5 Food Groups That Can Improve Mental Health

Hello, Psych2goers! Do you enjoy eating? What kind of food do you like? We’ll be exploring various types of foods that may potentially improve one’s mental health. Stay tuned if you’re interested! Disclaimer: The outcomes of the following foods are generalized based on referenced articles. Please seek professional help if there is any concern with the type(s) of food and your health, such as allergens.

1. Seafood

Fish is part of the seafood category that contains rich omega 3. Omega 3 fatty acids are practical for our central nervous system and the fatty acids can balance our neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Sometimes, this ingredient is used as a treatment to ease major depressive disorder and PTSD (Lachance & Ramsey, 2015).

2. Fermented foods

The gut microbiota is suggested as another possibility for maintaining mental health. According to Aslam et al. (2020), there is an association between fermented foods consumption and anti-stress outcomes in past studies. Although certain stress levels were decreased, that was not necessarily the case for anxiety levels.

3. Minerals

They are present in several types of food sources. For instance, poor sleep patterns and depression and anxiety often go hand in hand. Therefore, the consumption of calcium, potassium, and magnesium are potential minerals that may regulate your sleep (Godos et al., 2020).

4. Dairy products

In one study that examined 9298 Japanese adults, it is suggested that a fair amount of dairy consumption may lower the risk of developing depression. Although there is no specification of whether the dairy products were low or whole-fat, adequate consumption of dairy products is not necessarily harmful to one’s mental health (Choda et al., 2020).

5. Vitamins

Similar to minerals, vitamins can be found in a variety of foods. As for vitamin b, such as vitamin b12, b6 and b2 have a possibility to decrease depression. Additionally, supplementing the diet with beta carotene like carrots can ease anxiety and depression levels (Choda et al., 2020). Niacin, which is vitamin b3, may also be helpful for schizophrenia treatment as well (Godos et al., 2020).

Conclusion

What are your thoughts? What other nutrients that you know that may likely improve our mental health? Leave a comment if you’d like!

References

Aslam, H., Green, J., Jacka, F. N., Collier, F., Berk, M., Pasco, J., & Dawson, S. L. (2020). Fermented foods, the gut and mental health: a mechanistic overview with implications for depression and anxiety. Nutritional Neuroscience, 23(9), 659–671. https://doi.org/10.1080/1028415X.2018.1544332

Choda, N., Wakai, K., Naito, M., Imaeda, N., Goto, C., Maruyama, K., Kadomatsu, Y., Tsukamoto, M., Sasakabe, T., Kubo, Y., Okada, R., Kawai, S., Tamura, T., Hishida, A., Takeuchi, K., Mori, A., & Hamajima, N. (2020). Associations between diet and mental health using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire: cross-sectional and prospective analyses from the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort Study. Nutrition Journal, 19(1), 2–2. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12937-019-0515-6

Godos, J., Currenti, W., Angelino, D., Mena, P., Castellano, S., Caraci, F., Galvano, F., Del Rio, D., Ferri, R., & Grosso, G. (2020). Diet and Mental Health: Review of the Recent Updates on Molecular Mechanisms. Antioxidants, 9(4), 346–. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox9040346

Lachance, L., & Ramsey, D. (2015). Food, mood, and brain health: implications for the modern clinician. Missouri medicine, 112(2), 111–115.