Most weeks find me out and about, engaging with the community and exploring new ideas – this week was no exception.

I attended a Deakin University Alumni event where Associate Professor Felice Jacka discussed the topic – “Can we prevent depression by improving diet?”

An unhealthy diet is now the leading cause of early mortality across the globe, that’s right, it is not cardio vascular disease, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, dementia or even cancer – and it doesn’t discriminate between gender, age, race, religion or social status!

Of the Australian women included in a survey, 35% reported a lifetime history of mood or anxiety disorders and 15% reported a current mood or anxiety disorder.  Some other figures noted were that consuming a western diet increases the chance of depression by 50%, while those consuming a traditional diet were 35% less likely to develop a depressive disorder and 32% less likely to develop an anxiety disorder (my apologies…I love the numbers!!)

Other studies have looked at adolescents and the health and diet quality of mothers and fathers and how that may have impacted on their children

The results from the study discussed at this event are still being finalised for formal reporting, so keep an eye on the newspaper because I think this will be well reported!

I’m certainly no expert in this area, but I wanted to share this with you and I hope you will all take notice of what you eat and what you teach your children to eat – it really is so important!

Regards