This month, Jon Sutton looks further into the science behind diets, this time looking at how they affect our mental health.
Until recently, the link between diet and depression has been considered… well, kooky.
Our local herbalist or the yogi down the park might have preached on the power of prandial positivity, but food for thought was unlikely to come from the trusted family doctor, let alone the psychiatrist.
But if Instagram has taught us anything lately it’s that everyone is eating açai salads while absolutely bursting with positivity. And for those looking for a little more evidence than misspelled memes, salad-based selfies and perfectly posed plates, the science world has finally backed up claims of a strong link between your food and your mood.
Felice Jacka, president of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research, told a reporter from WebMD, “A very large body of evidence now exists that suggests diet is as important to mental health as it is to physical health … a healthy diet is protective, and an unhealthy diet is a risk factor for depression and anxiety.”
Psychiatrist Drew Ramsey takes this logic even further, having analysed the effects of the ‘Western diet’ (high on unhealthy sugars, trans fats and bad carbs; low on quality protein and vitamins) on a group of teenagers. “The risk of depression increases about 80% when you compare teens with the lowest-quality diet to those who eat a higher-quality, whole-foods diet. The risk of attention-deficit disorder (ADD) doubles.”
So what exactly is the correct diet to meet our mental requirements? Veganism? Carnivore? The Baby Food Diet? Proponents of pretty much all diets have laid claim to improved mental health, but what has now been proved for certain is that each of the elements below are capable of boosting the brain’s ability to cope with stress, anxiety and depression.
Zinc: this anti-stress nutrient helps to control the body’s stress response. Omega-3s: these are the good fats which can aid memory and, almost certainly, mood. B vitamins: most severe illnesses, both mental and physical, are caused by inflammation; B12 reduces brain inflammation, depression and dementia. Iron: iron deficiency, anaemia, has long been thought to have a direct link to depression.
However, other studies looking into the link between what we eat and what we think have found that food itself might not be as important to mental health as avoiding that food. Intermittent fasting has helped civilisations from cavemen (admittedly, not through choice), who managed to survive for days without food whilst staying lucid enough to navigate animal attacks, right through to the Ancient Greek thinkers who understood that fasting massively improved their cognitive ability.
This is likely due to the presence of ghrelin, which is thought to have mood-enhancing effects once the dieter’s initial hunger pangs have worn off. “High levels of the ‘hunger hormone’ ghrelin have an antidepressant effect,” BBC News reported in 2008.
Intermittent fasting, usually working on the principle that you avoid all food for 16 hours per day, leaving only eight left to consume calories, has reportedly helped many celebrities – Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lopez and professional MMA fighters among them – to stay in shape while retaining seemingly superhuman levels of energy and positivity. So, whilst it’s entirely possible that the food we eat can have a medicinal effect on the mind, helping to keep cognitive connections healthy and strong, it’s also possible that the real benefit to mental health is found by simply having a healthier body thanks to a lower calorie intake.
Further to this, if we’ve decided to opt for a new eating pattern, it’s also likely we’ve decided to correct other parts of our life that we’d been putting off and secretly dwelling upon, often without even realising. But whether we end up feeling happier because of the healing effects of food, because of the ghrelin being produced by hunger or simply because we’ve made a big change in life – happiness is happiness.