Nutrition and Mental Health: Part II

Summary

We often hear about diets to improve various aspects of our lives. Some diets actually oppose the promotion of health and may lead to dietary deficiencies. Short-term dietary changes may not have long-term health benefits. There is evidence of a link between dietary intake and our mental health status. More research is required. You and your healthcare team should discuss healthy nutritional habits.

“Diets”

There are multiple “diets” promoted for healthy living which recommend certain food groups over other food groups, the grapefruit diet being just one example. These are often meant as short-term interventions in the pursuit of lowering weight; decreasing body mass index; removing “toxins” from the body; creating a sleek physique. Short-term lifestyle changes do not engender long-term benefits if the lifestyle changes cannot be sustained. And, deciding to eliminate certain food groups and nutrient categories should not be a long-term intervention due to the risks of deficiencies and imbalances in what is ingested and in what our bodies have access to in order to manufacture the building blocks for cellular life. Our bodies are made of cells and those cells function when we give them what they need to survive “cellularly”.

A Smattering of Evidence

We can consult a myriad of sources proposing a variety of recommendations about nutritional intake options to foster health. We, as health care professionals and as consumers and as clients of the healthcare industry, are challenged to employ critical thinking in deciding which recommendations to embrace and which recommendations to set aside, if only for the moment. Consider the source of the information and consider the validity and reliability of the data.

Is There A Link Between Diet And Mental Health?

A review of current literature (English language only, publication date post 2005) was conducted by Grajek et al, exploring the data about the link between diet and mental health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9441951/

Published in August 2022 in Frontiers in Nutrition, and entitled Nutrition and mental health: A review of current knowledge about the impact of diet on mental health, the study posed the following questions by looking at data from previously published studies: are there correlations between nutrition and mental health; are there psychoprotective food ingredients; and are there nutritional interventions with proven protective potential for mental disorders. Their conclusions in summary are: there are correlations between nutrition and mental health; the gut-brain connection implicates the relevance of inflammatory markers in the evolution of some mental health symptoms and the potential benefit of diet and psychobiotics to regulate gut microbiota and gut permeability; and a recommendable dietary intervention to reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases and which has demonstrated lower risk for depression and psychological distress is the MIND diet (https://www.jandonline.org/action/showPdf?pii=S2212-2672%2815%2901251-4). The authors conclude there is a need for further research.

Analysis of data from the Nurses’ Health Study revealed an association between adequate protein intake, particularly plant proteins, with healthy aging. (https://www.medscape.com/s/viewarticle/adequate-protein-intake-midlife-tied-healthy-aging-2024a10001jf?ecd=mkm_ret_240211_mscpmrk_neuro_brain-diet_etid6300853&uac=5131MN&impID=6300853)

Next Steps To A Healthier Mind And Body

The influence of nutrition on mental health requires a multi-disciplinary approach. Research reveals that more data needs to be collected in the goal of establishing causality, not just correlations, between diet and mental health.

In the meantime, I recommend you work with your team of health care professionals to develop nutritional habits for a healthier life.