What if your psychiatrist prescribed yogurt and vegetables as an antidepressant?
It may sound like alternative medicine, but researchers at the intersection of psychiatry and biochemistry think that adding certain beneficial bacteria to a person's intestines could be the future for treating anxiety and depression.
Bacteria aside, studies have found that a diet high in vegetables and low in processed foods correlates with lower rates of depression. But showing that what you eat actually affects your mental health has been more complicated, because people who are depressed may be less likely to eat healthier, and not the other way around.
But now, in a recent study out of Australia's Deakin University, scientists say they have used food to effectively treat depression.
“It's the first controlled experiment, to our knowledge, to show that dietary intervention can curb mood disorders,” says Dr. Felice Jacka, a psychiatrist at Deakin and the study's lead researcher.