Photograph Stocksy
When we think about treatments for mental health, we tend to think it’s a choice between antidepressants or some form of therapy, or both, but the emerging field of nutritional psychiatry offers another – arguably much needed – option. It seems obvious that food affects mood, but the medical world has been slow to take it seriously. ‘For a long time, the brain has been treated as distinct from the body, in part because we still don’t have a clear understanding of what the mind is,’ says chartered psychologist Kimberley Wilson (monumentalhealth.co.uk). ‘There is still a lot of mystique around the brain, and the nature of consciousness, which has contributed to a dismissal of the impact of the body on the mind.’ But as far as Wilson is concerned that’s – in her words – absurd. ‘The brain, like all organs, relies on good nutrition for optimal function. Although it makes up only about two per cent of your total bodyweight, it uses up about 22 per cent of your total daily energy and oxygen requirements. Compared to other organs, your brain requires a disproportionate amount of nutrition to function well.’
According to proponents of nutritional psychiatry, there’s good evidence that a lack of essential nutrients contributes to anxiety and depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and ADHD, and while mainstream medicine hasn’t yet tapped into this, many working on the ground are starting to. ‘Most doctors have a basic understanding of nutritional principles, but are only beginning to fully appreciate the utility of nutrition as a therapeutic approach,’ agrees Dr Andreas Schenk, consultant psychiatrist at the Priory Southampton and director of mental wellbeing at the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine. ‘I would like to think that we are on the verge of a positive revolution.’ Wilson agrees, albeit cautiously. ‘In the last 10 years, robust research has started to show the powerful influence of nutrition on the brain and mental health. We are waiting for that information to trickle down into medical training and frontline treatment for patients.’
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