New study highlights potential value of dietary change in depression treatment

At the end of last month, a fascinating new research study was published in the open access journal BMC Medicine.  The article is "A randomised controlled trial of dietary improvement for adults with major depression (the ‘SMILES’ trial)" and its abstract reads "Background The possible therapeutic impact of dietary changes on existing mental illness is largely unknown. Using a randomised controlled trial design, we aimed to investigate the efficacy of a dietary improvement program for the treatment of major depressive episodes.  Methods ‘SMILES’ was a 12-week, parallel-group, single blind, randomised controlled trial of an adjunctive dietary intervention in the treatment of moderate to severe depression.

Common sense isn’t common

Common sense isn’t common, at least with healthy behaviours. The vast majority of us know that we should eat sensibly, be a reasonable weight, exercise regularly, not abuse alcohol, and avoid smoking. Do you know what percentage of people actually follow all this obvious advice? A survey (Reeves and Rafferty 2005) of over 153,000 US adults in 2000 found that only 3% ticked all four boxes when asked if they didn’t smoke, were a healthy weight (body mass index, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by square of height in meters, 18.5 to 25.0), consumed 5 or more portions of fruit and vegetables daily, and exercised in leisure time for at least 30 minutes, 5 or more times per week (this includes brisk walking).
{"cc_re__cc_re__cc_by_3_0_en": ["t:left;margin-right:15px;width:86px\" src=\"https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png\" />\n</a><span xmlns:dct=\"http://purl.org/dc/terms/\" property=\"dct:title\">Good Medicine </span> by <span xmlns:cc=\"http://creativecommons.org/ns#\" property=\"cc:attributionName\">Dr James Hawkins</span> is licensed under a <a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/\"><br>Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.\n</div>\n\n      \n        \n       <!-- <div class=\"cc\">\n\t\t\n\t<a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US\"><img alt=\"Creative Commons License\" style=\"border-width:0\" src=\"http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/3.0/88x31.png\" /></a><br /><span xmlns:dct=\"http://purl.org/dc/terms/\" property=\"dct:title\">Good Medicine</span> by <a xmlns:cc=\"http://creativecommons.org/ns#\" href=\"www.goodmedicine.org.uk\" property=\"cc:attributionName\" rel=\"cc:attributionURL\">Dr James Hawkins</a> is licensed under a <a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US\">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unpo", "   \n       <!-- <div class=\"cc\">\n\t\t\n\t<a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US\"><img alt=\"Creative Commons License\" style=\"border-width:0\" src=\"http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/3.0/88x31.png\" /></a><br /><span xmlns:dct=\"http://purl.org/dc/terms/\" property=\"dct:title\">Good Medicine</span> by <a xmlns:cc=\"http://creativecommons.org/ns#\" href=\"www.goodmedicine.org.uk\" property=\"cc:attributionName\" rel=\"cc:attributionURL\">Dr James Hawkins</a> is licensed under a <a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US\">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License</a>.<br />Based on a work at <a xmlns:dct=\"http://purl.org/dc/terms/\" href=\"www.goodmedicine.org.uk\" rel=\"dct:source\">www.goodmedicine.org.uk</a>.\n</div>-->\n           <div class=\"large-9 small-12 columns footer-menu\">\n       <ul class=\"menu\"><li class=\"leaf first\"><a href=\"/legal/cookie-policy\" title=\"\" class=\" level-1\">Cookie policy</a></li>\n<li class=\"leaf\"><a href=\"/legal/privacy-policy\" title=\"\" class=\" level-1\">Privacy policy</a></li>\n<li c"], "cc_re__cc_re__cc_by_4_0": [">\n                  <div style=\"position: absolute; left: -5000px;\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"b_e61cd975f4b9e7c13db724b4e_84d9b2a8ca\" tabindex=\"-1\" value=\"\"></div>\n              <div class=\"clear large-12\"><div class=\"small-6 small-centered columns\"><input type=\"submit\" value=\"Subscribe\" name=\"subscribe\" id=\"mc-embedded-subscribe\" class=\"button\"></div></div>\n\n          </form>\n      </div>\n      </div>\n      <!--End mc_embed_signup-->\n\n<div class=\"cc large-4 small-12 columns\">\n<a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/\">\n    <img alt=\"Creative Commons License\" style=\"border-width:0;float:left;margin-right:15px;width:86px\" src=\"https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png\" />\n</a><span xmlns:dct=\"http://purl.org/dc/terms/\" property=\"dct:title\">Good Medicine </span> by <span xmlns:cc=\"http://creativecommons.org/ns#\" property=\"cc:attributionName\">Dr James Hawkins</span> is licensed under a <a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/\"><br>Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Lic", "_signup-->\n\n<div class=\"cc large-4 small-12 columns\">\n<a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/\">\n    <img alt=\"Creative Commons License\" style=\"border-width:0;float:left;margin-right:15px;width:86px\" src=\"https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png\" />\n</a><span xmlns:dct=\"http://purl.org/dc/terms/\" property=\"dct:title\">Good Medicine </span> by <span xmlns:cc=\"http://creativecommons.org/ns#\" property=\"cc:attributionName\">Dr James Hawkins</span> is licensed under a <a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/\"><br>Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.\n</div>\n\n      \n        \n       <!-- <div class=\"cc\">\n\t\t\n\t<a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US\"><img alt=\"Creative Commons License\" style=\"border-width:0\" src=\"http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/3.0/88x31.png\" /></a><br /><span xmlns:dct=\"http://purl.org/dc/terms/\" property=\"dct:title\">Good Medicine</span> by <a xmlns:cc=\"http://creativecommons.org/ns#\" href=\"www.goodmedicine.org.uk\" property=\"c"], "copyright__copyright__copyright": ["centage of people actually follow all this obvious advice? A survey (Reeves and Rafferty 2005) of over 153,000 US adults in 2000 found that only 3% ticked all four boxes when asked if they didn\u2019t smoke, were a healthy weight (body mass index, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by square of height in meters, 18.5 to 25.0), consumed 5 or more portions of fruit and vegetables daily, and exercised in leisure time for at least 30 minutes, 5 or more times per week (this includes brisk walking).", "centage of people actually follow all this obvious advice? A survey (Reeves and Rafferty 2005) of over 153,000 US adults in 2000 found that only 3% ticked all four boxes when asked if they didn\u2019t smoke, were a healthy weight (body mass index, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by square of height in meters, 18.5 to 25.0), consumed 5 or more portions of fruit and vegetables daily, and exercised in leisure time for at least 30 minutes, 5 or more times per week (this includes brisk walking)."]}