By HAYDEN FINCH, PhD
Listen, I don’t want it to be true. I really don’t. I really want to go on eating whatever I want to. Pastries. Bacon cheeseburgers. Cheese fries. Ice cream. Anything high-fat-high-carb. Anything that comes with an astronomical risk of diabetes and/or heart disease. That’s what I want. But I have to tell you the truth. The truth is….that diet not only wrecks our physical health, but it also kills our mood. Even if your diet isn’t that bad, chances are if you’re living in the US or Western Europe, what you’re eating may be killing your mood. Here’s the truth as I understand it, folks.
“The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.”
Mark Twain
People with depression tend to have deficiencies in certain nutrients, including
- Folate (not enough of this, you’ll notice fatigue, confusion, and irritability)
- Vitamin B12 (not enough of this, and you’re on your way to memory loss)
- Iron (missing this? fatigue and anxiety coming your way)
- Zinc (look for irritability, lethargy, depression)
- Selenium (deficiencies are associated with extreme fatigue and mental slowing)
We need these nutrients (and lots of others) for our brains to function like they’re supposed to (so they do all their cellular processing, create neurotransmitters and send them where they’re supposed to go, send signals from one area to another, etc.). So it’s really important that we have enough of each of these in our diet.
Interestingly, not only do people with depression have less of those nutrients, but the research is also suggesting they’re more likely to have a genetic mutation that affects how the body processes folic acid. That means they need more folic acid than people without that mutation, so even if they’re eating a normal diet with a normal amount of folic acid in it, they still might not have enough to make their bodies happy.
Here’s something you might not have thought of:
Our bodies need nutrients to make neurotransmitters and other “stuff” that makes our brains work. The medications we take to manage mental health conditions are designed (in one way or another) to essentially give us more of that “stuff,” which ultimately makes us feel better (or that’s the hope). BUT because people with depression so commonly have nutritional deficiencies, the medications might not be able to overcome those deficiencies in a brain that isn’t nourished well. So basically, a malnourished person with depression may find their medication to be less effective.
We know these nutrient deficiencies are associated with depression, but fish oil, folic acid supplements, and selenium have also been used to treat depression.
Further, the effects start very early. Lower DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid) at birth is associated with more anxiety, depression, and withdrawal at age 7. And lower levels of essential fatty acids in general are associated with more behavior problems and ADHD (people with ADHD might actually metabolize essential fatty acids less efficiently), but ADHD symptoms tend to improve with supplements of fish oil, vitamin C, and primrose oils.
Now all of that was sort of the “bad” news. But the good news in all of this is that we can (fairly) easily change our diets. While there’s nothing we can do about many risk factors for depression and other mental health conditions, this is something we can control. We can modify our diet and thereby modify our mood. It’s empowering in a big way! The research is still being conducted on exactly which nutrients affect mental health and how, but even if nutrition doesn’t directly benefit certain mental health conditions, proper diet and exercise are obviously nevertheless important for overall health. But if the research continues in this direction, nutritional supplementation could be a really cost-effective, accessible, and palatable adjunct to standard mental health treatment.
Now, be sure to talk to your physician and/or a dietitian before making any changes in your diet because if you go ham on some of these supplements, you might create some other problems you don’t want (and that’ll bring down your mood from another direction). But give it some consideration and do your own research, too. You’re in charge of your mental health. Go make some uncomfortable choices and tough changes to create the life you want to live. You’ve got this.
Hayden C. Finch, PhD,
is a practicing psychologist
in Des Moines, Iowa.
