Believe it or not, your depression, anxiety, insomnia, or even schizophrenia or bipolar disorder could be linked to what you are eating… or not eating.
Last week I gave a talk on the connection between digestion and mental health. There has been a lot of research recently on the gut-brain axis and specifically on how your digestive tract with its population of bacteria affects not only physical function but also brain function and emotional wellbeing.
In The Lancet Psychiatry journal, research has recently been published showing how micronutrient levels affect our mental health.
Micronutrients are vitamin, minerals, and other nutrients that our bodies depend upon as catalysts for body functions. Micronutrients are absorbed by the intestines after primary digestion has happened in the stomach. If the food is not broken down well enough when it leaves the stomach, the bowels will not be able to absorb the nutrients from the food and pass them along into the body for assimilation.
It’s looking more and more like not absorbing nutrients correctly can lead to mental imbalance.
According to Mark Moyad, MD, MPH, and author of The Supplement Handbook, these are some of the key micronutrients we need to keep our brains happy:
- omega 3 fatty acids
- SAMe
- folic acid
- NAC
- Zinc
- Vitamin D
Contact me if you’re interested in checking your micronutrient levels in pursuit of better mental health.
