People who consume their ‘five a day' may have better mental health as a result, a new study suggests.

It is already widely acknowledged that the consumption of fruit and vegetables is essential for good health and people are recommended to eat five portions per day.

UK researchers decided to focus on the consumption of these foods in relation to mental health. They looked at 14,000 people aged 16 and older and found that mental wellbeing was consistently linked with how much fruit and vegetables people consumed.

Some 33% of people with high mental wellbeing consumed five or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day, compared to just 6% of people who ate less than one portion daily.

Just over 31% of people with high mental wellbeing consumed three to four portions per day, while 28% consumed at least one or two.

While other health behaviours were also linked to mental health, only fruit and vegetable consumption, and smoking, were consistently linked in both men and women.

"The data suggest that the higher an individual's fruit and vegetable intake, the lower the chance of their having low mental wellbeing. Along with smoking, fruit and vegetable consumption was the health-related behaviour most consistently associated with both low and high mental wellbeing," noted the study's lead author, Dr Saverio Stranges, of the University of Warwick.

The researchers pointed out that low mental wellbeing is linked to mental health problems. They also emphasised that high mental wellbeing is not just the absence of mental health problems, it refers to people who function well and feel good. It includes feelings of happiness, optimism and resilience.

"Mental illness is hugely costly to both the individual and society, and mental wellbeing underpins many physical diseases, unhealthy lifestyles and social inequalities in health. It has become very important that we begin to research the factors that enable people to maintain a sense of wellbeing," commented the study's co-author, Prof Sarah Stewart-Brown.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, BMJ Open.