lemon tree via Flickr’s kea_Artisnal, GreeceIn what could be a small victory for vegetarians, a small but easy to duplicate study in Australia has found that eating food higher in carbs and lower in fat improves people’s moods.

A study of 106 overweight or obese people in Australia found those on the low-fat diet, which included bread, pasta and rice, were less angry, depressed and confused after one year than those who ate fewer carbs and more meat and dairy products, according to the study published today in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. Both diets were equally effective at reducing weight, the research showed.

Prior studies have shown no mood change between diets and this inconsistency must be researched further. via Bloomberg News

In a much larger analysis, Spanish scientists from the Universities of Las Palmas and Navarra confirmed 30 percent lower rates of depression in a group of 10,094 followers of the Mediterranean diet.

Researchers from University College, London, who studied 3,486 civil servants over five years, also came up with exactly the same figure: Mediterranean-style eaters were 30 per cent less likely to develop depression.

No single factor explains the affect of diet on depression and mood.

More reading: How to beat depression with the right diet Independent UK

Eat your way to happiness London Times