3.1 Food and mental health

Adolescents may develop anxieties around eating and body weight, as you saw in Session 3. If you can become well-informed about the characteristics of a balanced diet and understand that no single food source is a panacea for any particular problem, you can put yourself in a stronger position to help.

The UK National Health Service (NHS, 2018) highlights that in adolescence there is a particular need for certain vitamins and minerals:

• Iron (especially in girls)
• Calcium (Particularly for bone and teeth development)
• Vitamin D (to aid absorption of calcium into the body)

The NHS also emphasises the importance of eating breakfast, a range of fruits and vegetables (‘5 a day’) and cutting down on snacks that are high in fat, sugar or salt. A balanced diet is considered to comprise (NHS 2018b):

• at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day
• meals based on higher fibre starchy foods like potatoes, bread, rice or pasta
• some dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soya drinks)
• some beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other protein
• unsaturated oils and spreads, eaten in small amounts
• plenty of fluids [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] (at least 6 to 8 glasses a day)

Eating well can help to maintain physical health (which is good for the physical brain, of course), and there is mounting evidence that a balanced diet can support good mental health too (Adan et al., 2019). The missing piece is to do with being able to explain the science with certainty, and to predict with confidence how a change of eating habits will affect mental health. Consider the links between food and mood described in the next activity.

Activity _unit7.3.1 Activity 6: Food and mood

Timing: Allow about 20 minutes

1. Watch this video produced by Mind the mental health charity.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 5: How to manage your mood with food | 8 tips

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Transcript: Video 5: How to manage your mood with food | 8 tips

- Food and mood. Eight ways to get you thinking about how your food affects your mood. One, eat regularly. If your blood sugar drops, it can make you feel tired, irritable or depressed. Eating regularly will keep your sugar levels steady. Try food that releases energy slowly like food high in proteins such as nuts and seeds, oats and whole grains.

Two, make sure you’re getting the right fats. Your brain needs fatty oils such as omega 3 and 6 to keep it working well. So rather than avoiding all fats, it’s important to eat the right ones. Try eating foods high in the good fats like oily fish, chicken, nuts like walnuts and almonds, olive and sunflower oils, sunflower or pumpkin seeds, avocados or milk, yogurt, cheese, and eggs.

Three, increase your protein. Protein has amino acids in it. These make up the chemicals your brain needs to regulate your thoughts and feelings. It also helps control your blood sugar levels. So try eating protein-rich foods, lean meat, fish, eggs, cheese, legumes like peas, beans, and lentils, nuts and seeds.

Four, drink more. If you’re not hydrated enough you, might find it difficult to concentrate or think clearly. You might also start to feel constipated, which puts no one in a good mood. Water is great. But why not try drinking herbal or green tea or diluted fruit juice?

Five, eat a rainbow of fruit and vegetables. Vegetables and fruit contain a lot of the minerals, vitamins, and fiber we need to keep us physically and mentally healthy. Eating a variety of different colors every day means you’ll get a good range of nutrients.

Six, cut down on the caffeine. Having too much caffeine can make you feel anxious and depressed, disturb your sleep, especially if you’re having it last thing at night or give you withdrawal symptoms when you stop suddenly. Caffeine is in things like coffee, tea, chocolate, Cola, and energy drinks. You might feel better if you stop drinking caffeine completely. but just cutting down will help too.

Seven, pay attention to your gut. Your gut and your brain use similar chemicals. So keeping your gut healthy can help to keep your brain healthy too. Healthy gut foods include fiber-rich foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and live yogurts which contain probiotics. Remember that it might take time for your gut to get used to a new eating pattern, so make changes slowly.

Eight, are you intolerant? Sometimes people have food intolerances, which can affect both your mental and physical health. If you’re worried you might be intolerant, you could contact a professional dietitian or nutritionist. Remember that any changes you make might take time for your body and your mind to get used to. So if you’re changing to a new eating pattern, it might take a while for you to start feeling the benefits.

 

End transcript: Video 5: How to manage your mood with food | 8 tips

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Video _unit7.3.1 Video 5: How to manage your mood with food | 8 tips

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Notice how they are careful to make links with established knowledge about physical health. Can you pick out one ingredient of a diet that comes over strongly for its effect on mood? Make a note below.

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Discussion

A fall in the level of blood glucose can affect mood, although aside from certain medical conditions, the body is able to maintain blood glucose within normal limits in most cases (Wilson, 2011). There are other factors associated with eating, such as the uplift in mood by satisfying hunger pangs and the pleasure and rewards of eating something you enjoy.

Evidence is building of a link between the gut microbiome (the trillions of bacteria that exist in your gut) and mood, although scientific understanding of this is still in its infancy. Scientists are beginning to describe the ‘gut-brain axis’ as multiple channels of communication between the two. Most of the evidence so far comes from animal research, and this is an exciting field of inquiry for human health (Liu and Zhu, 2018).

Although the link between caffeine and mood was made strongly in the video, the evidence so far is of a link between the two rather than caffeine intake actually causing anxiety or depression (Andrews and Smith, 2015). Children and young people are considered to be more sensitive to the effects of caffeine than adults, so it is certainly sensible to monitor caffeine consumption. Caffeine is a mental stimulant, and it is correct to imply that it might disturb sleep. A recent randomised controlled trial, which explored the effects of caffeine on sleep in adolescents, found that caffeine could be particularly harmful in young people in its capacity to interfere with sleep patterns (Reichart et al., 2020).

Select the answer for

Question 1a

here

If you are interested in this area and what to find out more take a look at the recent research by Felice Jacka (2019) who has extensively researched the links between food and mood. Her research indicates that an unhealthy diet of processed food can impact young people’s mental health which may result from changes in bodily systems such as the immune system, hippocampus in the brain, the stress-response system and the gut. You can also listen to her talk about her research here: The Ground-Breaking Science of Food & Mood with Prof. Felice Jacka | Stronger Minds on Acast

What could you do to encourage a young person you care about to eat a balanced diet and regular meals? Think about what might be preventing them from eating well. Is it pickiness, or peer pressure, or newfound independence allowing them to explore sweet, salty and fatty food perhaps?

Choose from this list of things that might help, and tick any you think you could achieve or attempt:

Being a role model of good eating habits.

Talking in a positive way about healthy eating.

Involving the young person in meal planning.

Involving the young person in food shopping.

Involving the young person in meal preparation.

Stocking up on healthy snacks.

Involving the young person’s friends or siblings.

 

a. 

Being a role model of good eating habits.

b. 

Talking in a positive way about healthy eating.

c. 

Involving the young person in meal planning.

d. 

Involving the young person in food shopping.

e. 

Involving the young person in meal preparation.

f. 

Stocking up on healthy snacks.

g. 

Involving the young person’s friends or siblings.

The correct answers are a, b, c, d, e, f and g.

Discussion

If you feel enthusiastic about any of the options, you could start practising some of these options in your daily life.