World expert think tank declares a mental health meltdown as rates of mental illness soar.
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We are facing a new pandemic.
Not the result of a return of Covid or bird flu but caused by something much closer to home that affects us every day. The food we eat. It is damaging our brain.
A report just published in the Lancet, found that neurological diseases, from autism to Alzheimerās, are affecting 43% of the worldās population. The Federation of European Neuroscientists have declared a ābrain health emergencyā. The Times reports that two thirds of benefit claims are for mental health. Diagnoses of autism and ADHD are steadily increasing.
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What are we doing about it?
The good news is that a fightback is beginning. Yesterday, a virtual āUpgrade Your Brainā conference,organised by the charitable foodforthebrain.org, brought together leading neuroscientists – psychiatrists, nutritionists and neurologists from around the world – to brainstorm the cause and a solution. They identified the four āhorsemen of the mental health apocalypseā lurking in our diet.
Standard healthy eating advice rarely warns about them at all. They are:
- A lack of brain fats, notably omega-3 from seafood but also vitamin D;
- Increased intake of sugar and ultra-processed foods;
- A lack of the many antioxidants and polyphenols (micronutrients) found in spices, vegetables and fruits, especially berries;
- Lack of B vitamins, notably B12, producing homocysteine, a brain toxic amino acid.

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The toll exacted by the horsemen is vast. Mental illness is now costing considerably more than all cancer and heart disease combined. āThe Children’s Society recently reported a tripling in NHS referrals for mental ill-health in the last three years.ā says Professor Michael Crawford, at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Campus of Imperial College.
According to Professor Crawford, the damage begins in pregnancy. Lack of B12 and folate in the mother increases later behavioural problems in their children. Fewer than 5 percent of children get the basic recommendation of seafood rich in omega-3 and many eat none at all. āSpecial schools are bursting at the seams,ā says Dr Rona Tutt, former president of the National Association of Head Teachers.
āHigh sugar and ultra-processed foods are having a devastating impact on mental health and play a major part in the increase in both ADHD, depression and dementia.ā says Professor Robert Lustig from the University of California. Dr Georgia Ede, a psychiatrist from Harvard, reports low carb diets are reversing mental illness.
According to the NHS one in five adults in England are on anti-depressants and last year one million teenagers were prescribed them. This year prescriptions are expected to exceed 100 million. Independent researchers have been warning about their lack of effectiveness and damaging side-effects.
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It’s not just about food and nutrients…
But it is not just nutritional deficiencies that are threatening our brains. The way we live can contribute to the damage. āThe combination of poor diet, lack of exercise, less intellectual and social stimulation, stress and insomnia creates a āperfect stormā for the brain,ā says neuroscientist Dr Tommy Wood at the University of Washington.
Dr Wood is leading research for us as we keep developing a defensive strategy to protect the brain with nutritional and lifestyle changes. It starts by finding out just how well your brain is doing via a FREE online Cognitive Function Test followed up by personalised advice on how to reduce your dementia risk.
The fourth horseman, high homocysteine (a consequence of a lack of B vitamins) is linked to all of the mental problems that are on the rise because it damages nerves and brain cells as well as arteries, the supply chain for the brain. If your homocysteine is high, which it is in half of those over 65, your memory is declining. Lowering it reduces brain shrinkage in those with pre-dementia by two thirds according to Oxford University research. GPs rarely test it.
Testing and lowering homocysteine is a key part of our prevention plan.
You can join our research and order a home test kit to measure blood levels of omega-3, homocysteine, HBA1c for sugar balance and vitamin D, lack of which is another contributor to dementia and depression. The charity aims to reach a million people in the largest ever ācitizen scienceā project and have tested 420,000 so far.
The idea that Alzheimerās can be prevented is gaining support. The US National Institutes of Health have attributed 22% of the risk of Alzheimerās to raised blood homocysteine and 22% to a lack of seafood and omega-3 fats.
A recent study using UK Biobank data concluded that up to 72% of dementia cases could be prevented if all risk factors were targeted. āEven this is probably under-estimating the power of prevention.ā says Professor David Smith from the University of Oxford, one of the study authors. āThe number of preventable cases could be higher if a personās omega-3 and B vitamin status, measured by a blood test for homocysteine (not measured by the UK Biobank) were taken into account.ā Chinaās leading prevention expert, Professor Jin-Tai Yu from Shanghaiās Fudan University, a co-author of this study, agrees. āHomocysteine-lowering treatment with vitamins, especially B12, is one of the most promising interventions for dementia prevention.ā
āThe same diet changes that reduce the risk for dementia also help everything from ADHD to depression,ā says our founder Patrick Holford, author of Upgrade Your Brain, out today. He is visiting 30 cities in the UK and Ireland over the next month to kick start a nationwide āUpgrade Your Brainā campaign. āWe need to engage with millions of people, get nutrition education happening in school, and most of all get health authorities and governments around the world to take the mental health meltdown seriously and put brain health at the top of the health agenda.ā
Professor Crawford says āTodayās diet bears no resemblance to the wild foods we ate during our speciesā evolution to which our genome is adapted. As a consequence our brain size is shrinking. If we donāt prioritise brain health and nutrition, the continued escalation of mental ill health, starting in the 1950s, can only end in disaster.”
The group is launching Alzheimerās Prevention Day on May 15th with a free 3-minute online Alzheimerās Prevention Check to motivate people to make the eight brain-friendly diet and lifestyle changes (see below). āYou are the architect of your own brainās future health.ā says neurologist Dr David Perlmutter, another member of the group.

Join us in our brain health revolution:
- Take the FREE Cognitive Function Test here
- If you are health practitioner then watch the Conference replays here
- Participate in Alzheimerās Prevention Day
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Thank you for reading!
Food for the Brain is a non-for-profit educational and research charity that offers a free Cognitive Function Test and assesses your Dementia Risk Index to be able to advise you on how to dementia-proof your diet and lifestyle.
By completing the Cognitive Function Test you are joining our grassroots research initiative to find out what really works for preventing cognitive decline. We share our ongoing research results with you to help you make brain-friendly choices.
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