Author: Derek Beres / Source: Big Think
- Leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, and oysters top the list of depression-fighting foods.
- Organ meats are also near the top of nutrient-dense food sources that should be included in your diet.
- Researchers focus more on what to eat rather than what to remove from the standard diet.
Michael Pollan was onto something when he added two words to conventional wisdom, writing, “You are what what you eat eats.” The nutrients your meal consumes becomes part of you as well, whether it’s a cow munching on grass or the soil your vegetables grow in. We know eating has an emotional effect, but you cannot separate emotions from psychology as they are the basis of your mental states.
We can extrapolate philosophically, but we can also look at actual studies on the nutrient profile of foods and their relationship to mental states—specifically, in this case, depressive disorders. A recent study, published in World Journal of Psychiatry, investigated 34 nutrients, extracting data as it relates to foods high in at least one of 12 antidepressant nutrients:
- Folate
- Iron
- Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA)
- Magnesium
- Potassium
- Selenium
- Thiamine
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin B6
- Vitamin B12
- Vitamin C
- Zinc
Conducted by Laura R LaChance, in the University of Toronto’s psychiatry department, and Drew Ramsey, in Columbia’s psychiatry department, this team believes this study to be the first to specifically focus on the application of nutrients to depression. They continue:
While many nutrient profiling scales currently exist, created by government agencies, researchers, and the food industry, none focus on mental disorders or brain health.
Additionally, no scale is based on nutrients that are supported by scientific literature to be involved in the prevention of and recovery from psychiatric disorders.There is evidence that the lack of key nutrients, including omega-3 fatty acids, B-vitamins, zinc, magnesium, and vitamin D, result in depressive symptoms. In fact, clinical treatment often involves supplementing one or more of these nutrients. The fact that we can get plenty of vitamin D with just a few minutes in the sun is one indicator that our lifestyle patterns are missing essential components for optimal health.
Given the global rise of depression, changes in diet provide at least one level of prevention and therapy—it is unlikely that diet alone could cause such a spike in rates,…
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