14-03-2025
- Health
- National Geographic
Scientists are uncovering surprising connections between diet and mental health
You've undoubtedly heard the adage that you are what you eat. It turns out that it may apply to brain health nearly as much as physical health. Research increasingly supports the idea that eating the right foods and avoiding the wrong ones may improve your mood and emotional well-being over time.
'Just as we recognize that diet plays a role in conditions like heart disease or diabetes, we now understand that food choices can affect brain function, mood, and mental health disorders,' says Wolfgang Marx, deputy director of the Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University in Australia and president of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research, a growing field that explores how diet influences mental health and brain function.
'Diets high in ultra-processed foods and low in nutrient quality are consistently associated with a higher risk of depression and anxiety,' says Marx. Indeed, a study by Marx and colleagues in a 2024 issue or BMJ found that people who consume high amounts of ultra-processed foods have a 48 percent increased risk of anxiety and a 22 percent increased risk of depression.
(9 simple ways to boost your mental health, according to science.)
By contrast, research has found that improving your diet can improve major depression. And a review of 13 studies published in the February 2025 issue of Nutrition Reviews found that the Mediterranean diet could reduce the risks of depression, anxiety, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among children and teenagers.
