What is Nutritional Psychiatry? Position statement from the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research

Nutritional Psychiatry is an evidence-based transdisciplinary investigation and transdiagnostic application of how diet and nutrients influence mental and brain health across the life course. Grounded in a biopsychosocial model with an emphasis on biological mechanisms, it encompasses prevention, treatment, and adjunctive care; integrates with standard therapies; supports both self-directed, peer-supported, and professionally guided approaches; spans individual and population-level interventions; and addresses both individual and structural dietary determinants.
Core elements
• Evidence-based: grounded in the best available scientific evidence across epidemiology, clinical trials, preclinical and mechanistic
research.
• Biopsychosocial, with a biological emphasis: Nutritional Psychiatry emphasizes biological pathways linking nutrition and mental health, while conceptualizing these processes within a broader biopsychosocial framework that encompasses psychological and social determinants, psychosocial mechanisms, and recovery-oriented social outcomes.
• Integrative: aligns with, and can be embedded within, standard models of care.
• Prevention, treatment, and adjunctive care: includes preventive strategies and therapeutic applications, and positions nutritional approaches as complementary to established psychological and pharmacological treatments.
• Supports self-directed, peer-supported, and professionally guided approaches: includes evidence-based behavior change strategies, supported self-management, peer-facilitated models, and clinician-delivered interventions.
• Individual and population-level applications: spans clinical interventions and broader public health strategies.
• Addresses individual and structural dietary determinants: considers both personal-level factors and wider food environments, access, affordability, and policy influences.
• Transdisciplinary and transdiagnostic: recognizes that diet is a shared risk factor for commonly comorbid mental and physical non-communicable disorders.