Nutritional interventions for the treatment of ptsd

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SBU Enquiry Service

Consists of structured literature searches to highlight studies that can address questions received by the SBU Enquiry Service from Swedish healthcare or social service providers. We assess the risk of bias in systematic reviews and when needed also quality and transferability of results in health economic studies. Relevant references are compiled by an SBU staff member, in consultation with an external expert when needed.

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Published: Report no: ut202505 Registration no: SBU 2025/340

Question

What is the effect of nutritional interventions on people with ptsd?

PICO

  • Population: Adults diagnosed with ptsd
  • Intervention: Dietary or nutritional interventions (including nutritional supplements)
  • Comparison: Usual care or no intervention
  • Outcome: Ptsd-symptoms, quality of life, weight change

Method

A systematic literature search was performed using the following databases: Medline (via ovid), Scopus and PsycInfo.

Two authors independently assessed the abstracts of all identified studies.
Risk of bias in relevant systematic reviews was assessed using an assessment tool based on AMSTAR.

Identified literature

No relevant systematic reviews with low to moderate risk of bias were identified. In two relevant systematic reviews, the risk of bias was considered to be high, therefore the results and conclusions are not reported [1] [2].

References

  1. Capple KA, Kostas-Polston EA, Engler MB, Lai C, Froelicher ES. Efficacy of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids as a Treatment for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Review. Mil Med. 2025;190(1-2):e74-e81. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usae319
  2. Hall KS, Hoerster KD, Yancy WS. Post-traumatic stress disorder, physical activity, and eating behaviors. Epidemiol Rev. 2015;37(1):103-15. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1093/epirev/mxu011

 

Search strategies

Medline via OvidSP 2 April 2025

/ = Term from the MeSH controlled vocabulary; .sh = Term from the MeSH controlled vocabulary; exp = Term from MeSH including terms found below this term in the MeSH hierarchy; .ti,ab = Title or abstract; .tw = Title or abstract; .kf = Keywords; .kw = Keywords, exact; .bt = Book title. NLM Bookshelf; .pt = Publication type; .ja = Journal abbreviation; .af = All fields; adjn = Adjacent. Proximity operator retrieving adjacent words, adj3 retrieves records with search terms within two terms from each other; * or $ = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase
Search terms Items found
Population:
1. exp Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/ 45 286
2. (“post-traumatic stress” or “posttraumatic stress” or PTSD or PTS).ab,ti,kf,bt. 71 900
3. (“complex post-traumatic stress” or “complex posttraumatic stress” or ”CPTSD” or “C-PTSD” or “complex ptsd” or ”complex pts” or ”DESNOS” or ”EPCACE” or (complex adj3 (trauma* or stress)) or (extreme* adj3 (trauma* or stress*)) or (catastrophic* adj3 (experience* or event*)) or ((trauma* or stress*) adj3 disorder*)).ab,ti,kf,bt. 69 026
4. Or/1-3 104 822
Intervention: Nutrition
5. exp Food/ 1 564 756
6. exp Diet/ 351 870
7. exp Meals/ 9889
8. exp Nutritional Sciences/ 21 112
9. exp Nutrition Therapy/ 119 192
10. “nutritional therapy” or dietetics or “dietary intervention”.ab,ti,kf,bt. 22 282
11. ((oral or peroral) AND (diet* or nutri*) AND intervention*).ab,ti,kf,bt. 6718
12. (nutri* adj3 drink).ab,ti,kf,bt. 281
13. (diet* adj3 suppl*).ab,ti,kf,bt. 64 718
14. Or/5-13 1 866 380
Study types: systematic reviews and meta-analysis
15. ((Systematic Review/ or Meta-Analysis/ or Cochrane Database Syst Rev.ja. or ((systematic adj4 review) or "meta analys*" or metaanalys*).ti,bt,ab.) not (editorial/ or letter/ or case reports/)) 530 806
Final result
16. 4 AND 14 AND 15 33

Scopus via scopus.com 2 April 2025

TITLE-ABS-KEY = Title, abstract or keywords (including indexed keywords and author keywords); ALL = All fields; W/n = Within. Proximity operator retrieving terms within n words from each other; PRE/n = Precedes by. Proximity operator, the first term in the search must precede the second by n words; LIMIT-TO (X) = Includes only results of specified type, e.g., publication type or time range; DOCTYPE = Publication type; “re” = review; “le” = letter; “ed” = editorial; “ch” = book chapter; “cp” = conference proceedings; * = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase
Search terms Items found
Population:
1. TITLE-ABS-KEY (PTSD OR PTS OR (trauma* W/3 stress*) OR (stress* OR trauma* W/3 disorder*)) 170 926
2. TITLE-ABS-KEY (“complex post-traumatic stress” OR “complex posttraumatic stress” OR CPTSD OR C-PTSD OR DESNOS OR EPCACE OR ”complex PTSD” OR ”complex PTS” OR (complex* W/4 (trauma* OR stress*)) OR (catastrophic* W/3 (experience* OR event*)) OR (extreme* W/3 (stress* OR trauma*))) 53 220
3. 1 OR 2 220 365
Intervention:
4. TITLE-ABS-KEY (food OR nutri* OR diet*) 4 058 254
5. TITLE-ABS-KEY (nutri* OR diet*) W/4 (intervention* OR therap*) 149 909
6. TITLE-ABS-KEY (nutri* OR diet*) W/4 (suppl* OR drink*) 281 202
7. 4 OR 5 OR 6 4 058 254
Study types: systematic reviews and meta-analysis
8. TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( systematic  W/2  review )  OR  "meta analy*"  OR  metaanaly* ) AND (EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “le”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “ed”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “ch”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “cp”))   794 527
Final result
9. 3 AND 7 AND 8 352

PSYCINFO vs EBSCO 2 April 2025

TI = Title; AB = Abstract; SU = Keyword, exact or part (including all other fields for indexed and author keywords); DE = Exact keyword; TX = All text; MR = Methodology; Nn = Near. Proximity operator retrieving terms within n words from each other; * = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase
Search terms Items found
Population:
1. DE “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder” 44 076
2. DE “Complex PTSD” 830
3. DE “Emotional Trauma” 16 692
4. DE “Traumatic Experiences” 1661
5. DE “Trauma Treatment” 719
6. TI(post-traumatic* OR posttraumatic* OR PTSD OR PTS OR ((stress* OR trauma*) N3 disorder*)) 34 027
7. AB(post-traumatic* OR posttraumatic* OR PTSD OR PTS OR ((stress* OR trauma*) N3 disorder*)) 75 011
8. SU(post-traumatic* OR posttraumatic* OR PTSD OR PTS OR ((stress* OR trauma*) N3 disorder*)) 60 455
9. TI(“complex posttraumatic stress” OR “complex post-traumatic stress” OR “complex ptsd” OR “complex pts” OR CPTSD OR C-PTSD OR DESNOS OR EPCACE OR (catastrophic N3 (experience* OR event*)) OR (extreme* N3 (trauma* OR stress*)) 4277
10. AB(“complex posttraumatic stress” OR “complex post-traumatic stress” OR “complex ptsd” OR “complex pts” OR CPTSD OR C-PTSD OR DESNOS OR EPCACE OR (catastrophic N3 (experience* OR event*)) OR (extreme* N3 (trauma* OR stress*)) 4355
11. SU(“complex posttraumatic stress” OR “complex post-traumatic stress” OR “complex ptsd” OR “complex pts” OR CPTSD OR C-PTSD OR DESNOS OR EPCACE OR (catastrophic N3 (experience* OR event*)) OR (extreme* N3 (trauma* OR stress*)) 4282
12. Or/1-11 98 325
Intervention:
13. DE “Dietary Treatment” 324
14. DE “Dietary supplements” 3310
15. DE “Diets” 16 730
16. DE “Nutritionists” 116
17. DE “Nutrition” 14 281
18. TI((food OR nutri* OR diet*) OR ((nutri* OR diet*) N4 (intervention* OR therap*)) OR ((nutri* OR diet*) N4 (suppl* OR drink*))) 44 631
19. AB((food OR nutri* OR diet*) OR ((nutri* OR diet*) N4 (intervention* OR therap*)) OR ((nutri* OR diet*) N4 (suppl* OR drink*))) 150 401
20. SU((food OR nutri* OR diet*) OR ((nutri* OR diet*) N4 (intervention* OR therap*)) OR ((nutri* OR diet*) N4 (suppl* OR drink*))) 95 329
21. Or/13-21 171 626
Study types: systematic reviews and meta-analysis 
22. TI((systematic n3 review) OR "meta analys*" OR metaanalys*) OR AB((systematic n3 review) OR "meta analys*" OR metaanalys*) OR SU((systematic n3 review) OR "meta analys*" OR metaanalys*) OR (MR "Systematic Review" OR MR "meta analysis") 110 495
Final result
23. 12 AND 21 AND 22 40
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