{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T13:11:51Z","timestamp":1789996311715,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":16,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]],"date-time":"2026-09-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789776000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012190","name":"Ministry of Science and Higher Education","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["SKN\/SP\/630911\/2025"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SKN\/SP\/630911\/2025"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012190","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["SKN\/SP\/630911\/2025"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SKN\/SP\/630911\/2025"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05dwvd537","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Introduction: Rapid advances in nutritional psychiatry highlight the central role of the gut\u2013brain axis in the pathophysiology of mood disorders. Despite strong theoretical evidence linking poor dietary habits and dysbiosis to increased subclinical inflammation, standardized nutritional assessments and personalized dietary care are rarely implemented in routine clinical practice for patients with affective disorders. Aim of the study: The objective was to perform a prospective evaluation of the impact of personalized dietary and educational interventions on the severity of depressive, anxiety, and manic symptoms, as well as on the modification of selected anthropometric parameters and behavioral dietary patterns in female patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and recurrent depression. Materials and methods: This pilot study included a cohort of n = 25 female patients (mean age: 31.32 \u00b1 11.23 years). The participants underwent a 12-week personalized dietary modification and nutritional education program (focused on reducing pro-inflammatory foods, establishing meal regularity, and providing targeted supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D3, magnesium, and sodium butyrate). Mental health status was evaluated at two time points (Point I\u2014baseline, Point II\u2014follow-up) using the GAD-7, HADS, MADRS, and YMRS scales. Body mass index (BMI) and dietary habit profiles were monitored concurrently. Results: At the endpoint, a significant reduction in depressive symptom severity was observed on the MADRS (from 15.52 \u00b1 12.01 to 13.20 \u00b1 11.66 points; p &lt; 0.001) and HADS (from 17.00 \u00b1 7.58 to 14.88 \u00b1 7.82 points; p = 0.004). GAD-7 scores decreased from 8.60 \u00b1 4.75 to 7.60 \u00b1 4.63 points (p = 0.065),whereas YMRS scores remained stable (3.80 vs. 3.56 points). Overall, 72.0% of patients (n = 18) reported improved dietary habits, including increased rates of optimal hydration (from 36.0% to 56.0%; p = 0.031) and the adoption of targeted omega-3 supplementation (from 12.0% to 36.0%; p = 0.031). A significant correlation was demonstrated between improved diet quality and the reduction in depressive symptoms (R = \u22120.42; p = 0.036). Conclusions: This pilot study demonstrates that personalized dietary care is a feasible and safe adjunctive intervention for female patients with affective disorders, providing preliminary evidence of associations with reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms alongside favorable modifications in health-related behaviors. These findings inform the design of future large-scale randomized controlled trials.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu18183060","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T12:50:03Z","timestamp":1789995003000},"page":"3060","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The Impact of Personalized Dietary Interventions on Symptom Severity and Dietary Habits in Female Patients with Affective Disorders: A Pilot Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-9851-7129","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kamil","family":"Nikel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Students\u2019 Scientific Club, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze, Medical University of Silesia, 40-055 Katowice, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Micha\u0142 Rafa\u0142","family":"Stojko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Students\u2019 Scientific Club, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze, Medical University of Silesia, 40-055 Katowice, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4297-8974","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joanna","family":"Smolarczyk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze, Medical University of Silesia, 40-055 Katowice, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Magdalena","family":"Stojko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Independent Researcher, 40-000 Katowice, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Celina","family":"Gibner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Independent Researcher, 40-000 Katowice, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7600-9413","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"\u0141ukasz","family":"Kunert","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze, Medical University of Silesia, 40-055 Katowice, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8009-7118","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Magdalena","family":"Piegza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze, Medical University of Silesia, 40-055 Katowice, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"GBD 2019 Mental Disorders Collaborators (2022). 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