Nutrition and Psychiatry: Experience of Attending the 19th WPA World Congress of Psychiatry

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Ekaterina Veniaminova
About the Author

Ekaterina Veniaminova, PhD, is a visiting trainee in Würzburg University (Germany), appointed in the Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Russia). She studies molecular and cellular effects of Western diet on metabolism and behaviour in mice.


Recently I had a great chance to participate in the 19th WPA World Congress of Psychiatry which took place in Lisbon 21-24 of August 2019. Such an international scientific event summarizes recent findings and sets a trend for future research.

The effect of lifestyle on mental health was one of the topics discussed at the conference. Focusing on nutritional impact in psychiatry I will review here some of the studies – research done in animal models or patients and literature reviews – which were presented at the Congress.

All the poster presentations can be viewed on the conference website https://2019.wcp-congress.com/.

Dietary patterns and mental health

  1. Sanchez-Villegas and colleagues from Spain presented research on the Mediterranean diet’s effects in patients recovered from depressive disorders. They found that adherence to Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil led to the improvement of depressive symptoms. This new study supports previous reports about positive effects of traditional dietary patterns compared to so-called “Western diet”, and this topic was nicely reviewed in the poster presentation of M. Jesus and colleagues (Portugal).

I presented a poster on a study done in a mouse model of Western diet feeding. We found that genetic deficiency of serotonin transporter exacerbates metabolic alterations and such behavioural consequences of the Western diet as depressive-like behaviour and cognitive impairment. In human, carriers of a genetic variant that reduces serotonin transporter expression are known to be more susceptible to emotionality-related disorders and prone to obesity and diabetes.

Vitamin D and Mental Health

Nutritional psychiatry was traditionally focused on the effects of vitamins and micronutrients on mental health. Several presentations at this conference were dedicated to the role of vitamin D in mental disorders.

Scientists from Egypt (T. Okasha and colleagues) showed their results on the correlation between serum level of vitamin D and two psychiatric disorders: schizophrenia and depression. They found lower serum vitamin D levels in the patients with schizophrenia or depression compared to healthy volunteers. These findings indicate a role of vitamin D in the development of psychiatric disorders.

However, the team from Denmark (J. Hansen and colleagues) did not find any effect of 3 months vitamin D supplementation on depression symptoms in patients with major depression. The contrariety of the studies on vitamin D benefits in mental health was presented on the review poster by R. Avelar and colleagues (Portugal).

Microbiome and Mental Health

There is increasing evidence that microbiota-gut-brain axis influences behaviour and mental health. N. Watanabe and colleagues (Japan) presented the results of a study on germfree and commensal microbiota-associated mice. They found increased aggression and impaired brain serotonin metabolism in germfree mice.

  1. Dias and colleagues (Portugal) performed a literature review on this topic exploring possible effects of microbiome and probiotics in mental disorder development. The most robust evidence was found for the association of microbiome alterations and depression/anxiety. Up to date literature is lacking replicated findings on proving positive effects of probiotics in mental disorders treatment.

Diabetes Type 2 and Mental Disorders

Risk factors for type 2 diabetes include diet and lifestyle habits. It is getting more obvious that there is an association between type 2 diabetes and the development of mental disorders.

  1. Mhalla and colleagues (Tunisia) reported a study done on patients with type 2 diabetes. They found a high prevalence of depression in women with type 2 diabetes. Also, depression in these patients was associated with poorer glycemic control.

Depression is an important factor influencing insomnia. H.C. Kim (Republic of Korea) found insomnia in one-third of patients with diabetes type 2.

The group from Romania (A. Ciobanu and colleagues) created a meta-analysis of the medical literature showing an association of diabetes type 2 with Alzheimer’s disease. They highlighted the role of insulin signaling in cognition and proposed glucose blood level control as a therapeutic approach in Alzheimer’s disease.

Thus, a lot of studies were recently done on the role of nutrition in psychiatric disorders development and therapy. However, there is still room for future discoveries!