Does Eating Your Carrots Make You More Creative?

Eating my veggies always makes me feel self-nurturing and virtuous, and that’s a boost
to my happiness and self-esteem. But the mental health benefits of a well-nourished mind
don’t end there. A new study hints that eating fruits and vegetables might also make me
more curious and creative.

In previous studies, people who ate more fruits and vegetables reported feeling happier
and more satisfied with their lives. This relationship persisted even when researchers
controlled for factors such as income, education and physical activity.

In the new study, more than 400 young adults completed daily online diaries for two
weeks. Each day, they recorded what they were eating, feeling and doing. Below, lead
researcher Tamlin Conner, Ph.D., a psychology lecturer at the University of Otago in
New Zealand, explains what the results revealed.

What were the key findings of your study?

Dr. Conner: On days when people ate more fruits and vegetables, they reported feeling
much happier than they normally did. But even more strongly than happiness, daily fruit
and vegetable consumption predicted states of eudaemonic well-being—how engaged
and inspired people felt that day, how interested and curious they were in their
environment and how creative they felt. In fact, these patterns for flourishing were
almost twice as strong as the patterns found with happiness.

Might it be that people who ate fruits and veggies also tended to stay healthier and
exercise more, and that’s what helped them flourish psychologically?

Dr. Conner: This is a good question. If people were having a healthy day, they might eat
better, exercise more and feel better because of the exercise, not the diet. However, in
follow-up analyses, I controlled for daily exercise and daily health ratings, and the
original findings still held.

How could eating fruits and vegetables enhance someone’s psychological well-being?

Dr. Conner: I think there is likely to be a connection between fruit and vegetable
consumption and the motivation or drive to engage in daily life—approach motivation, in
scientific terms. There are biologically plausible pathways by which fruits and
vegetables could promote engagement.

Vitamin C might be a key pathway here. It is an important co-factor in the production

of dopamine, which is critical to mood and motivational drive. A recent study found
increased vitamin C levels in the blood following kiwifruit consumption, with
corresponding improvements in emotional vitality.

B-vitamins and complex carbohydrates in fruits and vegetables also promote the
synthesis of dopamine and serotonin, which are important to daily mood. At this stage,
however, I cannot say exactly what the mechanism might be.

Because your research was correlational, it wasn’t possible to show causality. Could it
be that feeling engaged and curious led to choosing healthier foods?

Dr. Conner: Yes, that’s very possible. There is a growing awareness that happiness and
health are tightly linked, and the connection is bidirectional. This is why I’m shifting into
intervention research, so that I can test for causal patterns and biochemical mediators.

I have a study running right now that aims to increase young adults’ fruit and vegetable
consumption over a two-week period. This will allow me to test the causal effects of
eating more fruits and vegetables on mood, engagement and curiosity. I will also be
looking at a few select biochemical mediators, including vitamin C.

In the meantime, what are the practical implications of your research?

Dr. Conner: Pay attention to what you eat each day for a week, and then try to
incorporate more plant foods the following week. Although at this stage I cannot say
with certainty that eating carrots will make you more creative or that fruit will help you
flourish, the evidentiary base is growing. So it probably wouldn’t hurt to hedge your bets
and opt for a carrot rather than a candy bar if you want to feel better.

Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/minding-the-
body/201505/does-eating-your-carrots-make-you-more-creative