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Conceptual Framework for Nutritional Psychology as a New Field of Research
Introduction: What Is Nutritional Psychology?
Nutritional psychology explores the two-way relationship between nutrition and psychological functioning. While evidence consistently shows that diet impacts mental health and cognitive performance, this connection has not yet been fully systematized or officially recognized as a formal subfield of psychology.
The recent paper by Stroebele-Benschop et al. (2025) proposes a conceptual framework for nutritional psychology, offering a structured way to study how diet influences mental and emotional well-being.
The Six Core Domains of Nutritional Psychology
The framework defines six interconnected domains that explain how food and nutrition affect the brain, emotions, and behavior:
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Diet-Conative/Affective – Motivation, emotions, and food-related decision-making.
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Diet-Cognitive – Thinking, memory, learning, and problem-solving.
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Diet-Sensory/Perception – How food influences the senses (taste, smell, sight, texture).
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Diet-Interoceptive – Awareness of internal bodily signals, such as hunger and satiety.
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Diet-Psychosocial – Social, cultural, and relational influences on eating behaviors.
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Diet-Environmental – External and contextual factors, such as availability, affordability, and accessibility of food.
By clearly defining these domains, the framework lays the groundwork for a new interdisciplinary language, methodology, and theoretical structure in studying the nutrition–psychology connection.
Why This Framework Matters
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Establishes nutritional psychology as an emerging research field.
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Provides a structured foundation for investigating diet’s role in mental health.
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Encourages cross-disciplinary collaboration between nutrition, psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral sciences.
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Supports the development of evidence-based dietary interventions for improving emotional and cognitive well-being.
Year: 2025
