Schizophrenia Diet Considerations: 5 Beneficial Foods to Try
Health ConditionsMental Health ConditionsSchizophrenia

Schizophrenia and Diet: 5 Beneficial Foods to Try

 

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Updated on January 10, 2025
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5 Beneficial Foods for People With Schizophrenia

Discover how a nutritious diet can play a role in managing schizophrenia symptoms, alongside traditional treatments.
5 Beneficial Foods for People With Schizophrenia

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Food is medicine — and that’s even true for people with schizophrenia, a mental health condition that causes disordered thinking, delusions, and hallucinations.

Of course, medication and psychotherapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and behavioral skills training, remain the frontline treatments for helping people with the condition manage their symptoms and lead successful, fulfilling lives.

While there is no such thing as a schizophrenia diet, researchers are studying the potential links between food and symptoms of schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia and Diet: What the Research Says

In one review, researchers evaluated the role of inflammation in schizophrenia and suggested that there may be a potential role for anti-inflammatory foods in helping manage schizophrenia symptoms in some people.

“Eating specific foods doesn’t replace the other proven treatments for the condition, but it can be an addition to treatment that can have some benefit,” says April Hackert, RDN, a psychiatric culinary medicine dietitian who specializes in nutrition therapy for people with mental health conditions.

“The food choices a person makes each day impact their mental health, [as] the human brain requires certain nutrients,” says Hackert. “The ability to effectively use behavioral coping skills is rooted in the biological health of the brain.”

“Some nutrients help our brain to function optimally,” explains Shebani Sethi, MD, an associate professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, and the founding director of Stanford Metabolic Psychiatry. Those nutrients, she notes, include:

There’s no evidence that diet alone can help keep schizophrenia symptoms at bay, but evidence does suggest that certain diets can help with metabolic side effects such as insulin resistance and obesity caused by certain antipsychotic medications used to treat schizophrenia.

However, the results of a pilot study led by Dr. Sethi found that a ketogenic diet not only restored metabolic health in schizophrenia patients who also continued taking their medications — it further improved their psychiatric conditions as well.

“This diet has shown promise in stabilizing neural networks and reducing psychiatric symptoms, highlighting the impact of nutrition on mental health,” says Sethi.

In addition, there is evidence that eating a well-balanced diet like the Mediterranean diet — while following your prescribed treatment regimen — could help prevent potentially life-shortening health conditions such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, which are conditions that commonly occur together with schizophrenia.

Perspectives
Antonio Ferreira
António Ferreira
Living with schizophrenia
"I started to actually understand there is a connection between your gut and your brain."
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“I think we kind of do a disservice to patients and miss an opportunity when we don’t talk about food,” says nutritional psychiatrist Drew Ramsey, MD, founder of the Brain Food Clinic, an integrative mental health clinic offering patients dietary assessment, psychotherapy, and medication management via telehealth, and author of the upcoming book Healing the Modern Brain: Nine Tenets to Build Mental Fitness and Revitalize Your Mind.

“Diet is one of the aspects important in the management of schizophrenia,” says Dr. Ramsay — but it’s often a neglected part of treatment. Studies have shown a link between the consumption of ultra-processed food and depression as well as other mental disorders.

Although no specific evidence-based diet for schizophrenia exists, experts believe these five foods could benefit people with the condition:

arugula fatty fish oysters Mangosteen Fruit for Schizophrenia

Nutrients in seafood and certain produce may have benefits for people with schizophrenia, some research suggests.

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1. Fish and Seafood to Protect Your Brain

The mental health benefits of fish and seafood come from nutrients called omega-3 fatty acids — in particular, eicosatetraenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Omega-3s aid the brain in communicating with the rest of the body, as well as reduce oxidative stress, a type of chemical damage that can wreak havoc on the brain.

Studies have shown that the ingestion of omega-3 fatty acids not only increases learning, memory, and cognitive well-being but also increases blood flow to the brain.

 One study review showed that individuals with schizophrenia receive an inadequate supply of blood to the cerebral cortex — or outer layer — of the brain, suggesting that increasing consumption of omega-3 fatty acids could lead to improvements in the brain health of individuals with schizophrenia.

In addition, the ready-to-use omega-3s in fish are thought to reach the brain faster than the omega-3s in other foods, says Hackert. “With fish and seafood, the body doesn’t have to work as hard as with some other foods to benefit from the nutrients. The nutrients are ready to go.”

2. Lentils to Help Regulate Your Mood

Lentils are inexpensive and packed with lots of nutrition for the brain. They are high in protein, and they also contain other important brain nutrients, including folate and antioxidants, says Hackert. Further, lentils are a good source of tryptophan, a building block of serotonin, a brain chemical that regulates mood and behavior.

 One cup of cooked lentils delivers 50 percent of the body’s daily requirement of tryptophan, adds Hackert.
Lentils are also rich in folate, a nutrient that may be involved in the development of certain conditions affecting the brain and nervous system.

 Folic acid deficiency has been identified as a risk factor for schizophrenia.

 And a study review found that folate supplements demonstrated improvements in symptoms of schizophrenia.

While supplements can help, foods rich in these critical nutrients are a better choice because the body absorbs natural nutrients more easily than nutrients in pills or powder form, Sethi explains.

Lentils are easy to prepare as soups and stews. Just boil them in water with some chopped vegetables and add salt and seasonings for flavor. Even easier: Grab some lentil chips or crackers at the grocery store.

3. Berries to Help Reduce Your Risk of Diabetes

Berries may be small in size, but they’re big in nutritional benefits, says Hackert. Three reasons people with schizophrenia may want to eat them often:

  • Most berries — including blueberries— contain anthocyanins, nutrients shown to protect and improve brain function.

     They’re sweet and tasty, yet low in calories and sugar.

  • They’re packed with fiber and antioxidants — heart-healthy nutrients that help reduce the risk of diabetes. Daily consumption of whole blueberries increases insulin sensitivity, helping to reduce the risk of developing diabetes.

4. Avocado to Help Suppress Hunger

Surprise! Creamy avocados are a high-fiber food that helps you feel satisfied for longer after eating. That’s important for people with schizophrenia, who often have difficulty with feeling full after meals.

Nutritional interventions like filling up on fiber-rich foods can help you feel fuller longer and help prevent weight gain often associated with the condition.

5. Broccoli to Boost Your Brain Health

Broccoli is another food that’s full of fiber, plus it delivers lots of essential vitamins and minerals, including folate, zinc, and potassium, Hackert says.

What’s more, broccoli is a top food source of sulforaphane, a natural substance that may be a game-changer for people with schizophrenia. Scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore hypothesize that schizophrenia may be caused, in part, by chemical imbalances in the brain related to the brain chemical glutamate, which plays a role in sending messages between brain cells.

 If sulforaphane can change the levels of the brain chemical glutamate, which scientists have observed in rat studies, it may help improve symptoms in people with schizophrenia.
They’re currently using a broccoli-sprout extract to test their theory. If the extract proves to be effective, taking it might allow people to reduce their medications, which can lower their risk of side effects like weight gain, as well as involuntary movements, restlessness, stiffness, and shaking.

“Unfortunately, [sulforaphane] breaks down quickly when you cook broccoli, and you might need to eat pounds of raw broccoli to get an effective dose. So there are still unknowns about the best way to get it,” says study author Thomas Sedlak, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University, and director of its Schizophrenia and Psychosis Consult Clinic.

“But given the medical challenges in this patient community, cooked broccoli is probably better than none. The benefits of vegetables are well known for a variety of health concerns,” he says.

The Takeaway

  • While there is no such thing as a “schizophrenia diet,” nutrition can play an important role in managing symptoms.
  • Maintaining a healthy weight can help prevent obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes — conditions that commonly occur together with schizophrenia.
  • Certain foods — such as fish, lentils, berries, avocados, and broccoli — are particularly good for the brain and might help with some schizophrenia symptoms and medication side effects.

Resources We Trust

Additional reporting by Barbara Kean.

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Angela-Harper-bio

Angela D. Harper, MD

Medical Reviewer
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Angela D. Harper, MD, is in private practice at Columbia Psychiatric Associates in South Carolina, where she provides evaluations, medication management, and psychotherapy for adults.  

A distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Harper has worked as a psychiatrist throughout her career, serving a large number of patients in various settings, including a psychiatric hospital on the inpatient psychiatric and addiction units, a community mental health center, and a 350-bed nursing home and rehab facility. She has provided legal case consultation for a number of attorneys.

Harper graduated magna cum laude from Furman University with a bachelor's degree and cum laude from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, where she also completed her residency in adult psychiatry. During residency, she won numerous awards, including the Laughlin Fellowship from the American College of Psychiatrists, the Ginsberg Fellowship from the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training, and resident of the year and resident medical student teacher of the year. She was also the member-in-training trustee to the American Psychiatric Association board of trustees during her last two years of residency training.

Harper volunteered for a five-year term on her medical school's admission committee, has given numerous presentations, and has taught medical students and residents. She currently supervises a nurse practitioner. She is passionate about volunteering for the state medical board's medical disciplinary commission, on which she has served since 2015.

She and her husband are avid travelers and have been to over 55 countries and territories.

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Fran Kritz

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Fran Kritz is a veteran freelance health writer who covers consumer health stories and is a frequent health policy contributor for NPR,The Washington Post health section, and Kaiser Health News. For six years, Kritz was the senior editor of a public health blog, NewPublicHealth, hosted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She is a former staff reporter for Forbes Magazine and U.S. News and World Report.

Kritz has written stories that have impacted specific components of health care delivery. For example, her story for The Washington Post on sparse prescription drug information by some retail pharmacy chains resulted in certain chains changing vendors in order to provide better information to their consumers. Kritz has a bachelor's degree from Touro College in New York City and a master of science in American economic history from the London School of Economics.

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