Food and Behaviour Research (FAB)
Your go-to place for reliable, independent information on how food, diet and nutrition affect mental health and performance.
Adult Mental Health: The Role of Nutrition
What the public, policymakers and professionals need to know
A FAB Research Live Webinar and Q&A session
- with Dr Kevin Williamson and Dr Alex Richardson
The video recording of this event - together with downloadable handouts - is available
- FREE to FAB Associates (for other benefits of joining FAB as an Associate member - see HERE)
- Alternatively, this - and other individual FAB Webinars - can be accessed for a small fee via our FAB Webinar Library
Poor nutrition contributes to all types of mental ill health, including
- everyday difficulties with mood, sleep, behaviour, attention and memory
- clinical level problems such as anxiety, insomnia and depression
- more serious conditions, such as psychosis*
*which may arise from any of a range of conditions including PTSD, depression, bipolar, schizophrenia or substance use disorders.
A Perfect Storm
Poor Diet - people with these symptoms may have poor quality diets for many reasons, including food poverty, other social disadvantages, and basic selfcare being difficult when managing symptoms.
Medication Side-effects - some of the medications used for these conditions also increase risks for obesity, type-2 diabetes and related conditions in which diet plays an important part.
Lack of Knowledge - there is a huge, unmet need to help patients, their carers and families to access better nutrition as evidence shows this can affect their mental wellbeing and assist their recovery, by helping to improve mood, sleep, behaviour and ability to think clearly.
You will learn
- Which aspects of diet can raise the risk of developing mental health problems in those with predisposing factors
- What research is showing about the potential costs vs benefits of nutritional approaches to mental health treatment
- The latest evidence for the benefits of Omega-3 for the prevention and management of psychosis
- What dietary changes affected individuals and families can make for themselves
- How professionals working in adult mental health can help and support patients with their lifestyle choices.
Dr Kevin Williamson
Consultant Nutritionist - Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber (RDasH) NHS Foundation Trust
Kevin has worked as a Registered Nutritionist supporting mental health for almost 20 years; and his early work - helping young people with mental health problems at the Early Intervention in Psychosis services at RDasH - received a UK Parliamentary commendation in 2008 which recommended that all other NHS trusts should adopt a similar approach.
As a nutritionist in NHS mental health services Dr Williamson has developed and delivered a nutritional service for people with psychosis – looking at their diet in relation to their illness and providing a more nutritionally balanced alternative. The service was cited within an independent Parliamentary Food and Health Forum report (2008)*, recommending to the Department of Health the service be offered to patients experiencing serious mental illness.
*Click here to download the report.
Dr Williamson believes that worldwide, knowledge and skills of nutritional psychiatry are lacking. Patients have said to him, “I would be keen to use diet to help my mental health, but I really don’t know much about it.” Likewise, Health Care Professionals have said, “Diet could play a role in psychosis management, however I couldn’t advise on it now, as I’d be worried about saying the wrong thing and that could do harm.”
Read more about Dr Williamson here.
Dr Alex Richardson
Founder of FAB Research, world-renowned researcher, author, and educator.
Based at the University of Oxford for 30 years, and now a Visiting Research Fellow at Bournemouth University, the impact of her 90+ publications puts Dr Richardson in the top 3% of academic researchers worldwide.
She is best known for her research into how nutrition (and particularly fatty acids) can affect behaviour, learning and mood, as her pioneering clinical trials were the first to show that dietary supplementation with omega-3 (and omega-6) fats can improve behaviour and learning in children with dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD and related conditions; and that this approach may also help many other children without such diagnoses. She also published some of the earliest reports of successful nutritional approaches to both depression and schizophrenia in young adults, which have subsequently been confirmed and extended by others.
Read more about Dr Richardson here.
Feedback received on our events
"I have attended a few FAB webinars and it is always topics you don't get anywhere else. Thanks for bringing more to the nutrition knowledge."
"Stunningly good, in every respect - gold standard."
"These seminars are incredible! Looking forward to the next one. Thanks to all."
"I learned a lot and found lecture very enjoyable and interesting."
"I love the way you gather so much information and present it in a succinct and direct manner."
"Alex Richardson has the ability to bridge the gap between her knowledge from the forefront of science and the need to find good information as a parent. More than that –she genuinely cares about helping parents access up to date information on nutrition and behaviour."
BOOK NOW!
Adult Mental Health: The Role of Nutrition
What the public, policymakers and professionals need to know
Hear expert researchers and speakers Dr Kevin Williamson and Dr Alex Richardson - on why and how nutrition is of fundamental importance for mental health and wellbeing, as well as physical health.
All proceeds from this event will go to Food And Behaviour (FAB) Research to support its work Registered Charity No: SC034604, Company No: SC 253448. www.fabresearch.org
"FAB has raised my awareness of the importance of a healthy diet for all, not just those with behavioural issues, problems."
- Early Years Officer, Local Authority
"FAB Research provides a wealth of valuable information which isn't always available elsewhere - and in an easily digested form."
- GP and Medical Advisor
Who is this webinar for?
Anyone interested in how nutrition can affect mental health, wellbeing and performance
- for personal or professional reasons
• Individuals • Students & Researchers • Professionals • Policymakers
What is FAB Research?
Food and Behaviour Research (FAB Research), established in 2003 by Dr Alex Richardson DPhil (Oxon), PGCE, FRSA, is a charitable organisation dedicated both to advancing scientific research into the links between nutrition and human behaviour and to making the findings from such research available to the widest possible audience.
Our mission: We are committed to improving current knowledge and awareness of the effects of nutrition and diet on human behaviour, learning and mood. We aspire to be a leader of scientific research into how nutrition affects the human brain and mind, and an intellectual and strategic force for improving public education and professional practice in this domain.
The Links Between Diet and Behaviour
- The influence of nutrition on mental health
View/Download the PDF report here:
Open Report