Food and Mood: Improving Mental Health Through Diet and Nutrition
Explore the relationship between nutrition and brain health, why it matters, and how to work towards positive food changes.
90,317 enrolled on this course
Duration
3 weeksWeekly study
3 hours100% online
How it works
Food and Mood: Improving Mental Health Through Diet and Nutrition
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.
Syllabus
Week 1
Diet and nutrition in mental and brain health
Welcome to Food and 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 and 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 and 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 and 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.
Available now
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.
Who will you learn with?
Dr Tetyana Rocks is Senior Research Fellow and Head of Education & Training at the Food & Mood Centre, Deakin University. Tetyana is Accredited Practicing Dietitian passionate about public health.
Professor Felice Jacka is Director of the Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University, and President of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research
Who developed the course?
Deakin University
Deakin University is one of Australia’s largest universities with more than 61,000 students and over 15,000 online.
Established
1974Location
Melbourne, AustraliaWorld ranking
Top 280Source: QS World University Rankings 2021
Food & Mood Centre
The Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University is a world-leading, multi-disciplinary research centre that aims to understand the complex ways in which what we eat influences our brain, mood, and mental health.
Ways to learn | Buy this course | Subscribe & save | Limited access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Choose the best way to learn for you! | $109/one-off payment | $244.99 for a whole year Automatically renews | Free |
| Fulfill your current learning need | Develop skills to further your career | Sample the course materials | |
| Access to this course | tick | tick | Access expires 21 Feb 2025 |
| Access to 1,000+ courses | cross | tick | cross |
| Learn at your own pace | tick | tick | cross |
| Discuss your learning in comments | tick | tick | tick |
| Tests to check your learning | tick | tick | cross |
| Certificate when you're eligible | Printed and digital | Digital only | cross |
Cancel for free anytime |
Ways to learn
Choose the best way to learn for you!
Subscribe & save
$244.99 for a whole year
Automatically renews
Develop skills to further your career
- Access to this course
- Access to 1,000+ courses
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Tests to boost your learning
- Digital certificate when you're eligible
Cancel for free anytime
Buy this course
$109/one-off payment
Fulfill your current learning need
- Access to this course
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Tests to boost your learning
- Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible
Limited access
Free
Sample the course materials
- Access expires 21 Feb 2025
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades) Sale price available until 3 March 2025 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply. | |||
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)
Sale price available until 3 March 2025 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply.
Learning on FutureLearn
Your learning, your rules
- Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
- Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
- As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
- Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate
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