The Connection Between Food and Mood
What you eat can make you feel happier and keep anxiety and depression at bay
Most of us know that what we eat can help keep us physically healthy, but few recognize that it can also affect our emotional health. A growing body of research suggests that certain foods and diet patterns can reduce depression and anxiety, while other foods can contribute to it.
"Adjusting your diet can really move the needle on improvements in nervous-system health," says Meroë Morse, MD, an integrative medicine doctor at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. "It’s empowering for people to realize they can change how they’re feeling with just diet alone."
The right kinds of foods may help correct low energy and irritability relatively quickly. For other changes, "some people may start to feel improvements in a week, while for others it may take three weeks," says Uma Naidoo, MD, director of nutritional and lifestyle psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Even those who still need medication or other treatments for mood disorders can benefit from eating healthier.
How Powerful Can Diet Be?
Your digestive system and brain are constantly sending chemical messages to each other, and the healthy bacteria that live in your gut play a role in the communication pathways. They help produce mood-regulating chemicals, such as short-chain fatty acids and neurotransmitters. Foods rich in fiber and nutrients (whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts) give bacteria the fuel needed to make these compounds.
Try to Limit UPFs
Ultraprocessed foods (UPFs)—such as soft drinks, processed meats, and packaged sweets—are a double whammy. They’re high in inflammation-triggering refined carbohydrates, sugar, and additives, and they lack the fiber, vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, and other beneficial nutrients you need for stable moods. A 2022 analysis of 17 studies published in the journal Nutrients found that a higher intake of UPFs was linked to a 53 percent higher risk of depression or anxiety. And women who ate nine or more UPFs daily had a 49 percent higher risk of depression than those who had fewer than four, according to a 2023 study published in JAMA Network Open.
Know What to Eat Instead
The Mediterranean diet brings together many of the foods that benefit the gut and brain. "It’s really become sort of a gold standard because it has been tested and researched," Naidoo says. In a 2024 study in the British Journal of Nutrition, for example, participants ages 65 to 97 who followed the diet closely were about 55 percent less likely to have symptoms of depression.
You don’t necessarily need to make big changes all at once. "Small shifts sustained over time can change biological systems that shape mood," Marx says. "Adding a handful of legumes, swapping refined grains for whole grains, increasing vegetables in familiar meals, or reducing ultra-processed snacks are all meaningful."
Nor do you need to be perfect. "Consistency is key, but if you take your grandkid to a birthday party and you come across a cupcake, you know, life happens," Naidoo says. She suggests that aiming for a healthy diet 80 percent of the time is adequate.
Try eating more of these and gradually replacing most ultraprocessed items in your diet:
• Colorful fruits and vegetables supply antioxidants and other nutrients that rein in inflammation. A 2018 review published in the British Journal of Nutrition found that roughly every ½- to 1-cup increase in either was linked to a 3 percent decrease in the risk of depression.
• Seafood, a major source of omega-3 fatty acids, helps moderate inflammation. Older women who ate about 11 to 16 ounces a week were 43 percent less likely to have symptoms of depression than those who ate less, according to a 2024 study in the British Journal of Nutrition.
• Nuts and seeds contain fiber and inflammation-controlling healthy fats. Eating up to ¼ cup of nuts every day lowered the risk of depression by 17 percent in a 2023 study published in the journal Clinical Nutrition.
• Whole grains, such as barley, oats, and bulgur, are fiber-rich. Older adults who ate them five or more times a week were 14 percent less likely to have symptoms of depression in a 2025 study published in the journal Aging & Mental Health.
• Fermented foods, like kefir, yogurt, and kimchi, contain probiotics, bacteria that support gut health. A 2021 study by Stanford University found that a 10-week diet high in fermented foods reduced signs of inflammation in the body.
• Extra virgin olive oil has polyphenols, plant nutrients with anti-inflammatory properties, and oleic acid, from which the compound oleamide is derived. It may have mood-related effects, such as helping to bring on sleep, according to animal studies.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the April 2026 issue of Consumer Reports On Health.
