Nutritional Psychiatry

At The Psych Collective, we define nutritional psychiatry as “the manipulation/optimisation of diet and/or nutritional supplementation with the aim of improving mental health outcomes”.

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To some a nutritional approach is an alternative to conventional psychiatric treatment, to others it’s used in addition to standard treatments, to others it’s seen as rubbish. I’ve been surprised to find trials of various supplements to be advantageous in some conditions. Usually the numbers of people in these trials are quite low, so the quality of the evidence is generally not great.

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Some specifics:

Dietary excesses: some posit that sugars, simple carbs, grains and in some cases dairy are potentially problematic for some people. Usually the mechanisms are thought to involve gut permeability or inflammation or both. Some people have issues with lectins, some with glutens, etc. an elimination diet is probably a reasonable way to get to the bottom of this, if it applies. See below for the link to our video on this. 

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Ketosis: there is increasing understanding that ketosis might be helpful in some cases of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. See below: Is the ketogenic diet new therapy some type of schizophrenia?

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Gut Biome: Some feel that various foods may detrimentally (or beneficially) affect gut flora. The literature on this is very messy. Some advocate probiotics/prebiotics. It seems it’s mostly trial and error, but trial and error is common with meds too.

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Dietary deficiencies: some posit that the modern diet is low in essential nutrients such as omega 3 fatty acids & zinc and they suggest repletion with supplements. Some feel that the reference ranges used in blood testing don’t reflect the ideal ranges. The evidence is mostly anecdotal, there are cases of severe B12 deficiency correction resolving depression.

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Some supplements like Magnesium Diglycinate seem clinically to be very helpful for some people with sleep problems even without obvious deficiency.

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Metabolic issues: processes such as methylation are thought to be affected by common gene polymorphisms and supplements such as SAMe, creatinine or various methylated B vitamins are sometimes suggested. Again it seems to be largely trial and error.

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Chronic inflammation: inflammation in acute situation is usually helpful. But chronic inflammation is often harmful and might even drive some autoimmune issues to be worse than they might be otherwise. Elimination diets might help reveal if someone has a sensitivity from foods. Others recommend supplements like Theracurmin for their purported anti-inflammatory effect. Targeted and safe interventions which reduce chronic inflammation are probably helpful for anyone with chronic inflammation.

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Drug issues: some are intolerant to medications or simply favour alternative treatments. Some feel that some drugs deplete some nutrients and recommend supplementation in that basis (eg. CoQ10 with statins, controversial).



If people have severe mental illness which is stable on medications, then stopping meds might be a nightmare, no matter what the nutritional changes are. If a nutrition intervention helps, that’s great. Any adjustments to medications would require great caution and input from a professional, especially in severe mental illness as a relapse of a major illness can be a disaster.

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Mostly improving nutrition will be helpful for everyone’s health, in some cases it might be very impactful but it’s not a panacea.

Sugar and Mental Health

Is the ketogenic diet new therapy some type of schizophrenia?