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Diet, stress and mental health
This 2020 review evaluated the literature on the associations between diet, stress, obesity and psychiatric disorders related to stress since the nature of these relationships is not well understood. Bremner et al. (2020) learnt that diet and obesity can have direct impacts on mood, with certain aspects of diet stimulating inflammation in the process which has led to research on polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) as treatments for depression. While stress-related mental disorders may induce dietary changes likely to affect weight, stress or predisposition alone may lead to obesity and stress-related mental disorders such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There are likely to be bidirectional relationships between these various factors. This review also addresses the increasingly reported connection between the gut and the brain, which relates the gut microbiome with brain function and thus mood and behavior. Since this identifies another way diet can influence mental health and disorders, this relationship is probably mediated by the same areas of the brain and peptides that are involved in both mood and appetite. Elucidating the relationship between diet, stress and mood and behavior could provide crucial implications for the treatment of both stress-related mental disorders and obesity. [NPID: stress, obesity, mood, polyunsaturated fatty acids, PUFAs, depression, PTSD, appetite]
Year: 2020
