Scientists found that food can affect our mental health and determine our happiness. You can get rid of depression by eating better and yummy!
“Over 800,000 Australian adults have a depressive disorder […] and those Australians are part of over 2 million Australians (10% of the population!) and that roughly an equal number of men and women that have the common mental disorders of anxiety and depression or associated alcohol or substance abuse – big numbers”.
What you have just read is part of the talk that Dr. Ian Hickie, Professor of Psychiatry and Executive Director of the Brain and Mind Research Institute at the University of Sydney, gave at the Australian National University the 16th October 2003. Numbers have not changed since. Dr. Hickie defines these mental disorders as “disability disorders”. Adding to the feeling of hopelessness, lack of self-esteem, goals or direction in life, enjoyment, fulfillment, happiness, etc, is that mental disorders are, besides, socially stigmatized, and thus hidden. Did you know that when going to the States one of the questions in Customs questionnaire is “Are you a criminal or have a record of mental disorders?”. No comments on that.
The standard therapies for mental disorders are drugs that inhibit neurotransmitters break down or strengthen their effects. As an example, NIMH USA recommends for depression and bipolar disorders: “[..] a variety of antidepressant medications and psychotherapies that can be used to treat depressive disorders” (NIMH webpage, May 2006). No mention is done to nutrition and physical activity.
Lately, and finally, scientists are busy demonstrating the effects of different foods on moods and mental health. Alternative medicine has since long worked with the premise that our body is a whole system, therefore mental health is just a reflection of our general physical and spiritual health, and all three parts of the being are intricately interconnected. Conditions like depression, anxiety, ADD and ADHD, PMS, schizophrenia, addictions, and neurological degenerative diseases have been related in alternative therapies classically to nutritional deficiencies, lately also to allergies and environmental and food toxicity.
So, what are scientists findings?
The relationship between food components and mental health conditions has been tested in laboratory animals with positive results. According to ABC News reported on February the 10 th , 2005, nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids warded off depression in rats. The study was conducted at the Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass.
Some worried researchers from the same institution write that unexplainable negative trends in modern neuropsychiatric and chronic diseases become explainable when the food production system is considered in the study. In their opinion, “new agricultural techniques may increase or exacerbate neuropsychiatric disorders through nutritional modification”.
Other research teams have centred their attention on the relationship between nutrition and mental health in women and men with chronic conditions. In a study conducted with 714 breast cancer survivors to assess diet and quality of life it was found that women with excellent diet quality had significantly better results than women with poor diet quality for overall mental health functioning. There were also significant improvements in their body state, but curiously enough, results were even better in respect to happiness and mind wellbeing. In a study centred in men’s health and cholesterol done in Japan, findings interestingly indicate that moderate (but not very low) cholesterol levels may protect mental health in human males.
One study found recently that social aggression and the types of oils consumed are probably related. In the study, homicide rates in 5 Western countries were compared, amongst them Australia. The authors suggest that it would be worth to investigate if low linoleic acid diets may prevent behavioural maladies that correctional institutions, social service programs, and mental health providers intend to treat.
Our own observations in the clinic have been astounding in relation to depression. We have had amazing results when treating patients with our new Food Detox and Weight Loss remedies. In 2 cases clients that also had depression reported that “the dark cloud over the head” disappeared in seconds after the first dose, leading to a relieved happiness. In both cases there was an allergy to food as the cause of the depression. Draw your own conclusions.
So, all this studies are proving that all this bunch of eccentrics advertising enthusiastically that a nutrition based on eating fresh vegetables and fruits – as opposed to frozen, canned, prepared or manufactured- are right! The best nutrition for the mind then is one that is supporting to the brain functions, and that is one full of vitamins and minerals in its natural forms, with good oils, many saturated, yes, those found in coconut, unprocessed raw seeds and nuts, and in oily fish if you are a met-eater, and with enough proteins to support the renewal of your body and mind systems, like that found also in green and naturally pigmented foods, and if need be, in algae like Spirulina or Dunaliella.
I will side with your Mum this time and say “Eat your veggies!”. And I would add, raw if possible, with your nuts and seeds!
