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Food and mood: how do diet and nutrition affect mental wellbeing?

by Joseph Firth, James E. Gangwisch, Alessandra Borsini, Robyn E. Wootton, Emeran A. Mayer · The BMJ (BMJ 2020;369:m2382)

BMJ review of the evidence linking dietary patterns to depression and cognition, covering Mediterranean-diet trials, gut microbiome pathways, and micronutrient supplementation. States plainly where causal evidence holds, where findings remain observational, and where intervention trials returned null results. Directly serves the 'mental well-being' half of the topic note, which is where holistic-nutrition content is most prone to unfalsifiable claims. The review is notable for explicitly flagging weak and null evidence, so it models how to read this literature rather than selling a conclusion.

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A free undergraduate textbook from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Food Science and Human Nutrition Program. Eighteen chapters cover human body systems, macronutrients, vitamins and minerals, nutritional assessment, dietary guidelines, and nutrition across pregnancy, childhood, and older adulthood.

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Reference articles on every vitamin, mineral, and major phytochemical, covering biological function, deficiency signs, intake recommendations, food sources, and safety limits. Ph.D. nutrition scientists write each entry and a named outside expert reviews it before publication.

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Clinical Nutrition: A Functional Approach

Textbook from the Institute for Functional Medicine presenting clinical nutrition through the functional-medicine model, which relates diet, nutrient status and lifestyle to underlying physiological imbalances. Readers learn how functional-medicine practitioners assess patients and build individualized nutritional interventions for chronic conditions.

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