| Keywords [eng] |
nutrition, diet, children, adolescents, mental health, depression, anxiety, mood, behavior, food. |
| Abstract [eng] |
This literature review is focusing on the link between nutrition consumption on the control of mental health disorders among children and adolescents. The main purpose of the thesis is to give a glimpse of the possible dietary effects on mental health disorders and conditions and how they may regulate some mental health patterns in this age population. This work critically reviews international studies on the relationship between diet and mental health in children and adolescents that take stock of the current state of the art, in the field of medical studies. The literature search strategy sought to facilitate the undertaking of the newest and most relevant research on this topic. The majority of this thesis is based on the most relevant and available research literature from Pubmed/NCBI. Google scholar has been used as an essential tool, to begin with for a reviewed literature on the subject matter at hand. Within the largest medical databases of Pubmed/NCBI, the fundamental keywords listed below were used in order to find the most relevant and state-of-the-art research. All publications were critically analyzed, focusing on their content as well as the objectives and methodologies found to be of most interest to academic output on the subject of the relationship between diet and mental health in children and adolescents. A critical analysis was also carried out to identify the aspects that were the focus of the research and those that received less attention. For more specific information, terms and keywords of major mental health conditions were used together with the words:” children” or “adolescents” and the group of nutrients (e.g. “children depression lipids” or “adolescents anxiety carbohydrates”). This systematic procedure carried broader data of information and assisted in withholding missed pieces of information. Many research articles were brought here in order to show the bloom and evolvement of this considered new research field related to mental health with nutrition. 6 groups of nutrition are to be assessed: carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, vitamins, minerals, and water. Children and adolescents are nowadays found to be in an increased rate of development of mental health conditions more than ever with life stress, world development and demands and are considered a more sensitive age group population, hence specialized care is necessary. Nutrition commonly tends to be neglected in this age group due to factors such as lack of security, self-confidence, poverty and emotional state. In the last two decades, the correlation idea between nutrition and mental state has significantly arisen. Some of the research articles and studies here have given us a new variety of possibilities in the way of treating and controlling mental health in children and adolescents with the helpful effects of nutrition and diet. Controlling the mental health disorders and preventing deterioration in their patterns using diet may improve their condition and quality of life. |
