In this Comment, we define the nascent field of metabolic psychiatry and highlight key questions regarding the overlap between metabolism and mental health. We also make recommendations to integrate considerations of diversity and inclusion, lived experience and open science to accelerate discovery and clinical translation in this field.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$79.00 per year
only $6.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References
Tanenbaum, M. L. et al. J. Affect. Disord. 150, 533–539 (2013).
Vancampfort, D. et al. World Psychiatry 14, 339–347 (2015).
Danan, A., Westman, E. C., Saslow, L. R. & Ede, G. Front. Psychiatry 13, 951376 (2022).
Sethi, S. et al. Preprint at PsyArXiv https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/wm8g3 (2024).
Łojko, D. & Rybakowski, J. Neuropsychiatry Neuropsychol. 19, 83–89 (2024).
Needham, N. et al. BJPsych Open 9, e176 (2023).
Pollak, T. A. Brain 148, 349–351 (2025).
Bernard, J. et al. Brain Behav. Immun. 123, 456–465 (2025).
Vasileva, S. S., Tucker, J., Siskind, D. & Eyles, D. Expert Opin. Drug Saf. 21, 625–639 (2022).
Davyson, E. et al. Biol. Psychiatry 94, 630–639 (2023).
Casanova, F. et al. Hum. Mol. Genet. 30, 2371–2382 (2021).
Li, Z. et al. eBioMedicine 34, 182–188 (2018).
Chen, W., Liu, X., Bao, L., Yang, P. & Zhou, H. Front. Nutr. 10, 1079250 (2023).
Gearing, R. E. et al. Int. J. Social Psychiatry 59, 671–681 (2013).
Thornicroft, G., Cooper, S., Bortel, T. V., Kakuma, R. & Lund, C. Harv. Rev. Psychiatry 20, 13–24 (2012).
Acknowledgements
The authors are supported by funding from the UK Medical Research Council (MR/Z503563/1).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The fellowship of I.H.C. is funded by Baszucki Group. I.H.C. has received consulting fees from Mayo Clinic and Abbott Lingo. The other authors declare no competing interests.
Peer review
Peer review information
Nature Mental Health thanks Marc L. Molendijk and the other, anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mudra Rakshasa-Loots, A., Campbell, J., Campbell, I.H. et al. Metabolic psychiatry: key priorities for an emerging field. Nat. Mental Health 3, 855–858 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-025-00445-z
Published:
Version of record:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-025-00445-z