Research by the Mental Health Foundation in the United Kingdom suggests that the modern diet has altered the balance of certain key nutrients in our food and is affecting our mental health.

They say that not eating enough fresh food and consuming too much processed foods with lots of unhealthy fats and sugars is leading to depression, anxiety, memory problems and other mental disorders. Food experts claim the research is not conclusive, but doctors in Canada have been treating thousands of patients with a variety of mental illnesses using a nutritional approach called orthomolecular psychiatry. They have successfully used food and vitamins to treat major psychiatric disorders.

Let us look at how food can affect how your brain functions.

ESSENTIAL FATTY ACID IMBALANCE

Sixty per cent of the dry weight of the brain is fat, particularly essential fatty acids (EFAs) like omega-3s. These are good fats, and unfortunately are not readily provided in the Jamaican diet. EFAs are important components of nerve cell walls and are involved in the transmission of electrical activity in the brain.

Lack of these fats can cause the brain to malfunction and promote mental illness. There is an integral need for specific EFA supplementation in conditions like schizophrenia, ADHD and depression. Several major medical centres around the world are now using high doses of omega-3 fats to treat these conditions.

Nerve cell degeneration and brain shrinkage is found commonly among people with chronic schizophrenia as they have increased breakdown of the walls of nerve cells in certain areas of the brain. Omega-3 fats offer a means of maintaining brain membrane structure and avoiding brain mass loss.

BRAIN ALLERGIES

Like any other organ in the body, the brain can suffer from allergies. Fifteen per cent of people with schizophrenia have brain allergies. Cerebral allergies involve a gut reaction when poorly-digested food particles are absorbed into the bloodstream - the so-called 'leaky gut syndrome'. This ultimately perpetuates the release of brain toxins that result in psychosis, malaise, depression, irritability etc.

Culprit foods and culprit environmental compounds can account for some cases of schizophrenia. An investigative test called an elimination diet is used for diagnosing this problem. Individualised nutritional programmes can be essential in the management of schizophrenia.

Testing for overgrowth of gut organisms like yeast as well as other toxic bi-products may also be necessary when cerebral allergies are suspected.

SUGAR IMBALANCE

The main fuel on which the brain runs is glucose - blood sugar. Imbalance in blood sugar levels can lead to brain dysfunction. Hypoglycaemia is the term that describes low sugar in the blood. Irritability, poor memory, poor concentration, tiredness, cold hands, muscle cramping, sugar cravings and "feeling temporarily better then worse after eating carbohydrates" are typical hypoglycaemic symptoms.

Hypoglycaemia tends to be an aggravating factor in mental illnesses, since the brain cells are being starved of fuel. The nutritional treatment for hypoglycaemia involves dietary changes and supplements. Hypoglycaemia is 100 per cent correctable in patients willing to adhere to the diet.

VITAMIN AND MINERAL DEFICIENCY

Many vitamins and minerals are essential for normal brain function, For example, niacin, vitamin B3, can affect the metabolism of adrenaline in the brain. This may be a causative factor in schizophrenia or Parkinson's disease. This biochemical theory was the first presented in the medical literature by Canadian psychiatrists Dr. Abram Hoffer and Dr. Humphry Osmond and is called the adrenochrome hypothesis.

Niacin also plays a role in the essential fatty acid metabolism of the brain that is disrupted in schizophrenia. Niacin, along with vitamin C, is active in the brain, creating a valium-like effect,

Vitamin B12, folic acid and other B vitamins, magnesium, chromium and zinc are a few of the other nutrients that affect brain function. Indeed, you are what you eat.

Email Dr, Tony Vendryes at vendryes@mac.com, visit the website www.anounceofprevention.org, or listen to 'An Ounce of Prevention' on Power 106 FM on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.