The Food-Mood Connection

By Prof. Felice Jacka
President of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research

We’ve come a long way in how society think about, discusses and promotes mental health, however, mental health remains an important public health issue. Approximately 1 in 5 people will experience a mental disorder in their lifetime, and the burden of mental disorder is substantial on both an individual and societal level. Concurrently, diet has changed dramatically in the past several decades; nutrient poor, highly processed foods now comprise a large portion of our modern diets, with traditional staples such as whole grains and vegetables increasingly left off our places. While current psychiatric treatment approaches are life changing for many, there remains a gap between those who require care, and those who receive effective treatment. New approaches for the prevention and treatment of mental disorders are increasingly needed in psychiatry, and emerging evidence suggests that diet is as important to the brain as it is to the body. 

Nutritional Psychiatry is a relatively young field, and aims to generate high-quality evidence for nutritional approaches to the prevention and treatment of mental disorders. There is now convincing data to suggest that some nutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins, and zinc, may influence pathways that are useful in the management of mental disorders. However, Nutritional Psychiatry has moved towards a ‘whole-of-diet’ approach that best captures the complex ways that foods interact with each other when we consume foods as part of an overall dietary pattern. There is now a strong evidence base for the relationship between diet and depression, with data from around the globe, supporting the importance of diet to mental health in children through to old age. A recent systematic review has confirmed that unhealthy dietary patterns, characterized by processed meats, refined grains, and high-fat, high sugar products, is associated with increased risk of depression, whereas a healthy diet, filled with fruits, vegetables, fish and olive oil may decrease risk (1). Importantly, a world first randomised controlled trial testing dietary improvement for the treatment of depression was published earlier this year (2). The results showed that a modified Mediterranean diet, focused on increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables, olive oil, nuts, fish, legumes and quality lean meats and dairy, and decreasing nutrient poor dietary ‘extras’,  was effective in significantly improving symptoms of depression, compared to a social support control condition. These findings make a valuable contribution to the evidence base, and suggest that a healthy diet may be an important component of treatment for depression. 

Research into the mood-food connection is rapidly developing, and researchers are now investigating some of the plausible biological mechanisms associated with this link, as well as developing practical, feasible ways to translate current best evidence into public health and clinical practice.

July 30-Aug 2, 2017, the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research (ISNPR) will be holding its first international conference in Bethesda. The conference will welcome world-leaders in Nutritional Psychiatry, who will be presenting on a broad spectrum of research, from the sub-cellular to translation and implementation science. The programme will also offer a series of workshops for clinicians and will cater to the interests of researchers and clinicians from the fields of public health, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and dietetics, as well as psychiatry and psychology. The conference provides an important opportunity to discuss current evidence and practice, and to foster cross-disciplinary collaborations to advance the field of Nutritional Psychiatry.  For further information and to register visit http://isnpr2017.org/ 

References

1. Li Y, Lv MR, Wei YJ, Sun L, Zhang JX, Zhang HG, et al. Dietary patterns and depression risk: A meta-analysis. Psychiatry research. 2017;253:373-82.
2. Jacka FN, O’Neil A, Opie R, Itsiopoulos C, Cotton S, Mohebbi M, et al. A randomised controlled trial of dietary improvement for adults with major depression (the ‘SMILES’ trial). BMC medicine. 2017;15(1):23.

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About the Author:  Prof. Felice Jacka

Professor Felice Jacka is founder and president of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research (ISNPR) and president of the Australian Alliance for Prevention of Mental Disorders. She is an NHMRC Career Development Fellow and Principal Research Fellow at Deakin University in Australia, within the School of Medicine. She also holds Honorary Principal Research Fellow appointments at the Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Centre; The University of Melbourne; and the Black Dog Institute in NSW.

During and since her PhD, conferred in 2009, Professor Jacka has pioneered a highly innovative program of research that examines how individuals’ diets, and other lifestyle behaviours, interact with the risk for mental health problems. This research is being carried out with the ultimate goal of developing an evidence-based public health message for the primary prevention of the common mental disorders. She has published >115 peer-reviewed papers, the majority in high-impact journals in the mental health field including the American Journal of Psychiatry, World Psychiatry, BMC Medicine, Schizophrenia Bulletin and Lancet Psychiatry.  Professor Jacka has been awarded  more than AU$892,000 in Australian and international awards, prizes and Fellowships and more than one million dollars in research grant funding as lead investigator since 2013. In addition to other epidemiological studies, she currently leads the first RCT to examine the impact of dietary improvement in patients with major depression.

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