Should the Hippocratic maxim “Let food be thy medicine” apply to mental health care? Absolutely, says Dr. Bonnie Kaplan, a professor at the University of Calgary and a pioneer in a resurgent field of research on the role diet and nutrition play in the health of the brain. She says the medical and psychiatric community is rediscovering the many connections between food and mental illness after more than a half century of depending primarily on prescription drugs for relief.
“From around 1950 or so, there was an explosion of research on medications,” she says. “Big pharma took over the treatment of psychiatric illnesses, and we lost centuries of knowledge.”
Before that, we knew better. Kaplan points to the 1855 edition of The People’s Home Library—a standard on the bookshelves of homesteaders across North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In it, author T.J. Ritter diagnoses the cause of most psychiatric conditions as “imperfect nutrition.” Ritter asserted that for most people, improving one’s diet could help improve one’s mind.
But 20th century mental health care providers too often missed the point Ritter—and Hippocrates long before him—were making, Kaplan says, by treating the mentally ill with supplements of one nutrient or mineral at a time.
“They were seeing mixed results, because that’s just ridiculous,” she says. “We need [the nutrients] all together in proper balance.”
We may soon see psychiatrists prescribing produce rather than Prozac, however, thanks to a fairly recent body of academic research showing food’s powerful effect on mental health. Kaplan has been a leader in this area, publishing several studies linking nutrient intake with improvement in mood disorders in both adults and children. In a 2012 study with colleague Karen M. Davison, Ph.D., R.D., published in theCanadian Journal of Psychiatry, the authors recruited 97 adults diagnosed with a mood disorder to record their diets and moods (how they felt throughout each day) over a three-day period. At the end of the study, Kaplan and Davison found that participants’ vitamin and nutrient intake was “consistently and reliably” associated with better moods and mental health.
Other studies have shown similar results and even pinpointed specific diets that appear to be associated with a healthier brain. Epidemiological studies, for instance, have linked a Mediterranean diet of mostly vegetables, fruits, nuts, and plenty of olive oil with better brain function. But the diet of good mental health doesn't start and end with rabbit food. In a 2011 analysis of more than 5,000 Norwegians, Michael Berk, a professor of psychiatry at the Deakin University School of Medicine in Australia, and his collaborators found lower rates of depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder among those who consumed a traditional diet of meat and vegetables than among people who followed a modern diet heavy with processed and fast foods—or even a health-food diet of tofu and salads.
“Traditional diets—the kinds of foods your grandmother would have recognized—have been associated with a lower risk of mental health issues,” Berk told The Washington Post.
Let’s be real, though: A holistic approach to mental health care is necessary, and there are times when those living with various disorders need a pill (or three) alongside a plate of whole foods. But with a new, strong body of research in her corner and even a newly formed international research society, Kaplan dreams of a day when we’ve restored a proper balance between medical and nutritional mental health care—something Hippocrates would more easily recognize.
“In my ideal world, diet and nutrition is the primary treatment,” she says. “And medication is used as supplements.”
This article has been shared here with permission.
Steve Holt is a regular contributor to TakePart. He writes about food for 'Edible Boston,' 'Boston Magazine,' 'The Boston Globe,' and other publications.
Your body is meant to eat the foods that grow or live near you in season. It is all about balance. Native medicine practitioners strive to ease the body back into balance.
Rabbit food? Really? Come on, guy! Seem more educated than that.
Hippocrates was vegetarian. His quote need to be used when you advocate vegetarian food. He didn't advocate meat. secondly, 'people is what he eats'. Meat can never be reason for mental health. we will never be happy by harming other living beings. This is not a 'daily good' for anyone.
Referring to a plant-based diet as "rabbit food" is not helpful. Plant-based diets can be hearty, extremely nutritious, and are one of the most important changes you can make as a individual to reduce the suffering of animals, humans (the workers that must slaughter and process the animals), and the planet. Your implicit suggestion that a diet of meat is "traditional" is problematic as well - traditional for whom? For which culture? Some cultures consume high amounts of meat, and others don't - as you had just stated in the sentence about the Mediterranean diet.
On Feb 27, 2016 Edward Fordham wrote:
I think the 'rabbit food' phrase was poorly chosen but was trying to suggest that vegetarianism is not necessarily always an appropriate move. It depends on each individual's personal needs.
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