The association between diet and mood: A systematic review of current literature

This 2019 systematic review searched 6 databases (PubMed, Cochrane’s Library, Science Direct, Scopus, Google Scholar, and ISI Web of Science) for current literature on the association between diet and mood. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and Jadad scale for reporting randomized clinical trials were utilized to measure the quality of the 18 studies that met the inclusion criteria and were later included in this review. The findings were not consistent across the studies, although it appears that diets such as DASH, vegetable-based diets, as well as glycemic load-based, ketogenic, and Paleo diets are perhaps the more effective mood-enhancing diets. Arab et al. (2019) concluded that more research is required to examine this relationship over a longer time period to confirm associations at this point. [NPID: mood, happiness, well-being, DASH, vegetables, keto, ketogenic diet, paleo, mood-enhancing]

Year: 2019

Reference: Arab, A., Mehrabani, S., Moradi, S., & Amani, R. (2019). The association between diet and mood: A systematic review of current literature. Psychiatry research, 271, 428–437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2018.12.014

Related Studies

A differential threshold of breakfast, caffeine and food groups may be impacting mental well-being in young adults: The mediation effect of exercise

Young adults (YA) are increasingly vulnerable to mental stressors. Research has shown that physical exercise and diet modulate mental health, however, the understanding of the underlying mechanisms remains insufficient. Although YA are physically active, their dietary intake is poor in quality. In this study by Begdache et al. (2021), the authors investigated the links between […]

Mood, food, and obesity

This 2014 article describes the complex nature of food consumption and its link with mood and brain signalling, while also touching on the sensations of reward and gratification associated with eating certain foods — the dangerous sequence of biological events that overrides an individual’s satiety and hunger signals. This constant search for dopamine, the chemical […]