X-Message-Number: 4908
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 1995 23:24: -0700 (PDT)
From: Doug Skrecky <>
Subject: Mood and Macronutrients
MOOD AND MACRONUTRIENTS
(from June 1995 Longevity Report)
By Doug Skrecky
Unhappiness is quite common. According to standard diagnostic
criteria about 49% of the general population suffer from a variety of
psychiatric disorders at some point in their lives. This includes 13% for
major depressive disorders, 19% for anxiety disorders, 35% for drug abuse
or dependance and 6% for antisocial personalities. *1 If one expands the
definition of mental disorder to include bouts of mild depression it
seems that about 75% of the population will qualify. *2 With unhappiness
being so common is it really any wonder that the streets are unsafe, that
so many marriages end in divorce and even that nations so often resort to
war? One could hope that like good wine, people would improve with age.
Alas, levels of psychological well-being in fact typically neither
increase nor decrease with age. *3 Unhappiness is the major problem
afflicting mankind. Can diet influence mood?
People who consume diets with a higher than average protein content
tend to suffer from depressed mood more often. *4 This is probably due to
the fact that high protein diets impair the transport of the amino acid
tyrosine into the brain. *5 *6 Tyrosine is required for the biosynthesis
of the brain neurotransmitter norepinephrine. Most depressed patients
show disturbances in norepinephrine metabolism and antidepressants can
help ameliorate this. *7 *8 Supplemental tyrosine helps improve mood in
humans exposed to cold temperatures or suffering from depression. *9 *10
The most important effect of diet on mood is excessive protein
consumption. Big meat eaters may do well to try a few more vegetables and
a little less meat.
Protein source can also be important as different proteins contain
differing amounts of tyrosine. Cats fed protein in the form of milk
casein, which is high in tyrosine show less biochemical response to
immobilization stress than do soya protein fed cats. *11 It may be
helpful to ingest a portion of ones protein requirements from milk
products.
The amino acid tryptophan is required for the biosynthesis of the
brain neuro-transmitter serotonin. Some depressed patients show an
improvement when given large supplemental doses of tryptophan. *12
However low tryptophan diets have no effect on mood when fed to healthy
subjects. *13 Unlike tyrosine, tryptophan appears to have only a limited
relevance to one's mental health.
Although lowering overall protein intake is likely to improve ones
mental health there may be a danger of malnutrition if this is carried to
an extreme. One side effect of a protein deficient diet is continual
feelings of hunger. *14 For protein, as with many things in life the
middle road is the best road.
In comparison to protein dietary carbohydrates seem to have a much
more limited effect on mood. Some rats fed a sucrose solution seem to be
more vulnerable to certain forms of stressful stimuli. *15 Ingestion of
sucrose sweetened but not aspartame sweetened Kool-Aid has aggravated
mood disturbances in a few humans. *16 Switching to diet pop may be
beneficial for some sugar sensitive individuals.
There is little evidence that normal dietary fat can affect mood. *4
However one special type of fatty acid called gamma linolenic acid (GLA)
does prevent stress induced blood pressure increases in rats. *17 In
humans the depression associated with premenstrual syndrome is alleviated
with a daily supplement of from 0 to 360 milligrams of GLA. *18 *19
Although supplemental GLA generally lacks side effects it is
contraindicated in cases of epilepsy or manic disorder. Borage or evening
primrose oil are good sources of supplemental GLA. While GLA is not
typically found in the adult human diet, it does exist in human breast
milk. *20 For a quiet baby it may be best to breast feed.
Caloric restriction increases the ability of middle aged but not
young rats to withstand stressful stimuli. *21 If one can generalize from
rats to humans dieting might confer some mental benefits in older
individuals.
Regular caffeine consumption is associated with increased incidence
of depression, higher anxiety levels and lower grades in students. *22
Although caffeine can improve the mood of heavy coffee drinkers it also
can make caffeine abstainers jittery and nervous. *23 Heavy caffeine use
is a drug addiction. Since most people are unable to drink coffee while
sleeping it is likely that the unpleasantness many heavy coffee users
experience early in the morning before their first cup is a drug
withdrawal effect. Experiments have shown that preference for caffeinated
over decaffeinated coffee disappears after subjects have been prevented
from consuming caffeine for at least a week. Caffeine craving is caused
mostly by physical dependance. Headache and fatigue are the most common
symptoms of caffeine withdrawal. Occasionally anxiety, impaired
psychomotor performance, nausea, vomiting and craving occur. The onset of
withdrawal symptoms commence after 12-24 hours of abstinence, peak at
20-48 hours and end after about a week. *24
Unless you are sleep deprived there is no reason to consume caffeine
and many reasons not to. If you are heavily addicted try cutting down
gradually to avoid withdrawal effects. Sources of caffeine include
coffee, tea, hot cocoa, cola beverages and chocolate bars. Is it any
wonder that so many young people try drugs when their parents are on a
caffeine rush in the morning, an alcoholic daze in the evening and smoke
like chimneys inbetween?
To sum up some improvement in mood is likely if protein intake is
lowered, milk proteins are favoured over other protein sources and
caffeine is eliminated. Supplements of tyrosine or GLA may also be
helpful.
*1 'Lifetime and 12-Month Prevalence of DSM-III-R Psychiatric Disorders
in the United States' 8-19 Vol.51 1994 Archives of General Psychiatry
*2 'Self-Help Attempts of Depressive Patients' 220-224 Vol.19 Supplement
2 1986 Psychopathology
*3 'Longitudinal Analyses of Psychological Well-Being in a National
Sample: Stability of Mean Levels.' 50-55 Vol.42 No.1 1987 Journal of
Gerontology
*4 'Macronutrient Relationships With Meal Patterns and Mood in the
Spontaneous Feeding Behaviour of Humans' 561-569 Vol.39 1987 Physiology &
Behaviour
*5 'Adaption of Rats to Diets Containing Different Levels of
Protein:Effects on Food Intake, Plasma and Brain Amino Acid
Concentrations and Brain Neurotransmitter Metabolism' 382-398 Vol.115
1985 Journal of Nutrition
*6 'Diurnal Variations in Plasma Concentrations of Tryptophan, Tyrosine,
and Other Neutral Amino Acids:Effect of Dietary Protein Intake' 1912-1922
Vol.32 1979 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
*7 'Norepinephrine and Its Metabolites in Cerebrospinal Fluid, Plasma,
and Urine' 849-857 Vol.45 1988 Archives General Psychiatry
*8 'Antidepressants Reduce Whole-Body Norepinephrine Turnover While
Enhancing 6-Hydroxymelatonin Output' 150-154 Vol.45 1988 Archives General
Psychiatry
*9 'Treatment with Tyrosine, a Neurotransmitter Precursor, Reduces
Environmental Stress in Humans' 759-762 Vol.22 1989 Brain Research
Bulletin
*10 'Tyrosine for the Treatment of Depression' 163-173 Vol.3 1984
Nutrition and Health
*11'Dietary Protein and Carbohydrate Effects on Blood Parameters Related
to Stress in Cat' 1-5 Vol.42 1988 Physiology & Behaviour
*12 'Relationship Between Plasma Ratio of Tryptophan to Competing Amino
Acids and the Response to L-Tryptophan Treatment in Endogenously
Depressed Patients' 47-59 Vol.2 1980 Journal of Affective Disorders
*13 'Neuroendocrine and Behavioural Effects of Dietary Tryptophan
Restriction in Healthy Subjects' 2323-2332 Vol.45 No.24 1989 Life
Sciences
*14 'A Study of the Interrelationship of the Energy Yielding Nutrients,
Blood Glucose Levels, and Subjective Appetite in Man' 684-696 Vol.45 No.5
1955 Journal of Laboratory & Clinical Medicine
*15 'Fasting, Feeding and Regulation of the Sympathetic Nervous System'
1295-1301 Vol.298 No.23 1978 The New England Journal of Medicine
*16 'Psychological Distress and Diet- Effects of Sucrose and Caffeine'
44-49 Vol.40 No.1 1988 Journal of Applied Nutrition
*17 'Effects of Essential Fatty Acid Administration on Cardiovascular
Responses to Stress in the Rat' 139-142 Vol.21 1986 Lipids
*18 'The Role of Essential Fatty Acids and Prostaglandins in the
Premenstrual Syndrome' 465-478 Volume 28 No.7 1983 The Journal of
Reproductive Medicine
*19 'Biochemical and Clinical Effects of Treating the Premenstrual
Syndrome With Prostaglandin Synthesis Precursors' 149-153 Vol.30 No.3
1985
*20 'Fatty Acid Composition of Human Colostrum and Mature Breast Milk'
252-257 Vol.34 1981 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
*21 'The Effects of Acute and Life-Long Food Restriction on Basal and
Stress-Induced Serum Corticosterone Levels in Young and Aged Rats'
1934-1941 Vol.123 1988 Endocrinology
*22 'Ad Lib Caffeine Consumption, Symptoms of Caffeinism, and Academic
Performance' 512-514 Vol.138 No.4 1981 American Journal of Psychiatry
*23 'Behavioral and Molecular Actions of Caffeine:Focus on Adenosine'
91-106 Vol.18 No.2 1984 Journal of Psychiatry Research
*24 'Caffeine Physical Dependence:A Review of Human and Laboratory Animal
Studies' 437-451 Vol.94 1988 Psychopharmacology
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