Food, Brain and Mental Health programme
Improving brain and mental health through better understanding of the influence of food and nutrition
YPMH’s Food, Brain and Mental Health programme will explore how food and nutrition may influence brain development and mental health from pregnancy to early adulthood – and how robust evidence can be translated into practical action.
Mental health is shaped by many interacting biological, psychological, social and environmental factors. Food and nutrition form an important part of this picture, but the relationships are complex and the evidence is often fragmented. We need greater clarity about which relationships are supported by robust evidence, which pathways and life stages may be most important, where important uncertainties remain and what can realistically be changed.
The three-year programme will bring together research evidence with the expertise and experience of young people, families, researchers, practitioners, innovators, policymakers, food-system organisations and funders. It will focus initially on depression and anxiety, while establishing foundations for wider work on lifelong brain health.
What will the programme explore?
Using YPMH’s Understand : Innovate : Implement approach, the programme will:
- identify and assess the pathways through which food and nutrition may influence brain development, depression and anxiety
- examine how these pathways interact with people’s circumstances and wider social, economic and food environments
- identify important gaps, uncertainties and priorities for further research
- explore opportunities for new or improved interventions, products, services and policies
- help promising approaches progress towards development, evaluation, adoption and implementation
- produce accessible resources and, where the evidence supports them, practical recommendations for different audiences
Our approach to food and mental health
Our aim is not to suggest that diet alone can prevent or treat mental ill health, or to place responsibility on individuals and families. It is to establish where changes to food, nutrition and the wider environment could make a meaningful contribution alongside other forms of prevention, support and treatment.
The programme will consider both the biological pathways through which food and nutrition may influence brain development and mental health, and the wider circumstances that shape what people are able to eat. These include factors such as food access and affordability, social and economic circumstances, food environments, services and policy.
Accelerating evidence-informed action
By connecting understanding, innovation and implementation, the programme will seek to accelerate credible, evidence-informed action that supports healthy brain development and better mental health across early life and into early adulthood.
The programme will move beyond reviewing the evidence. It will use that evidence to identify priorities for research and innovation, explore promising interventions and policies and help translate the strongest opportunities into practical approaches that can be evaluated, adopted and sustained.
Keep up to date
The programme will develop over the next three years as we build the evidence, work with partners and identify opportunities for action. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest findings, insights and resources.