A Mediterranean-style dietary intervention supplemented with fish oil improves diet quality and mental health in people with depression: A randomized controlled trial (HELFIMED)
Parletta N, Zarnowiecki D, Cho J, Wilson A, Bogomolova S, Villani A, Itsiopoulos C, Niyonsenga T, Blunden S, Meyer B, Segal L, Baune BT, O'Dea K
Nutritional neuroscience · 401 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Randomized controlled trial (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- University or hospital
- University of South Australia
- Government
- Medical Research Council
- Government
- Australian Research Council
- Government
- National Health and Medical Research Council
- Grants
- Australian Research Council (DE130101577); National Health and Medical Research Council (631947); National Health and Medical Research Council (320860)
Based on 4 listed funder(s).
Publication
- Published
- 2017-12-07 · Nutr Neurosci · vol. 22 · issue 7 · pp. 474–487
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- Cited
- 631 citations · more than 100% of similar papers · 31.4× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 59 works
- Access
- Open access (hybrid journal) · CC-BY-NC-ND
- Research areas
- Nutritional Studies and Diet · Fatty Acid Research and Health · Diet and metabolism studies
- Keywords
- Randomized controlled trial, Mental health, Mediterranean diet, Depression (economics), Intervention (counseling), Fish oil, Fish <Actinopterygii>, Environmental health, Medicine, Psychiatry, Psychology, Biology, Internal medicine, Fishery
- MeSH
- humans, fatty acids, omega-3, fatty acids, omega-6, fish oils, treatment outcome, depression, mental health, diet, mediterranean, quality of life, dietary supplements, adolescent, adult, aged, middle aged, female, male, young adult
13 authors
From AU
- Natalie Parletta · correspondingUniversity of South Australia
- Dorota M. ZarnowieckiUniversity of South Australia
- Ji‐Hyun ChoUniversity of South Australia
- Amy L. WilsonUniversity of South Australia
- Svetlana BogomolovaUniversity of South Australia
- Anthony M. VillaniUniversity of the Sunshine Coast
Abstract
Objectives
We investigated whether a Mediterranean-style diet (MedDiet) supplemented with fish oil can improve mental health in adults suffering depression.
Methods
Adults with self-reported depression were randomized to receive fortnightly food hampers and MedDiet cooking workshops for 3 months and fish oil supplements for 6 months, or attend social groups fortnightly for 3 months. Assessments at baseline, 3 and 6 months included mental health, quality of life (QoL) and dietary questionnaires, and blood samples for erythrocyte fatty acid analysis.
Results
n = 152 eligible adults aged 18-65 were recruited (n = 95 completed 3-month and n = 85 completed 6-month assessments). At 3 months, the MedDiet group had a higher MedDiet score (t = 3.95, P < 0.01), consumed more vegetables (t = 3.95, P < 0.01), fruit (t = 2.10, P = 0.04), nuts (t = 2.29, P = 0.02), legumes (t = 2.41, P = 0.02) wholegrains (t = 2.63, P = 0.01), and vegetable diversity (t = 3.27, P < 0.01); less unhealthy snacks (t = -2.10, P = 0.04) and red meat/chicken (t = -2.13, P = 0.04). The MedDiet group had greater reduction in depression (t = -2.24, P = 0.03) and improved mental health QoL scores (t = 2.10, P = 0.04) at 3 months. Improved diet and mental health were sustained at 6 months. Reduced depression was correlated with an increased MedDiet score (r = -0.298, P = 0.01), nuts (r = -0.264, P = 0.01), and vegetable diversity (r = -0.303, P = 0.01). Other mental health improvements had similar correlations, most notably for increased vegetable diversity and legumes. There were some correlations between increased omega-3, decreased omega-6 and improved mental health.
Discussion
This is one of the first randomized controlled trials to show that healthy dietary changes are achievable and, supplemented with fish oil, can improve mental health in people with depression.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY-NC-ND).
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