Nutrition and Mental Health: The Missing Link?
Article by Dr. Margo Gasta, DCN, RDN, CCH
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Are you receiving quality mental health care but still suffering from symptoms? If so, you may have a nutrient imbalance that has not been addressed. Most people (and their doctors) don’t realize how powerful the combination of diet and nutritional supplements can be for mental health.
Nutrient imbalances can have an enormous impact on mental health. A study in the Lancet Psychiatry Journal suggested that “diet is as important to psychiatry as it is to cardiology, endocrinology, and gastroenterology.” And “evidence is steadily growing for the relation between dietary quality (and potential nutritional deficiencies) and mental health, and for the select use of nutrient-based supplements to address deficiencies, or as monotherapies or augmentation therapies.”
Receiving proper mental health care is imperative. Working with a dietitian can complement your mental health treatment. Functional dietitians use a nutritional lens to evaluate mood or cognitive issues. Instead of saying ADHD or depression, we may say we see evidence of iron deficiency, malabsorption, elevated homocysteine, B vitamin deficiencies, zinc and magnesium deficiency, MTHFR, COMT or PEMT genetic variants, low protein status, or specific low plasma amino acids, etc. We can often find clues for your symptoms based on your chemistry. This doesn’t mean you don’t need medication or therapy, but if we correct the underlying nutritional issue you may have a better outcome.
Hopefully, this article will entice you enough to consider adding nutrition to your overall healthcare plan to more effectively manage your mental health concerns.
The key points to be addressed in this article:
The brain is an organ just like the heart, and it responds to nutrients.
Sub-clinical nutrient deficiencies typically show up with mood and behavior changes.
Our nutrition status is determined by our absorption, genetics, food choices, and agricultural practices.
We need to address gut health in order to produce a healthy level of neurotransmitters.
Choosing organic whole, unprocessed foods, and eating a balance of the right foods can positively affect brain chemistry.
Working with a team including a dietitian/nutritionist, doctor and psychotherapist can be a winning combination for tackling mental health issues.
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Mental Health and Nutrient Deficiencies
The brain is one of the first organs affected by nutrient deficiencies, and other organs will also be affected by these deficiencies over time if they remain unaddressed. It is possible that there is a nutritional component to your symptoms. You may still need psychiatric intervention with medications, as well as psychotherapy, but you will likely benefit from getting the underlying nutritional imbalances corrected.
Neurotransmitters and Nutrition
Most people these days are familiar with the term neurotransmitters (the body’s chemical messengers that transmit messages between neurons) and they are aware of the theory that neurotransmitter imbalances can affect mood. Neurotransmitters are produced by nutrients. If you consume the right nutrients in the right quantity, you will be better equipped to produce enough neurotransmitters to help you feel balanced. Nutrients can also quiet down the production of neurotransmitters that are causing anxiety and insomnia.
Neurotransmitters affected by nutrition include serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, acetylcholine, GABA, and glutamate. When your body has an imbalance of neurotransmitters we can use targeted nutrients to bring back balance and harmony to the system.
Nutrient requirements will be unique for every single person, based on their symptoms, lab work, and genetics. Some of the nutrients we look at in lab work include specific amino acids (from protein) such as methionine, tryptophan, tyrosine, glycine, taurine, theanine; vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, folate, B12, inositol, vitamin C, magnesium, calcium, zinc, iron, copper, selenium, choline, TMG, SAMe; electrolytes such as potassium and sodium. All of these nutrients play a crucial role in making neurotransmitters. A person may have one or several of these nutrients in short supply, thus affecting the ability to produce a balanced level of neurotransmitters.
Nutrients are the building blocks for making neurotransmitters. There are a variety of nutritional products and specific foods that can bring balance to the body's chemistry, thus relieving the distressing symptoms of neurotransmitter imbalances.
Genetic Variations in Nutritional Requirements
Meeting individual nutrition needs is not exclusively about the diet you eat, it is a bit more complicated than that. Genetics as well as digestion, absorption, and assimilation of nutrients help to determine our individual nutrient requirements.
Research supports that individual nutrient requirements can have a genetic basis; in other words, we (including our family members) may genetically require high amounts of specific nutrients that are not available in our current diet. These genetic variations are not dysfunctional, in fact, they probably played an important role in our survival at one point and were a non-issue because our ancestors were eating regional foods that were robust in these certain nutrients.
What is important now is that your ancestors have migrated geographically away from their original diet and the specific foods that kept them healthy. These genetic variations are passed down through generations of people who may not be eating enough of the specific foods that help them express their genetic variations in a healthy manner, so they can feel robust and vital.
You may notice that you have extended family members who exhibit similar patterns of mental and physical health complaints. We may find that these family members share gene variants that may require higher levels of nutrients such as choline, folate, riboflavin, magnesium, vitamin B6 and B12, etc. If your diet consists of white flour products (bread, pizza, pastries, cookies, pasta, rice) and sugar with very few fruits and vegetables, and nutritional variety, you may be deficient in most of the nutrients that are required for good mental health.
For example, an abundance of organic leafy greens in the diet can provide enough folate to make up for an MTHFR genetic variant, but people with this gene variant who don’t eat an abundance of leafy greens would logically experience mental health and physical health challenges.
These unique nutritional genetic requirements become even more of a problem when our current agricultural and food processing practices strip vital nutrients out of our food. Added to that, a person may choose to eat a diet that is full of processed foods instead of whole foods that contain nutrients to help us balance our brain chemistry. Depending on the genetic variants we inherit, we may benefit from dietary supplements to ensure that we get enough of these crucial nutrients to enjoy balanced mental health.
Malabsorption of Nutrients
Poor digestion and absorption of nutrients can interfere with our ability to produce enough neurotransmitters to feel optimal. Poor absorption of nutrients can occur due to a variety of factors such as Celiac disease, an inflamed intestinal tract, or an imbalance of the gut microflora. This is an area where a nutritionist can play a crucial role in finding out causes of low nutrient absorption and help to correct these imbalances so your body can start producing optimal levels of neurotransmitters. We can also find clues in your lab work to suggest if you need to see a gastroenterologist for further testing.
Inflammation
Inflammation has been shown to play a role in mental health. Following an anti-inflammatory diet and using key supplements to quiet inflammation are part of the solution for promoting brain health and a stable mood.
Hormones and Mental Health
Hormone imbalances can be another factor that may affect our brain chemistry. The hormones we look at include thyroid, adrenal (DHEA and cortisol), insulin, melatonin, vitamin D, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.
The good news is that positive changes in diet, exercise, and other lifestyle factors can help to balance hormones.
How I Use Nutrition To Improve Mood and Benefit the Neurological System
To help people with mood concerns, I start with blood work through their doctor to help pinpoint nutritional insufficiencies that can affect mood. Based on these results, I custom-tailor specific nutrients and foods to start using right away. I also offer nutritional lab work that can better pinpoint issues with specific nutrient levels, malabsorption, gut dysbiosis, adrenal health, and blood sugar issues.
The Good News
I find that when the nutritional status is optimal people start sleeping better and have more motivation and energy to get out and do things. They may feel more inclined to socialize, cook, exercise, and notice improved concentration.
Key Points
The brain is an organ just like the heart, and it responds to nutrients.
Nutrient insufficiencies show up with mood and behavior changes.
Our nutrition status is determined by our digestion and absorption, genetics, and food choices.
Choosing organic whole, unprocessed foods, and eating a balance of the right foods can positively affect brain chemistry.
Movement is an important factor in balancing your brain/body chemistry and hormones.
Targeted dietary supplements can be helpful in balancing mood.
Working with a team including a nutritionist, doctor, and psychotherapist can be a winning combination for tackling mental health issues.
To schedule a nutrition appointment to see how nutrition can help you, please schedule here
References
Sarris, Jerome et al. Nutritional medicine as mainstream in psychiatry.The Lancet Psychiatry , Volume 2 , Issue 3 , 271 - 274