
- Published
- 2016-08
- Volume
- 106
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1504-1510
- ISSN
- 0090-0036 (ISSN-L)
- 1541-0048
- PMC
- PMC4940663
- OpenAlex
- W2472912389
- Cited by
- 293
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 84 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 29.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- American Journal of Public Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Warwick Research Archive Portal (University of Warwick) (acceptedVersion)
- WU Research (submittedVersion)
- University of Warwick (cc-by)
- Funders
- London School of Economics and Political Science
- University of Warwick
- Department of Social Services, Australian Government
- Monash University
- Economic and Social Research Council (ES/L011719/1)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Keywords
- fruit and vegetable intake, happiness, life satisfaction, psychological well-being, healthy eating, food diary, diet and mental health
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Australia, Cross-Sectional Studies, Diet, Female, Fruit, Happiness, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Motivation, Personal Satisfaction, Socioeconomic Factors, Vegetables, Health Behavior, Diet Records, Young Adult
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