Consuming a Daily Serving of Nuts May Reduce the Risk of Depression

One daily serving of nuts could lower your risk of depression, a new study finds.

Including nuts in your diet has a variety of benefits. Nuts are an important source of many nutrients and have been shown to help prevent certain chronic diseases, protect against oxidative stress and inflammation, and improve cognition.

New research emphasizes another potential benefit of tree nuts—lowered depression risk.

The new study used data from 13,504 adults in the United Kingdom (UK) Biobank to analyze the correlation between nut consumption and depression. At the beginning of the study, each participant was free of depression.

The research team assessed whether subjects developed depression and whether they ate nuts (and if they did, how many they ate).

They concluded that a higher intake of tree nuts was associated with a lower risk of depression.

Here's what experts have to say about whether or not you should increase nut consumption for the sake of depression risk, as well as other dietary practices that could positively impact mental health.

There aren’t many foods as nutritious as nuts. Some of these nutritional aspects may play into why eating nuts supports mental health. 

“The main components of the nutritional profile of nuts (e.g., dietary fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, phenols, polyphenols, and vitamin E) include a large spectrum of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant qualities that may contribute to protection against depression," said Bruno Bizzozero Peroni, a research assistant at the Health and Social Research Center (University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain) and principle investigator of the study.

Since increased inflammation can impact depression development, it doesn't take much to understand how nuts connect to mental health.

And, it doesn't take much for nuts to make an impact—just one serving a day showed promising results.

The study found that, over a 5.3-year span, people who ate 30 grams of nuts each day (about a handful) had a 17% lower risk of depression.

It's worth noting that the protective association between nut consumption and the incidence of depression was observed outside of other risk factors, like obesity, smoking, insufficient physical activity, and certain medical conditions.

People who practiced healthy lifestyle habits in addition to nut consumption saw even greater benefits.

While the results of the study suggest that eating a handful of nuts every day offers protection against depression, researchers cannot say that eating nuts causes a person to avoid developing depression.

Bizzozero explained that while a correlation between nut consumption and depression can be made, large-scale, long-term clinical trials are needed to better understand how nut consumption directly impacts depression risk, particularly in people with diverse lifestyles and health profiles.

So, only leaning on nuts to reduce depression risk may not be the best method to choose. If there are true depression concerns, it is best to seek the care of a healthcare professional rather than include some nuts in your diet and hope for the best. 

But that doesn't negate other positive aspects of including nuts in an overall healthy diet. They can offer some impressive potential benefits, including weight management, heart health, cognitive health, and gut health support.

So even if they aren't guaranteed to lower depression risk, they may contribute to someone's quality of life in other ways.

For example, data published in BMC Med suggested that eating pistachios three times per week may lower mortality risk by 39%.

Data published in Nutrients showed that pistachios have a high antioxidant capacity, a capacity rivaling that of popular antioxidant-containing foods, including blueberries, pomegranates, cherries, and red wine.

“Nuts provide blood sugar-stabilizing nutrients like plant-based fat, fiber, and protein. And, we know that stable blood sugars tend to be associated with higher energy levels and less fatigue,” Mary Ellen Phipps, MPH, RDN, LD, and author of The Easy Diabetes Cookbook, shared.

More information is needed to understand how nuts and depression are connected, but there's no denying that nuts can make a positive addition to a balanced diet.

It is important to remember that mental health is impacted by many factors, with diet being one potential driver. It's entirely possible to eat “all of the right things” and still receive a diagnosis of depression. 

That said, there isn't really a downside to focusing on foods that may support mental health. If you are focused on eating to support your mental health, along with including nuts in your diet every day, data suggests including the following foods in a healthy diet:

At the same time, try to limit red and/or processed meat, refined grains, refined sugars, high-fat dairy products, butter, potatoes, and high-fat gravy.

If you are ready to make a habit out of eating a handful of nuts every day, Sarah Anzlovar, registered dietitian and Intuitive Eating Dietitian for Moms, offered some suggestions:

Including nuts in your diet can give you a boost of important nutrients and may help you live a healthy life. And according to this new study, this habit may help combat depression as well, although more research is needed.