O-86 “Eat what you grow, grow what you eat”: a Caribbean population’s beliefs about the relationship between diet, food systems, and mental health

Methods: This qualitative study is nested in the Global Community Food for Human Nutrition and Planetary Health in Small Islands (Global CFaH) project. In 2024, fifteen online food system stakeholder interviews and five in-person focus groups of laypersons (stratified by age and gender) were conducted. The convenience sample of recommended stakeholders were recruited via email, and focus group participants were recruited via email from a pool of existing participants of a survey from the Global CFaH study. Analysis followed a mixed deductive and inductive thematic approach using Dedoose software.

Results: Participants highlighted the significant impact of diet, food security, food sourcing on mental health and wellbeing. Participants linked unhealthy diets of processed or chemically-treated foods to poor mental health, and two mechanisms of action emerged to explain these perceived effects, both moderated by physical health. Food insecurity, exacerbated by reliance on imports and insufficient local production, was considered a key threat to mental health by leading to anxiety and worry. Local foods, in particular, were valued for their mental health benefits due to their perceived higher nutrient quality and lower chemical content, but stigma against local foods as ‘poor man food’ persists. On a wider level, more rural agricultural-based communities were perceived to have better mental health due to access to fresh food and the meditative and spiritual benefits of farming the land.

Conclusion: St. Lucian perceptions of the interconnectedness between diet, food security, and local food production with mental health at individual and community levels highlight opportunities for holistic interventions to improve both physical and mental health. Multifaceted interventions should prioritise the expansion of nutrition education to include mental health benefits alongside the promotion of local food production