WEEK 10 Flashcards
Why is food relevant to
mental wellbeing?
accounts for
≈ 2% of our
body weight
but,
it requires 20-40% of
the glucose and
nutrients that come
directly from our food
- ~1 litre perfuses our
brain every minute,
carrying nutrients and
oxygen especially
Dietary Change in last 100 years
- Whole Food to Processed
- Sugar and Refined Carbs
- Animal to Vegetable Fats
- Omega-3 to Omega-6
- New Molecules: Food
Dyes, Preservatives,
Trans-fats
Colonization
- Māori gardens prolific when settlers arrived – norm was
to have a vegetable garden: - Colonization substantially dislocated indigenous diets
- These diets disrupted globally; fractured and destroyed
by early years of colonization - Settler colonial diets into Aotearoa: Emphasis on white
flour, white sugar, white fats - We now ingest diets that are not drawn directly from
nature but come from food products that are grown for
profit by corporations and gardens are a rarity
The Green Revolution
- Refers to a large increase in crop production by using
modern agricultural techniques - Results in intensive farming
- Ploughing and tilling results in collapse soil structure –
more prone to floods, fire & drought - Side effects: loss of biodiversity, erosion, chemical runoff,
cultural food knowledge of indigenous peoples,
displacement of genetic diversity - Crop rotation replaced with monocultures of rice & wheat
- Soil becomes dirt, loss of soil’s microbes
- Synthetic nitrogen over time depletes soil organic matter
Food choice changes?
increased calories
Decreased nutrients
Poor eating causes nearly …. how many deaths per day?
Poor eating causes nearly one thousand deaths
each day in the United States from heart disease,
stroke, and diabetes
Food label effectiveness?
Nothing in food label tells you
if it is good for your brain and
wellbeing
And… many people won’t think
about the micronutrient
adequacy of food
What are micronutrients?
Vitamins and minerals
Required in small amounts
Essential for production of
enzymes, hormones,
neurotransmitters, etc
Micronutrients: Why do we need them for our brain?
Minerals and vitamins act as COFACTORS for enzymatic processes (turning chemical A into chemical B)
Nutrients Required for Energy Production
Various Micronutrients needed for:
- Serotonin pathway
- Dopamine pathway
- Production of ATP
- Methylation => methyl group can conceal or reveal the gene to transcription
Where do micronutrients come from?
In the soil, then taken up by plants.
What’s wrong with ‘western, processed’ diets?
What’s good about ‘Mediterranean, whole food’ diets?
Western = Fewer vitamins and minerals
Mediterranean = More vitamins and minerals
Wellbeing and food
- High total intake of fruits & vegetables, including berries, citrus, & green leafy vegetables, promote:
– higher levels of optimism and self-efficacy
– reduced level of psychological distress, ambiguity, and cancer fatalism
– protect against depressive symptoms - An increase in consumption of fruits and vegetables by one portion a day leads to a 0.133-unit
improvement in mental well-being as assessed by GHQ-12 - Consumption of 7–8 servings a day leads to meaningful changes in positive affect
- Consumption of 8 portions a day leads to a 0.24-unit increase in life satisfaction
- Wellbeing increases in dose-response fashion with # of portions of fruit and vegetables consumed
- Better quality of life associated with Nordic/Mediterranean diet
- Higher adherence to Mediterranean Diet associated with better subjective wellbeing
Those who ate more fruit and veg during lockdown had better wellbeing
- Fruit and vegetable intake contributed to wellbeing alongside sleep and
social interaction quality - Examining day-to-day associations showed fruit and veg intake on same day
promoted wellbeing
Raw, frozen, canned or cooked?
- Lower depression with raw veggies/fruit (but not with processed / frozen etc)
Healthy food choices are happy food choices:
- Vegetable consumption contributed
largest share to eating happiness
measured across eight days - Sweets on average provided
comparable induced eating happiness
to “healthy” food choices such as fruits
or vegetables - Vegetables contributed biggest share to
total happiness followed by sweets,
dairy products, and bread
Hangovers and food
- On days when participants reported higher severity of hangovers,
they reported consuming more hot chips (b = .09, p = .001), more
soft drink and less fruit - For women, higher alcohol intake associated with decreased
healthy food (fruit and vegetables) intake next day - Suggests need to target excessive drinking that lead to negative
spiral of unhealthy eating
effect of fruit and vegetable consumption on psychological well-being in young:
– an ecological momentary intervention (EMI) condition
involving text message reminders to increase their FV
consumption plus a voucher to purchase FV
– or a fruit and vegetable intervention (FVI) condition in
which participants were given two additional daily servings
of fresh FV to consume on top of normal diet
- Only participants in FVI condition showed
improvements to their psychological wellbeing with
increases in vitality, flourishing, and motivation across
14-days relative to other groups - Rapid effect
Vitality and kiwi fruit consumption
- Participants consuming kiwifruit showed
significantly improved mood and wellbeing;
improvements in wellbeing sustained during
washout - Decreased fatigue and increased wellbeing
observed following intake of vit C alone, but only
for participants with consistently low vit C levels
during lead-in
Diet and Sleep Quality
- Individuals sleeping fewer hours reported to follow a
diet of lower quality - Consumption of healthy foods associated with better
sleep quality - Higher intake of processed and free-sugar rich foods
associated with worse sleep features - Greater adherence to Med diet associated with
adequate sleep duration and better sleep quality - Foods rich in melatonin (sleep promoting hormone), or
its precursor tryptophan (found in milk), micronutrients
(vit D and B, magnesium, zinc), carbohydrate-containing
foods, tart cherries (contain phytonutrients and
melatonin) and fish (zinc rich oysters), can improve
sleep parameters (e.g., sleep latency, time, efficiency) - Caffeinated and sugar-rich beverages, high glycaemic
foods, and ultra-processed foods can negatively affect
sleep quality and duration
Diet and cognitive function
- Excessive chronic consumption of added simple sugars associated with cognitive impairments, especially worsened hippocampal memory function
– this relation might be mediated by neuroinflammation in hippocampus - 1580 mother-child pairs (Project Viva) found Maternal intake of better-quality diet during pregnancy
associated with:
– better visual spatial skills in offspring at early childhood
– better intelligence and executive function in offspring at mid-childhood - Sugar and soda consumption during pregnancy adversely impacts child cognition
- Nut consumption (1 brazil nut a day for 6 months)
associated with better cognition (verbal fluency) and
telomere length in older adults - RCT evidence supports positive effects of Med Diet on delayed
recall, working memory and global cognition relative to controls
in older healthy adults - BUT, need more interventional long-term research, too much
reliance on short term observational trials – hard to tease apart
effect of one component of diet
Effect of MIND diet intervention on cognitive performance
- 50 women randomized to
MIND (MediterraneanDASH Intervention for
Neurodegenerative Delay)
or control for 3 months
- MIND diet group improved
more on working memory,
verbal recognition memory,
and attention compared
with control group
Sharing food and happiness
- Larger dose of unhappiness
greater odds of eating alone –
after controlling for potential
covariates - Having a meal with others not
only important for nutritional
and health outcomes, also vital
part of daily social interaction - a non-Western setting
contributes to increasing
happiness
Vegetarian/vegan versus meat???
Overall – hard to do controlled trials
Research mixed but association studies suggest that some red
meat and some fish appears helpful for people struggling with
mental health issues
be aware of possibility of nutritional deficiencies when
excluding meat/dairy/fish
Following a vegan diet may have some benefits to subjective
wellbeing
intermittent fasting
Rise in interest of intermittent fasting
During fasting time – only water or caloriefree beverages such as black coffee or diet
sodas
mostly embraces three approaches:
i) alternate-day fasting (ADF), involves feast day (usually
ad libitum diet) alternated with fast day (from zero
calories to 25% of energy requirements)
ii) 5:2 diet: 5 feast days (ad libitum) and 2 fast days/week
(from zero calories to 25% of energy requirements)
iii) time-restricted eating (TRE): defined daily periods of
eating and fasting in sync with circadian clock
Idea behind intermittent fasting - it can modulate cells by: REDUCE OXIDATIVE STRESS
1) increasing neuroprotection (preservation of nerve cell
structure),
2) decreasing neuroinflammation (inflammation of the nervous tissue)
and 3) promoting neuromodulation
(changing of nerve activity)
Research on intermittent fasting
- Mixed results:
- Long fasts can increase stress
- Prolonged or chronic food restriction can have
undesirable effects like fatigue, nutrient
deficiencies, lowered immunity and
psychological distress - Short term IF can increase irritability and
decrease vitality, others find opposite - Positive effects of IF on wellbeing may be due
to effects of IF on weight loss and/or that over
time, changing energy substrate from glucose
to ketones may impact emotion regulation - Endogenous opioids may be released by fasting
- Also possible has an effect on reduction of
inflammation, increased resistance to stress,
improved glucose regulation
Does intermittent fasting impact mental disorders?
- Within group analyses showed IF had positive
influence on diminishing depression scores, but did
not modify anxiety or mood - BUT based on few studies and short duration and
heterogeneous samples - Different IF regimens not explored
Risks of restriction either calories or food groups
- Be aware restricting food groups can lead to nutritional deficiencies
- Also fasting might lead to slowed metabolic rate to compensate for reduced
energy intake - Specific risks for women
– Can impair fertility, hormone balancing, not good if pregnant - Anyone with a disordered relationship with food would be best not to fast
Microbiome-Gut-Brain Axis
A Happy mind Requires Guts
“Gut Bacteria Affects Your Brain Function”
The gut microbiota:
* Protect intestinal wall
* Promote development of healthy immune
system through educating it in early years of
life
* 1st line of defence to pathogens
* Digest food
* Key regulators in neurogenesis,
neurodevelopment, and behaviour
* Make Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFA)
* Suppress pathogenic microbial growth
* Communicate with brain using hormones
* Weight 1.5-2kg
* They also generate vitamins:
The better the microbiome, the better the
communication with the brain
What influences composition of microbiome?
- Mode of delivery (C-section)
- Early feeding
- Timing of weaning
- Genetics
- Lifestyle
- Diet
- Geography
- Age
- Stress
- Medication use
Emotional well-being and gut microbiome profiles
- Gut microbiome diversity related to emotional well-being
- Enterotypes significantly moderate links between emotional
well-being and gut microbiome health - Also, Lachnospiraceae associated with positive & negative
affect - When you feel good, tend to have a healthier microbial
community
How to improve health of microbiome?
- Increase intake:
– Prebiotics- Fibres & vegetables (artichokes, leeks, onions,
garlic)
– Omega3 Fatty Acids
– Fibre
– Polyphenols include nuts, seeds, coffee, dark chocolate,
red wine, olive oil and berries
– FULL FAT Yoghurt (taking out fat makes product less
effective probiotic)
– Fermented milk (Kefir), fermented foods sauerkraut,
kimchee, miso and kombucha - Decrease intake:
– Avoid “diet” drinks and foods
– Ultra-processed food (modern processing removes
prebiotics from food)
– emulsifiers (thins gut lining and diversity) and
sweeteners - Garden
- Have a pet at home increases diversity
- Exercise
- Minimize stress and sleep disturbances/jetlag
- Avoid C-Section and support breastfeeding
- Minimise antibiotic usage and proton pump
inhibitors
Brain Foods
B: Berries and beans
R: rainbow colours of fruits and vegetables
A: Antioxidants
I: Include lean proteins and plant-based proteins
N: Nuts
F: Fibre rich foods, fish and fermented foods
O: Oils
O: Omega 3-rich foods
D: dairy (yogurt, kefir, cheeses)
S: Spices
Practical dietary recommendations
- Follow traditional dietary pattern, such as Mediterranean,
Norwegian, or Japanese - Increase consumption of fruit and veg, legumes, whole
grains, nuts, seeds - Include a high consumption of omega 3s
- Replace unhealthy with healthy
- Limit intake of ultra-processed foods, fast foods,
commercial baked goods, and sweets
