The Globe’s article about McLean Hospital’s new metabolic psychiatry center (“What you eat could be affecting your mental health,” Oct. 21) highlights an important opportunity to better understand the connection between nutrition and mental health. Just as the food we eat affects our physical health, it stands to reason that the nutrients and energy we get from food can have an impact on our mental well-being, too.
Community Servings is exploring this connection through a complementary approach in a community setting. A pilot the organization undertook in 2025, with funding from The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts, provided medically tailored groceries to 55 Central Massachusetts residents with food insecurity and diet-related illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.
Pilot participants reported improvements in their mental health, an encouraging finding that prompted the launch of a three-year randomized controlled trial this year involving 300 participants to examine whether access to medically tailored groceries and nutrition education can improve symptoms of depression among individuals experiencing food insecurity.
With an abundance of evidence that medically tailored meals lower health care utilization and costs, there is now an opportunity to comprehensively and holistically integrate nutrition into the prevention, management, and treatment of mental health conditions.
David B. Waters
CEO
Community Servings
Boston
Amie Shei
President and CEO
The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts
Worcester
Dining and Cooking