Dishing Up Mental Health

Sadly, studies (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 2014) are showing depression and anxiety is on the rise for children and adolescents. The numbers.  And those of us involved in community psychology understand that this impacts a multitude of systems on many different levels. 

From individuals, to families, to neighborhoods, to communities, schools, employers and even medical costs,  we are all impacted. While I’m sure there are a multitude of reasons for this increase, I would like to focus on something that I believe to be “right under our noses” and yet, hardly every brought up when discussing mental illness. I have to ask, what about nutrition, what impact does that have on mental illness? 

For our bodies to perform at peak levels we need nutrition. For our brains to perform at peak levels, we need nutrition. Our body is one large organism that is connected, even though at times we use words that appear to create a separateness within our bodies. For example,  “My head hurts, this darned knee is acting up,” are ways of stating that particular part of us is separate from the whole. Yet, we know biologically that our physical body is one organism always working as one.  

When a part of our body is injured or not functioning properly, we will have physical repercussions in area’s other than the injured part. For example, if you have tendinitis in your left elbow, you will overcompensate with your right side. If you can’t straighten your left elbow without pain, you’ll hold tension in your shoulders, may be turn with your upper torso or lower trunk rather than your entire body. All of this creates an imbalance. 

What does this have to do with nutrition and mental illness? Well, if you are lacking certain nutrients, or ingesting too much of one thing and not enough of another, this creates an imbalance, similar to what was described above. What is different about the nutrition scenario is that your brain/body may not be able to compensate for the nutritional imbalance.

It is believed at one point in the history of human beings, our bodies used to create vitamin C. At some point there was a mutation in the GLO gene and that ability was lost.(Drouin, B, Godin, J, and Page, B, 2011) We were able to supplement this depletion by eating foods containing Vitamin C.  Where'd the C go?

With the onslaught of the “fast food culture.” I will assume the majority agree that not only has the consumption of nutritional food declined, so has access to it, and our bodies are not able to compensate and produce the nutrients that are now lacking in our foods.  We have chosen quantity and speed over quality. 1/3 of US kids and teens ate fast food today. 

Studies have proven that children who don't have access to healthy food, do poorer in school, on testing and cognitive development (Tobin, 2013). So then I have to ask, why wouldn’t poor diet impact brain function on the mental illness level as well? 

Results of an Australian study conducted over a 2-year period with 3040 adolescents ages 11-17 showed that diet impacted the mental health of participants. On year-two follow up concluded that healthier eating habits correlated with improved mental health, and unhealthy eating habits correlated with poor mental health.  (Jacka F, Kremer P, Berk M, Silva-Sanigorski, A, Moodie M, Leslie E, Pasco J, Swinburne, B, 2011).  A Dish of Mental Health

So to that point, I leave you with some food for thought. 

Until next time…what’s on your plate? 

References: 

Drouin, Guy, Godin, Jean-Remi, Page, Benoit.(2011, August). The Genetics of Vitamin C Loss in Vertebrates. Retrieved February 07, 2016, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3145266/ 

Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, (2014). Adolescent Depression. Retrieved February 05, 2016 from http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/health4.asp

Gorman, Linda. Eating Your Way to Higher Test Scores. National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved February 07, 2016. http://www.nber.org/digest/apr03/w9319.html

Jacka Felice, Kremer, Peter, Berk, Michael, Silva-Sanigorski, Andrea, Moodie, Marjorie, Leslie, Eva, Pasco, Julie, Swinburn, Boyd. (2011, September 21). A Prospective Study of Diet Quality and Mental Health in Adolescents. Retrieved February 5, 2016 from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id-10.1371/journal.pone.0024805

NPR.(2015, September 21). A Third of kids and teenagers ate fast food today. Retrieved February 7, 2016 from   http://www/npr/org/sections/thesalt/2015/09/17/44095139/about-a-third-of-u-s-kids-and-teens-ate-fast-food-today

Wilder Research. (2014, January). Nutrition and  Students Academic Performance. Retrieved February 7, 2016 from
Wilder-Research/Publications/Studies/Fueling%20Academic%20Performance%20-%20Strategies%20to%20Foster%20Healthy%20Eating%20Among%20Students/Nutrition%20and%20Students'%20Academic%20Performance.pdf


Ross, A. (2008, July). Nutrition and its affect on Academic Performance. Retrieved February 07, 2016 from, https://www.nmu.edu/sites/DrupalEducation/files/UserFiles/Files/Pre-Drupal/SiteSections/Students/GradPapers/Projects/Ross_Amy_MP.p/

Tobin, KJ. ( 2013, Jan. 29)  Child Care Health Dev. (1):118-24. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2214.2011.01349.x. Epub 2011 Nov 25.