A DEAKIN University trial will study the impacts of diet on people with anxiety and depression – and they need your help.
The study will look at the connections between diet and mental health from a group of 200 people suffering from anxiety and depression, using a form of the Mediterranean diet with more red meat.
Depression is predicted to become the second-most common cause of disability in the world by 2020, according to the World Health Organisation – despite the increased investment devoted to recognition and treatment.
Felice Jacka, who heads Deakin’s Nutritional Psychiatry and Research department, said there was an urgent need to develop new approaches to the treatment of mental illnesses.
“We’re really leading the world in this area of investigation,” Assoc Prof Jacka said.
“What we’ve found is that right across the world, in all the populations we’ve studied, there’s this link that people with better quality diets are less likely to have depression, and people who eat lots of junk and processed foods are more likely to have depression.
“What we don’t know is if we improve our diets, will depression improve?
“The options for the treatment of depression are a form of counselling, or anti-depressants. They help some people, but they don’t help everyone.”
The study is looking for participants over the age of 18 who are suffering from anxiety or depression.
Email diet@barwonhealth.org.au or call 8415 0944 for more information.
