WEEK 10

Question 1

Why is food relevant to
mental wellbeing?

Answer 1

accounts for
≈ 2% of our
body weight

but,
it requires 20-40% of
the glucose and
nutrients that come
directly from our food

• ~1 litre perfuses our
  brain every minute,
  carrying nutrients and
  oxygen especially

Question 2

Dietary Change in last 100 years

Answer 2

• Whole Food to Processed
• Sugar and Refined Carbs
• Animal to Vegetable Fats
• Omega-3 to Omega-6
• New Molecules: Food
  Dyes, Preservatives,
  Trans-fats

Question 3

Colonization

Answer 3

• Māori gardens prolific when settlers arrived – norm was
  to have a vegetable garden:
• Colonization substantially dislocated indigenous diets
• These diets disrupted globally; fractured and destroyed
  by early years of colonization
• Settler colonial diets into Aotearoa: Emphasis on white
  flour, white sugar, white fats
• We now ingest diets that are not drawn directly from
  nature but come from food products that are grown for
  profit by corporations and gardens are a rarity

Question 4

The Green Revolution

Answer 4

• Refers to a large increase in crop production by using
  modern agricultural techniques
• Results in intensive farming
• Ploughing and tilling results in collapse soil structure –
  more prone to floods, fire & drought
• Side effects: loss of biodiversity, erosion, chemical runoff,
  cultural food knowledge of indigenous peoples,
  displacement of genetic diversity
• Crop rotation replaced with monocultures of rice & wheat
• Soil becomes dirt, loss of soil’s microbes
• Synthetic nitrogen over time depletes soil organic matter

Question 5

Food choice changes?

Answer 5

increased calories

Decreased nutrients

Question 6

Poor eating causes nearly …. how many deaths per day?

Answer 6

Poor eating causes nearly one thousand deaths
each day in the United States from heart disease,
stroke, and diabetes

Question 7

Food label effectiveness?

Answer 7

Nothing in food label tells you
if it is good for your brain and
wellbeing

And… many people won’t think
about the micronutrient
adequacy of food

Question 8

What are micronutrients?

Answer 8

Vitamins and minerals
Required in small amounts
Essential for production of
enzymes, hormones,
neurotransmitters, etc

Question 9

Micronutrients: Why do we need them for our brain?

Answer 9

Minerals and vitamins act as COFACTORS for enzymatic processes (turning chemical A into chemical B)

Nutrients Required for Energy Production

Various Micronutrients needed for:
- Serotonin pathway
- Dopamine pathway
- Production of ATP
- Methylation => methyl group can conceal or reveal the gene to transcription

Question 10

Where do micronutrients come from?

Answer 10

In the soil, then taken up by plants.

Question 11

What’s wrong with ‘western, processed’ diets?

What’s good about ‘Mediterranean, whole food’ diets?

Answer 11

Western = Fewer vitamins and minerals

Mediterranean = More vitamins and minerals

Question 12

Wellbeing and food

Answer 12

• High total intake of fruits & vegetables, including berries, citrus, & green leafy vegetables, promote:
  – higher levels of optimism and self-efficacy
  – reduced level of psychological distress, ambiguity, and cancer fatalism
  – protect against depressive symptoms
• An increase in consumption of fruits and vegetables by one portion a day leads to a 0.133-unit
  improvement in mental well-being as assessed by GHQ-12
• Consumption of 7–8 servings a day leads to meaningful changes in positive affect
• Consumption of 8 portions a day leads to a 0.24-unit increase in life satisfaction
• Wellbeing increases in dose-response fashion with # of portions of fruit and vegetables consumed
• Better quality of life associated with Nordic/Mediterranean diet
• Higher adherence to Mediterranean Diet associated with better subjective wellbeing

Question 13

Those who ate more fruit and veg during lockdown had better wellbeing

Answer 13

• Fruit and vegetable intake contributed to wellbeing alongside sleep and
  social interaction quality
• Examining day-to-day associations showed fruit and veg intake on same day
  promoted wellbeing

Question 14

Raw, frozen, canned or cooked?

Answer 14

• Lower depression with raw veggies/fruit (but not with processed / frozen etc)

Question 15

Healthy food choices are happy food choices:

Answer 15

• Vegetable consumption contributed
  largest share to eating happiness
  measured across eight days
• Sweets on average provided
  comparable induced eating happiness
  to “healthy” food choices such as fruits
  or vegetables
• Vegetables contributed biggest share to
  total happiness followed by sweets,
  dairy products, and bread

Question 16

Hangovers and food

Answer 16

• On days when participants reported higher severity of hangovers,
  they reported consuming more hot chips (b = .09, p = .001), more
  soft drink and less fruit
• For women, higher alcohol intake associated with decreased
  healthy food (fruit and vegetables) intake next day
• Suggests need to target excessive drinking that lead to negative
  spiral of unhealthy eating

Question 17

effect of fruit and vegetable consumption on psychological well-being in young:

– an ecological momentary intervention (EMI) condition
involving text message reminders to increase their FV
consumption plus a voucher to purchase FV

– or a fruit and vegetable intervention (FVI) condition in
which participants were given two additional daily servings
of fresh FV to consume on top of normal diet

Answer 17

• Only participants in FVI condition showed
  improvements to their psychological wellbeing with
  increases in vitality, flourishing, and motivation across
  14-days relative to other groups
• Rapid effect

Question 18

Vitality and kiwi fruit consumption

Answer 18

• Participants consuming kiwifruit showed
  significantly improved mood and wellbeing;
  improvements in wellbeing sustained during
  washout
• Decreased fatigue and increased wellbeing
  observed following intake of vit C alone, but only
  for participants with consistently low vit C levels
  during lead-in

Question 19

Diet and Sleep Quality

Answer 19

• Individuals sleeping fewer hours reported to follow a
  diet of lower quality
• Consumption of healthy foods associated with better
  sleep quality
• Higher intake of processed and free-sugar rich foods
  associated with worse sleep features
• Greater adherence to Med diet associated with
  adequate sleep duration and better sleep quality
• Foods rich in melatonin (sleep promoting hormone), or
  its precursor tryptophan (found in milk), micronutrients
  (vit D and B, magnesium, zinc), carbohydrate-containing
  foods, tart cherries (contain phytonutrients and
  melatonin) and fish (zinc rich oysters), can improve
  sleep parameters (e.g., sleep latency, time, efficiency)
• Caffeinated and sugar-rich beverages, high glycaemic
  foods, and ultra-processed foods can negatively affect
  sleep quality and duration

Question 20

Diet and cognitive function

Answer 20

• Excessive chronic consumption of added simple sugars associated with cognitive impairments, especially worsened hippocampal memory function
  – this relation might be mediated by neuroinflammation in hippocampus
• 1580 mother-child pairs (Project Viva) found Maternal intake of better-quality diet during pregnancy
  associated with:
  – better visual spatial skills in offspring at early childhood
  – better intelligence and executive function in offspring at mid-childhood
• Sugar and soda consumption during pregnancy adversely impacts child cognition
• Nut consumption (1 brazil nut a day for 6 months)
  associated with better cognition (verbal fluency) and
  telomere length in older adults
• RCT evidence supports positive effects of Med Diet on delayed
  recall, working memory and global cognition relative to controls
  in older healthy adults
• BUT, need more interventional long-term research, too much
  reliance on short term observational trials – hard to tease apart
  effect of one component of diet

Question 21

Effect of MIND diet intervention on cognitive performance

• 50 women randomized to
  MIND (MediterraneanDASH Intervention for
  Neurodegenerative Delay)
  or control for 3 months

Answer 21

• MIND diet group improved
  more on working memory,
  verbal recognition memory,
  and attention compared
  with control group

Question 22

Sharing food and happiness

Answer 22

• Larger dose of unhappiness
  greater odds of eating alone –
  after controlling for potential
  covariates
• Having a meal with others not
  only important for nutritional
  and health outcomes, also vital
  part of daily social interaction
• a non-Western setting
  contributes to increasing
  happiness

Question 23

Vegetarian/vegan versus meat???

Answer 23

Overall – hard to do controlled trials
Research mixed but association studies suggest that some red
meat and some fish appears helpful for people struggling with
mental health issues
be aware of possibility of nutritional deficiencies when
excluding meat/dairy/fish

Following a vegan diet may have some benefits to subjective
wellbeing

Question 24

intermittent fasting

Answer 24

Rise in interest of intermittent fasting

During fasting time – only water or caloriefree beverages such as black coffee or diet
sodas

mostly embraces three approaches:
i) alternate-day fasting (ADF), involves feast day (usually
ad libitum diet) alternated with fast day (from zero
calories to 25% of energy requirements)

ii) 5:2 diet: 5 feast days (ad libitum) and 2 fast days/week
(from zero calories to 25% of energy requirements)

iii) time-restricted eating (TRE): defined daily periods of
eating and fasting in sync with circadian clock

Idea behind intermittent fasting - it can modulate cells by: REDUCE OXIDATIVE STRESS
1) increasing neuroprotection (preservation of nerve cell
structure),

2) decreasing neuroinflammation (inflammation of the nervous tissue)

and 3) promoting neuromodulation
(changing of nerve activity)

Question 25

Research on intermittent fasting

Answer 25

• Mixed results:
• Long fasts can increase stress
• Prolonged or chronic food restriction can have
  undesirable effects like fatigue, nutrient
  deficiencies, lowered immunity and
  psychological distress
• Short term IF can increase irritability and
  decrease vitality, others find opposite
• Positive effects of IF on wellbeing may be due
  to effects of IF on weight loss and/or that over
  time, changing energy substrate from glucose
  to ketones may impact emotion regulation
• Endogenous opioids may be released by fasting
• Also possible has an effect on reduction of
  inflammation, increased resistance to stress,
  improved glucose regulation

Question 26

Does intermittent fasting impact mental disorders?

Answer 26

• Within group analyses showed IF had positive
  influence on diminishing depression scores, but did
  not modify anxiety or mood
• BUT based on few studies and short duration and
  heterogeneous samples
• Different IF regimens not explored

Question 27

Risks of restriction either calories or food groups

Answer 27

• Be aware restricting food groups can lead to nutritional deficiencies
• Also fasting might lead to slowed metabolic rate to compensate for reduced
  energy intake
• Specific risks for women
  – Can impair fertility, hormone balancing, not good if pregnant
• Anyone with a disordered relationship with food would be best not to fast

Question 28

Microbiome-Gut-Brain Axis
A Happy mind Requires Guts

Answer 28

“Gut Bacteria Affects Your Brain Function”

The gut microbiota:
* Protect intestinal wall
* Promote development of healthy immune
system through educating it in early years of
life
* 1st line of defence to pathogens
* Digest food
* Key regulators in neurogenesis,
neurodevelopment, and behaviour
* Make Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFA)
* Suppress pathogenic microbial growth
* Communicate with brain using hormones
* Weight 1.5-2kg
* They also generate vitamins:

The better the microbiome, the better the
communication with the brain

Question 29

What influences composition of microbiome?

Answer 29

• Mode of delivery (C-section)
• Early feeding
• Timing of weaning
• Genetics
• Lifestyle
• Diet
• Geography
• Age
• Stress
• Medication use

Question 30

Emotional well-being and gut microbiome profiles

Answer 30

• Gut microbiome diversity related to emotional well-being
• Enterotypes significantly moderate links between emotional
  well-being and gut microbiome health
• Also, Lachnospiraceae associated with positive & negative
  affect
• When you feel good, tend to have a healthier microbial
  community

Question 31

How to improve health of microbiome?

Answer 31

• Increase intake:
  – Prebiotics- Fibres & vegetables (artichokes, leeks, onions,
  garlic)
  – Omega3 Fatty Acids
  – Fibre
  – Polyphenols include nuts, seeds, coffee, dark chocolate,
  red wine, olive oil and berries
  – FULL FAT Yoghurt (taking out fat makes product less
  effective probiotic)
  – Fermented milk (Kefir), fermented foods sauerkraut,
  kimchee, miso and kombucha
• Decrease intake:
  – Avoid “diet” drinks and foods
  – Ultra-processed food (modern processing removes
  prebiotics from food)
  – emulsifiers (thins gut lining and diversity) and
  sweeteners
• Garden
• Have a pet at home increases diversity
• Exercise
• Minimize stress and sleep disturbances/jetlag
• Avoid C-Section and support breastfeeding
• Minimise antibiotic usage and proton pump
  inhibitors

Question 32

Brain Foods

Answer 32

B: Berries and beans
R: rainbow colours of fruits and vegetables
A: Antioxidants
I: Include lean proteins and plant-based proteins
N: Nuts
F: Fibre rich foods, fish and fermented foods
O: Oils
O: Omega 3-rich foods
D: dairy (yogurt, kefir, cheeses)
S: Spices

Question 33

Practical dietary recommendations

Answer 33

1. Follow traditional dietary pattern, such as Mediterranean,
   Norwegian, or Japanese
2. Increase consumption of fruit and veg, legumes, whole
   grains, nuts, seeds
3. Include a high consumption of omega 3s
4. Replace unhealthy with healthy
5. Limit intake of ultra-processed foods, fast foods,
   commercial baked goods, and sweets