Mental Health And Nutrition
It has long been believed that nutrition plays a significant role in the state of a person’s mental health, but is this really true? Recent as well as past researches have proven that nutrition (or the lack of it) does indeed have an effect on how a person’s brain functions, his moods and his behaviors.
For example, if a person skips a meal they are usually weak, out of focus and irritable. This case would worsen if it was extended for a longer period of time, then the person would become severely moody and indifferent to the demands of his environment thus showing decreased speed in reaction time.
These behaviors occur due to the lack of nutritional supply to the brain. The brain requires a high energy and nutrient supply. In fact, it comprises, 20% to 30% of all the energy consumption of the body during rest periods. Thus, any change in diet or nutrition levels of the body directly reflects in mental functioning.
Chronic energy deprivation, such as the case of malnourished people, results in the eventual shutting down of the body by decreasing its activities and redirecting all its energy sources towards the systems that require higher energy supply.
This results in altered levels of activities, changes in hormonal levels, lessened immune system efficiency and transport of nutrients and oxygen to certain body parts, all of which could directly or indirectly influence mental health. People with extremely low nutrition are more likely to become sad, depressed and emotional as compared with those who have adequate nutrition.
Newborn babies and fetuses are also susceptible to brain damage if they are subjected to a lack of necessary nutrition. The type and degree of damage is dependent on the severity of malnutrition. Also, malnutrition among babies has proven to produce a lower level of intelligence, cognitive defects as well as functional abnormalities.
Protein, carbohydrates, lipids and vitamins all have individual effects on the brain. Lack of supply of these necessary nutrients result in alterations in the activities of the neurotransmitters, a chemical component in the brain that transmits one nerve impulse to another nerve cell.
Malfunctioning of the transmitters could influence a person’s mood, thinking and even sleep patterns. Additionally, deficient levels of nutritions may result to nerve cell damage that could disrupt cognitive and mental functions.
Neurotransmitters are partly made of amino acids, the building block of protein. Trytophan for example, makes up the neurotransmitter serotonin. If the required amino acid is lacking, the functions of the neurotransmitter could not be executed affecting the normal functioning of the brain.
In cases of deficient protein consumption and failure to supply the necessary amino acid to make serotonin, the body would experience low mood and perhaps, aggression. On the other hand, diseases that could cause the build up of certain amino acids could lead to brain damage thus affecting the mental health of an individual.
Mood regulation could also be associated with the sufficient intake of dietary fats. Some studies have yielded inconclusive results on the correlation between serotonin level and an intake of omega-3 fatty acids, a certain type of fat found only in white fish, to the stress and symptoms of bipolar disorder (a mood disorder having the representations of both mania and depression) which my son suffers from.
So directly or indirectly, nutrition can have an effect on mental health as many studies would show. Changes in the nutritional intake of a person could lead to alterations in mental health and vice versa. People in the health field are always trying to teach us the proper way to eat in order to have a sound body and mind.
