| Food and Mood Centre

Are you a cicada … or an ant? When choices make us really happy!

by Sara Campolonghi Unhealthy food choices we make on a daily basis are almost always linked to the search for some kind of pleasure, or to the avoidance of displeasure. Eating a delicious ice cream or our favourite pizza gives us pleasure. Sitting on the couch in front of the television after a ti...

Nutritional psychiatry: investigating the link between food and mood

By Dr Sarah R Dash Whether we’re reading about it, shopping for it, preparing it or eating it, food is a big part of our day-to-day lives. While everyone’s got to eat, I’ve always found myself particularly interested in food; not only the joys of preparing and eating it, or learning how it fu...

An introduction to mood foods

by Dr Sarah R Dash Nutrition research is constantly evolving, and it can be difficult to keep up with the latest advice in order to make informed choices. Based on what we know about the obesity epidemic, it may not be surprising to learn that over half of the total daily caloric intake of American...

Diet and the Gut Microbiota

Gut Microbiota and Diet You may already believe that many of your behaviours and choices – smoking cigarettes, having a few too many drinks, or routinely choosing Netflix over the gym – can impact on your health in a big way. Researchers are starting to understand how some of these factors infl...

What is the Gut Microbiome?

For those who follow health news, you might be familiar with words like ‘probiotic’, ‘kombucha’ or even hard-to-pronounce bacterial names like bifidobacteria or lactobacillus. Gut-related messages are everywhere, both in popular media and in science too. With the arrival of so many new suppl...

Nutraceuticals and Mental Health

Can nutraceuticals help mental illness? Research into the role of nutrition in mental health has shown that a healthy diet can potentially play a significant role in the prevention and management of mental illness. A related question that researchers are trying to answer is what happens when we giv...

Diet in pregnancy

If you are pregnant or know someone who is, then you may have heard that maternal health and wellbeing is important as your baby grows and develops your womb. Over the last thirty years scientists and medical researchers have come to understand the importance of the in utero environment on the devel...

Diet and mental health in children and adolescents

Childhood and adolescence is a period of rapid development, and both are critically important to developing a foundation for good physical and mental health in adulthood. Unfortunately, studies have shown that young people are not meeting many health-promoting recommendations, particularly when ...

Diet and Mental Health

Mental disorders, particularly depression, account for the highest burden of global disability. Half of mental illnesses first manifest prior to 14 years of age and childhood disorders are linked to a range of long-term deleterious social, criminal and economic outcomes in adulthood. Despite...