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Stress takes a toll on one's mental health. A new study reveals that including fruits and vegetables in a diet may help seize and control stress, particularly in middle-aged women. Controlling stress may decrease the risks of acquiring high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, heart diseases, and diabetes.

In a report from the Medical News Today, a new study conducted at the University of Sydney Australia revealed that fruits and vegetable intake in adult women showed significant levels of reduced stress compared to those who did not consume fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. The experiment, conducted on 60,404 men and women aged 45 and older, showed that those who ate three to four servings of fruits and vegetables daily were found to have 12 percent less likely of experiencing stress.

Eating five to seven servings of fruits and vegetables daily also increase the percentage of controlling stress by 14 percent, which was significantly observed among the women test subjects. Women who ate five or more servings of vegetables and fruits had 23 percent lower risks of experiencing stress. Consuming more than seven servings of fruits and vegetables, however, were not associated with controlling and lowering stress risks.

Vegetables and fruits are loaded with vitamins and minerals that help in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Dark leafy greens such as spinach are rich in folate, a compound that helps in increasing the production of serotonin and dopamine, mood stabilizers present in the human brain, the Daily Mail UK reported.

Fruits and vegetables have always been treated as essentially healthy when it comes to diet options. The latest study revealed that consuming several servings of these healthier diet option on a daily basis can also reduce the prevalence of psychological distress, especially among middle-aged and older women.

However, how fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with stress require further investigation to fully understand the impact of these foods on controlling stress.