Healthy food boosts school performance (2007)

Research has demonstrated that healthy food boosts school performance. The Nutrition and Health survey in Taiwan Elementary School Children, 2001-2002, analysed the diets and school performance of 2,222 primary school children. The study shows that children with poorer overall school performance were more likely to eat sweets and fried foods and were less likely to eat foods rich in protein, vitamins and minerals.

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Fu ML et al. ‘Association between Unhealthful Eating Patterns and Unfavorable Overall School Performance in Children’, J Am Diet Assoc. 2007;107:1935-1943

Poor diet & mental health in teens (2011)

Research has investigated poor diet & mental health in teens. Three quarters of lifetime psychiatric disorders emerge in the teenage years or in early adulthood. In an Australian study involving 2054 teenagers, researchers found that during a 2 year period, the teenagers who improved the quality of their diets experienced improved mental health. In contrast, those whose diet quality deteriorated experienced a worsening of their mental health. A better quality diet was one that included fruit and vegetables as “core food groups” and included both 2 or more servings of fruit per day and 4 or more servings of vegetables, as well as general avoidance of processed foods including chips, fried foods, chocolate, sweets, and ice cream. A poorer quality diet was defined as one which was high in snack and processed foods. This study could have important implications for prevention of mental health disorders.

Jacka FN, Kremer PJ, Berk M, de Silva-Sanigorski AM, Moodie M, et al. (2011) A Prospective Study of Diet Quality and Mental Health in Adolescents. PLoS ONE 6(9): e24805.

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Schizophrenia & gluten free, low carb diets (2009)

Research has investigated schizophrenia & gluten free, low carb diets. The research relates the case of a schizophrenic woman whose symptoms improved when she was put on a low-carb, ketogenic diet. This highlights the possible link between coeliac disease and schizophrenia. 

The review of several studies concludes that more research is needed to confirm the association between gluten intake and schizophrenia and whether dietary change can ameliorate schizophrenic symptoms. Health care providers could consider screening for coeliac disease and/or augment the medical regimen for patients with schizophrenia with a gluten free or low carb diet.

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Schizophrenia symptoms may be helped by a gluten free, low carb diet. Kraft & Westman (2009). Archives of General Psychiatry, 66(10): 1090-1098.

Low Essential Fats & Schizophrenia (2008)

In a study of people with schizophrenia, measures were made of levels of essential fats in red blood cells. Essential fats were found to be lower in this sample, than in the sample group without schizophrenia. In addition, an association was observed between levels of essential fats and severity of schizophrenia symptoms experienced.

Sumiyoshi T et al. ‘Essential polyunsaturated fatty acids and social cognition in schizophrenia.’ Psychiatry Res. 2008 Jan 15;157(1-3):87-93.

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Seafood in pregnancy (2007)

This study investigated seafood in pregnancy. For a number of years pregnant women or those planning pregnancy have been warned by numerous government agencies and medical associations to keep seafood intake to a minimum to avoid mercury, which can affect brain development and is found in many species of fish and other sea animals.
However, the benefits of omega 3 may outweigh the risks in pregnancy. A survey of 11,875 pregnant women found that those who ate less than 340 grams (3 servings) of seafood per week in pregnancy had more adverse outcomes. Beneficial effects on child development were recorded in those pregnancies where the mother’s seafood intake was greater than 340 g per week, suggesting that a review on current recommendations for seafood consumption could be warranted.

JR Hibbeln et al., ‘Maternal seafood consumption in pregnancy and neurodevelopmental outcomes in childhood (ALSPAC study): an observational cohort study’,  The Lancet, 369:578-585, 2007

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Food additives, hyperactivity & children (2007)

Research has investigated food additives, hyperactivity and children. Lead researcher Professor Jim Stevenson says this study on food additives and hyperactive behaviour in children, carried out at Southampton University, shows that certain combinations of artificial food colours (tartrazine (E102), ponceau 4R (E124), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), quinoline yellow (E104) and allura red AC (E129) as well as the commonly used preservative sodium benzoate (E211) are linked to increases in hyperactivity.

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McCann D et al., Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2007 Sep 5

Nutrition in infancy & earning power (2008)

Research has suggested nutrition in infancy may be linked to adult earning power.  The findings, published in The Lancet, were based on a three-decade study of Guatemalan males from birth. During the 1970s, some of the babies in the study were given a very nutritious food supplement, some a less nutritious one. When the researchers returned three decades later to see how the babies were faring, they found that men who had had the very nutritious supplement up to the age of three were earning nearly half as much more per hour than the other villagers. The  women did not have similar wage differentials, possibly because they had less choice about where they worked. The researchers assert that these results are the first direct evidence of a clear link between early-life nutrition and adult wages, and that feeding babies well could drive economic growth.

Hoddinott J et al. ‘Effect of a nutrition intervention during early childhood on economic productivity in Guatemalan adults’ Lancet. 2008 Feb 2;371(9610):411-6

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Homocysteine & Alzheimer’s Disease (2002)

A total of 1092 subjects without dementia (667 women and 425 men; average age, 76 years) were followed for an average of 8 years. Their homocysteine levels were monitored and it was noted which of those went onto develop dementia and Alzheimer’s. The authors concluded that an increased level of homocysteine in the blood is a “strong, independent risk factor for the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease”. There was a doubling of risk for Alzheimer’s with a homocysteine level greater than 14mmol/l.

Seshadri S et al,Plasma homocysteine as a risk factor for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.N Engl J Med., 346(7):476-83, 2002

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Elevated Homocysteine and Schizophrenia (2007)

Elevated plasma levels of the amino acid homocysteine have been associated with schizophrenia, particularly in young male patients. Among other factors, low folic acid and vitamin B12 levels have been implicated in the increase in homocysteine.

In this study, 100 inpatients with chronic schizophrenia and 100 ‘normal controls’ had their blood levels of homocysteine, vitamin B12 and folic acid measured. While there was no difference in blood levels of  folic acid or B12, the schizophrenia patients had higher homocysteine (15.42 v 11.54 µmol/l, p<0.001).

Both young and older females as well as younger males with schizophrenia had increased plasma homocysteine compared to controls. We therefore suggest that homocysteinemia is a general risk factor for schizophrenia

Haidemenos A, et al., Plasma homocysteine, folate and B12 in chronic schizophrenia, Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2007 Aug 15;31(6):1289-96

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Fish oil & psychosis (2008)

The study investigated fish oil & psychosis. Individuals at extremely high risk of developing psychosis appear less likely to develop psychotic disorders following a 12-week course of fish oil capsules containing long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Those taking the capsules also showed signs of reduced positive, negative and general symptoms of schizophrenia. Schizophrenic patients may have an underlying dysfunction in fatty acid metabolism and the potential effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on psychosis development may result from changes to cell membranes and interactions with neurotransmitter systems in the brain.

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Fish oil may reduce psychotic disorders in high risk individuals. Amminger et al. (2010). Archives of General Psychiatry, 67(2); 146-154.