UKHLS: key findings

A paper using dietary data and mental wellbeing scores provides further evidence that persuading people to consume more fruits and vegetables may not only benefit their physical health in the long-run, but also their mental wellbeing in the short-run [87].

An Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) working paper from 2014 found that the maintenance of an ethnic origin diet was associated with healthier eating patterns [88].

Out of two papers examining diet in the youth sample, one found that the majority of them did not eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables per day and being a boy in lower income households and of Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnicity (compared with white ethnicity) was associated with lower odds of meeting dietary recommendations [89].

Higher fruit and vegetable intakes was associated with higher odds of happiness and lower odds of socio-emotional difficulties and consumption of fast food [90].