Deakin researchers call for food industry overhaul

Highly-regarded Geelong researchers are seeking a major overhaul of the food industry to address rife mental health issues. See what they’re calling for.

Professor Felice Jacka

Geelong researchers are calling for major changes to the food industry to address global mental health problems.

In a newly published paper focused on the importance of food systems for brain health an international team, including staff from Deakin University, argues that today’s global food environments and systems are dominated by the corporate-industrial food industry that is undermining ‘brain capital’.

Brain capital is the collective intelligence, talents, and expertise of people that can be used for problem-solving, innovation, and learning.

Alfred Deakin Professor Felice Jacka, co-director of Deakin’s Food and Mood Centre, said the rapid increase in inexpensive, convenient and heavily marketed ultra-processed foods on supermarket shelves was having a devastating impact on the health of our brains, our bodies and the planet.

“Ultra-processed food and Western dietary patterns play a role in the risk for, development and severity of mental disorders through their likely influence on various pathways, including inflammation, oxidative stress, reduction in brain adaptiveness and by disrupting the microbiota-gut-brain axis,” Prof Jacka said.

The paper, published by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, outlines the way such unhealthy diets, linked to negative changes in global food systems, impact mental and brain health.

Recommendations include:

TARGETING ultra-processed foods in dietary guidelines and policies;

RESTRICTIONS on advertising junk food, especially to kids,

DEVELOPING food assistance programs to promote diets rich in unprocessed or minimally processed whole foods; and,

IMPLEMENTING zoning to limit the number of fast-food outlets near medical and educational institutions.

Alfred Deakin Professor Michael Berk, Director of Deakin University’s Institute for Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation (IMPACT)

Researchers from Deakin’s Institute for Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation (IMPACT) work to introduce the idea of brain capital across diverse fields, including the food industry.

Alfred Deakin Professor Michael Berk, director of IMPACT, said the most impactful solutions to build brain capital at scale lie in public policy, including diet and health related strategies, recommendations and guidelines.

“There needs to be a transformation of global food systems through public policy, reforming clinical care, and defending against misinformation driven by the food industry,” Prof Berk said.

Originally published as Deakin researchers call for food industry overhaul