A related study found that among overweight or obese adults with subsyndromal depressive symptoms, multinutrient supplementation vs placebo and food-related behavioural activation therapy vs no therapy did not reduce episodes of major depressive disorder.
An accompanying editorial discusses this research. It states that although the extent of the potential benefits of diet for depression is yet to be confirmed, given the modest effect sizes in these studies—notwithstanding larger ones in previous studies — dietary change is not likely to be a sole treatment for depression. Rather, these recent findings highlight that an integrated care package incorporating firstline psychological and pharmacological treatments, along with evidence-based lifestyle interventions addressing smoking cessation, physical activity, and diet quality, may have a more robust effect on this burdensome disorder.