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NUTHITION JOURNAL

Restriction of meat, fish, and poultry in omnivores improves mood: A pilot randomized controlled trial
Eonnre L Breezhddi'and Carol 5 Johnston2

AFact
BrdErormd: Omnivorous diets are high in arachidonic acid
(AA) compared

to vegetarian diets. Research

shows

:rtr lrigh intakes of AA promote changes in brain that can disturb mood. Omnivores who eat fish regulady rc'ere feir intakes of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), fats that oppose the

omnivores-were randomly assigned to a control group consuming meat, fish, and poultry a group consuming fish 34 times weekly but avoiding meat and poultry (F|SH), or a vegetarian group nreat, fish, and poultry OEG). At baseline and after two weeks, participants completed a food frequency "nr,rr{iornaire, the Profile of Mood States questionnaire and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales. After the diet hwventirn. \G participants reduced their EPA, DHA, and AA intakes, while FISH participants increased their EPA 16 *tA intakes. Mood scores were unchanged for OMN or FISH participants, but several mood scores for VEG gtklparts lmproved significantly after two week.

EFr cn mOOd. mrgE Thirty-nine

negffii\ effects of AA in vivo. ln a recent cross-sectional study, omnivores reported significantly worse mood than {egEradans despite higher intakes of EPA and DHA. This study investigated the impact of restricting meat, fish, and

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meat, fish, and poultry improved some domains of short-term mood state in modem To our knowledge, this is the first trial to examine the impact of restricting meat, fish, and poultry on s*ate in ofnn,ivores-

b"Frfi evideace has lfuked long-chain omega-3 (n-3) tl$ rid intake to mood [fJ, an important link since fu can nry greatly in fatty acid contenl Fish and rldfrrh ane 'mong the few dietarf sources of longdlir o-3 httc acids, eicosaperrtaenoic acid {EPA) and &chg-noic add [DHA), vdherc die$ rich in meat are high in &e poteatialty nzuroinflammadpe.r fy tmg-c},ain omega-6 {n-6) faqv acid, arachidonic rn $A) [2J. ]r{oreover, in omnivores vho consume d fish, dE devated AA !o EPA.TDHA ratio hre h & dlt is mirrored in membrane phospholipids, a ffiirtd with depressive qrmptsms [3]. Omni* t ts ddl in fish are associad' *ith a lower risk
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of depressive sfmptorns [4].Vegetarian diets that restrict meat, fish, and poultry are low in both long-chain n-3 and n-6 fatty acids as compared to omnivorous diets [5], but there is limited data exploring the effects of a vegetarian diet on mental health. We recently observed that vegetarians reported better mood than omnivores despite their negligible intake of EPA/DHA [6]; these data suggest that the dietary ratio of long-chain fatty acids may have an effect on mood. This pilot trial examined the mood effects of removing meat, fish, and poultry from the diet of healthy omnivores. 'We hypothesized that omnivores who avoided intake of meat, fish, and poultry would report better mood than control omnivores who continued to eat

meai fislr arrd poultry daily.

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Iicensee BioMed Ceffr3l L!d. this is an Open Access anicle distributed under the terms of the Creailve which permirs unresrricted use, disftiburion, and ihnp//credtivecommorisorgiicmses/try2.0), Fovided the otginal wori( is Froperly cited.