Our brains need a simple balance of nutrients and brain food supplements can literally
cheer us up and cure our ills.
ONE out of every six of us will experience a serious, function-impairing depressive episode at some point in our lives; thus antidepressants and anxiety-reducing agents are now a multibillion-dollar business for the pharmaceutical industry. ADHD, autism, depression and schizophrenia are all on the increase, especially in the young.
Britain’s biggest health survey involving 22,000 people found that;
76 % of people are often tired
58 % suffer from mood swings
52 % feel apathetic and unmotivated
50 % suffer from anxiety
47 % have difficulty sleeping
43 % have poor memories
42 % suffer from depression.
Sound like anyone you know?
Brain Food Stimulants
We cope by using caffeine or nicotine or prescription drugs. In the UK they drink 1.5 billion caffeinated drinks, smoke 1.5 billion cigarettes every week, consume 120 million alcoholic drinks and smoke ten million cannabis joints. Every year they are taking 532 million tranquilisers, 463 million sleeping pills and 823 million antidepressants.
Psychotherapy is also on the increase with more than ten million appointments per annum.
Mental illness has recently been estimated to cost the UK more than £77 billion a year and GPs are now being stretched to the limit.
Despite the advances in lots of the sciences, nutritional medicine is now becoming a major tool in the treatment of mental illness.
In today’s so-called modern world we now have what is called 'affluent malnutrition’.
The health of the mind is heavily influenced by the health of the body and the first course of treatment must be to ensure the body is getting enough of the nutrients to maintain proper brain function.
Best Brain Food Supplements
To optimise your brain performance you need to eat the nutrients it needs to function such as glucose for fuel, essential fats for proper structure, phospholipids for memory banks, amino acids for neurotransmission and vitamins and minerals that fine-tune your brain. The brain is mainly composed of two things — water and fatty acids (60 percent).
Studies have shown that people who eat complex carbohydrates such as vegetables, beans and wholegrains have performed better in IQ tests.
Your brain consumes 40 percent more glucose than any other organ.
Deficiencies in fat intake have been directly connected to a whole range of mental illnesses.
The best fats to be taking in your diet are the omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids found in evening primrose oil, starflower oil and fish oils.
Phospholipids are the ‘memory fats’ and are found in eggs and organ meat such as liver. Amino acids — the building blocks of proteins improve how the brain communicates along neurotransmitters. The essential amino acid tryptophan has proved to be better than antidepressants in trials, as has tyrosine which has been shown to improve mental and physical performance.
Vitamins and minerals are essential to all the chemical reactions in the brain. Deficiencies in these nutrients affect the brain chemistry especially when any of the vitamin B group is missing as their absence will affect how you think and feel.
Zinc is the most commonly deficient mineral and the most critical nutrient for mental health. A deficiency in Zinc is connected to schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, anorexia, and delinquency.
Zinc is found in any seed food and oysters can provide as much as 15mg.
Best Brain Food Supplements - Depression
Many antidepressants prevent a chemical called serotonin being broken down in the brain. A better treatment may be the consumption of the nutrients required to build serotonin and in particular tryptophan with brain food supplements.
Dr Philip Cowen from Oxford University’s psychiatric department and Professor Donald Ecclestone at the Royal Victory Infirmary Newcastle have in separate studies found that tryptophan improves mood and increases the synthesis of serotonin in the brain.
High carbohydrate breakfasts promote the best production of tryptophan in the body.
Best Brain Food Supplements -Scizophrenia
Dr Abraham Hoffer from Canada has treated 5000 people diagnosed with schizophrenia with high-dose multi-nutrients, especially large doses of vitamin B3 and vitamin C.
After 40 years, his published follow-up reports reveal a 90 per cent cure rate.
Best Brain Food Supplements - Attention Deficit Disorder
Most ADHD sufferers have one or more nutritional deficiencies. DMAE, a brain nutrient, has been proven to be twice as effective as Ritalin in managing symptoms. Many ADHD children also have symptoms due to fatty acid deficiency such as dry skin, asthma and excessive thirst. Many of these children could benefit from a fatty acid supplement and oily fish in their diet and brain food supplements for kids.
However, some of them will need other sources of omega-3 than fish oil if they have pyroluria.
Pyroluria is a condition whereby increased levels of kryptopyrrole are found in the urine, which can then lead to a high zinc and vitamin B6 deficiency. People who suffer this also have trouble absorbing fish oil which is why they use flaxseed oil instead.
Best Brain Food Supplements -Epilepsy
This condition affects more than 500,000 people in the UK and the convulsions that characterise the disease are caused by a temporary upset in the patient’s brain chemistry. One in three children with epilepsy will have low manganese levels.
Magnesium is also essential for the nervous system and supplementation has proved very beneficial.
More info from www.ecohomme.com and www.ecohomme.co.uk
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