Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42177608›Full record

ArticleJournal of eating disorders2026

Examining the effects of two dietary intervention approaches on disordered eating-related thoughts and behaviors in adults with moderate to moderately severe depressive symptoms.

Ingrid A Worth, Celina R Furman, Kexin R Li, Kendrin R Sonneville, Ashley N Gearhardt

Registry-linked trialAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of eating disorders, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06242665 (You Are What You Eat), which is not on this map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT06242665 nacompletednot on this map

You Are What You Eat: Food as a Risk Factor and a Treatment for Depression

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of MichiganRan2023 to 2025Enrolled47ConditionsDepressionArmsLow UPF Meals (Study Provided), Low UPF Nutritional Guidance, Low UPF Snacks (Study Provided)
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Trial
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Ingrid A Worth *Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA. worthin@umich.edu.
Celina R Furman *Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
Kexin R LiDepartment of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
Kendrin R SonnevilleDepartment of Nutritional Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Ashley N GearhardtDepartment of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.

Funding

A Biopsychobehavioral Investigation of Withdrawal from Ultra-Processed Food in HumansR01DA055027 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · PI GEARHARDT, ASHLEY NICOLE · 2022 to 2025
$2.7M
NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA055027
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundUltra-processed foods comprise a majority of the American diet and have been linked to increased risk for depression. In response, minimally processed dietary interventions are increasingly being evaluated as tools to improve mental health, including within the growing "Food Is Medicine" movement. However, because these approaches emphasize reducing ultra-processed foods, they raise concerns that dietary restriction may inadvertently increase disordered eating-related outcomes. This paper reports an exploratory analysis of data from a randomized pilot trial that tested two minimally processed dietary interventions designed to reduce depressive symptoms among adults with moderate to moderately severe depression. This analysis focused specifically on safety, examining whether these interventions were associated with unintended increases in disordered eating-related outcomes.

methodsParticipants (N = 31) were randomly assigned to either implement dietary change via self-implemented nutritional guidance or a commercial meal delivery service for 2 weeks. Disordered eating-related outcomes were assessed using the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-QS) and Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) at intake, pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 1- and 6-month follow-ups.

resultsAcross dietary conditions, no increases were observed in DEBQ restrained or external eating following the intervention. EDE-QS and DEBQ emotional eating decreased post-intervention, and DEBQ emotional and external eating were lower at follow-up. Changes in outcomes were not moderated by intervention condition.

conclusionsThese findings provide preliminary evidence of short-term safety, suggesting that certain dietary interventions emphasizing minimally processed foods are feasible and may not elicit immediate increases in disordered eating-related thoughts and behaviors among adults with depression and without active eating disorders. Larger and longer-term studies are needed to evaluate safety in more diverse and higher-risk populations. Trial registration The parent pilot study is pre-registered on ClinicalTrials.gov ( https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06242665 ) on January 16th, 2024.

Indexed as

DepressionDietary interventionDietary restraintEating disordersMental health

Identifiers

PMID42177608
PMCPMC13390408

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.