With mental disorders a leading source of disability globally, the identification of new targets for prevention and management is imperative. The 20th century has seen major shifts in dietary intakes globally, with the industrialised food system and its sequelae now recognised as the leading risk factor for chronic disease and related early mortality globally, as well as biodiversity loss. There is now a large and consistent body of evidence to tell us that unhealthy diet is also a key risk factor and efficacious and cost-effective treatment target for the common mental disorders, depression, anxiety, and emerging evidence for the role of diet in neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders.
Deakin Distinguished Professor Jacka OAM has pioneered the new field of Nutritional Psychiatry by leading the development of a robust body of evidence regarding the influence of lifestyle behaviours, particularly diet, on common mental disorders. In this presentation, she will provide an up-to-date, critical assessment of the evidence regarding the role of diet quality in depression and anxiety across age groups and countries. She will cover the new understanding of the mechanistic pathways linking diet to mental and brain health with a focus on the microbiota-gut-brain axis. Finally, she will discuss the evidence for diet as a key clinical strategy for improving mental and brain health, outline the new research and translation activities underway in this field, and address the research, clinical and policy imperatives for translating the evidence into improvements to individual and population health.
Deakin Distinguished Professor Felice Jacka OAM is internationally recognized as a leader in the rapidly developing field of research focused on Nutritional Psychiatry and is the founder and immediate-past president of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research (ISNPR). She is also founder and director of the Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University. She is the author of the book ‘Brain Changer’ through Pan Macmillan in Australia and Yellow Kite Books in the UK (2019) and ‘There’s a Zoo in my Poo’, published by Pan Macmillan in July 2020. She was a Clarivate Highly Cited researcher (2020-24incl), putting her in the top 0.1% of scientists worldwide. In 2021 she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (Queen’s honour) for her contributions to Nutritional Psychiatry. In 2026 she was awarded the highly prestigious L’Oreal-UNESCO For Women In Science Laureate for Asia and the Pacific region. Given the exceptionality of this prize, shared by seven previous Nobel Prize winners, this is an extraordinary recognition of her contribution to science in general, and the field of psychiatry in particular.