Dietary intake and five types of mental disorders: A bidirectional Mendelian randomization study

Significant public health difficulties are presented by mental health disorders. Unhealthy eating habits and mental illnesses may be related, according to earlier studies. Zhang et al. (2025) employed a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) strategy to investigate the potential connection between dietary macronutrient intake and mental illnesses. In order to investigate relationships between consumption of macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and sugars) and mental health problems (anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, neuroticism, and schizophrenia), the study used genetic data from the UK Biobank as well as five other datasets. Forward MR analysis showed that genetically higher intakes of fat and protein were associated with a greater risk of anxiety. Higher carbohydrate intake was linked to bipolar disorder, while protein intake was significantly associated with depression. Reverse MR analysis suggested that neuroticism led to increased sugar consumption, and schizophrenia was connected to reduced intake of all four macronutrients: carbohydrates, fat, protein, and sugar. While the influence of mental disorders on diet is well-documented, this study underscores the need to consider how dietary patterns may contribute to the development of mental health conditions. [NPID: Bidirectional causality, dietary intake, macronutrient, mendelian randomization, mental disorders]

Year: 2025

Reference: Zhang, Y., Zhang, M., Guan, Q., Liu, P., Zhang, W., Yang, S., Dong, H., & Hou, H. (2025). Dietary intake and five types of mental disorders: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study. BMC Psychiatry, 25(1), 594. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-025-07100-y

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