Can diets really impact psychiatric and brain health?

An extraordinary amount of scientific research reveals how conditions previously considered exclusively brain-related, commence as metabolic dysfunction. Metabolic dysfunction is inherent to the pathophysiology of mental illness.

The data arises from multiple levels of investigation, including cellular and mechanistic studies, case reports, cohort studies, and population-level (epidemiological) research. High refined carbohydrate and/or ultraprocessed food diets are conventionally low in bioavailable nutrients, and the relative deficiency in these diets increases risk for cascading and overlapping metabolic, mental and immune system illnesses.

Metabolic syndrome is a common correlate when these pressures converge, driving inflammation, and creating feedback loops that can overwhelm the body’s capacity to repair. The central nervous system and the digestive tract are inter-dependent. A healthy microbiome is essential to optimise bi-directional neuroendocrine signalling, for sensory-motor reflexes, immune activation, gut brain cross-talk and hormonal signalling.

Biomarker studies have tracked relationships between diet quality, metabolic health, and risks for mental disorders including anxiety, depression, addiction and suicidality. Risk factors can overlap, amplifying conditions or increasing the severity of symptoms and diseases.

Can diets really impact psychiatric and brain health?

BACK TO:

Information

Providing scientific & medical information & analysis in the service of the public's right to be independently informed on issues relating to human & environmental health.