Nutrition and Mental Health – Randomized Control Trials (RCT)
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Overall description of this research area:
The Nutrition and Mental Health project is an interdisciplinary collaboration among University of Bergen (Department of Psychosocial Science at the Faculty of Psychology, and Department of Chemistry at Faculty of Mathematic and Natural Science), National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES)/Institute of Marine Research, Centre for Research and Education in Forensic Psychiatry, Haukeland University Hospital, and Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center (SRSTC), Wisconsin.
The project has been going on for years and it has advanced in various stages (so far 4 stages). Based on the assessment studies of risk and mental health done in a prison setting the Nutrition and Mental Health project started with a food-record survey (master theses written by Lene Bakke) and then a pilot intervention study in Bergen prison in 2005. The pilot study was a long-term fatty fish intervention study (i.e., 6 months). A larger Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was conducted at SRSTC, Wisconsin (2008-2009). Also, this was a long-term fatty fish intervention study. The implications of this study was a new wave of intervention studies looking into key nutrients in fatty fish such as vitamin D and mechanisms of actions. One RCT was conducted in Norway in 2014, and one in the USA (SRSTC) in 2017-2018.
Objectives:
The main objectives of the Nutrition and Mental Health projects have been to gain new and in-depth knowledge about possible beneficial effects of nutrition and specific nutrients on health, however, as the studies have demonstrated, the absence of certain nutrition and nutrients can cause adverse effects.