Unraveling the mystery of mental illness: evidence from nutrition research

What causes mental illness? You’ve heard it before: no one knows. But science is closer than ever before to unravelling this mystery, and nutrition research gives us vital clues.

Nutrition and mental illness theories

Chemical imbalance in the brain is the most common explanation for mental disorders. Nutrients are chemicals the brain requires to work correctly.

For example, nutrients such as zinc, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 make and regulate neurotransmitters, which are essential in sending brain signals.1–4 Lack of these nutrients may cause the chemical imbalances of mental illness.

Genetics

Dr. Linus Pauling, winner of two Nobel Prizes, speculated that some people have higher genetic requirements for vitamins and minerals, and that much mental disease may be due to lack of these nutrients in the brain. He stated that “significant improvement in the mental health of many persons might be achieved by providing the optimum molecular concentrations of substances normally present in the human body.”5

Research shows that Pauling was right. Dr. Bruce Ames at the University of California, Berkeley, has shown that genetic mutations often result in increased requirements for nutrients and that higher nutrient intake can overcome many effects of these mutated genes.6

Ames has shown that deficiencies in iron, zinc, folic acid, niacin, and vitamins B12, B6, C, and E cause mutations in the same way that radiation does, leading to cancer, premature aging, and possibly neuron decay, cognitive dysfunction, mental illnesses, and degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.7–8 Half of the U.S. population may be deficient in one or more of these nutrients.9 For folic acid alone, 10% are deficient at levels known to cause breaks in human DNA.10

Lack of brain growth factors

Growth factors are essential for brain cell branching and survival. They help keep neurons in the brain connected so the proper signals can be sent. Antidepressants increase brain growth factor levels,11 but nutrients likely do a better job.12–15 Lack of these nutrients, and subsequent lack of brain growth factors, leads to brain cell shrinkage and death.16–17 These effects may interfere with proper brain signals, leading to symptoms of mental illness.

Human nutrition research

Poor diet has been associated with mental illness,18 and people who have poor intestinal absorption of nutrients have a much greater risk of developing a mental illness.19–20

In the past, research has used only one vitamin or mineral at a time as a treatment for mood disorders. Results using this approach have been mixed. Why? It’s this simple: if the brain needs more than one chemical to restore balance, giving just one will not suffice. Newer research using multiple nutrients is showing encouraging results.21–24

Truehope’s involvement

Truehope Nutritional Support Ltd. is a non-profit company that offers education, advocacy, and support to those who have mental illness. Research to date using EMPowerplus, Truehope’s 36-ingredient chelated micronutrient supplement, supports Truehope’s decade-long observations that nutrition helps people overcome mental illness.

Truehope’s goal is to help all those who have mental disorders find the hope, healing, and happiness they seek by promoting independent research that can introduce safer, more effective treatments into standard psychiatric care.

References

  1. Frederickson CJ, Suh SW, Silva D, Frederickson CJ, Thompson RB. “Importance of zinc in the central nervous system: the zinc-containing neuron.” Journal of Nutrition. 2000 May;130(5S Suppl):1471S-83S.  PubMed  Full Text + Links  PDF
  2. Takeda A. “Movement of zinc and its functional significance in the brain.” Brain Research Rev. 2000 Dec;34(3):137–48.  PubMed
  3. Hutto BR. “Folate and cobalamin in psychiatric illness.” Comprehensive Psychiatry. 1997 Nov–Dec;38(6):305–14.  PubMed
  4. Baldewicz TT, Goodkin K, Blaney NT, Shor-Posner G, Kumar M, Wilkie FL, Baum MK, EisdorferC. “Cobalamin level is related to self-reported and clinically rated mood and to syndromaldepression in bereaved HIV-1(+) and HIV-1(-) homosexual men.” Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 2000 Feb;48(2):177–85.  PubMed
  5. Pauling L. “Orthomolecular psychiatry. Varying the concentrations of substances normally present in the human body may control mental disease.” Science. 1968 Apr 19;160(825):265–71.  PubMed
  6. Ames BN, Elson-Schwab I, Silver EA. “High-dose vitamin therapy stimulates variant enzymes with decreased coenzyme binding affinity (increased K(m)): relevance to genetic disease and polymorphisms.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2002 Apr;75(4):616–58.  PubMed  Full Text + Links  PDF
  7. Ames BN. “The metabolic tune-up: metabolic harmony and disease prevention.” Journal of Nutrition. 2003 May;133(5 Suppl 1):1544S-8S.  PubMed  Full Text + Links  PDF
  8. Ames BN, Atamna H, Killilea DW. “Mineral and vitamin deficiencies can accelerate the mitochondrial decay of aging.” Mol Aspects Med. 2005 Aug-Oct;26(4-5):363–78.  PubMed
  9. Ames BN. “Supplements and tuning up metabolism.” Journal of Nutrition. 2004 Nov;134(11):3164S-3168S. PubMed  Full Text + Links  PDF
  10. Ames BN. “DNA damage from micronutrient deficiencies is likely to be a major cause of cancer.” Mutation Research. 2001 Apr 18;475(1-2):7–20.  PubMed
  11. Castren E. “Is mood chemistry?” Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 2005 Mar;6(3):241–6.  PubMed  Full Text + Links  PDF
  12. Nowak G, Legutko B, Szewczyk B, Papp M, Sanak M, Pilc A. “Zinc treatment induces cortical brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene expression.” European Journal of Pharmacology. 2004 May 10;492(1):57–9.  PubMed
  13. Dijkhuizen PA, Ghosh A. “Regulation of dendritic growth by calcium and neurotrophinsignaling.” Progress in Brain Research. 2005;147:17–27.  PubMed
  14. Finkbeiner S. “Calcium regulation of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene.” Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences. 2000 Mar;57(3):394–401.  PubMed  PDF
  15. Clagett-Dame M, McNeill EM, Muley PD. “Role of all-trans retinoic acid in neurite outgrowth and axonal elongation.” Journal of Neurobiology. 2006 Jun;66(7):739–56.  PubMed
  16. Tatton WG, Chalmers-Redman RM, Tatton NA. “Apoptosis and anti-apoptosis signalling in glaucomatous retinopathy.” European Journal of Ophthalmology. 2001 Jul–Sep;11 Suppl 2:S12–22.  PubMed
  17. Wang X, Wang B, Fan Z, Shi X, Ke ZJ, Luo J. “Thiamine deficiency induces endoplasmic reticulum stress in neurons.” Neuroscience. 2007 Feb 9;144(3):1045–56.  PubMed  Full Text + Links  PDF
  18. Liu J, Raine A, Venables PH, Mednick SA. “Malnutrition at age 3 years and externalizing behavior problems at ages 8, 11, and 17 years.” The American Journal of Psychiatry. 2004 Nov;161(11):2005–13. PubMed  Full Text + Links  PDF
  19. Mayer EA, Craske M, Naliboff BD. “Depression, anxiety, and the gastrointestinal system.” Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2001;62 Suppl 8:28–36.  PubMed
  20. Whitehead WE, Palsson O, Jones KR. “Systematic review of the comorbidity of irritable bowel syndrome with other disorders: what are the causes and implications?” Gastroenterology. 2002 Apr;122(4):1140–56.  PubMed
  21. Carroll, D., Ring, C., Suter, M., & Willemsen, G. (2000). “The effects of an oral multivitamin combination with calcium, magnesium, and zinc on psychological well-being in healthy young male volunteers: a double-blind placebo-controlled trial.” Psychopharmacology (Berl), 150(2), 220–225.  PubMed
  22. Schlebusch L, Bosch BA, Polglase G, Kleinschmidt I, Pillay BJ, Cassimjee MH. “A double-blind, placebo-controlled, double-centre study of the effects of an oral multivitamin-mineral combination on stress.” South African Medical Journal. 2000 Dec;90(12):1216–23.  PubMed
  23. Schoenthaler SJ, Bier ID. “The effect of vitamin-mineral supplementation on juvenile delinquency among American schoolchildren: a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial.” Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 2000 Feb;6(1):7–17.  PubMed
  24. Gesch CB, Hammond SM, Hampson SE, Eves A, Crowder MJ. “Influence of supplementary vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids on the antisocial behaviour of young adult prisoners. Randomised, placebo-controlled trial.” The British Journal of Psychiatry. 2002 Jul;181:22–8.  PubMed Full Text + Links  PDF