{"id":6199,"date":"2014-02-03T08:54:23","date_gmt":"2014-02-03T14:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/?p=6020"},"modified":"2022-03-21T14:59:02","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T19:59:02","slug":"foods-that-may-harm-your-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/03\/foods-that-may-harm-your-brain","title":{"rendered":"Foods That May Harm Your Brain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Posted 02\/03\/2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This intriguing idea is the lead article in this week\u2019s Medscape Internal Medicine, a newsletter directed to internists like myself. It\u2019s genuinely refreshing to read research that doesn\u2019t extol some new pharmaceutical, but rather encourages simple changes in how we eat to prevent and even treat common emotional problems.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before I get to the meat (or rather the whole grain) of the article, which contains a lot of info you Health Tip readers already know, the comments section at the end, which unfortunately you can\u2019t access, shows more than 70 physicians expressing appreciation for the information. Some had minor quibbles, others opposed sweeping generalizations, but all things considered I see the positive reception of this article as a good sign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article first interviews Drew Ramsey, MD, a psychiatrist from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York and author of The Happiness Diet: A Nutritional Prescription for a Sharp Brain, Balanced Mood, and Lean, Energized Body<\/i><\/a>, published by Rodale Press, home of Prevention Magazine. Movie star-handsome Dr. Ramsey certainly looks like someone who spends the hours away from his analyst couch at a health club or eating scrupulously healthful food. In fact, his second book, Fifty Shades of Kale<\/i><\/a>, is exactly that: 50 recipes for the only food I know that makes me gag. Although I personally feel more at ease when my psychiatrist looks like Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, or Wallace Shawn, The Happiness Diet <\/em>contains a lot of useful information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than resort to \u201cin my experience\u201d sort of writing (which immediately alienates physicians, who prefer hard clinical data over anecdotes), Dr. Ramsey in the Medscape piece examines previously published and seriously overlooked large-scale clinical studies linking junk food–chips, soda, fast food, sweets–and mental health. One such study tracked more than 2,500 Australian adolescents over two years and found as eating habits deteriorated, rates of anxiety and depression increased. He quotes a second study that followed 23,000 Norwegian women who ate junk food throughout pregnancy and birthed lots of children with aggressive tendencies, attention deficit disorders, and severe tantrum and other behavioral issues. In other research, the eating habits of 5,731 adults were tracked for several years, with lower rates of both anxiety and depression found in those whose self-reported eating habits were tagged as \u201cvery healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A second psychiatrist interviewed in this Medscape article, Felice Jacka, PhD, is president of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research, which I never knew existed. She agrees completely that the deleterious effects of junk food on the brain are too often overlooked when starting psychiatric treatment.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to this informative Medscape slideshow<\/a>, \u201ca so-called whole diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and high-quality meats and fish results in a 30% risk reduction for depression and anxiety disorders, compared with consumption of a Western diet high in processed foods and saturated fats, according to a 2010 study. Even unprocessed red meat seems to be protective against depressive and anxiety disorders,in contrast to many studies in which red meat often falls into the category of unhealthy food. In speaking with Medscape News, principal investigator Dr. Felice Jacka specifically addressed the importance of farming practices: Despite the growing locavore movement, much of the livestock in the United States is still raised on industrial feedlots, which \u2018…increases saturated fat and decreases very important good fatty acids…pasture-raised animals have a much healthier fatty acid profile.\u2019 A whole dietary pattern may also reduce depression risk, as assessed at 5-year follow-up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA diet high in saturated fats and refined sugars has a very potent negative impact on brain proteins that we know are extremely important in depression \u2015 neurotrophins, which protect the brain against oxidative stress and promote the growth of new brain cells,” Dr. Jacka told Medscape Medical News. \u201cThere also seems to be an impact of saturated fat on the stress response system, which is also important in both depression and anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, very little research is available on the damaging effects of chemical food additives and preservatives. Most of these are classified as GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe), but those who classify them often have financial links to the food industry, so no one really knows what we\u2019re dosing ourselves with when we eat them. One very large study from Spain followed 9,000 adults and their nutritional habits and found a direct correlation between fast food intake, development of depression and anxiety, and slow but relentless cognitive decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other studies from around the world are equally chilling. Tracking more than 12,000 university students over a period of 11 years, researchers from Spain found a correlation between the amount of trans fats in the diet and depression, anxiety, and early cardiovascular disease. A recent Women\u2019s Health Study on more than 6,000 people again found correlation between trans fats and early cognitive decline, memory, and verbal IQ. Other studies have identified comparable correlations with sugar intake and depression, anxiety, and mental decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grain and the brain<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

David Perlmutter, MD, a Florida neurologist I\u2019ve known personally for years, lays much blame on our veritable grain \u201caddiction.\u201d His recent best-selling book Grain Brain<\/i><\/a> proposes a low-carb, low-sugar and good-for-your-brain fats eating program, placing much emphasis on gluten-free<\/a>, low-glycemic eating (high glycemic foods convert quickly to glucose\/sugar in the body).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It must be said that Dr. Perlmutter\u2019s work is not completely accepted by the majority of nutritionally oriented psychiatrists and neurologists, who believe that severe carb restrictions and going practically grain-free have not been shown to be worth the effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe book has gotten a lot of buzz, but the argument seems to me to be an unfortunate oversimplification,\u201d Dr. Ramsey told Medscape Medical News<\/i>. \u201cIt’s good that we want people to focus on the health of their brain and how their dietary choices affect the risk of mental illness, but eliminating whole grains just isn’t supported in the evidence for most people, and I doubt that it will be.\u201d He called the argument on glycemic index \u201cmisleading.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although following a very low-glycemic diet, which eliminates even whole grains, is helpful for weight loss, there\u2019s little clinical evidence that doing so will dramatically affect rates of mental illness or susceptibility to cognitive decline. Both Dr. Perlmutter and Joseph Mercola, MD, who wrote The No-Grain Diet<\/i><\/a> several years ago, endlessly refer to our collective carbohydrate \u201caddiction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extreme language like this may sell books, but I don\u2019t think inducing anxiety in people when they eat the occasional cookie or slice of pizza serves any useful purpose. Anyway, addicts rob gas stations. When have you ever read of a gas station being robbed for its Krispy Kremes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what research has been showing\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What not to eat<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n