THERAPY THROUGH NUTRITION
There is no question that nutritional deficiencies can influence the functioning of the brain and affect the personality. There are clear-cut cases, for example, of vitamin deficiencies that result in symptoms of psychological disturbance. The majority of these cases involve people who suffer from very evident malnutrition.
Unfortunately, the connection between nutrition and mental health is still vague; biochemists are becoming more aware of the need to take into account individual variations. It is not always possible to specify exactly how much of a mineral, a vitamin, or an amino acid a person requires for good health. Some people, for many different reasons, cannot effectively utilize the food they eat. Others have allergic reactions to certain foods; some allergic reactions appear to be subtle, affecting a person's moods. Still other people seem to be especially sensitive to only moderate changes in their blood sugar levels. We have a great deal in common as biological organisms. Yet our biochemistries may be finely tuned in individual ways that would require a detailed and sophisticated understanding of an immense number of interrelated factors that boggle the mind in complexity.
Psychonutrition has a long road to follow before it will be a science. So-called holistic or orthomolecular (the "right" molecule) physicians and psychiatrists attempt to take individual variations and sensitivities into account. The need to do this may be essential in many cases, but dependable and exact methods of evaluation and treatment simply do not exist as yet. Except in cases of outright malnutrition, finding connections between nutrition and emotional health is still an art.
Some orthomolecular psychiatrists appear to have been dramatically successful in helping some patients with certain mental or emotional problems. But because psychonutrition is still a borderline discipline, it is an area where controversies abound and results are often open to question.
Many physical conditions can be influenced greatly by nutrition. Among these are the metabolic disorders diabetes and hypoglycemia, both of which can affect a person's emotional life (see Chapter 8). In addition, relationships have recently been discovered between lowered blood pressure, reduced cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and a diet high in fiber. A thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency—which causes pellagra, a chronic disease that leads to skin lesions and gastrointestinal distress—can produce depression, mania, and paranoia. Another example is pernicious anemia, in large part due to vitamin B12 shortage, which can cause moodiness, difficulty in remembering and concentrating, violent behavior, depression, and hallucinations. But the fact that many physical disorders, some of which can cause psychological disturbances, are treatable in part through nutrition does not, unfortunately, imply that emotional disorders in general can be treated by means of diet. This may be the case for some individuals for whom special diets can influence a specific biochemical imbalance. But research is just beginning to develop tests that can detect these sensitive individual variations. Once they can be identified a more difficult step has to be made: to determine how this information can be used to select an effective treatment.
Nutritionists and physicians agree that good physical and mental health depend on a combination of proper body weight, adequate exercise, good diet, and decreased stress. But beyond this, an emotionally disturbed person who seeks help through dietary therapy—for example, through megavitamin doses—should realize that he or she is really involved in self-experimentation. Some orthomolecular psychiatrists may be very talented in treating some of their patients. These patients are very fortunate; it is hard to avoid saying they are lucky. The main problem that faces this new area of psychonutrition is one of general reliability and credibility.
PART III
IMPORTANT
QUESTIONS