How to Nourish Your Brain

Eating healthy is in. Many try to jump on the healthy bandwagon in one way or the other. But it is more than a trend, it is vital for our health. Modern research reveals more and more links between diet and mood. Let’s take a look at how good nutrition can help your brain to function better and contribute to better mental health.

In 2013, the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research was formed with the goal of advancing research and communication on nutritional medicine in the field of psychiatry, and defining key elements of diet and nutritional evidence related to mental health and psychiatry. Epidemiological studies and clinical evidence suggest that diet influences both the risk and outcome of mental illness. Many nutrients are related to brain health, such as omega-3s, B-complex vitamins, especially folate and choline, iron, zinc, magnesium, s-adenosylmethionine which is the famous SAMe, vitamin D and amino acids.

Scientists Lisa Bodnar and Katherine Wisner from the University of Pittsburg have published an article called “Nutrition and Depression: Implications for Improving Mental Health Among Childbearing Aged Women”. The study’s conclusions revealed that:

Adequate nutrition is needed for countless aspects of brain functioning. Poor diet quality, ubiquitous in the United States, may be a modifiable risk factor for depression… Poor omega-3 fatty acid status increases the risk of depression. Fish oil and folic acid supplements each have been used to treat depression successfully. Folate deficiency reduces the response to antidepressants. Deficiencies of folate, vitamin B12, iron, zinc, and selenium tend to be more common among depressed than nondepressed persons.¹⁾Bodnar LM, Wisner KL. Nutrition and depression: implications for improving mental health among childbearing-aged women. Biol Psychiatry. 2005 Nov 1;58(9):679-85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.05.009

The kind of food and drink we ingest influences the kind of thoughts we have and our emotional responses. Look at this text:

God has given us the fruits and grains of the earth for food, that we might have unfevered blood, calm nerves, and clear minds.²⁾E. G. White. My Life Today, p. 132

Interesting! There are various types of diet: ovo lacto vegetarian, vegan, macrobiotic, with meat, etc. Wherever possible, the recommendation of our creator God is a vegetarian diet. It’s important to remember that health depends not only on the quality of the food we eat and the beverages we consume, but also on quantity. Even healthy food and drink used in excess will upset our bodies. People who adopt a total vegetarian diet should be careful, among other things, about the B12 levels in their bodies.

See in this graph how the longevity of human beings changed after the Flood when the diet became non-vegetarian and a majority of people began to eat animal food. In the graph, the yellow color shows people who lived before the Flood. Note that they lived much longer compared to those who lived after the flood, represented by the red bars.

I think the most important aspect of a vegetarian diet is to provide our brain, and therefore our mind, with the best quality of operation to discern the things of life, the spiritual things. The rest: physical health, longevity is a consequence. Take a look at this other interesting text by this author on health and other topics, in which she says the following:

The brain and nerves are in sympathy with the stomach. Erroneous eating and drinking result in erroneous thinking and acting.³⁾E. G. White. Mind, Character and Personality, Volume 2, p. 392

Let’s look at another graph that can help us understand the importance of vegetarian food in preventing diseases, including mental illness. This graph shows the results of studies carried out at Harvard University. It shows that the vegan men in the study had a 70% lower incidence of prostate cancer. Those who ate dairy products had 40% more. Those who ate meat had 60% more prostate cancer. And those who ate dairy products and meat were 200% more likely to get prostate cancer.

Another study showed that people who ate a lot of fruit and vegetables had around half the incidence of cancer compared to those who ate very few.

In another study, people who consumed 4 or 5 portions of vegetables a day had a 54% lower risk of getting breast cancer compared to those who consumed 2 portions or less.

An editorial in the official journal of the American Dietetic Association had the following headline: “Growing data on plant-based diets”. It’s interesting that the doctor of nutrition who wrote the editorial for this top magazine of nutrition in the United States wrote the editorial quoting the Bible. She cites the Daniel 1:12 and 13 where it is described that Daniel had asked for a total vegetarian diet when he was in Babylon and that afterwards comparisons were made between his and his friends appearance and that of other people who ate the King´s diet. The result showed the physical and mental excellence of Daniel and his friends after 10 days on a vegetarian diet. In the editorial, the author comments as follows:

While there are certainly numerous considerations regarding nutrient adequacy that accompany sustained intake of a vegetarian diet, especially among certain potentially vulnerable subgroups, data from epidemiological and experimental studies continue to document associated benefits [of the vegetarian diet] regarding risk for chronic disease.⁴⁾Van Horn L. Growing Data on Plant-Based Diets. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Sept 2005, p. 1695 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2005.09.012

This author comments on the benefits in relation to cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, improved insulin sensitivity, reduced inflammation, weight loss and weight maintenance, among other benefits. And she continues to say:

This issue is especially replete with evidence regarding the role of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains in the prevention and treatment of disease.⁵⁾Van Horn L. Growing Data on Plant-Based Diets. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Sept 2005, p. 1695 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2005.09.012

This is exactly what God recommends in his word. Clearly the evidence includes mental illness.

So do some physical exercise, adopt a vegetarian diet, as this promotes physical, mental and spiritual health. You can start little by little, but do it for your health.