Food and Mood page		 This page is currently under construction, so please bear with us....

Eating the right foods can improve mental health, research suggests.

  • A survey of 200 people found 88% reported that changing their diet improved their mental health significantly.
  • Twenty six per cent said they had seen large improvements in mood swings, 26% in panic attacks and anxiety and 24% in depression.

Food 'stressors'

  • Sugar
  • Caffeine
  • Alcohol
  • Chocolate
  • Wheat-containing foods
  • Additives
  • Dairy
  • Saturated fats

 

Discovering 'triggers' Over a third of people said they were "very certain" that the improvements they had seen to their mental health were directly linked to the changes they had made to their diet.

  • Food 'supporters'
  • Water
  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Oil rich fish
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Wholegrain food
  • Fibre
  • Protein
  • Organic food

The survey findings are backed by previous research by Mind which has found a link between food and mood.

taken from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/default.stm
 

The British Nutrition Foundation has lots of information on their site including healthy eating information, resources for schools, news items, recipes and details of the work they undertake around the UK/EU. The foundation promotes the wellbeing of society through the impartial interpretation and effective dissemination of evidence-based nutritional knowledge and advice.

 


Documents you may find useful:
The Mental Health Foundation has written a report called Feeding Minds: the impact of food on mental health. This report can be downloaded here (5mb)
Sustain has written a report called Changing Diets, Changing Minds: how food affects mental well being and behaviour. The report can be downloaded here
MIND produces lots of booklets and this one is called the MIND guide to food and mood This booklet can be downloaded here

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