Working Paper: NBER ID: w18469
Authors: David G. Blanchflower; Andrew J. Oswald; Sarah Stewart-Brown
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.
Keywords: fruit consumption; vegetable consumption; psychological wellbeing; happiness; mental health
JEL Codes: I1
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Higher consumption of fruit and vegetables (D18) | Increased levels of wellbeing (I31) |
| Consuming 8 portions of fruit and vegetables daily (D18) | Increased levels of wellbeing (I31) |
| Higher consumption of fruit and vegetables (D18) | Higher life satisfaction (I31) |
| Higher consumption of fruit and vegetables (D18) | Higher mental wellbeing (WEMWBS) (I31) |
| Higher consumption of fruit and vegetables (D18) | Higher self-reported health (I19) |
| Higher consumption of fruit and vegetables (D18) | Robust association with wellbeing (I31) |