Explore the relationship between nutrition and brain health, why it matters, and how to work towards positive food changes.
Learn how healthy dietary choices can improve your mental and brain health
Poor diet and poor mental health are the leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. We now know that diet quality is a modifiable factor that is linked to mental and brain health across all stages of our lives.
We will explore how our daily diets may affect our mental and brain health, including the role of our immune system and gut microbiome.
The course will provide research evidence, practical examples, skills development, and collaboration on dietary intake assessment, strategies and resource sharing for dietary change.
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to…
- Describe the relationship between diet/nutrition, and mental and brain health
- Explain why diet and nutrition are important for mental and brain health.
- Explore the principles and strategies of dietary change.
Who is the course for?
This course is designed for anyone with an interest, or with experience of, good or bad mental health.
This is an introductory course which might be of interest to healthcare practitioners working with people with mental and brain health issues or in roles related to diet, nutrition and mental and brain health education.
Syllabus
Week 1: Diet and nutrition in mental and brain health
Welcome to Food & Mood
Meet your teaching team and learning community before self-evaluating what you already know about diet, nutrition, brain and mental health.
Defining diet and mental health
Understand what constitutes and determines diet, nutrition and mental health.
Why we eat what we eat
Investigate the factors that influence what we eat and the guidelines and assessments used to define and understand diet.
Weekly wrap up
Let’s look at what we’ve learned about Food & Mood this week.
Week 2: Understanding the mechanisms
Welcome to Week 2
Investigate common diet facts and fictions and how they affect mental health.
Mechanisms of action
Discover how inflammation and gut microbiota can affect mental and brain health.
Dietary intake and gut health: what is the evidence?
Explore whether food or supplements are better for a healthy gut, and how to make an informative choice.
Weekly wrap up
Let’s look at what we’ve learned about Food & Mood this week.
Week 3: Changing the diet to manage mental health
Welcome to Week 3
Explore the latest evidence that supports mental health improvements using diet.
Modified Mediterranean diet for mental and brain health
Discover the type of diet that has been proven to improve mental health.
Planning and implementing dietary change
Take the steps to create lasting, positive and meaningful change to diet.
Course wrap up
Let’s look at what we’ve learned about Food & Mood this week and say goodbye.
When would you like to start?
Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.
