How food can improve your mood

ZOE Science & Nutrition

ZOE

Nutrition, Education, Science, Health & Fitness

4.6 • 5.6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2022

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We’ve all felt the effects of food on our mood, so it would stand to reason that dietary intervention for mental health would be well studied and a regularly deployed treatment. But this is far from reality, as historically, psychiatry was only concerned with what happened from the neck up. In today’s episode, Jonathan is joined by Felice Jacka, Professor of Nutritional Psychiatry and Director of the Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University. Felice was the driving force behind the landmark study to determine if dietary intervention could help treat the symptoms of moderate to severe depression. With her help, we dive into what the science suggests regarding the relationship between food and our mental health and what foods we can eat to improve it. Download our FREE guide — Top 10 Tips to Live Healthier: https://zoe.com/freeguide Timecodes: 00:00 - Intro 00:09 - Jonathan’s introduction 01:28 - Quick-fire questions 02:08 - What do we mean when we talk about 'mood'? 03:40 - Is it true that we're much more focused on mental health? 05:11 - How do we think about the relationship between our bodies and our mind today? 07:01 - Felice’s journey into psychiatry 08:24 - PHD looking into the relationship between diet and mental health 11:44 - The SMILEs Trial 13:22 - How much did diet affect the participants in the study? 15:40 - How long does it take to see results? 16:40 - What role does body weight have in this debate? 17:22 - How important is it that we focus on the quality of our diet over calories? 18:20 - What is the gut-brain axis and the microbiota gut-brain axis? 19:12 - Gut disorders and mental health issues closely related 21:25 - The effects of gut bacteria on the brain 21:58 - What is orthorexia and how is that linked to anxiety? 23:16 - Is there a risk with using diet to treat mental illness? 24:20 - What do healthy diets from across the world have in common? 25:52 - Foods to eat more of or less of to improve mood 27:24 - Diversity in diet 29:12 - Effects of diet on the menopause 32:10 - How does our mental health affect how we eat? 33:20 - What part does the industrialized food system have to play on a social level? 34:14 - How ultra-processed foods impact us 37:06 - Summary Episode transcripts are available here. Visit The Food and Mood Centre’s website for more information on Deakin University’s world-leading, multi-disciplinary research: https://foodandmoodcentre.com.au/ Read Felice’s SMILEs Trail here. Follow ZOE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe/ This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Zoe, Science and Nutrition, where world-leading scientists explain how their
0:05.0	research can improve your health.
0:12.0	Confed really determine how we feel.
0:14.8	Okay, we might feel a bit cross if we are hungry, but surely major mental health problems,
0:20.7	like depression and anxiety, can't be caused by what we eat.
0:25.0	Well, it turns out they can.
0:28.8	If you are feeling a little anxious or low in mood right now, it could be that breakfast
0:33.1	cereal you have each morning.
0:35.1	Today, I am delighted to be joined by Felice Jacker, a professor and international leader
0:40.6	in the New Field and Nutritional Psychiatry, who has turned our understanding of mental
0:44.5	health upside down.
0:48.0	Her clinical studies, for the first time measured how changing what we eat, can affect how
0:52.6	we feel.
0:54.7	In one groundbreaking study, a third of participants with severe depression went into complete
1:00.2	remission as a result of changing their diet.
1:04.2	In this episode, Felice helps us understand what the latest science tells us about the
1:08.6	relationship between food and our mental health and then gives us practical advice on what
1:13.1	foods we can eat to improve it.
1:15.9	Of course, not all low mood is caused by food, and if this episode triggers any concerns,
1:21.2	there are links in the show notes to groups that can support mental health issues.
1:27.1	Felice, thank you for joining me today.
1:29.5	Very exciting to have a guest in from Australia.
	...

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