Eating fruit makes you happy, and eating junk food wastes your brain away.

Researchers from Aston University surveyed 428 adults in the United Kingdom about their food habits of fruit, vegetable, and savory food snack consumption and their psychological health. After taking into account of various demographic and lifestyle factors, they found that nutrient-rich fruit intake improved psychological health, whereas increased nutrient-poor savory snacks (i.e potato chips) deteriorated it.

Comparing food consumption and psychological health surveys, the more fruit people ate, the better they lower the prevalence of depression and the higher they scored in mental well-being.

On the other hand, the more nutrient-poor savory foods people ate, the more likely they were to experience subjective cognitive failures (SCF) and reported lower feelings of mental well-being. With increasing lapses into SCF, the more anxiety, stress, and depression the respondents reported.

Subjective cognitive failures were described as “everyday mental lapses” such as forgetting where an item was placed, forgetting why entering certain rooms, or unable to get out a word or name described as having it on the “tip of the tongue.”

However, in this study, researchers did not find connection between fruit and vegetable intakes with subjective cognitive failures.

The study encourages people to snack on fruit to improve mental wellness and preserve cognitive function…unless you want to be depressed and forgetful, then by all means keep eating Cheetos.

The study was published in the British Journal of Nutrition.

NJ Tuck et al. Frequency of fruit consumption and savoury snacking predict psychological health; selective mediation via cognitive failures. British Journal of Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114522001660