Diet Linked to Mental Health

CHANGES to our diets over the last 50 years could be linked to the UK’s rising mental health problems.

Growing scientific evidence has emerged in recent years linking the type of food people eat to mood and behaviour.

Now a report by the Mental Health Foundation (MHF) and Sustain, which campaigns for better food and farming, says food can have an immediate and lasting effect on a person’s mental health and behaviour because of the way it affects brain function and structure.

The organisations launched the Feeding Minds campaign to raise awareness of diet’s links to mental health.

They are urging the Government to increase financial and political support for measures to ensure people have access to affordable and attractive nutrient-rich foods – now and in the future.

Figures suggest mental ill-health now costsi the UK almost pounds 100bn a year.

Over 60 years, vegetable consumption has dropped by 34%. Only 13% of men and 15% of women now eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables daily.

The report also said that people eat 59% less fish – the main source of the important omega 3 fatty acids – than 60 years ago.