I received a very enlightening email today and it spurred me on to write this blog.
If you have attended my clinic, you know that I am big on education. I take out my whiteboard and I explain what could be happening in your body. A large part of my education session is centred around food, and how what you eat directly affects every biochemical pathway and physiological aspect of your body. It is quite accurate to say: “You are what you eat”. Your body receives all its needs from air, water and food. To think that the quality of that food doesn’t matter is ridiculous. As I often say to my patients, animals are more intelligent than we are. A lion would not eat bird seed and your average bird (not an eagle or hawk of course) would not eat a carcass. Yet, we think we can put anything into our mouths as long as it tastes good.
Furthermore, most of my clients believe if they are not consciously aware of any gut issues, then they are fine with any food they eat. However, often we are unaware of all the inflammation the food has been responsible for until we are in pain, and that pain can often be somewhere else in the body, even though it all started with an inflammatory response in the gut. Furthermore, it is not just about gut symptoms, or for that matter, even pain, but the wrong food can also affect your brain and your moods. Read the following excerpt from an email received today from Dr. Mark Hyman, an American physician and New York Times best-selling author. He is the founder and medical director of The UltraWellness Center and was a columnist for The Huffington Post. Hyman was a regular contributor to the Katie Couric Show, until the show’s cancellation in 2013.
“Junk food makes kids act violently—bullying, fighting—and suffer more psychiatric distress including worry, depression, confusion, insomnia, anxiety, aggression, and feeling worthless. Those who consume high levels of refined oils (currently more than 10 percent of our diet and found in all ultra-processed foods) and low levels of omega-3 fats from fish have higher rates of depression, suicide, and homicide. (1)
What’s scary is that our consumption of these refined omega-6 oils (mostly soybean oil) have gone up 248 percent from 1970 to 2010 and a 1,000 percent from 1900.
Another study found that violent juveniles given a vitamin and mineral supplement reduced violent acts by 91 percent compared to a control group. These kids were deficient in iron, magnesium, B12, folate—all needed for proper brain function. (2)
In that same study, they wired the kids up to EEG machines to look at their brain waves and found a major decrease in abnormal brain function after just 13 weeks of supplementation. They also advised kids to improve their diet. The ones that didn’t, showed no reduction in violent behavior. The kids that improved their diets showed an 80 percent reduction in violent crime.
In another similar double-blind randomized controlled trial (the best kind of study), researchers found a 37 percent reduction in violent crime in those taking omega-3 fats and vitamin and mineral supplements. (3)
Yet another experimental study of 3,000 incarcerated youth replaced snack foods with healthier options and dramatically reduced refined and sugary foods. Can you guess what happened?
Over the 12-month follow-up, there was a 21 percent reduction in antisocial behavior, a 100 percent reduction in suicides, a 25 percent reduction in assaults, and a 75 percent reduction in the use of restraints. (2) Considering suicide is the number one killer of kids between 10 and 19 years old this should be headline news.
This is stunning!
Clearly, crime and anti-social behavior arise from a complex set of social, economic, and environmental factors. But what if a big part of the solution to our increasing social strife, exploding rates of depression, mental illness, ADHD, bullying, violence, crime, and our overflowing criminal justice system is fixing our broken food system?
If these foods perpetuate a cycle of poverty, food insecurity, poor brain development, mental illness, violence, homicide, and suicide, what should be the implications of regulating these products?
Smoking kills far fewer people than food (7 million vs. 11 million a year), yet it is highly regulated—high taxes, no advertising, severe restrictions on where you can smoke and who can buy cigarettes.
Should the same be done for food? Should we regulate the ultra-processed food that is driving a greater loss in quality of life, productivity, and direct and indirect costs from mental illness than any other disease, including obesity and type 2 diabetes?
I say yes.”
So, if you are experiencing mood issues, such as anxiety, depression, irritability, anger, and road rage, taking an antidepressant or an anti-anxiety medication is not going to deal with the lack of nutrients and excess toxins generated, when you are eating a junk, overly processed, “take-away” food, diet. Indeed, you will now find yourself addicted to the medication and on the whole feeling worse.
I am a realist. I know that I cannot change the world’s eating habits. However, if I can impact one person at a time, I will feel I have done my job. Start being aware of what you put into your mouth and the ingredients listed on the packet – the amount of sugar, processed flour and processed oil they contain, their order of priority, and if many of the ingredients have chemical names and were created in a laboratory. Additionally, be mindful of how many servings of green and coloured vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, and good quality meats, eggs and fish (that have been prepared properly), that you consume in a day and in a week. You might be surprised!
Change is often very hard to do, but not changing can be much worse in the long run. Today is the first day of the rest of your life, so start making some necessary changes now.
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References:
1) Hibbeln JR. “From homicide to happiness–A commentary on omega-3 fatty acids in human society.” Nutrition and Health. 2007 Jul;19(1-2):9-19.
2) Schoenthaler S, et al. “The effect of randomized vitamin-mineral supplementation on violent and non-violent antisocial behavior among incarcerated juveniles.” Journal of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine. 1997 Jan 1;7(4):343-52.
3) Gesch CB, Hammond SM, Hampson SE, Eves A, Crowder MJ. “Influence of supplementary vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids on the antisocial behavior of young adult prisoners: Randomized, placebo-controlled trial.” The British Journal of Psychiatry. 2002 Jul;181(1):22-8.