REVIEW article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition, Psychology and Brain Health
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Foundational Components and Elements of Plant Foods for Neurological Nutrition and Well-beingView all 18 articles
Mood Food: Antidepressant Effects of Culinary Spices
Provisionally accepted
- 1Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China
- 2Southeast University, Nanjing, China
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Depression represents a major contributor to the global disease burden. As a complementary strategy, dietary interventions have attracted increasing interest in mental health care. Culinary spices, traditionally used as flavoring agents, are now increasingly regarded as functional foods due to they contain diverse plant-derived bioactive compounds with neuroprotective potential. Growing evidence suggests that several commonly used spices, such as turmeric, chili pepper, black pepper, ginger and saffron, all show similar antidepressant effects. These effects are achieved by regulating neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, monoaminergic neurotransmitter, neuroplasticity and gut-brain axis. Different from traditional antidepressants, culinary spices are typically consumed as a part of daily diet in low doses over extended periods, which may allow for gradual biological effects through multiple pathways while maintaining a favorable safety profile. This review systematically summarizes the evidence of antidepressant effects of major culinary spices, explains the molecular mechanisms, and discusses the key issues related to bioavailability, safety and dietary therapy potential. Understanding the role of culinary spices in emotional regulation may provide valuable insights for nutrition-based depression prevention and auxiliary management strategies.
Keywords: Antidepressant effects, Culinary spices, Depression, Dietary interventions, Functional Foods
Received: 18 Jan 2026; Accepted: 13 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Zhong, Qing and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yingjie Qing
Jie Liu
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