The key to treating depression could lie in your food

It was Hippocrates who was attributed with saying "let food be thy medicine" almost 2,500 years ago – and though his words have been hijacked by the alternative woo crowd, science is beginning to discover the truth behind them.

Want to know how to deal with depression? The key could be in what you’re eating. New research out of Deakin University has discovered that the simple act of filling your plate with vegetables, lean protein and whole grains could go a long way towards treating clinical depression. It could even act as a depression treatment.

According to the director of Deakin's Food and Mood Centre, Professor Felice Jacka, our happiness and our diets are far more intertwined than we might realise.

"We’ve known for some time that there is a clear association between the quality of people’s diets and their risk for depression," Professor Jacka said in a media release.

"This is the case across countries, cultures and age groups, with healthy diets associated with reduced risk, and unhealthy diets associated with increased risk for depression."

Of course, telling people suffering from depression to simply "eat better" is not like taking a depression medication – so the researchers invited a number of patients into the lab to participate in a three-month experiment to learn more about how to deal with depression.

The patients were split into two groups: group one would receive additional social support (on top of their regular treatment) while group two would receive additional support from a clinical dietitian.

Those in the dietitian's group were given all the tools needed to improve the quality of their diet – with a particular emphasis on consuming a varied range of fruits and vegetables, including healthy fats from nuts and olive oil, and generally cutting down on anything deemed to be too processed.

After the three-month trial was up, the participants in both groups were analysed again to see how their depressive symptoms had improved.

The results were profound: 33 per cent of people in the dietitian's group met criteria for remission of major depression, compared to just 8 per cent of those in the social support group. The nutritious diet had served as a depression treatment.

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For Professor Jacka, it's further proof that our stomachs are the new frontier when it comes to treating those who suffer from mental illnesses. This is helpful information if you want to learn how to help someone with depression.

"Mental disorders account for the leading cause of disability worldwide, with depression accounting for the large proportion of that burden," says Professor Jacka.

"While approximately half of sufferers are helped by currently available medical and psychological therapies, new treatment options for depression are urgently needed."

Now you know how to deal with depression in a new way. And if that's not enough motivation to swap tonight's takeaway for a home-cooked meal, then spare a thought for how your body looks – because losing a little weight is bound to make anyone feel better about themselves.

"Importantly, depression also increases the risk of and, in turn, is also increased by common physical illnesses such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease," says Professor Jacka.

"Successfully improving the quality of patients’ diets would also benefit these illnesses."