The new field of “Nutritional Psychiatry” is providing an incredible amount of information regarding the medicinal role of food in treating emotional and mental disorders. Besides the traditional recommendation of engaging in therapy and taking prescribed psychiatric medications, individuals can feed themselves foods that have been shown to reduce emotional problems. While there are foods that are recommended for many disorders, let’s focus on foods to treat depression.
Laura R. LaChance and Drew Ramsey published an article recently in World Journal of Psychiatry which presents for the first time, an “Antidepressant Food Score” which analyzes foods that contain more antidepressant nutrient density. They analyzed plant and animal foods separately.
Among the top plant antidepressant foods are watercress, spinach, lettuces, fresh herbs, peppers, pumpkin, cauliflower, lemon and strawberry. Antidepressant animal foods include oysters, clams, mussels, crab, tuna, lobster, salmon, herring and snapper.
They identified twelve antidepressant nutrients found in both plant and animal foods that are related to the prevention and treatment of depressive disorders. They include folate, iron, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, potassium, selenium, thiamine, vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, and zinc. Deficiencies in any of these can lead to depression.
The authors strongly believe that avoiding diets high in refined carbohydrates and sugar is recommended as they are linked to depression. The Western Diet, which is heavy on fat, carbs, sugars, and flour should also be minimized or avoided for better physical and emotional health. Instead, turning to traditional (Mediterranean diet) or whole food diets have shown to improve mental health and decrease depressive symptoms.
Because depressive disorders are one of the leading causes of disability in the United States and around the world, a natural and healthy way to approach it is through antidepressant foods. While antidepressant medications all have some kind of side effects, food doesn’t, so why not give an antidepressant diet a try?