Better Food, Better Mood: Supporting Mental Health Through Nutrition Across the Lifespan

Nutrition, Mental Wellbeing and the Voices That Should Shape Our Response 

Author: Dr Katharine Martyn 

Reviewed and edited by: Gerald Cheruiyot 

Every year on 10 October, World Mental Health Day provides an opportunity to pause and reflect on how we support mental wellbeing. This year's theme, lived experiences heard:  real voices, real change, calls for people with lived experience of mental health conditions to help shape the policies, services and decisions that affect their lives.[1] It is a timely reminder that effective mental health support must be built with people, not simply for them, and that food has an important place in this conversation. 

A Defining Public Health Challenge 

Mental health is one of the defining public health challenges of the twenty-first century. Globally, nearly 1 in 7 people, or 1.2 billion individuals, are living with a mental disorder, with anxiety and depression among the most common conditions.[2] Mental health challenges can emerge at any stage of life, affecting children, adolescents, working-age adults and older people. 

Approximately one in seven adolescents aged 10 to 19 years experiences a mental health condition, while depression, anxiety and behavioural disorders are among the leading causes of illness and disability in this age group.[3] In later life, cognitive decline presents an additional concern. An estimated 57 million people worldwide live with dementia, a figure projected to increase substantially as populations age.[4] 

Rising rates of mental ill health have also been accompanied by increased use of psychotropic medications. While these medicines are often essential, some treatments can contribute to weight gain, altered appetite and metabolic changes, creating additional challenges for physical health. Against this backdrop, World Mental Health Day 2026 provides an opportunity to consider how nutrition can complement wider strategies for supporting mental wellbeing. 

What the Evidence Says About Food and Mood 

The relationship between food and mental health is increasingly supported by scientific evidence. Research suggests that dietary patterns, rather than individual nutrients in isolation, may strongly influence mental wellbeing. A systematic review by Firth and colleagues found that diets rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and healthy fats are associated with a reduced risk of depression and improved psychological wellbeing.[5] 

In contrast, dietary patterns characterised by high levels of ultra-processed foods, refined carbohydrates and saturated fats have been linked with poorer mental health outcomes. Evidence from the SMILES trial, a randomised controlled trial examining dietary improvement in adults with major depression, adds further weight to this emerging picture.[6] Together, this growing body of evidence has contributed to calls for nutritional medicine to become a more established part of psychiatric care.[7] 

Beyond the “Gold Standard” Diet 

The Mediterranean diet is often described as the gold standard for healthy eating. However, its value lies less in a prescribed list of foods and more in its underlying principles: a plant-rich dietary pattern featuring fruits, vegetables, pulses, whole grains, nuts and unsaturated fats. 

These principles can be adapted to diverse cultural and regional cuisines worldwide. Importantly, dietary patterns that support cardiovascular and metabolic health may also benefit brain health, reflecting the close relationship between physical and mental wellbeing. 

The Gut-Brain Connection 

One of the most exciting areas of development in nutritional psychiatry concerns the gut-brain axis, the bidirectional communication network linking the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system. Emerging evidence suggests that the gut microbiome may influence mood, cognition and stress responses through neural, endocrine and immune pathways.[8]

Dietary components such as prebiotics, probiotics and polyphenol-rich foods, including berries, cocoa, herbs and vegetables, may help support a diverse microbiome associated with better mental health outcomes. Although further research is needed to understand these relationships and their clinical implications, the gut microbiome represents a promising area for future nutritional interventions. 

Real Voices, Real Barriers: Food, Fairness and Lived Experience 

Promoting healthy eating cannot be separated from the social realities people live in. Food insecurity, poverty, conflict, climate change and supply-chain disruptions can create significant barriers to accessing nutritious foods. For many individuals and families, affordability and availability shape food choices as much as knowledge. Public health messaging therefore needs to acknowledge these wider determinants while still offering practical and achievable advice. 

This year's theme is particularly relevant. People with lived experience can highlight barriers that professionals and researchers may overlook, from the cost of fresh food to the effects of medication on appetite and weight.[1] Yet meaningful engagement is not yet standard practice. Only 45% of countries responding to the WHO Mental Health Atlas 2024 survey reported ongoing collaboration with people with lived experience and family or caregiver advocacy groups in planning, delivering or monitoring mental health services.[1] 

Nutrition advice, food programmes, and mental health services are more likely to be relevant and trusted when developed alongside the people they are intended to serve. Listening to lived experience is therefore not simply about hearing different perspectives; it is about using those perspectives to shape more responsive approaches to health and wellbeing. 

More Than Nutrients: The Power of Eating Together  

Food contributes to wellbeing in ways that extend beyond its nutritional value. Eating together has social, cultural and emotional significance, and research shows that shared meals are associated with improved dietary quality, stronger social connections and enhanced wellbeing.[9] 

Across the lifespan, opportunities to prepare and share food can create connection, reduce loneliness, strengthen community bonds and provide a sense of belonging. In this sense, food can support wellbeing not only through what we eat, but also through how, where and with whom we eat. 

Eat Well. Eat Together. Be Heard 

Food is not a cure for mental illness, and nutrition should not be viewed in isolation from the wider range of interventions and services that support mental health. However, growing evidence suggests that a colourful, varied, and minimally processed diet can support the health of both brain and body. 

At the same time, eating is about more than nutrients. Culture, community, relationships, access, and lived experience shape it. In a world facing multiple, interconnected challenges, supporting people to eat well, eat together, and be heard can be part of a broader approach to better food and better mood. 

On World Mental Health Day 2026, let us move from listening to action: supporting mental wellbeing through good nutrition, while building the services, programmes and policies that shape people's lives together with them. 

"Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change." World Mental Health Day, 10 October 2026 

References 

[1] World Health Organization (2026). World Mental Health Day 2026: Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change. https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-mental-health-day/2026 

[2] World Health Organization (2026). Mental disorders. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-disorders 

[3] World Health Organization (2025). Mental health of adolescents. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health 

[4] World Health Organization (2026). Dementia. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dementia 

[5] Firth, J., Gangwisch, J.E., Borsini, A., Wootton, R.E. & Mayer, E.A. (2020). Food and mood: How do diet and nutrition affect mental wellbeing? BMJ, 369, m2382. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.m2382 

[6] Jacka, F.N., O'Neil, A., Opie, R., Itsiopoulos, C., Cotton, S., Mohebbi, M. et al. (2017). A randomised controlled trial of dietary improvement for adults with major depression (the SMILES trial). BMC Medicine, 15(1), 23. DOI: 10.1186/s12916-017-0791-y 

[7] Sarris, J., Logan, A.C., Akbaraly, T.N., Amminger, G.P., Balanzá-Martínez, V., Freeman, M.P. et al. (2015). Nutritional medicine as mainstream in psychiatry. The Lancet Psychiatry, 2(3), 271-274. DOI: 10.1016/S2215-0366(14)00051-0 

[8] Noonan, S., Zaveri, M., Macaninch, E. & Martyn, K. (2021). Food & mood: A review of supplementary prebiotic and probiotic interventions in the treatment of anxiety and depression in adults. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, 4(1), 153-164. DOI: 10.1136/bmjnph-2019-000053 

[9] Chen, Y.-C., Lee, C.-S., Chiang, M.-C., Tsui, P.-L., Lan, B.-K. & Chen, Y.-J. (2025). Nourishing Holistic Well-Being: The Role of Family Dynamics and Family Cooking. Healthcare (Basel), 13(4), 414. DOI: 10.3390/healthcare13040414