Nutritional interventions for the adjunctive treatment of schizophrenia: a brief review.

Schizophrenia is a chronic condition that impacts significantly not only on the individual and family, but the disorder also has wider consequences for society in terms of significant costs to the economy. This highly prevalent condition affects approximately 1% of the worldwide population, yet there are few therapeutic options. The predominant treatment strategy for schizophrenia is anti-psychotic medication (with or without additional talking therapy) even though this approach lacks efficacy in managing the negative symptoms of the condition, is not effective in one-third of the patient group and the side effects of the medication can be severe and debilitating. In recent years, a number of pathophysiological processes have been identified in groups of people with schizophrenia including oxidative stress, one-carbon metabolism and immune-mediated responses. A number of studies have shown that these altered physiological mechanisms can be ameliorated by nutritional interventions in some individuals with schizophrenia. This review briefly describes the aforementioned processes and outlines research that has investigated the utility of nutritional approaches as an adjunct to anti-psychotic medication including antioxidant and vitamin B supplementation, neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory nutrients and exclusion diets. Whilst none of these interventions provides a 'one-size-fits-all' therapeutic solution, we suggest that a personalised approach warrants research attention as there is growing agreement that schizophrenia is a spectrum disorder that develops from the interplay between environmental and genetic factors.

Allostatic overload in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a debilitating condition characterised by diverse symptoms such as fatigue, pain, sleep disturbance and autonomic dysfunction. There remains to be a singular biomarker identified for this illness, hence numerous theories about its development and perpetuation have been posited in the literature. This brief report presents the model of 'allostasis' as a framework for understanding ME/CFS, specifically the notion that the physiological mechanisms employed in the body to deal with stress termed here as 'allostatic states' (e.g. elevation of inflammatory cytokines), may in and of themselves contribute to the perpetuation of the disorder. This theoretical assertion has important consequences for the understanding of ME/CFS and treatment; rather than searching for a singular pathogen responsible for this condition, ME/CFS can be conceptualised as a maladaptive stress disorder and interventions aimed at addressing the allostatic states may be incorporated into current symptom management programmes.

A preliminary prospective study of nutritional, psychological and combined therapies for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) in a private care setting.

BACKGROUND: Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a condition characterised by severe and persistent fatigue, neurological disturbances, autonomic and endocrine dysfunctions and sleep difficulties that have a pronounced and significant impact on individuals' lives. Current National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines within the UK suggest that this condition should be treated with cognitive behavioural therapy and/or graded exercise therapy, where appropriate. There is currently a lack of an evidence base concerning alternative techniques that may be beneficial to those with ME/CFS. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate whether three modalities of psychology, nutrition and combined treatment influenced symptom report measures in those with ME/CFS over a 3-month time period and whether there were significant differences in these changes between groups. DESIGN AND SETTING: This is a preliminary prospective study with one follow-up point conducted at a private secondary healthcare facility in London, UK. PARTICIPANTS: 138 individuals (110 females, 79.7%; 42 participants in psychology, 44 in nutrition and 52 in combined) participated at baseline and 72 participants completed the battery of measures at follow-up (52.17% response rate; 14, 27 and 31 participants in each group, respectively). OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-reported measures of ME/CFS symptoms, functional ability, multidimensional fatigue and perceived control. RESULTS: Baseline comparisons showed those in the combined group had higher levels of fatigue. At follow-up, all groups saw improvements in fatigue, functional ability and symptomatology; those within the psychology group also experienced a shift in perceived control over time. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides early evidence that psychological, nutritional and combined techniques for the treatment of ME/CFS may influence symptomatology, fatigue, function and perceived control. However, these results must be viewed with caution as the allocation to groups was not randomised, there was no control group and the study suffered from high drop-out rates.