EnvironMENTAL DIET Study

Investigators

• Lais Bhering Martins, collaboratrice scientifique, Haute école de santé Genève

• Angéline Chatelan, professeure HES assistante, Haute école de santé Genève

• Séverine Vuilleumier, professeure HES ordinaire, Institut et Haute École de la Santé La Source

External partners

• Pedro Marques-Vidal, professeur ordinaire à la Faculté de biologie et de médecine de l’Unil et chercheur au Service de médecine interne du CHUV

• Martin Preisig, professeur honoraire à la Faculté de biologie et de médecine de l’Unil et directeur du Centre d’épidémiologie psychiatrique et de psychopathologie du CHUV

Mental health problems are increasingly common globally, and there is growing evidence that diet plays an important role in preventing mental disorders. At the same time, unhealthy diets have a very large impact on the environment and contribute to climate change, biodiversity loss and use a large part of our environmental resources.

Unsing a Swiss cohort, we are exploring how the Planetary Health Diet (also called EAT-Lancet diet) could promote mental health. This diet was recommended by a group of 37 scientists in 2019 as a way of eating that should benefit both human health and the planet. We investigate, with a retrospective analysis, whether this diet could reduce the risk of developing mood and anxiety disorders. We also assess whether this diet modulates inflammation with potential benefits for mental health.

A better understanding of the links between food choices, mental health, and the environment would be beneficial for both the prevention of mental disorders and the lowering of the impact of diets on climate change. This should ultimately lead to recommendations that benefit both our well-being and the planet.

2024-2025.