THE EFFECT
OF FOOD ON OUR MOOD.
It is easy to understand that ingredients in food can be useful or
harmful to the body and that certain foods can bring about healing,
while certain ingredients, when eaten excessively, can lead to the
deterioration of our physical condition. This is easy to understand,
because there is a lot of information from research conducted in this
area.
Instead,
something that has been researched only a little is the effect of
different ingredients in food on our mood and even on our behavior.
According to some studies, unhealthy food can cause depression,
irritability, and other mental symptoms. Especially sugar, additives,
and allergies can affect our mental condition. Let’s look at these
separately:
Sugar
is one ingredient that has been regarded as one possible trigger for
irritability, hyper activity, and problematic behavior. In studies
made in juvenile prisons in the United States in the beginning of
1980s, it was observed that unsocial behavior among the prisoners had
a clear connection to the consumption of sugar. Bad behavior was found
to decrease among those prisoners whose food contained only a little
sugar. The most extensive study researched 3,000 young prisoners who
were deprived of most snacks and ready-made meals (Readers Digest:
Terveyttä vai sairautta ruoasta?, p. 10).
Dr.
Messenger David L. provides a few examples of the impacts of sugar on
our mood in his book. He writes that many people are very sensitive to
sugar. Other harmful ingredients may include wheat, milk, eggs, nuts,
meat, citrus fruits, and other ingredients that can cause allergic
reactions such as headache, bellyache, dizziness, coldness, rash,
breathing difficulties, irritability, or depression in persons who are
allergic to these products:
I remember
one 20-year-old woman who came to my clinic because of sudden fits she
had had since the age of 12. She was in a state of confusion two or
three times a week. Her parents had taken her to see the doctor
several times. The test results were normal, and so the doctors
concluded that she was suffering from difficulties in her emotional
life, and not from any organic, wavelike disturbance in the brain.
(...)
It
appeared that this woman was extremely sensitive to sugar. When she
changed her diet and stopped using sugar, the fits disappeared
completely. She has not had any for the last five years. Her story is
only one of many cases in which the problem is physical, but doctors
have been unable to find its origins. Her physical problem also caused
serious difficulties in her emotional life. (...)
I have
many patients who have recovered from their depression and fear,
hallucinations, quick temper, sudden oppressions, headaches and
insomnia by avoiding all food containing sugar and other refined
carbohydrates. By changing their diet and by adding a large portion of
vitamins, minerals, and amino acids to their diet, they have healed
completely. (34)
Additives
can be harmful to some people. This was noted when all additives,
color ingredients, and preservatives were removed from the diet of
children suffering from behavior problems and learning difficulties.
Their behavior greatly improved after this. According to one study
made in the United States, as many as 30 to 50 hyper active children
calmed down considerably after artificial coloring and flavorings
agents were eliminated from their food (Readers Digest, Terveyttä vai
sairautta ruoasta?, p. 464).
On the
other hand, fish oils and fatty acids (omega-3) of fatty fish may have
just the opposite effect. Some studies have indicated that the fatty
acids found in fish can positively affect children who are hyper
active or have learning disabilities or are depressed or
schizophrenic. Their symptoms have notably decreased when they have
eaten this kind of food.
Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism
can also cause depression and irritability. It is, however, not always
a matter of diet – even though iodine deficiency can cause both of
these disorders – but of a metabolic disturbance caused by the thyroid
gland. If a person has this problem, it is usually also connected with
other symptoms such as tiredness, being cold, putting on weight, dry
skin and hair, forgetfulness and goiter in case of hypothyroidism, or
slimming, tiredness, fast vital functions, such as a faster pulse,
sweating and goiter, in case of hyperthyroidism:
Doctors could
tell how many cases of depression are caused by deficiency diseases,
hormone disturbances and imbalance in the chemicals of the human body.
Quite an illustrative case is a metropolitan woman, who suffered many
years from depression. She was treated with medicine, sometimes even
in mental hospitals. The disease was naturally classified by the
symptoms. The medicine calmed her, but the disease did not heal. But
then – in one common hospital – they found out while carrying out
other general inspections that she suffered from hypothyroidism that
could be treated with medicine. A miracle took place, and the
depression was gone. (35)
