Can nutrition affect someone’s psychological behaviour?
A mother of a six-year-old who just ate a bag of Halloween candy may just say yes. Or friends who got into a fight after a night of drinking may agree.
But what do you think?
Can it bring on more than just a little hyperactivity after some sugar?
Or aggressive or moody behaviour after consuming alcohol?
The issue has been debated between conventional psychologists and orthomolecular psychologists for decades.
The word orthomolecular (meaning “the right molecules”) was first introduced by Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling to describe the use of nutrients in treating disease. Orthomolecular psychologists have viewed many psychological disorders as a deficiency in certain trace minerals or vitamins that are necessary for brain function. Without them, they believe symptoms of schizophrenia, depression, and even psychosis can manifest.
Patients are treated with high doses of these nutrients to produce the right biochemistry in the brain and have had incredible results in many cases.
Things like hypoglycemia, gluten intolerance, allergies to certain food additives, as well as excess copper have been linked to things like hypertension, depression and even schizophrenia.
In his book Nutrition and Mental Illness, Dr. Carl C. Pfeiffer, PhD, MD describes a study done by Dr. Dohan from 1969 where they wanted to test the connection between gluten intolerance and schizophrenia. They removed both milk and cereal from a group in a psychiatric ward in Pennsylvania.
Halfway through the experiment, they found 62 per cent of the patients who were on the gluten-free diet were released to the “full privileges” ward while only 36 per cent were able to leave the locked ward with regular treatment and no change to the diet.
After secretly re-introducing wheat gluten into the diet of the improved patients, they relapsed.
Of course, schizophrenia is not something that can be treated in a single way and not all cases will respond to this type of treatment. This is why it is important to work with professionals.
It is not wise to dismiss conventional treatments all together when it comes to one’s well-being, but there is more to care than antidepressants, lithium, shock therapy and sessions on the couch.
A great story from the book Psycho Nutrition describes a psychotherapist who started struggling with schizophrenia.
Hearing voices in her head, feeling suicidal and suffering from anxiety and overwhelming fears, she exhausted all of her traditional resources and was forced to turn to orthomolecular means.
She was found to have severe hypoglycemia (apparently found in close to 60 per cent of schizophrenics, according to the author), was put on a sugar-free diet and high doses of vitamins. Back working as a psychotherapist, her biggest struggle now is convincing her colleagues to correct the diets of their patients.
Some of the critical nutrients vital for brain function include essential fatty acids, manganese, zinc, Vitamin C and the B vitamins.
So when there is an imbalance in nutrients that affect the brain, the question becomes why wouldn’t there be an imbalance in the way the brain functions?
How could nutrition not be considered when looking at one’s psychological behaviour?
Kristin Fraser, BSc, is a registered holistic nutritionist and local freelance writer. Her column appears every second Wednesday. She can be reached at kristin_fraser@hotmail.com.