2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
Lack of essential nutrients is known to contribute to poor mental health in people suffering from anxiety and depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia.
Nutritional psychiatry is a growing discipline that focuses on the use of foods and supplements to provide these essential nutrients as part of an integrated or alternative treatment for mental disorders. But dietary approaches for these conditions are not widely accepted by basic medicine.
Use of antidepressants
The antidepressant has more than doubled in recent years. In England, 64.7 million prescriptions were issued for antidepressants in 2016 at a cost of 266.6 million pounds. This is an increase of 3.7 million compared to the number of units prescribed in 2015 and more than twice more than the 31 million units issued in 2006. This approach suggests that poor mental health caused by social conditions is seen as easily treated by simply giving up drugs. The increase in the use of antidepressants by children and young people is more worrying.
In Scotland, 5,572 children under the age of 18 were prescribed antidepressants for anxiety and depression in 2016. This figure has more than doubled since 2009/2010. But according to the British professor David Haley, 29 clinical studies on the use of antidepressants in young people have not shown any benefits. These studies found that instead of relieving the symptoms of anxiety and depression, antidepressants made children and young people think about suicide. He believes that antidepressants are prescribed and that there is little evidence that they are safe for long-term use. Antidepressants are thought to be addictive, have unpleasant side effects, and cannot be relied upon to always relieve symptoms.
Nutrition and poor mental health
Developed countries like the UK eat a greater variety of foods than before - but that doesn't mean we are well fed. In fact, many people do not eat enough nutrients, which are essential for good brain health, preferring a diet of highly processed foods containing artificial additives and sugar.
The link between poor mental health and nutritional deficiencies has long been recognized by nutritionists working in the complementary health sector. However, psychiatrists are only now realizing the benefits of using nutritional approaches to mental health, calling on their peers to support and explore this new area of treatment.
It is now known that many mental illnesses are caused by inflammation in the brain, which ultimately causes the death of our brain cells. This inflammatory response begins in the gut and is related to the lack of nutrients from our diet such as magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids, probiotics, vitamins and minerals, which are essential for the optimal functioning of our bodies. Recent studies show that dietary supplements such as zinc, magnesium, omega-3 and vitamins B and D3 can help improve people's mood, relieve anxiety and depression, and improve the mental capacity of people with Alzheimer's disease.
Magnesium is one of the most important minerals for optimal health, but many people lack it. One study found that a daily magnesium citrate supplement led to a significant improvement in depression and anxiety, regardless of age, gender, or severity of depression. The improvement did not continue when the supplement was stopped.
Omega-3 fatty acids are another nutrient that is crucial for the development and functioning of the central nervous system - and the lack is associated with low mood, cognitive decline and poor comprehension.
The role of probiotics, beneficial live bacteria in the digestive system, in improving mental health has also been studied by psychiatrists and nutritionists, who have found that taking them daily is associated with a significant reduction in depression and anxiety.
The complex of vitamin B and zinc are other supplements that reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Medical education traditionally excludes knowledge about nutrition and its connection with diseases. This has led to a situation where very few doctors have a proper understanding of the importance of nutrition. It is assumed that dietary interventions do not have enough evidence to support their use to prevent or maintain well-being and so leave it to nutritionists, not doctors, to advise.
But as evidence builds up, it's time for medical education to take nutrition seriously so that future GPs and psychiatrists know as much about their role in good health as they do about anatomy and physiology. The state of our mental health may depend on it.
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