Max Lugavere, author of Genius Foods, explains how diet affects depression. A 2017 study found whole-food changes improved depression scores by 11 points and achieved 32% remission, compared to 4 points and 8% in the control group. A 2019 meta-analysis supports nutrient-rich diets for mood improvement.
Questions this episode answers
February 10, 2021
A 2017 randomized controlled trial from Deakin University's Food and Mood Centre.
About 11 points on a 60-point depression scale.
32% of patients no longer met criteria for depression.
About 4-point improvement and 8% remission.
Chapters
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Diet can certainly help with depression, especially for people who don't have very healthy diets. This was most recently shown in a randomized control trial. This is the gold standard type of research experiment that can actually prove cause and effect and it was published in 2017 and it came from Deakin University's Food and Mood center. And the study found that for patients with major depression that cutting out junk foods and focusing instead on fresh vegetables, fruits, raw unsalted nuts, eggs, olive oil, fish and grass fed beef improved symptoms by an average of about 11 points on a 60 point depression scale. By the end of the trial, 32% of patients had scores so low that they no longer met criteria for depression. Meanwhile, people in the group with no dietary modifications, meaning the people who were depressed who continued to eat their usual junk food based diets, improved only by about 4 points and only 8% achieved remission. So the group that cleaned up their diets and started eating primarily whole foods, they had almost quadruple the rate of remission from major depression since that trial, which again was in 2017. A 2019 meta analysis of the small but growing body of literature has confirmed that for even non clinically depressed people, as well as clinically depressed people, a nutrient rich diet, especially one that encourages healthy weight, can actually have a very meaningful mood boosting effect. So what I call the genius foods in my work, in my books, those are the foods that I found to be the most supportive of good mental health. And I've already listed a few of the foods that I wholeheartedly endorse. But yeah, I am convinced that food plays an important role in supporting optimal mental health.
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