diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e6de62b2b493..545c56b84343 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@ for Rust libraries in [RFC #1105](https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/blob/master/
   production code is discouraged as it is inherently unsafe and avoids real type
   checking.
 
+* Added a `treat_none_as_null` option to `changeset_for`. When set to `true`,
+  a model will set a field to `Null` when an optional struct field is `None`,
+  instead of skipping the field entirely. The default value of the option is
+  `false`, as we think the current behavior is a much more common use case.
+
 ### Changed
 
 * Rename both the `#[derive(Queriable)]` attribute and the `Queriable` trait to
diff --git a/diesel_codegen/README.md b/diesel_codegen/README.md
index 8fd6b6e35c2c..8e6d1f76662e 100644
--- a/diesel_codegen/README.md
+++ b/diesel_codegen/README.md
@@ -108,6 +108,10 @@ Any fields which are of the type `Option` will be skipped when their value is
 `None`. This makes it easy to support APIs where you may not want to update all
 of the fields of a record on every request.
 
+If you'd like `None` to change a field to `NULL`, instead of skipping it, you
+can pass the `treat_none_as_null` option like so: `#[changeset_for(posts,
+treat_none_as_null="true")]`
+
 If the struct has a field for the primary key, an additional function,
 `save_changes<T: Queryable<..>>(&self, connection: &Connection) ->
 QueryResult<T>`, will be added to the model. This will persist any changes made,
diff --git a/diesel_codegen/src/update.rs b/diesel_codegen/src/update.rs
index 83a97317ec34..9e2fcaf53d86 100644
--- a/diesel_codegen/src/update.rs
+++ b/diesel_codegen/src/update.rs
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ pub fn expand_changeset_for(
 struct ChangesetOptions {
     table_name: ast::Ident,
     skip_visibility: bool,
+    treat_none_as_null: bool,
 }
 
 fn changeset_options(cx: &mut ExtCtxt, meta_item: &MetaItem) -> Result<ChangesetOptions, ()> {
@@ -41,9 +42,12 @@ fn changeset_options(cx: &mut ExtCtxt, meta_item: &MetaItem) -> Result<Changeset
             let table_name = try!(table_name(cx, &meta_items[0]));
             let skip_visibility = try!(boolean_option(cx, &meta_items[1..], "__skip_visibility"))
                 .unwrap_or(false);
+            let treat_none_as_null = try!(boolean_option(cx, &meta_items[1..], "treat_none_as_null"))
+                .unwrap_or(false);
             Ok(ChangesetOptions {
                 table_name: str_to_ident(&table_name),
                 skip_visibility: skip_visibility,
+                treat_none_as_null: treat_none_as_null,
             })
         }
         _ => usage_error(cx, meta_item),
@@ -88,18 +92,17 @@ fn changeset_impl(
     options: &ChangesetOptions,
     model: &Model,
 ) -> Option<P<ast::Item>> {
-    let table: &str = &options.table_name.name.as_str();
     let ref struct_name = model.ty;
     let pk = model.primary_key_name();
     let attrs_for_changeset = model.attrs.iter().filter(|a| a.column_name != pk)
         .collect::<Vec<_>>();
     let changeset_ty = builder.ty().tuple()
         .with_tys(attrs_for_changeset.iter()
-                  .map(|a| changeset_ty(cx, builder, table, a)))
+                  .map(|a| changeset_ty(cx, builder, &options, a)))
         .build();
     let changeset_body = builder.expr().tuple()
         .with_exprs(attrs_for_changeset.iter()
-                    .map(|a| changeset_expr(cx, builder, table, a)))
+                    .map(|a| changeset_expr(cx, builder, &options, a)))
         .build();
     quote_item!(cx,
         impl<'a: 'update, 'update> ::diesel::query_builder::AsChangeset for
@@ -157,18 +160,19 @@ fn save_changes_impl(
 fn changeset_ty(
     cx: &mut ExtCtxt,
     builder: aster::AstBuilder,
-    table: &str,
+    options: &ChangesetOptions,
     attr: &Attr,
 ) -> P<ast::Ty> {
     let column = builder.path()
-        .segment(table).build()
+        .segment(options.table_name).build()
         .segment(attr.column_name).build()
         .build();
-    if let Some(ty) = ty_param_of_option(&attr.ty) {
-        let inner_ty = inner_changeset_ty(cx, column, &ty);
-        quote_ty!(cx, Option<$inner_ty>)
-    } else {
-        inner_changeset_ty(cx, column, &attr.ty)
+    match (options.treat_none_as_null, ty_param_of_option(&attr.ty)) {
+        (false, Some(ty)) => {
+            let inner_ty = inner_changeset_ty(cx, column, &ty);
+            quote_ty!(cx, Option<$inner_ty>)
+        }
+        _ => inner_changeset_ty(cx, column, &attr.ty),
     }
 }
 
@@ -191,15 +195,15 @@ fn inner_changeset_ty(
 fn changeset_expr(
     cx: &mut ExtCtxt,
     builder: aster::AstBuilder,
-    table: &str,
+    options: &ChangesetOptions,
     attr: &Attr,
 ) -> P<ast::Expr> {
     let column = builder.path()
-        .segment(table).build()
+        .segment(options.table_name).build()
         .segment(attr.column_name).build()
         .build();
     let field_name = &attr.field_name.unwrap();
-    if is_option_ty(&attr.ty) {
+    if !options.treat_none_as_null && is_option_ty(&attr.ty) {
         quote_expr!(cx, self.$field_name.as_ref().map(|f| $column.eq(f)))
     } else {
         quote_expr!(cx, $column.eq(&self.$field_name))
diff --git a/diesel_tests/tests/update.rs b/diesel_tests/tests/update.rs
index 6c93688bd5a0..49822974d7a3 100644
--- a/diesel_tests/tests/update.rs
+++ b/diesel_tests/tests/update.rs
@@ -205,3 +205,27 @@ fn can_update_with_struct_containing_single_field() {
     let expected_post = Post::new(post.id, sean.id, "Hello".into(), Some("earth".into()));
     assert_eq!(expected_post, post);
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn struct_with_option_fields_treated_as_null() {
+    #[changeset_for(posts, treat_none_as_null="true", __skip_visibility="true")]
+    struct UpdatePost {
+        id: i32,
+        title: String,
+        body: Option<String>,
+    }
+
+    let connection = connection_with_sean_and_tess_in_users_table();
+    let sean = find_user_by_name("Sean", &connection);
+    let new_post = sean.new_post("Hello", Some("world"));
+    let post = insert(&new_post).into(posts::table)
+        .get_result::<Post>(&connection).unwrap();
+
+    let changes = UpdatePost { id: post.id, title: "Hello again".into(), body: None };
+    let expected_post = Post::new(post.id, sean.id, "Hello again".into(), None);
+    let updated_post = changes.save_changes(&connection);
+    let post_in_database = connection.find(posts::table, post.id);
+
+    assert_eq!(Ok(&expected_post), updated_post.as_ref());
+    assert_eq!(Ok(&expected_post), post_in_database.as_ref());
+}