The impact of food on mental health

[kestrell]

Yesterday I heard a great webinar by Dr. Uma Naidoo, MD, Director of Nutritional and Lifestyle Psychiatry at MGH and a board-certified psychiatrist., speak about cutting-edge research that demonstrates the many ways foods contribute to our mental health and how a sound diet can help treat and prevent a wide-range of psychological and cognitive issues. In addition, she focused on the negative impact Covid-19 is having on the aging and the mental health of those who are already receiving mental health services. Dr. Naidoo was a brilliant speaker who packed a lot of information into a half-hour talk, and she is also author of a book, _This Is Your Brain on Food_, which I just started to read.

She also discussed the connections between gut health and cognition, and the Vegas [sp?] nerve and brain activity, including depression.
Dr. Uma Naidoo's website
https://umanaidoomd.com/

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

V-A-G-U-S is the Big Nerve on Campus. The adjective form is V-A-G-A-L, as in vasovagal syncope (why I pass out when I'm physically or emotionally stressed).

Science is just starting to learn what the billions of bacteria we host in our digestive system do. I've seen non-rigorous speculative articles which posit that changes in our diet cause microbiome changes which lead to mental health issues and weight gain. Of course these speculations are the basis for thousands of "Eat Your Way to Happiness" sites.

A remarkably readable yet scientific article is "20 Things you Didn’t Know About the Human gut Microbiome," by Erin Ferranti, PhD, MPH, RN, et al. in the Journal of Cardiogastric Nursing.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4191858/

[kestrell]

Thank you for the spelling and the link. I've been a little dubious about those "eat your way to happy" books, but this doctor cited actual studies and also had recommendations for people of a certain age. Since I've had so many health issues over the past year or more, I'm ready to try some alternative methods. Also, I'm going to try to write a brief report and share it with the group that works on improving health policies for people with complicated health issues. We never talk about diet or access to healthy food, and yet it has so many considerations for our demographic.

It's a crowded field because

[jesse_the_k]

...every single bit of useful real data is automagically amplified by the bogus noise from the "eat yourself happy" folks.

AND ... my life improved dramatically when I switched to a high-protein (at least 60 g a day) diet while eliminating gluten and lactose.

So, try it out! The key is being systematic, keeping good records, and tracking every damn thing you eat for a couple months. I did some quick DuckDuckGoing and Googling and the top 100 results from both sites contained no peer-reviewed direct info. I worked with a nutritionist.