Nutritional Science

psychiatric disorders, and especially depression and anxiety disorders, form a major component of the global burden of disease… additional therapeutic strategies that are easy to implement in everyday life… are urgently warranted.

Mörkl frames nutritional intervention as an urgently needed adjunct to pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy, given the therapy-resistance rates and side-effect burden of current psychiatric treatment.

Mörkl, Sabrina, The Role of Nutrition and the Gut-Brain Axis in Psychiatry: A Review of the Literature, 2020thesis

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

Nutrition is a prerequisite for health; yet, there is no special nutritional assessment or guidance for drug and alcohol dependent individuals, despite the fact that their food consumption is often very limited, risking malnutrition.

Jeynes and Gibson establish that the absence of nutritional assessment protocols for substance-use-disorder populations represents a critical gap, given the near-universal malnutrition in that cohort.

Jeynes, Kendall D., The importance of nutrition in aiding recovery from substance use disorders: A review, 2012thesis

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

anecdotal reports suggest that most treatment centers allow unlimited or excessive amounts of highly palatable foods and seldom include nutrition education… less than one-third of treatment centers offered any nutrition services.

Wiss documents the systemic failure to integrate nutritional science into substance-use-disorder treatment and argues that both dietary restriction and overindulgence perpetuate addictive cycles.

Wiss, David A., The Role of Nutrition in Addiction Recovery: What We Know and What We Don’t, 2019thesis

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

the number of studies on nutrition and mental diseases, a specialty which has been considerably neglected for a long time, has risen; however, more research on special dietary advice for patients is needed.

Mörkl identifies the historical neglect of nutritional psychiatry as a field and calls for individualised dietary protocols backed by rigorous clinical trials.

Mörkl, Sabrina, The Role of Nutrition and the Gut-Brain Axis in Psychiatry: A Review of the Literature, 2020thesis

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

Chronic substance use affects a person’s nutritional status and body composition through decreased intake, nutrient absorption, and dysregulation of hormones that alter the mechanisms of satiety and food intake.

Mahboub et al. present a comprehensive mechanistic account of how substance use disrupts nutritional homeostasis, implicating hormonal dysregulation and metabolic disturbance beyond mere dietary neglect.

Mahboub, Nadine, Nutritional status and eating habits of people who use drugs and/or are undergoing treatment for recovery: a narrative review, 2021thesis

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

deficiencies in magnesium, zinc, chromium, selenium, folate and B12 are linked to depression, while deficiencies in zinc, magnesium, and lithium are linked to anxiety… low n-3 polyunsaturated fat levels have also been found to impact mood negatively.

Jeynes synthesises micronutrient research to establish that specific deficiencies common in substance-use-disorder populations directly impair the neurochemical substrates of mood regulation.

Jeynes, Kendall D., The importance of nutrition in aiding recovery from substance use disorders: A review, 2012thesis

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

Nutrition therapy should address the most serious medical and nutrition conditions first and then target the psychological and behavioral aspects of eating. Cooking classes and life skills development are important to the application of new nutrition knowledge.

Wiss articulates a stepwise clinical protocol for nutritional therapy in addiction recovery, integrating physical, psychological, and behavioural dimensions.

Wiss, David A., The Role of Nutrition in Addiction Recovery: What We Know and What We Don’t, 2019supporting

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

health recommendations deserve a little scrutiny… it has been suggested that the sugar industry put a lot of money into turning the spotlight on salt and fat, partly in order to deflect attention from the damaging effects of sugar.

McGilchrist mounts an epistemological critique of institutionalised nutritional science, arguing that official health guidance is vulnerable to commercial distortion and bureaucratic failure.

McGilchrist, Iain, The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World, 2021thesis

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

it is important that the services that support individuals with substance use disorders begin to use the nutritional and psychological knowledge that is available to support recovery, and that more research is done to understand what efficacious and effective nutrition-related interventions can be implemented.

Jeynes concludes that translating existing nutritional and psychological knowledge into clinical practice is the immediate priority for substance-use-disorder treatment services.

Jeynes, Kendall D., The importance of nutrition in aiding recovery from substance use disorders: A review, 2012supporting

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

the PREDIMED trial… showed that a Mediterranean style diet with nuts led to a reduced risk for developing depression… a recent review showed that the adherence to a high-quality diet, such as a Mediterranean diet, led to a better mental health status.

Mörkl cites prospective trial evidence that dietary quality is a modifiable risk factor for depression onset, lending preventive as well as therapeutic significance to nutritional science.

Mörkl, Sabrina, The Role of Nutrition and the Gut-Brain Axis in Psychiatry: A Review of the Literature, 2020supporting

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

heroin addicts consume less than the minimum amount of vegetable, fruit and grains recommended by the food pyramid and are more eager to have sweets… the scope of nutrition services has not been defined well in detoxification programs.

Nabipour et al. document the dietary patterns of opiate-addicted individuals and critique the absence of formalised nutritional services within detoxification programmes.

Nabipour, Sepideh, Burden and Nutritional Deficiencies in Opiate Addiction- Systematic Review Article, 2014supporting

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

When patients dependent on heroin or opiates are given a combination of amino acids (namely, phenylalanine, tryptophan, tyrosine, and glutamine) while undergoing detoxification, they show a significant reduction in the craving for opiates.

Mahboub reports evidence that targeted amino-acid supplementation during detoxification attenuates opiate craving, proposing a direct nutritional mechanism for managing withdrawal.

Mahboub, Nadine, Nutritional status and eating habits of people who use drugs and/or are undergoing treatment for recovery: a narrative review, 2021supporting

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

a recent meta-analysis concluded that nutritional interventions may have beneficial effects on clinical outcomes for patients with alcoholic hepatitis or cirrhosis, including survival and decreased risk of hepatic encephalopathy and infections.

Wiss marshals meta-analytic evidence that nutritional interventions produce measurable improvements in survival and complication rates for alcohol-related liver disease.

Wiss, David A., The Role of Nutrition in Addiction Recovery: What We Know and What We Don’t, 2019supporting

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

Reinforcement of consumption of substances of abuse and of sweet foods share the same reward pathways in the brain… activation of mu-opioid receptors occurs following dopaminergic signals from the ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens.

Jeynes identifies shared neurobiological reward pathways between substance use and sweet-food consumption, establishing a neurochemical basis for nutritional intervention in addiction.

Jeynes, Kendall D., The importance of nutrition in aiding recovery from substance use disorders: A review, 2012supporting

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

substance use can compromise the user’s nutrition and greatly affects their dietary habits… money is usually spent on drugs rather than on food. This severely affects the user’s food intake, which eventually leads to undernutrition.

Mahboub situates nutritional deprivation within the socioeconomic and behavioural context of drug use, identifying poverty and chaotic lifestyle as compounding determinants.

Mahboub, Nadine, Nutritional status and eating habits of people who use drugs and/or are undergoing treatment for recovery: a narrative review, 2021supporting

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

Sobriety is associated with new emotions, anxiety, and uncertainty. It is easy to seek a predictable and comforting response from food. This may lead to overeating, relapse, compromised quality of life, and the development of chronic disease.

Wiss draws attention to the psychological dimension of post-abstinence eating behaviour, framing hedonic food use as a relapse-risk factor that nutritional intervention must address.

Wiss, David A., The Role of Nutrition in Addiction Recovery: What We Know and What We Don’t, 2019supporting

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

Substances like heroin may compete with food in the brain activating reward pathways and increasing dopamine receptor availability, thus suppressing the appetite and leading to lower body weight.

Mahboub explains the appetite-suppressive mechanism of opiates through dopaminergic competition with food reward, linking neurochemistry directly to nutritional outcomes.

Mahboub, Nadine, Nutritional status and eating habits of people who use drugs and/or are undergoing treatment for recovery: a narrative review, 2021supporting

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

Decreased plasma cholesterol levels have been associated with many negative psychological behaviors, including aggression, depression, and suicide… Low plasma cholesterol levels can alter tissue concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids, the depletion of which has important consequences on modulating the serotonergic and dopaminergic functions.

Mahboub links the lipid dysregulation consequent on drug-induced malnutrition to specific psychological pathologies, illuminating a nutritional pathway to mood and behavioural disturbance.

Mahboub, Nadine, Nutritional status and eating habits of people who use drugs and/or are undergoing treatment for recovery: a narrative review, 2021supporting

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

subjects with AUD given nutrition counselling, who may have chosen to eat more or more regularly, had less alcohol craving and more periods of abstinence… interactions between dependency and nutritional status… are schematically illustrated.

Jeynes provides clinical evidence that nutritional counselling reduces craving and increases abstinence periods, supporting a bidirectional feed-forward model of nutrition and addiction.

Jeynes, Kendall D., The importance of nutrition in aiding recovery from substance use disorders: A review, 2012supporting

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

the consumption of these compounds due to the agile development and physical dependency has been so relentlessly troubled… addiction was perceived as disease of poor characteristics and was not systematically addressed by the medical and academic societies until 20th century.

Nabipour contextualises the historical marginalisation of addiction as a medical concern, situating the neglect of nutritional factors within a broader legacy of professional disregard.

Nabipour, Sepideh, Burden and Nutritional Deficiencies in Opiate Addiction- Systematic Review Article, 2014aside

Dig deeper with Sebastian →

measures of MA-induced neurotoxicity are reduced by antioxidants selenium and CoQ10. Supplemental antioxidants appear promising, particularly if there are challenges implementing nutrition therapy focused on whole plant foods with high fiber and high antioxidant potential.

Wiss identifies specific supplemental antioxidants as pragmatic nutritional tools for reducing methamphetamine-induced neurotoxicity when whole-food interventions are difficult to implement.

Wiss, David A., The Role of Nutrition in Addiction Recovery: What We Know and What We Don’t, 2019aside

Dig deeper with Sebastian →