Nutritional medicine as mainstream in psychiatry
Open accessAbstract
Psychiatry is at an important juncture, with the current pharmacologically focused model having achieved modest benefits in addressing the burden of poor mental health worldwide. Although the determinants of mental health are complex, the emerging and compelling evidence for nutrition as a crucial factor in the high prevalence and incidence of mental disorders suggests that diet is as important to psychiatry as it is to cardiology, endocrinology, and gastroenterology. Evidence is steadily growing for the relation between dietary quality (and potential nutritional deficiencies) and mental health, and for the select use of nutrient-based supplements to address deficiencies, or as monotherapies or augmentation therapies. We present a viewpoint from an international collaboration of academics (members of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research), in which we provide a context and overview of the current evidence in this emerging field of research, and discuss the future direction. We advocate recognition of diet and nutrition as central determinants of both physical and mental health.
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The well-established notion that a healthy diet is fundamental in preserving cognitive health could thus partly be mediated by the association between diet, microbiota, and inflammation.
“The well-established notion that a healthy diet is fundamental in preserving cognitive health (298) could thus partly be mediated by the association between diet, microbiota, and inflammation.”
From Diet and the Microbiota–Gut–Brain Axis: Sowing the Seeds of Good Mental Health (2021) · cites this paper as [298]
Poor dietary habits such as the Western-style diet, intake of low-quality, processed, or high-fat/sugar foods, and malnutrition can be related to poorer mental health, impaired cognitive function, and increased risk of developing anxiety, depression, or other mental illnesses.
“On the other hand, poor dietary habits (such as the Westernstyle diet), intake of low-quality, processed, or high-fat/sugar foods and malnutrition (over-and undernutrition) can be related to poorer mental health (305, 306), impaired cognitive function (298), and increased risk of developing anxiety (307), depression (292, 308, 309), or other mental illnesses.”
From Diet and the Microbiota–Gut–Brain Axis: Sowing the Seeds of Good Mental Health (2021) · cites this paper as [298]
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- Authors
- Sarris, J., Logan, A. C., Akbaraly, T. N., Amminger, G. P., Balanzá-Martínez, V., Freeman, M. P., Hibbeln, J., Matsuoka, Y., Mischoulon, D., Mizoue, T., Nanri, A., Nishi, D., Ramsey, D., Rucklidge, J. J., Sanchez-Villegas, A., Scholey, A., Su, K.-P., & Jacka, F. N.
- Affiliations
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Inserm (FR)
- Massachusetts General Hospital (US)
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- National Center Hospital of Neurology and Psychiatry (JP)
- National Center for Global Health and Medicine (JP)
- National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (JP)
- Columbia University (US)
- University of Canterbury (NZ)
- Swinburne University of Technology (AU)
- China Medical University (TW)
- The Royal Melbourne Hospital (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Sarris, Jerome
- ORCID
- Venue
- The Lancet Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-03
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 271-274
- ISSN
- 2215-0366 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2131929193
- Cited by
- 592
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 45 · 2025: 58 · 2024: 60 · 2023: 53 · 2022: 54 · 2021: 58 · 2020: 60 · 2019: 51 · 2018: 61 · 2017: 38 · 2016: 32 · 2015: 22
- FWCI
- 7.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- figshare.com
- Locations
- The Lancet Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Acceda (Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Swinburne figshare (Swinburne University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Genentech
- Australian Research Council
- National Health Research Institutes
- Johnson and Johnson (GOED Omega-3)
- National Health and Medical Research Council
- Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju
- Geelong Region Medical Research Foundation
- Australian Rotary Health
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company
- Japan Science and Technology Agency
- Royal Society
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
- Pfizer
- British Psychological Society
- National Cancer Center
- Eli Lilly Japan
- University of Melbourne
- Brain and Behaviour Research Institute, University of Wollongong
- Industrial Health Foundation
- National Science Council
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
- Eli Lilly and Company
- Otsuka Pharmaceutical
- Ian Potter Foundation
- National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry
- Uehara Memorial Foundation
- Meat and Livestock Australia
- China Medical University, Taiwan
- National Center for Global Health and Medicine
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- H. Lundbeck A/S
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Fatty Acid Research and Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutrition and Health Studies
- Keywords
- nutritional psychiatry, diet and mental health, nutritional deficiency, diet quality, augmentation therapy, monotherapy, mental illness
- MeSH terms
- Mental Disorders, Diet, Humans, Nutritional Physiological Phenomena, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
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