How Food Affects The Brain

After over a year of pandemic stress and comfort foods, many people are now looking to an emerging field of research called “nutritional psychiatry” which looks at the relationship between mental health and diet. It’s the idea that eating certain foods can promote mental health, which seems obvious but historically nutrition has been focused on physical health. “There is a lot of research on the role of gut microbiota in health and disease,” says Paola Sandroni a neuroscientist at the Mayo Clinic. “We know certain diets are better to prevent Alzheimer’s, like the Mediterranean diet.” A February 2021 randomized clinical trial found that a modified ketogenic high-fat and low carb diet improved daily function and quality of life for Alzheimer’s patients. Nutritional psychiatry is a rapidly growing field with the likes of Yale recently adding it to its Physician Assistant program, but mental health is complex and just eating a wedge salad is obviously not going to cure depression. In a study of 150 adults with depression, those who followed a diet rich in fish oil for three months reported less depression and anxiety.