Researchers found that individuals with lower diet quality had reduced gamma-aminobutyric acid and increased glutamate concentrations in the medial prefrontal cortex, along with decreased grey matter volume in the right precentral gyrus.

A recent study, published in Nutritional Neuroscience, examines the association between diet quality and neurochemical as well as structural brain changes, focusing on common mental disorders (CMD) and rumination. This preliminary study explores how unhealthy dietary patterns impact frontal cortex gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate (GLU) concentrations and grey matter volume (GMV).

The study cohort comprised 30 adults classified into high and low diet quality groups. Researchers employed proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy and volumetric imaging to measure medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) metabolite concentrations and GMV. Although no direct association was found between diet quality and CMD or rumination, a significant negative correlation was noted between rumination and right precentral gyrus-GMV, and a marginally significant association was observed between rumination and mPFC-GLU concentrations.

These findings indicate that adherence to unhealthy diets may be associated with changes in the excitatory/inhibitory balance in the brain and structural changes.

The authors reported no potential conflicts of interest.