Diet, mood & mental health: Can you eat your way to happiness?

We all know the feeling of a post-lunch slump or the Christmas dinner food coma. How else might our diet impact how we feel, and could there be serious implications for our mental health? We dig deep into the science on how what we eat makes us feel. We also discuss the effects of being vegetarian, vegan, keto and paleo on mental health, and what micronutrients we might lack for optimal mental health.

📊 Key research studies we discussed:

• Mice displayed “depression-like behaviour” after 3 weeks of a high-fat diet: Normal diet Vs High fat diet - A comparative study: Behavioral and neuroimmunological changes in adolescent male mice (Metabolic Brain Disease, 2018)
• Large UK-based study showing link between a poor-quality diet and depression: Multiple lifestyle factors and depressed mood: a cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of the UK Biobank (N = 84,860) (BMC Medicine, 2020)
• Changed diet leads to 4x greater improvement in depression than social support group: A randomised controlled trial of dietary improvement for adults with major depression (the ‘SMILES’ trial) (BMC Medicine, 2017)
• Vegetarians may experience slightly more negative emotions: Vegetarianism, depression, and the five factor model of personality (Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 2018)
• People whose reasons for following a diet align with values are most successful: “An Important Part of Who I am”: The Predictors of Dietary Adherence among Weight-Loss, Vegetarian, Vegan, Paleo, and Gluten-Free Dietary Groups (Nutrients, 2020)

📚 Books and other resources:

• Gut (Giulia Enders MD, 2014)
• 10% Human (Dr Alanna Collen, 2015)
• The Inflamed Mind (Edward Bullmore MD, 2018)
• 30 Plants Per Week Challenge (template by Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, 2021)
• Michael Pollan’s food rules (Michael Pollan, 2010)

📱 Connect with us on Instagram, Threads, and Twitter @getbrighterpod

We thank the South West Doctoral Training Partnership for supporting this podcast and Rhannan Lacey for audiography, videography, and production.