Food therapy

We live in trying times, and a better diet may help in reducing the debilitating symptoms of anxiety.

- Jennifer Bowden

Question: I understand that a healthy diet can help with the treatment of depression, but does diet have any impact on anxiety? I have been diagnosed with a generalised anxiety disorder.

Answer:

The cost-of-living crisis along with the global pandemic have given many people plenty to worry about. Yet even before the pandemic began, researchers had identified a substantial increase in general anxiety in recent decades. Rates of anxiety and depression globally climbed a further 25% in the first year of the Covid-19 outbreak, according to the World Health Organisation. And the 2022 Southern Cross Healthy Futures Report, which surveyed more than 5000 New Zealanders, found cost-of-living stress was affecting both physical and mental health, including by disrupting sleep and exercise.

Anxiety disorders are marked by excessive worry, to the point it is counterproductive, and affect physical, emotional and social functioning. Many forms exist: generalised anxiety, social anxiety, panic disorders, agoraphobia, separation anxiety disorders and more. Generalised anxiety disorder is defined in the Lancet as "a persistent and common disorder in which the patient has unfocused worry and anxiety that is not connected to recent stressful events, although it can be aggravated by certain situations".

Observational research has long linked healthier diets, such as the Mediterranean one, to better mental health. But observational studies cannot prove that the diet caused the better mental health they only show an association between the two.