Advances in dietary interventions for the treatment of depression-related symptoms

Abstract

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common mental illness. Currently, nearly 16% of the global population is affected by depression-related symptoms, while the diagnosis and treatment rate of MDD patients in China is only 9.5%. MDD is characterised by high morbidity and low recovery rate, and how to effectively improve its therapeutic effect has been a hot research topic in recent years. Antidepressants, as the main treatment for MDD, have the disadvantages of many adverse effects and slow onset of action, prompting people to pay attention to the non-pharmacological treatments of MDD. Dietary intervention is a kind of non-pharmacological treatment by changing dietary structures and rhythms; the current application of dietary intervention to psychiatry is very extensive, and it has been proved to be effective in the treatment of depression. Recent research suggests that dietary interventions can treat and ameliorate depressive symptoms by influencing brain-gut axis-related eating mechanisms. This article reviews the multidimensional exploration of dietary interventions in the treatment of depression: dietary structure interventions, dietary rhythm interventions, and the role of intestinal flora. It details the modalities of dietary interventions and the related mechanisms involved, and provides reference for dietary interventions in the treatment of depression-related symptoms.

Keywords

• major depressive disorder
• dietary intervention
• non-pharmacological treatment
• brain-gut axis
• intestinal flora