depression and food

April 21, 2001

http://moodfoods.com/

The links between food, mood and cognition are subtle and complex. They are

also subject to numerous and often uncontrolled variables which easily

disguise any differential effects and their importance. For instance, the

long-term role of the essential (linoleic and linolenic) fatty acids in

emotional, intellectual and physical health is vital. Yet appreciation of

their value is clouded by the notion that fat is bad for you.

Mild-to-moderate functional deficits are common. Such deficits can

contribute to a variety of distressing ailments such as atopic eczema and

bronchial disorders. Essential fatty-acid deficiency can also cause

depression; worsen attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); and

increase the risk of dementia. We need more TV ads promoting the sexiness of

sunflower-seeds; and less glamorising sugar-coated junk food.

The risks of fatty-acid deficiency start early. During infancy, a

lack of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), the omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated

fatty-acid found in breast milk, increases the later risk of developing

schizophrenia among the genetically susceptible. DHA ensures the fluidity of

neuronal membranes. It is thus essential for the transmission of

nerve-signals in the brain. DHA-deficiency can cause clinical depression and

coronary heart-disease in later life. It can be biosynthesised in the body

from linolenic acid derived from dietary sources such as flaxseed oil.

Scandalously, and in defiance of World Health Organization recommendations,

infant-formulas in many parts of the world still fail to include it. The

major shift over the last hundred years in the ratio of n-6 (arachidonic

acid, linoleic acid) to n-3 (docosahexaenoic acid, linolenic acid) fatty

acids in the typical Western diet may have played a role in the increasing

global incidence of depressive disorders. Our dietary intake has shifted

from a ratio of perhaps 1:1 on the African savannah to a ratio of somewhere

between 10:1 and 25:1 in North America today.

The role of several key amino acid constituents of proteins is also

vital to mental health. They serve as the precursors to the monoamine

neurotransmitters which help mediate mood and emotion. In effect, different

precursor amino-acids compete to get into the brain. The amino acid

composition of the blood is in large part a reflection of one's last meal.

So it might be supposed that one could boost or diminish the function of

different neurotransmitters in the brain by dietary means: either by eating

a diet whose amino-acid composition was artificially skewed in favour of

foods containing unusually high levels of particular amino acids, or by

trying " precursor loading " of specific free-form amino acids and their

vitamin cofactors.

To a limited extent this is true. The brain, however, like the rest

of the body, has a set of complex homeostatic mechanisms. Their effect is to

buffer the body from variations in the composition of food. Hence precursor

loading with tyrosine and phenylalanine, or choosing a diet abnormally rich

in these two amino-acids, won't on its own predictably and consistently

raise the corresponding downstream levels of dopamine and noradrenaline in

the brain to any great extent. This is because tyrosine hydroxylase, a key

enzyme in the metabolic pathway which converts the amino acids into

neurotransmitters, is normally saturated. It's usually also the

rate-limiting step in the production process. Cofactors that are involved in

the synthesis of these neuro-chemical transmitters can effect

neurotransmission [e.g. Vitamin B6, zinc and magnesium] are involved as

cofactors in the enzyme aromatic acid decarboxylase, which converts

dihydroxy-phenylalanine to dopamine and 5 hydroxytryptophan to serotonin.

Thus a deficiency in vitamin B6 can result in a decrease of a particular

neurotransmitter.

There are nonetheless distinct advantages in choosing a diet high in

the scarce essential amino acid tryptophan. Increasing one's intake is

feasible either by taking supplements of the free-form amino acid or eating

tryptophan-rich foods such as pecan nuts and bananas. This is useful because

tryptophan is the precursor and rate-limiting step in the production of the

strategically important neurotransmitter serotonin. One recent Canadian

study suggested the rate of serotonin synthesis was on average 52% higher in

the men compared with the women. This may account for the higher incidence

of unipolar depression in women than men. The functions of serotonin's 15

presently identified receptor sub-types and their metabolic cascades

shouldn't really be compressed into a sentence. But, simplifying grossly,

serotonergic pathways mediate emotional resilience, relaxation, sociability

and a sense of things being normal and " all right. " Low levels of serotonin

metabolites, on the other hand, are associated with irritability, anger,

depression and violence towards oneself and others. So whereas eating an

artificially tryptophan-poor diet, or consuming a free-form amino-acid-mix

minus tryptophan on an empty stomach, can quite rapidly cause depression, a

tryptophan-rich diet is likely to be good for mood and mental stability.

In fact, matters are inevitably more complicated. Not everyone

reacts to food in the same way. Paradoxically, the most immediately

effective way to raise neural serotonin levels is simply to eat, not a

protein snack, but a high carbohydrate meal. The insulin released lets more

tryptophan cross the blood-brain barrier by sweeping competing amino-acids

out of the blood-stream.

On a much grander scale it may be conjectured, albeit unprovably one

way or the other, that the often pacifistic and fatalistic religious

traditions of the Indian sub-continent are linked to their high-carbohydrate

but tryptophan-rich staple diet of rice and legumes. Conversely, it might be

expected that tribes or civilisations typified by high-protein

red-meat-eaters, many other things being equal, should as stereotype

suggests be temperamentally more aggressive to each other as well. For a

high-protein diet will tend to diminish serotonin function at the expense of

norepinephrine and dopamine. These are two catecholamine neurotransmitters

equally implicated in mood - but not of a socially empathetic flavour. Such

speculations do not lend themselves to controlled study.

There is a sense, however, in which nutrition is, or rather ought to

be, a dull subject. For after one has got one's diet and life-style just

about right, then one has reached a genetically constrained plateau of

well-being - or alternatively become trapped in a local minimum of

ill-being - beyond which there's nowhere else to go; or at least nowhere to

go via what are conventionally regarded as natural means. From then on, only

the psychopharmacology, genetic therapy and then nano-level hedonic

engineering as sketched in The Hedonistic Imperative are going to make life

significantly better.

The great majority of people haven't attained even their miserly

genetic emotional ceiling. So this is a valuable manual. For most us, " You

are what you eat " is a tag so denatured by over-use that we rarely think

through its implications. This food's-the-best-medicine sort of tract is

probably just the right kind of corrective.

April 21, 2001

This is SUCH a good article.

Thanks for finding/sharing.

Valerie

Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices

http://auctions./

April 22, 2001

The Halls,

I love the sentence "We need more TV ads promoting the sexiness of sunflower-seeds; and less glamorising sugar-coated junk food." So true!

Of course this is unlikely since there's no money in it. I still can't get over the three top companies being Marlboro, Coca Cola and Budweiser.

What does this tell you about our country? Good article. Dr. Udo Arazmus, formulator of Udo's Choice Perfected Oil Blend, says that 98% of the

population does not get enough Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids. Good article. You mention the brain and he says that the first born

normally takes all of the Omega 3 and 6 and this accounts for the higher IQ of the first born child.

Valorie

-

The Halls

herbal_Remedies

Friday, April 20, 2001 9:46 PM

[herbal remedies] depression and food

http://moodfoods.com/The links between food, mood and cognition are subtle and complex. They arealso subject to numerous and often uncontrolled variables which easilydisguise any differential effects and their importance. For instance, thelong-term role of the essential (linoleic and linolenic) fatty acids inemotional, intellectual and physical health is vital. Yet appreciation oftheir value is clouded by the notion that fat is bad for you.Mild-to-moderate functional deficits are common. Such deficits cancontribute to a variety of distressing ailments such as atopic eczema andbronchial disorders. Essential fatty-acid deficiency can also causedepression; worsen attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); andincrease the risk of dementia. We need more TV ads promoting the sexiness ofsunflower-seeds; and less glamorising sugar-coated junk food. The risks of fatty-acid deficiency start early. During infancy, alack of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), the omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturatedfatty-acid found in breast milk, increases the later risk of developingschizophrenia among the genetically susceptible. DHA ensures the fluidity ofneuronal membranes. It is thus essential for the transmission ofnerve-signals in the brain. DHA-deficiency can cause clinical depression andcoronary heart-disease in later life. It can be biosynthesised in the bodyfrom linolenic acid derived from dietary sources such as flaxseed oil.Scandalously, and in defiance of World Health Organization recommendations,infant-formulas in many parts of the world still fail to include it. Themajor shift over the last hundred years in the ratio of n-6 (arachidonicacid, linoleic acid) to n-3 (docosahexaenoic acid, linolenic acid) fattyacids in the typical Western diet may have played a role in the increasingglobal incidence of depressive disorders. Our dietary intake has shiftedfrom a ratio of perhaps 1:1 on the African savannah to a ratio of somewherebetween 10:1 and 25:1 in North America today. The role of several key amino acid constituents of proteins is alsovital to mental health. They serve as the precursors to the monoamineneurotransmitters which help mediate mood and emotion. In effect, differentprecursor amino-acids compete to get into the brain. The amino acidcomposition of the blood is in large part a reflection of one's last meal.So it might be supposed that one could boost or diminish the function ofdifferent neurotransmitters in the brain by dietary means: either by eatinga diet whose amino-acid composition was artificially skewed in favour offoods containing unusually high levels of particular amino acids, or bytrying "precursor loading" of specific free-form amino acids and theirvitamin cofactors. To a limited extent this is true. The brain, however, like the restof the body, has a set of complex homeostatic mechanisms. Their effect is tobuffer the body from variations in the composition of food. Hence precursorloading with tyrosine and phenylalanine, or choosing a diet abnormally richin these two amino-acids, won't on its own predictably and consistentlyraise the corresponding downstream levels of dopamine and noradrenaline inthe brain to any great extent. This is because tyrosine hydroxylase, a keyenzyme in the metabolic pathway which converts the amino acids intoneurotransmitters, is normally saturated. It's usually also therate-limiting step in the production process. Cofactors that are involved inthe synthesis of these neuro-chemical transmitters can effectneurotransmission [e.g. Vitamin B6, zinc and magnesium] are involved ascofactors in the enzyme aromatic acid decarboxylase, which convertsdihydroxy-phenylalanine to dopamine and 5 hydroxytryptophan to serotonin.Thus a deficiency in vitamin B6 can result in a decrease of a particularneurotransmitter. There are nonetheless distinct advantages in choosing a diet high inthe scarce essential amino acid tryptophan. Increasing one's intake isfeasible either by taking supplements of the free-form amino acid or eatingtryptophan-rich foods such as pecan nuts and bananas. This is useful becausetryptophan is the precursor and rate-limiting step in the production of thestrategically important neurotransmitter serotonin. One recent Canadianstudy suggested the rate of serotonin synthesis was on average 52% higher inthe men compared with the women. This may account for the higher incidenceof unipolar depression in women than men. The functions of serotonin's 15presently identified receptor sub-types and their metabolic cascadesshouldn't really be compressed into a sentence. But, simplifying grossly,serotonergic pathways mediate emotional resilience, relaxation, sociabilityand a sense of things being normal and "all right." Low levels of serotoninmetabolites, on the other hand, are associated with irritability, anger,depression and violence towards oneself and others. So whereas eating anartificially tryptophan-poor diet, or consuming a free-form amino-acid-mixminus tryptophan on an empty stomach, can quite rapidly cause depression, atryptophan-rich diet is likely to be good for mood and mental stability. In fact, matters are inevitably more complicated. Not everyonereacts to food in the same way. Paradoxically, the most immediatelyeffective way to raise neural serotonin levels is simply to eat, not aprotein snack, but a high carbohydrate meal. The insulin released lets moretryptophan cross the blood-brain barrier by sweeping competing amino-acidsout of the blood-stream. On a much grander scale it may be conjectured, albeit unprovably oneway or the other, that the often pacifistic and fatalistic religioustraditions of the Indian sub-continent are linked to their high-carbohydratebut tryptophan-rich staple diet of rice and legumes. Conversely, it might beexpected that tribes or civilisations typified by high-proteinred-meat-eaters, many other things being equal, should as stereotypesuggests be temperamentally more aggressive to each other as well. For ahigh-protein diet will tend to diminish serotonin function at the expense ofnorepinephrine and dopamine. These are two catecholamine neurotransmittersequally implicated in mood - but not of a socially empathetic flavour. Suchspeculations do not lend themselves to controlled study. There is a sense, however, in which nutrition is, or rather ought tobe, a dull subject. For after one has got one's diet and life-style justabout right, then one has reached a genetically constrained plateau ofwell-being - or alternatively become trapped in a local minimum ofill-being - beyond which there's nowhere else to go; or at least nowhere togo via what are conventionally regarded as natural means. From then on, onlythe psychopharmacology, genetic therapy and then nano-level hedonicengineering as sketched in The Hedonistic Imperative are going to make lifesignificantly better. The great majority of people haven't attained even their miserlygenetic emotional ceiling. So this is a valuable manual. For most us, "Youare what you eat" is a tag so denatured by over-use that we rarely thinkthrough its implications. This food's-the-best-medicine sort of tract isprobably just the right kind of corrective.Federal Law requires that we warn you of the following: 1. Natural methods can sometimes backfire. 2. If you are pregnant, consult your physician before using any natural remedy. 3. The Constitution guarantees you the right to be your own physician and toprescribe for your own health. We are not medical doctors although MDs are welcome to post here as long as they behave themselves. Any opinions put forth by the list members are exactly that, and any person following the advice of anyone posting here does so at their own risk. It is up to you to educate yourself. By accepting advice or products from list members, you are agreeing to be fully responsible for your own health, and hold the List Owner and members free of any liability. Dr. Ian ShillingtonDoctor of NaturopathyDr.IanShillington