NutriMind: A Combination of Healthy Diet and Psychotherapy to Treat Depression

Overview

University students in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) continue to face growing rates of depression, a common mental health problem. Adding to this burden is the mental health treatment gap, necessitating the need to identify new treatment methods that can easily be implemented at a large scale. This project will test if a healthy diet combined with mindfulness-based cognitive therapy can reduce depressive symptoms among university students in Uganda, a low resource country. The burden of depression is high in sub-Saharan African countries, largely worsened by poverty, hunger and poor public health service, and lately the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors increase psychological distress among young people in sensitive periods of life, such as students who are about to choose their career and establish family. Successfully managing depression in LMIC is likely to depend on low-cost treatment that can easily be managed to large target populations, yet still be at the scientific forefront, proof-based, and culturally acceptable. This can possibly be obtained with an intervention combining healthy diet and cognitive behavioral therapy based on mindfulness principles. While healthy diets and mindfulness cognitive therapy individually can partly lessen the burden of depression, these two therapeutic modalities have not been tested in combination among university students in sub-Saharan Africa, i.e. a synergistic effect that is still to be studied. With the NutriMind Trial, its investigators focus on a neglected global mental health challenge, namely depression among university students in Uganda.

Despite being a major global health issue for decades, Common Mental Health Problems (CMHPs), such as depression, remains neglected. University students worldwide are facing growing rates of CMHPs, with few or no mental health services available. The burden of CMHPs is highest in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), largely worsened by poverty, hunger and poor public health governance. These factors increase stress, in particular among students who are about to choose their career, both in academia and later in the work force. Successfully managing CMHPs in LMICs is likely to depend on treatment methods that can easily be administered to the target population, yet still be at the scientific forefront, evidence-based, and culturally acceptable. Wellness-based therapy includes behavioural changes like mindfulness-based cognitive therapies and nutritional interventions. While systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials show that such treatment modalities may lessen the burden of CMPHs, including depression, they have not been tested among university students in LMICs. The NutriMind investigators will therefore perform a randomized controlled trial to test if mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and/or a healthy diet (modified Mediterranean diet) will reduce depressive symptoms among university students in Uganda, a low-income country. In addition to evaluate the clinical outcomes, the investigators will analyse biomarkers for various metabolic pathways, as studies have related e.g. inflammation and oxidative stress to depression. Recent studies also indicate that the microbiome can play a role in depression through orchestrating metabolic signals to the brain. Notwithstanding these ambitious goals, our experienced and cross-disciplinary team puts us in an advantageous position to successfully accomplish this work. The overall goal of the project is thus to test pragmatic lifestyle interventions in a population at high risk of depression in a low-resource setting and link the study outcomes to biological processes. If the investigators succeed, they can readily identify those who will improve from the intervention and provide an opportunity to respond to current gaps in mental health treatment, in particular in LMICs. In doing so, this novel project will address the World Health Organization's appeal for immediate and sustained action to reduce mental health illnesses, and the Lancet Commission's call for a substantial global shift toward healthy dietary patterns, as well as United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in particular nos. 3 (good health and well-being) and 4 (quality education).