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Review
. 2014 Oct;104(10):e31-42.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.302110.

Relationship between diet and mental health in children and adolescents: a systematic review

Adrienne O'Neil  1 , Shae E Quirk, Siobhan Housden, Sharon L Brennan, Lana J Williams, Julie A Pasco, Michael Berk, Felice N Jacka
Affiliations
Review

Relationship between diet and mental health in children and adolescents: a systematic review

Adrienne O'Neil et al. Am J Public Health. 2014 Oct.

Abstract

We systematically reviewed 12 epidemiological studies to determine whether an association exists between diet quality and patterns and mental health in children and adolescents; 9 explored the relationship using diet as the exposure, and 3 used mental health as the exposure. We found evidence of a significant, cross-sectional relationship between unhealthy dietary patterns and poorer mental health in children and adolescents. We observed a consistent trend for the relationship between good-quality diet and better mental health and some evidence for the reverse. When including only the 7 studies deemed to be of high methodological quality, all but 1 of these trends remained. Findings highlight the potential importance of the relationship between dietary patterns or quality and mental health early in the life span.

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