Wherever you are in the world, food is used to influence affective states – whether it’s a soothing bowl of congee or chicken soup when you are unwell, or a piece of chocolate when you are feeling miserable.

The question is, how deep is food’s potential to affect how people feel? Can f...

Alcoholic beverages can, in excess, be detrimental to mood, and research indicates a relationship between excessive alcohol consumption and major depression. Try to stay within or below national recommendations for healthy consumption. If yo...

Emerging and accumulating evidence indicates that modifiable features of our lifestyles that influence our immune systems - including nutrition - are important factors in our vulnerability to, severity, and recovery from depression.

• We tend to eat habitually, choosing foods and flavour profiles that are familiar.
• We need to approach changes to your eating with openness and patience
• It's best to try new foods when you are in a good mood and to approach them with a sense of curiosity.
• Prepare to fo...

• A whole-food, plant-heavy, fibre-rich diet might reduce depression risk through its anti-inflammatory qualities, through its effects on gut microbes and via other pathways.
• Approach changes to your eating with openness and patience. Give healthy new additions to your diet a few chanc...

Supporting a healthy and diverse gut microbiome is likely to be beneficial to mood regulation. The primary food for the population of gut microbes is fibre, acquired by the consumption of a broad range of wholegrains and plant foods – nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, legumes, fruits and vegetables.

A Western-style diet – high in added sugars, refined carbohydrates, processed meat, fried/fast foods and saturated fats – is associated with increased depression risk in adults and more inflammation and depression in adolescents. There is also evidence that a Western-style diet can impair memory ...

There is an even faster way to increase the diversity of your gut inhabitants: fermented foods. Fermented products – foods and drinks that have undergone bacterial fermentation – have been a feature of traditional diets around the world for thousands of years. They include kimchi, kombucha, kvass...