In research I did for BFTB, nutrition was rated the sixth most effective strategy for managing/overcoming depression (after exercise, support of family and friends, psychological counselling, fulfilling work, and relaxation/meditation. The subject was raised in my awareness with books like “Potatoes not Prozac” but increasingly we are seeing research and books coming out with compelling arguments for the effectiveness of lifestyle strategies (several have been covered in recent News and Blog posts on www.IamBackFromTheBrink.com)

A colleague based in the UK has recently brought to my attention the MIND website. MIND is the leading mental health charity in the UK and the site contains some very practical advice regarding food and mood disorders. See:  http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Booklets/Mind+guide+to/Mindguidetofoodandmood.htm#Useful_organisations 

I encourage you to review the above webpage as it is covered quite succinctly in a question and answer format. For those that don’t have the time I’ll cut to the chase on good nutrition for mental health:

6-8 glasses of water per day (stay close to the WC)

Max 2 cups of coffee per day

5 serves of fruit/vegetables (starchy products like potato and sweet potato don’t count.

Oily fish (high in omega 3)

Lean protein

Wholemeal bread

Looks a lot like a healthy diet for physical wellbeing - just goes to show how closely the two are linked.

My personal opinion is that you can’t rely on any one strategy for overcoming depression but if you are serious about making progress, good nutrition is something you can’t ignore. If you are aware of any other evidence of the benefits of good nutrition in mood disorders, please let me know.

Kind Regards

Graeme

Tags: depression, diet, mood disorders, nutrition, prozac

I read a very interesting story from The Boston Globe on the above topic (see News section of www.IamBackFromTheBrink.com). In short, it describes how the effectiveness of Prozac was thought to prove the theory that depression occurred because of low levels of serotonin in the brain. Prozac increases serotonin levels and peoples moods seemed to improve following this. There were a couple of interesting findings that left a lot of questions however:

1. When people had their levels of serotonin artificially reduced their was no decline in mood, and
2. Even though Prozac increased serotonin levels within a couple of days there was a substantial lag before mood improvement occurred.

An emerging theory

Instead of of seeing depression as a chemical imbalance, some researchers are saying that it occurs because some of the brains neurons are dying, much like what occurs with Alzeimers. The only difference is that it appears the atrophy that occurs due to depression is reversable.

The effectiveness of Prozac, these scientists say, has little to do with correcting a chemical imbalance, but rather the increased serotonin levels help to heal our neurons, allowing them to thrive again.

If this theory is valid, then it would also help to explain why exercise and nutrition (known brain regenerators) have such a positive effect on mood.

What ever way you cut it, it again really reinforces my view that you must take a multiple strategy approach when managing/overcoming your depression.

Kind Regards

Graeme

Tags: antidepressants, depression, nutrition, serotonin

I recently spoke with Felice Jacka, who is doing her PhD at the University of Melbourne on the role of nutrition in mood disorders. She showed me a slide which I found very compelling. On one axis was the percentage incidence of depression in that country and on the other axis was the kg per capita of fish consumed in that country. There certainly appeared to be a direct correllation between these two. Countries like Japan, who eat a lot of fish had a very low rate of depression and countries like New Zealand who don’t have much seafood in their diet have a high rate of depression.

I have been taking Omega 3 supplements for about 2 years. I don’t believe that this is the total solution to depression but the evidence certainly looks very promising as a supplementary strategy with no side effects.

Kind Regards

Graeme

Tags: depression, mood disorder, nutrition, seafood