Doctor shares what to eat for mental health and what to avoid: ‘Eating processed foods can worsen your mental health’ (2025)

We all have our go-to comfort foods, but what we eat might be doing more than just satisfying cravings. From mood dips to feeling anxious or low, our daily diet could be shaping how we feel mentally too. In his April 4 podcast, Stanford neurobiology professor Andrew Huberman spoke with Harvard psychiatrist Dr Chris Palmer about how food choices can affect mental health. (Also read: Mental health crisis: Study finds anxiety and depression have surged to historic highs in young people )

What's the link between diet and mental health

Sharing a clip from their conversation on Instagram, Huberman wrote in the caption, “The idea that what we eat can impact our mood and mental health comes at no surprise. However, it's only recently that scientific and clinical studies have begun to establish the powerful relationship between eating highly processed foods and mental health disorders. Alterations in mitochondria likely represent the bridge between these two factors.”

He added, "There is an abundance of data showing that eating mostly unprocessed or minimally processed foods has a positive effect on mental health. Of course, results such as these are correlative. There are a lot of lifestyle issues that likely accompany the consumption of highly processed foods or the avoidance of them, for that matter."

Shocking findings on ultra-processed foods

During the conversation, Dr. Palmer explained, "The more ultra-processed foods you eat, the worse your physical and mental health. It's cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, mortality, cancer and a broad range of mental disorders. One study with over 300,000 people showed a direct, linear relationship between ultra-processed food consumption and poor mental health. It was shocking how linear it was."

He added, "And it was so striking, it wasn't a subtle difference. It wasn't like a 3% difference. It was a threefold difference. Among those who consumed ultra-processed foods every day, multiple times a day, 58% reported poor mental health, compared to just 18% of people who rarely or never ate them."

Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.

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