Food Connection: Can We Eat Ourselves Into Depression?
(Note: I have lost the link to the original article; you can find information on these authors’ hypotheses via the web links in this article.)
Can food be linked to depression? I don’t mean feeling bad about gaining weight because of a daily junk food habit. Rather, dietary habit and brain chemistry. You’re probably not new to the concepts of altering our dietary lifestyles to change the way we look and feel, although how diet and our feelings connect together may not be so clearly discussed. An article by Ron Hoggan (M.A) and James Braly (M.D) discussed the effect of diet on the depression profile of brain biochemistry.
The article cites examples of how what we eat and drink may affect how our brain neurotransmitter levels are balanced. As a result, our moods are affected. We are aware of how sugary foods energize us in short bursts, for which we pay later with sluggishness and lethargy. As our social pace accelerates, our dietary habits change. This means we are potentially seeing trends and relationships between food and mood that we may not have noticed before.
The Serotonin Connection
The authors cite how an important neurotransmitter, serotonin, becomes elevated in our brain after we eat. You may be familiar with medications that change serotonin levels in our brains: antidepressants in the class of SSRI or Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors. SSRI medications prevent serotonin breakdown, thereby maintaining an elevated serotonin level in our brain. Theoretically, we may increase serotonin levels in the brain by eating a protein-rich meal followed by a dose of carbohydrates. This manipulates the levels of tryptophan (an amino acid used to make serotonin) and insulin (a hormone that regulates glucose uptake). The potential result is an increase in the amount of tryptophan transported to the brain.
Food Breakdown To Mind Breakdown
Some foods that are incompletely broken down to yield “morphine-like substances”. These substances can lead to depression. These foods include gluten and milk, although the exact break-down substances were not stated in the article. Based on this premise, we may be tempted to associate a “digestive tract” profile of a person to how vulnerable that person is to depression. If a person was unable to completely digest a certain food, this can lead to the accumulation of partially digested proteins. These partially digested proteins can act as depressants. This person’s depression can then be linked to his or her body’s sensitivity to certain foods.
In our fast-paced, highly stressful way of life, are we selecting foods that are causing us to become more prone to depression, bipolar disorder, or other mental illnesses? This hypothesis is intriguing, because it suggests a therapeutic potential for patients who have become resistant to conventional therapies.
Mind Over Matter or Matter over Mind
Reading this article has prompted a “chicken-or-the-egg” question: which triggers depression first, the mind or the body?
If your body is nutritionally deficient, it may build up chemicals that causes a neurochemical imbalance. If the neurochemical imbalance already exists and leads to craving for a certain kind of food, the imbalance may be activated and “fed” by these foods. Is it possible to suggest that it is “matter” directing the “mind” where food is concerned?
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