Nutritional psychology & nutritional psychiatry in Germany

Defining the fields:

Nutritional Psychology can be defined as a branch of psychology that studies the emphasis of nutrition and its impact on moods and behaviours. In other words, as a field, it educates us to examine the biophysiological mechanisms, that influence our nutritional absorption based on their intake, and what underlies the absorption. A conjecture that mood and behavioural changes are avid and inevitable is being researched upon more with each passing day. It also as a field encourages us to look at what we think about what we eat is of utmost importance rather than the simple fact that what we eat is beneficial for our health and well-being. 

Nutritional Psychiatry, also known as Mental Health Psychiatry is relatively a new field of nutrition that has been emerging over the last few years. It as a field explores the changes that nutritional interventions can make to one’s overall mental health. This burgeoning field is finding that there are many consequences and correlations between not only what you eat, how you feel, but also the kind of bacteria that live in your gut. This field studies the effects of foods on the neurotransmitters that are responsible for several psychophysiological processes.

Germany‘s take on nutrition psychology and nutrition psychiatry and the emerging intervention of nutritional counselling with a holistic approach:

There is consensus among all German healthcare professionals, including primary healthcare physicians that a holistic approach to healthy living begins with good nutrition. In northern Baden, 2100 general health practitioners and internists were asked about their nutritional attitudes and preventive counselling in their daily practice. Of responding physicians, 75% of them attributed great importance to prevention in general and 92% to nutrition in particular, 65% were providing special programs such as “How to treat diabetes by myself” or “Reducing hypertension by losing weight”. 

Together with the highest German Committee of Physicians, the Lecturers in General Medicine of the University of Heidelberg held a meeting on nutritional counselling and its practice in Psychiatry and general medicine. There were 23 participants that collected statements and information about the preexisting knowledge about nutritional attitudes and food.

 The Heidelberg agreements are as follows:

• Good nutritional counselling and intervention can reduce the morbidity of important diseases.
• Nutritional counselling and intervention must be improved in general practice.
• Diagnosis-related written cases should be available for a systematic intervention. 
• Family Physicians should cooperate with Nutritionists and Psychiatrists 

WHO standards:

• Energy supply adapted to need 30-35kcal per kg
• Proportion of macronutrients: fat=30% of energy, carbohydrates=55% of energy, protein=12-15% of energy.
• The supply of dietary fibre should exceed 30g
• About ⅓ of each different fats should be consumed, either in the form of saturated, monosaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acids.

The current scenario in Germany:

According to a thesis published by Armin Weisemann about 1½ of the 40000 German physicians don’t yet have sufficient knowledge on nutritional matters. 

This above information, emphasises the importance of nutritional psychological interventions and the development of