A hot slice of pizza and a glass of red wine? Heaven. A big, hearty lasagna after a long day of work? Pure bliss. If you're like me and salivate at just the thought of Italian food, you'll want to listen up. New research shows that a natural plant extract found in tomatoes could actually help fight depression—and not just at dinner time.

A study published this week in the journal Food Science & Nutrition looked at how lycopene treatment affected mice with depressive-like behaviors. Lycopene is an organic compound that gives tomatoes and other red and pink fruits their pigment.