On Nutrition
Millions of people in the United States are affected by mental illness — specifically, 1 in 5 adults and 1 in 6 youth experience mental illness each year — with anxiety disorders affecting 19.1 % of U.S. adults and, the most common, major depressive disorder affecting 8.3% of U.S. adults, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Despite increased awareness and slightly decreased stigma about these and other mental illnesses, many people don’t receive treatment, which makes it hard to live a fulfilling life and can even harm physical health. For example, people with depression are at elevated risk of cardiovascular disease.
If you’re wondering if nutrition can benefit mental health the way it benefits physical health, you wouldn’t be alone. The relatively young field of nutritional psychiatry uses food and dietary supplements as alternative treatments for mental health disorders, and research has found strong associations between a healthful diet and mental health. For example, eating more fruits and vegetables has been associated with a corresponding increase in self-reported happiness and higher levels of mental well-being, and dietary patterns rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and fish are associated with reduced risk of depression and anxiety in both childhood and adulthood.
Before I continue, I want to offer the reminder that an association between two observations — in this case, nutritious diet and better mental health — does not prove cause and effect. It may be that other factors known to affect health, such as higher socioeconomic status, are responsible for both better nutrition and better mental health. Or, it may be that people who already enjoy good mental health find it easier to shop for and cook nutritious meals. (If you’ve ever struggled with depression, anxiety or another mental illness, you’ve likely experienced how challenging it can feel to feed yourself at all, let alone feed yourself well.)
That said, there are plausible reasons why dietary patterns that incorporate the foods I mentioned may have positive effects on our mental health. The structure of your brain and how it functions is dependent on receiving an adequate supply of certain nutrients. Getting ample vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals, fiber, and healthy types of fat and protein can reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, supporting the overall health of our brains. This is partly because the food we eat influences the health of our gut microbiota, and the gut-brain axis — the connection between our gut and brain — plays a role in mental health.
Nutritional psychiatry research focuses on more than overall eating patterns, also working to identify which dietary components — including isolated vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids or fatty acids — are truly important for mental health, including in clinically diagnosed mental health conditions, as well as what “doses” of foods or nutrients can prevent or treat which mental illnesses, and in which people. So far, there haven’t been enough clinical trials to provide real answers, as many clinical trials have included a variety of people, not just those who are actually struggling with mental illness.
The bottom line is, just as self-diagnosing a mental health condition isn’t a good idea, neither is assuming that we can treat a mental health concern with food alone. Effective mental health treatment generally includes medication, therapy, or both, along with self-care, which nutrition can certainly be a part of. While caring for ourselves with nutritious food very likely contributes to better mental health, for many (maybe most) people, it will be just one part of an overall treatment plan.
