Psychological Medicine on the Plate ––On How Nutrient Balance Nurtures Mental Health
NUTRITIONWELLNESS
In the fast-food era, people clutch elaborately packaged “junk food,” numbing their taste buds with excessive oil, salt, and sugar, unaware that imbalanced diets are silently eroding the foundation of their minds. When the body becomes a vessel for substandard fuel, the operations of the mental world inevitably spiral out of control. Maintaining nutritional balance is not merely meeting physiological needs but also an invisible yet potent remedy guarding mental health. Its mechanisms permeate every level—from brain development and neural transmission to endocrine regulation and even gene expression.
Microscopic Battlefield: Nutrients Fortify the Mind’s Defenses. The eggs eaten at breakfast supply tryptophan, raw material for serotonin synthesis—this “happiness hormone” alleviates anxiety. Lunch featuring deep-sea fish rich in EPA/DHA acts as neuronal lubricant, enhancing cognitive flexibility. Dark vegetables consumed at dinner provide folate, participating in dopamine metabolism pathways. Chronic iron deficiency starves the brain of oxygen, scattering attention; zinc shortage weakens hippocampal memory function. Like precision instruments requiring specific lubrication, nervous systems depend on exact proportions of diverse nutrients to operate efficiently. Surveys by the Chinese Nutrition Society reveal depressive patients generally have lower intake of vitamin B12 and magnesium than normal values, confirming the correlation between nutritional gaps and psychological disorders.
Gut Revolution: The Second Brain Rewrites Emotional Codes. Eighty percent of serotonin is synthesized in the gut, where probiotic colonies form an “invisible parliament” influencing mood. Active lactic acid bacteria in fermented foods improve gut-brain axis communication, reducing social anxiety; dietary fiber feeds beneficial bacteria, producing short-chain fatty acids with natural antidepressant effects. Popular crash-diet regimens among urban white-collar workers often disrupt gut microbiota diversity, triggering emotional swings. Japanese researchers tracked subjects regularly consuming fermented foods like natto and kimchi, finding their cortisol rhythms closer to healthy patterns, exhibiting stronger emotional resilience when stressed.
Metabolic Restructuring: Energy Supply Reshapes Psychological Resilience. Refined carbohydrates cause sharp blood sugar spikes and crashes, provoking irritability; high-quality protein provides stable glucose supply, sustaining focused attention. Healthy fats in nuts delay gastric emptying, preventing post-meal drowsiness; synergistic actions of complex vitamins optimize mitochondrial energy factory efficiency. Athletes understand this well: marathon runners adjust pre-race carbohydrate ratios; chess players supplement tyrosine before matches—both classic cases of using nutritional strategies to regulate psychological states.
Choices on supermarket shelves determine thought quality. Treating fresh produce sections as pharmacies and viewing rainbow-colored vegetables as mood regulators means every bite deposits into mental health savings. No need for expensive supplements; simply follow basic rules—“three meals with staples, daily fruits, weekly grain rotation”—to turn daily dining into fertile soil nurturing the mind. After all, the most precious tonic always resides in the earthy aroma of everyday meals.
The Impact of Maintaining Nutritional Balance on Mental Health