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Integrating nutrition into mental health care: training, practices, barriers, and collaboration among mental health and nutrition professionals
The integration of nutrition into the psychological sciences and mental healthcare has gained increasing attention with the emergence of Nutritional Psychology as an interdisciplinary field. However, little is known about how professionals approach this interface or the barriers they face. This study aimed to explore the extent to which mental health and nutrition professionals engage with each other’s domains.
This cross-sectional study analyzed survey responses from 196 professionals, including psychologists, nutrition professionals, and other health providers. The goal was to examine training, practices, perceived barriers, and interest in collaboration between these professions. Descriptive statistics summarized categorical and quantitative variables. Mann-Whitney U tests with rank-biserial correlation were used to examine ordinal data. Exploratory factor analysis (principal axis factoring, varimax rotation) was applied to barrier ratings, which approximated Likert scaling.
A total of 87.8% of mental health professionals reported addressing nutrition in their practice at least occasionally, while nearly all nutrition professionals (98.1%) discussed mental health with clients at least occasionally. Despite this engagement, 31% of nutrition professionals and 58% of mental health professionals reported no formal training in the complementary field, with most of their knowledge acquired informally through self-study or workshops. The most significant barriers included a lack of training, unclear professional boundaries, and a lack of a common language, whereas a lack of evidence was perceived as the least critical. Importantly, 99% of respondents expressed interest in evidence-based interdisciplinary training, and 96% agreed that collaboration would improve patient outcomes. However, only 48% of nutrition professionals and 49% of mental health professionals reported having collaborative experience.
These findings highlight both the readiness and unmet needs of professionals at the psychology-nutrition interface and underscore the strong need to develop structured educational pathways and formalized collaborative models. [NPID: Nutritional psychology, interdisciplinary collaborations, nutritionist, psychologist, integrated care, perceived barriers]
Year: 2026
