Middle-aged adults who are more optimistic about their future tend to have higher antioxidant levels than their less optimistic peers, according to new research out of Harvard.

Investigators studying nearly one thousand people over ten years found that increases in optimism correlated with an increase in concentration of antioxidants like vitamin E and beta-carotene, which is found in deeply-colored vegetables like carrots and kale.

"This is the first study of its kind to report a relationship between optimism and healthier levels of carotenoid concentrations," said Julia K. Boehm, PhD, research fellow, Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health.

(READ the full story from MedScape – VIEW the abstract in Psychosomatic Medicine)