Changing Diets, Changing Minds: how food affects mental well being and behaviour Acknowledgements This report was written by Courtney Van de Weyer, and edited by Jeanette Longfield from Sustain, Iain Ryrie and Deborah Cornah from the Mental Health Foundation* and Kath Dalmeny from the Food Commission. We would like to thank the following for their assistance throughout the production of this report, from its conception to its review: Matthew Adams (Good Gardeners Association), Nigel Baker (National Union of Teachers), Michelle Berridale-Johnson (Foods Matter), Sally Bunday (Hyperactive Children's Support Group), Martin Caraher (Centre for Food Policy, City University), Michael Crawford (Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition, London Metropolitan University), Helen Crawley (Caroline Walker Trust), Amanda Geary (Food and Mood), Bernard Gesch (Natural Justice), Maddy Halliday (formerly of the Mental Health Foundation), Joseph Hibbeln (National Institutes of Health, USA), Malcolm Hooper (Autism Research Unit, University of Sunderland), Tim Lang (Centre for Food Policy, City University), Tracey Maher (Young Minds Magazine), Erik Millstone (Social Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex), Kate Neil (Centre for Nutrition Education), Malcolm Peet (Consultant Psychiatrist, Doncaster and South Humber Healthcare NHS Trust), Alex Richardson (University of Oxford, Food and Behaviour Research), Linda Seymour (Mentality), Andrew Whitley (The Village Bakery) and Kate Williams (Chief Dietician, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust). We would also like to thank the Mental Health Foundation and the Tudor Trust for providing funding for the production of this report. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the views of those acknowledged or of Sustain's membership, individually or collectively. All errors and omissions are entirely those of the author. * There is a separate companion report to this volume, produced by Sustain's partner in the Food and Mental Health Project, the Mental Health Foundation entitled Feeding Minds: the impact of food on mental health. The report can be found at www.mentalhealth.org.uk. Photography by TS Whalen - www.tswhalen.com •II• Changing Diets, Changing Minds: how food affects mental well being and behaviour Changing Diets, Changing Minds: how food affects mental well being and behaviour Written by Courtney Van de Weyer Winter 2005 Contents Acknowledgements . II An important note on the nature of this report . VIII Foreword . IX Summary . X Introduction . 1 The cost of mental illness . 2 The role of food? . 3 Resistance to the link . 4 The purpose of this report . 4 The science of nutrition and the brain . 7 What do we need to eat? . 8 Proteins . 8 Dietary fats . 9 Carbohydrates . 10 Micronutrients - vitamins and minerals . 10 How the nutrients are used . .11 How do nutrients physically affect the brain? . 11 How the brain works . 11 How the brain is made . 12 Essential nutrients for the brain . 12 Nutrients and neurotransmitters . 12 Serotonin . 13 Catecholamines . 14 Acetlycholine . 14 Nutrients and neurons . 14 Essential fatty acids . 14 Micronutrients, oxidation and other factors . 16 Conclusion . 17 •IV• Changing Diets, Changing Minds: how food affects mental well being and behaviour Diet, brain development and mental well being throughout the lifecycle . 19 Nutrition in prenatal, postnatal and early life stages . 20 Birth weight . 20 Preconception . 21 Low birth weight . .21 Folic acid . 21 Maternal nutrition and foetal development . 22 Essential fatty acids . 23 Micronutrients . 23 Toxic substances . 24 Infants and early childhood . 24 Breastfeeding and infant formula . 25 Cognitive advantages of breastfeeding . 26 Pre-term infants . 27 General malnutrition . 27 Anaemia . 28 Childhood and Adolescence . 28 Academic attainment . .29 Anti-social behaviour . 31 Adults . 31 Meals and foods . 31 Macronutrients . 32 Tryptophan and tyrosine . 33 Micronutrients . 33 Older people . 34 Micronutrients . 35 Fats and vegetables . 36 Parkinson's disease . ..