The journal PLOS ONE published a randomized controlled study suggesting that the symptoms of depression improved significantly among a group of young adults who changed their diets to follow a Mediterranean style pattern for 3 weeks. Depression scores decreased from being in the moderate range to being in the normal range, additionally the participants reported lower levels of anxiety and stress as compared to control participants who didn’t change their diet and had no improvements. "We were quite surprised by the findings," researcher Heather Francis, a lecturer in clinical neuropsychology at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, told NPR via email. "I think the next step is to demonstrate the physiological mechanism underlying how diet can improve depression symptoms," Francis said. "Highly processed foods increase inflammation, " Francis said. “What’s more, if we don’t consume enough nutrient-dense foods, then this can lead to insufficiencies in nutrients, which also increases inflammation," […]