Healthy dietary patterns and mental health

We can find mental illness as one of the causes of disability worldwide. Pharmacotherapy is leading its treatment; however, there is a new field of nutritional psychiatry that is providing evidence for diet quality as a risk factor for mental illnesses.
In fact, reviews are analyzing the association between diet and common mental disorders.Healthy dietary patterns are inversely associated with the probability of, or risk for, depression.
It’s really important understanding that there are potentially biological processes involved in the diet and mental health relationship: a deep connection between inflammation, oxidative stress and neuroplasticity with the gut microbiome is being discovered.
In parallel, the complementary use of dietary and nutraceutical supplements such as n-3 fatty acids and N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) in depression , is being also examined.
Recent reviews regarding the use of dietary and nutraceutical interventions in mental disorders, and promising avenues for further research.

Blog International Therapy Institute

References:

Marx, W., Moseley, G., Berk, M., & Jacka, F. (2017). Nutritional psychiatry: The present state of the evidence. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 76(4), 427-436. doi:10.1017/S0029665117002026
Alessandro Minarini, Silvia Ferrari, Martina Galletti, Nina Giambalvo, Daniela Perrone, Giulia Rioli & Gian Maria Galeazzi (2017) N-acetylcysteine in the treatment of psychiatric disorders: current status and future prospects, Expert Opinion on Drug Metabolism & Toxicology, 13:3, 279-292, DOI: 10.1080/17425255.2017.1251580

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