Nutrition and Mental Health - Taste Testing Something New

In my previous blog, we visited the idea that nutrition impacts mental health. How often do we hear that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? Arguments, reports and statistics are showing that nutrition impacts students cognitive abilities in learning and schools are working more and more diligently to bring students more nutritious food options, so their brains and bodies are ready for the learning process. Some schools are offering breakfast, to ensure students are ready to begin their day in a healthy way.  (2010 Hulliquist). 

OUR BRAINS/MINDS are what we use to learn…and our mental health is connected to our brains and minds…it’s all one big piece of the pie. It’s all connected...our physical and mental health. You are what you eat. 

Below is a refresher on the statistics about depression and anxiety occurring in the United States. 

The National Institute of Mental Health states that in the United States alone…

• 2.8 Million adolescents in the US have at least one major depressive episode a year.

• 15.7 Million adults have at least one major depressive episode a year. 

That’s 18. 5 million people in the United States who suffer from a major depressive episode. What if we could have a positive impact on these numbers and decrease them through better nutrition?

You are what you eat

Here is an interesting story, that reflects how the food we eat resides within us, literally.  Recently, there was a young person who was receiving blood platelets and began to go into anaphylactic shock — this person was having an allergic reaction to the donated platelets, what was an absolute known fact, was that the young person has an allergy to nuts. 

The Blood Center of Wisconsin went back to the platelet donor and found out that the donor always had peanut butter for breakfast, for years that has been their routine, peanut butter on a bagel, peanut butter on toast, or a couple of spoonfuls of peanut butter when in a hurry, but always peanut butter…so, I guess we can honestly say, you are what you eat. And this scenario attributes to the fact that what we eat can literally run through our veins as well. 

Digesting new ways of looking at mental health

Dr. Julia Rulidge, a research professor at Canterbury Univserity has spent 14 years looking into the effects of nutrition on mental health. A commonality I am finding in published studies, and Dr. Rulidge concurs through three studies she shares in the video below, is that mental health disorders are increasing in countries where Western diets are being introduced. (Fast food, high sugar and high carbs).

Take a moment to watch 6 minutes of this video, which shares results from three different studies with more than 430,000 people. Conclusions show a western diet increases the long-term odds of depression and anxiety. Apparently it takes a while for the results of not-so-good eating habits to build up before we start seeing results in the mental health arena,  approximately 6.2 years is when issues seem to become apparent. In my opinion, this correlates with the increase of physical ailments connected with a Western diet, hypertension, diabetes, high, cholesterol. If we have  long-term or delayed physical repercussions because of our eating habits, why wouldn't we have have repercussions in the brain/mental level as well? 

(This site was unwilling to accept the cropped version - I recommend watching from 15:27 - 20:22) 

This 2008 study from the Nutritional Journal, researches nutritional supplements  and their impact on four mental health diagnosis, major depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, and obsessive compulsive disorder. 

It appears that “the most common nutritional deficiencies seen in mental disorder patients are of omega-3 fatty acids,         B vitamins, minerals, and amino acids which are precursors to neurotransmitters,” (2008). Neurotransmitters are the cells that send communications throughout our body, they tell your heart to beat, your lungs to breath, they set mood, tell your body its time to rest, etc. 

Research sited in this study suggests that nutritional supplements can offer positive assistance with the four listed mental illness diagnosis and in conjunction offer less negative side effects than prescribed medications. 

Now that you’ve been filled up with this information, take some time to digest it and let it settle before we move on to another course. 

Until next time, remember, you ARE what you eat…

References:

Burke, N., Muckenhuber, J., Grosschadle, F., Rasky, E., Freidl, W. (2014, February). Nutrition and Health - The Association between Earring Behavior and Various Health Parameters: A Matched Sample Study. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone008827. Retrieved February 07, 2016 from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0088278

Hullquist,G. (2010, April). Breakfast for Academic Performance. International Forum, Vol. 13, No.1.(pp 5- 19). Retrieved February 07, 2016 from http://ojs.aiias.edu/iforum/article/view/123/116


Lakhan, S, Vieira,K. (2008, January).  Nutritional Therapies for Mental Disorders. Nutritional Journal 7:2. DOI: 10.1186/1475-2891-7-2

National Institute of Health.(2014).  Major Depression Among Adults. Retrieved February 07, 2016 from                       http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/prevalence/major-depression-among-adults.shtml

National Institute of Health. (2014). Major Depression Among Adolescents. Retrieved February 07, 2016 from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/prevalence/major-depression-among-adolescents.shtml

Rulidge, Julia. (2014,May 29). What if..Nutrition could treat mental illness? [ Video File] Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrxdoIn6DQQ. 

Solomon, S, Zukier, Z, Hamden, M, (2010 June). The Role of Nutrition Mental Health:Depression Retrieved February 07, 2016 from www.mindingourbodies.ca/about_the_project/literature_reviews/depression_and_nutrition 

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.

Ugh...YAAAWWWNNNNN

So, how often do you stand in line somewhere and then notice a person yawning without covering their mouth? This is something that gets in my kraw.

I don't care to count your fillings or see what is left of your lunch/breakfast or dinner on your tongue. Plus have you have really studied a persons face as they yawn...at times it can be frightening!

Save yourself, your children and others therapy time by being polite and covering your mouth as you yawn.

Thank you!

Why do we yawn anyway? Click here