Diet and Its Role in Preventing and Managing Health Disparities in People Living with Mental Illness

Dear Colleagues,

Mental illness is rapidly becoming one of the largest global burdens. Current treatments do not always exert an optimal response, and adjunctive approaches, such as diet, are being explored to assist in the prevention and treatment of mental illness. 

Furthermore, people living with mental illness have an unacceptably reduced life expectancy compared to the general population, mainly due to comorbid physical health conditions. Abdominal obesity, hypertriglyceridemia, metabolic syndrome, low high-density lipoprotein, diabetes, and hypertension occur at considerably higher rates than in their peers without mental illness. Low diet quality and disordered eating behaviors are contributing factors. In recent years, various pathomechanisms have been identified that explain how mental illness and somatic comorbidity can mutually exacerbate each other. Among other things, these include metabolic abnormalities, inflammatory responses, immunological processes, and altered gut microbiota. 

Given the growing interest in nutritional psychiatry research, we invite authors to submit original articles, methods papers, or reviews that further our understanding of the role of dietary behavior and dietary interventions for mental health, as well as for the physical health of people with mental illness. 

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Diet-related issues in people living with mental illness;
• Impact of mental health state on dietary behavior;
• Mechanisms by which diet influences mental health;
• Innovations/interventions to address dietary behavior of people living with mental illness;
• Methods to improve nutritional psychiatry research.

Dr. Annabel Müller-Stierlin
Dr. Scott B. Teasdale
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.