Exploring Eating Behavioral Phenotypes in Mood Disorders

Mood disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder, represent a common and severe group of mental illnesses. Poor eating behaviors contribute to worsened symptoms and quality of life in these patient populations, but this aspect is not adequately addressed in clinical care. Previous work characterized six groups of eating behaviors in mood disorders, including low appetite, high appetite, emotional eating, food addiction, irregular eating rhythms, and poor diet quality. The objective of this project is to explore these eating behaviors in mood disorders, using a personalized food diary through the app ‘RxFood’. The goal of this study is to validate the previously identified eating behavior characterizations and confirm the feasibility of using an app to assess the behaviors in people with mood disorders. This project will contribute to larger investigations in the field, improved clinical assessments, and the development of new treatment strategies which consider eating behavior in mental healthcare.

Faculty Supervisor:

Elisa Brietzke

Student:

Partner:

RxFood

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Queen's University

Program: