Universidad
Politécnica de Madrid

08.04.2026

Fruit and vegetable consumption is essential, especially for children, to ensure healthy physical and mental growth and development. These kinds of food provide vitamins, minerals, fiber, and water, strengthening the immune system, preventing childhood obesity and chronic diseases, improving digestion, and boosting academic performance. Similarly, fish consumption is essential for the proper development of children's brains, improving neuronal structure and influencing academic performance, while also promoting bone and muscle growth and development.

But can consuming these two types of food have any influence on children's mental health? That's precisely what a group of researchers from the Faculty of Sciences for Physical Activity and Sport (INEF) at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid analyzed, and the answer might surprise you. The results of their study show that frequent consumption of fruits, vegetables, and fish among children significantly reduces their emotional health.

“The main goal was to analyze whether two simple and easily communicated dietary habits -consuming vegetables at least twice a day and fish two or three times a week-are associated with a lower risk of poor health-related quality of life in schoolchildren,” says Alicia Portals-Riomao, a researcher from ImFINE group and one of the authors of the study, which is part of the ASOMAD project (Actividad Física, Sedentarismo y Obesidad en la ciudad de Madrid), a study which examines multiple dimensions of children's health—diet, physical activity, emotional well-being, and socioeconomic factors—in the post-COVID-19 pandemic context.

As secondary objectives, the researchers measured the combined effect of both habits, their independence from other factors such as physical activity, screen time, and socioeconomic status, and the robustness of the results considering overall diet quality and various statistical models.

In order to develop this project, researchers used data from a large urban cohort, with several waves of data collection between 2020 and 2023, allowing them to analyze the evolution of children's health after the pandemic and consider social, behavioral, and environmental factors in an integrated way.

“The results show that both vegetable and fish consumption are independently associated with a lower probability of low emotional well-being in schoolchildren. Specifically, children who consumed vegetables at least twice a day or fish two to three times a week had a lower risk of poor health-related quality of life,” adds Augusto G. Zapico, Professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance and main researcher of the study. “The combined effect of fish and vegetables was positive, although not strictly additive, suggesting the influence of multiple factors on children's emotional health.”

What about sports?

The study also shows the influence of regular physical activity, which demonstrated a protective effect, while increased screen time was associated with poorer perceived well-being.

For the researchers, the main advantage of this study, recently published in the international journal Children, lies in the fact that its findings identify specific, achievable, and easily transferable dietary goals for school and home settings. These goals could contribute to improving children's emotional well-being, along with promoting physical activity and reducing digital sedentary behavior.

"The research provides useful evidence for the design of public health programs, educational policies, and strategies to promote healthy habits in children, especially from a social equity perspective," they conclude.

The ASOMAD project also includes the participation of the Red EXERNET; CIBEROBN-Instituto de Salud Carlos III and the Madrid City Council through its Sports Department.

Link to the article:

https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/13/1/56