Purpose

Greater fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake has been linked to more positive mood. Here, the purpose of this paper is to examine if this relationship is mediated by expectancies about their benefit to health/mental health.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants completed a new questionnaire to assess expectancies related to F&V intake. This was administered alongside a validated food-frequency measure of F&V intake, an assessment of positive and negative mood state and other measures.

Findings

Participants held strongly positive expectations about the physical and mental health benefits of consuming F&V. The authors observed a significant relationship between self-reported F&V intake and positive mood (d = 0.52). Importantly, this effect was largely (but not completely) independent of expectancies. The authors also observed that expectancies about F&V intake were independently predictive of positive mood (d = 0.47).

Originality/value

This is the first study to explore expectancy effects in the mental health benefits of F&V intake. These data suggest that positive expectancies about F&V intake, and F&V intake itself, are both predictive of positive mood. The former finding is probably a placebo effect, whereby people believe they are consuming sufficient F&V (even if they are not) and so experience mood-related benefits due to their positive expectations. The latter finding is consistent with F&V exerting a biologically beneficial effect on the brain.

中文翻译：

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与健康相关的期望值、水果和蔬菜摄入量以及积极情绪的关系：期望值很重要，但不是你期望的方式

目的

更多的水果和蔬菜 (F&V) 摄入量与更积极的情绪有关。在这里，本文的目的是检查这种关系是否受到对健康/心理健康益处的预期的调节。

设计/方法/方法

参与者完成了一份新的问卷，以评估与 F&V 摄入量相关的预期。这与经过验证的 F&V 摄入量的食物频率测量、积极和消极情绪状态的评估以及其他措施一起管理。

发现

参与者对食用 F&V 的身心健康益处抱有强烈的积极期望。作者观察到自我报告的 F&V 摄入量与积极情绪之间存在显着关系 ( d  = 0.52)。重要的是，这种影响在很大程度上（但不完全）独立于预期。作者还观察到，对 F&V 摄入量的预期是积极情绪的独立预测 ( d  = 0.47)。

原创性/价值

这是第一项探讨 F&V 摄入对心理健康益处的预期影响的研究。这些数据表明，对 F&V 摄入量和 F&V 摄入量本身的积极预期都可以预测积极情绪。前一个发现可能是安慰剂效应，即人们相信他们消耗了足够的 F&V（即使他们没有），因此由于他们的积极期望而体验到与情绪相关的好处。后一个发现与 F&V 对大脑产生生物学有益影响一致。