Beat Depression By Eating - Reading Comprehension

 “Better diet quality, no matter which way you measure it, is associated with an approximate 30% reduction in the risk for depression,” says Felice Jacka, PhD, director of the Food and Mood Centre at Deakin University in Australia and president of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research. She’s also written a book on the subject, Brain Changer: The Good Mental Health Diet.

In September, an analysis of 26 previous studies found that psychiatry, along with following a Mediterranean diet full of green vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, olive oil, and seafood could ease symptoms of depression. It also found that people who ate more meat, dairy, and processed foods had a higher risk of becoming depressed. Of the 26 studies included, only a handful showed no relation between diet and mental health. And a small randomized controlled trial, published a few weeks ago, found that college students with symptoms of depression saw their mood improve in just 3 weeks on a similar diet. That type of trial is considered the “gold standard” among researchers.

But before you toss your antidepressant and run to the nearest farmers market: None of this research suggests that diet alone can cure or prevent depression. The idea is that improving your diet gives you a strong foundation for healing, no matter what other treatments you may try.

Keto for Severe Cases?
Not everybody is sold on the merits of the Mediterranean diet for fighting depression, or at least not for depression that hasn’t responded to other treatments. Chris Palmer, MD, is director of the Department of Postgraduate and Continuing Education at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA, and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “The evidence that we can effectively treat patients with clinical depression with dietary intervention is marginal at best,” he says. “Part of it is that these are really difficult things to study, because you can tell a patient to eat more fruits and vegetables, eat less junk food, but actually understanding what they're eating is almost impossible -- we can’t know what they really did.”

None of this research suggests that diet alone can cure or prevent depression. The idea is that improving your diet gives you a strong foundation for healing, no matter what other treatments you may try. 

What Should You Eat?
If you want to make a change today, without medical supervision, Jacka and Ramsey encourage people to eat more plant-based foods in general -- leafy greens and other vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts and seeds, whole grains -- along with healthy fats, seafood, and lean animal protein. In other words, eat many of the same foods you’ll see on almost any “healthy” diet program. To support your gut health, Ramsey also recommends fermented foods like pickles and sauerkraut.

“The simple message is that a healthy diet is important for brain and mental health, just as it is for physical health,” says Jacka. “Unlike many other factors in our lives that may predispose us to depression, we have a choice over what we eat. All the evidence we have now tells us that a healthy diet can both prevent and treat depression and may be important for other aspects of brain health, such as dementia. This is true for people across the lifespan -- even very young children.”

And if you do decide to adjust your diet, you don’t have to make sweeping, extreme changes. Adding more leafy greens and seafood could make a good start. “I’ve found that eating better, even when it’s not 100% of the time, it does make a difference,” says McCarthy. “There’s a happiness factor.”

\

Reading Comprehension

Q1. Diets rich in leafy greens and seafood help manage your moods?
a. Research doesn’t know
b. Research points to yes
c. Research points to no

Q2. What field of science focuses on how your diet affects your mental health?
a. Psychiatry
b. Nutritional psychiatry
c. Biology

Q3. What makes 30% reduction in the risk for depression?
a. Medicines
b. Meat
c. Better diet quality
d. None of the above

Q4. How many previous studies found green vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, olive oil, and seafood could ease symptoms of depression?
a. 20
b. 30
c. 26.
d. 16.

Q5. What makes people at higher risk of becoming depressed?
a. Smoking
b. Vegetable
c. Meat
d. None of the above

Q6. Can diet alone cure or prevent depression?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Maybe.
d. Sometimes.

Editable Worksheet for Teachers:
Click here to download above Reading Passage and Questions;
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wzVn1X-nvNwcMqDXli8eBYG25ONl-uYn/view?usp=sharing

Reference:
(https://www.webmd.com/depression/news/20191202/can-you-eat-to-beat-depression)

Subscribe on Mobile
Write “Follow smzaidi” send to 40404‎
https://www.facebook.com/Fascinator.Captivator