PsychEd Episode 26: Nutritional Psychiatry with Dr. Laura LaChance PsychEd: educational psychiatry podcast

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This episode covers nutritional psychiatry with expert guest Dr. Laura LaChance, Staff Psychiatrist and Director of Outpatient Psychiatry at St. Mary’s Hospital Centre in Montreal, Quebec and Faculty Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University.
 
The learning objectives for this episode are as follows:
 
By the end of this episode, you should be able to…
 
1)      Define nutritional psychiatry
2)      Understand the mechanisms, common misconceptions, challenges, and current evidence supporting the role for nutrition in mental health
3)      Apply this understanding to clinical cases in psychiatry
 
Guest: Dr. Laura LaChance
Hosts: Dr. Sarah Hanafi (PGY2), Dr. Nima Nahiddi (PGY2), Gray Meckling (CC3)
Audio editing by Dr. Alex Raben (PGY5)
Show notes by Gray Meckling
 
Interview Content:
 
·       Introduction and learning objectives – 0:35
·       Dr. Laura LaChance’s professional background – 1:50
·       Definition of nutritional psychiatry and history of the field – 3:35
·       Putative mechanisms through which nutrition is implicated in mental health – 7:00
·       Common misconceptions surrounding the role for nutrition in mental health – 11:45
·       Current evidence supporting the role for nutrition in the management of psychiatric illness – 16:00
·       Case-based examples of nutrition in clinical psychiatry – 23:35
·       Challenges to capitalizing on this mode of intervention in psychiatry – 32:30
·       Taking a dietary history in the context of mental health – 34:50
·       Future directions in the field of nutritional psychiatry – 41:20
·       The gut-microbiome – 43:00
·       Tips for those interested and how to get involved – 48:00
·       Closing – 50:15
 
Resources:
 
·       International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research
·       The Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University
·       Future Learn Online Course – Food and Mood: Improving Mental Health Through Diet and Nutrition
·       The Brain Food Academy
·       Dr. Drew Ramsey
·       Food as Medicine Update – Conference
 
Articles:
 
·       Nutritional Psychiatry: The Gut-Brain Connection (Psychiatric Times)
·       Nutritional Psychiatry: Your Brain on Food (Harvard Health Publishing)
 
References:
 
·       Adan, R. A., van der Beek, E. M., Buitelaar, J. K., Cryan, J. F., Hebebrand, J., Higgs, S., ... & Dickson, S. L. (2019). Nutritional psychiatry: Towards improving mental health by what you eat. European Neuropsychopharmacology.
·       Auction, Monique & LaChance, Laura & Cooley, Kieran & Kidd, Sean. (2019). Diet and Psychosis: A Scoping Review. Advances in Integrative Medicine. 6. S101. 10.1016/j.aimed.2019.03.292.
·       Firth J, Veronese N, Cotter J, Shivappa N, Hebert J, Ee C, Smith L, Stubbs B, Jackson S, Sarris J. What is the role of dietary inflammation in severe mental illness? a review of observational and experimental findings. Frontiers in psychiatry. 2019;10:350.
·       Firth, J., Carney, R., Stubbs, B., Teasdale, S. B., Vancampfort, D., Ward, P. B., ... & Sarris, J. (2018). Nutritional deficiencies and clinical correlates in first-episode psychosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Schizophrenia bulletin, 44(6), 1275-1292.
·       Francis HM, Stevenson RJ, Chambers JR, Gupta D, Newey B, Lim CK. A brief diet intervention can reduce symptoms of depression in young adults–A randomised controlled trial. PloS one. 2019;14(10).
·       Guu TW, Mischoulon D, Sarris J, Hibbeln J, McNamara RK, Hamazaki K, Freeman MP, Maes M, Matsuoka YJ, Belmaker RH, Jacka F. International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Resear