Do Nutrients In Food Affect Our Mood?

It has been a recent theory that meals high in carbs would increase the rate that tryptophan enters the brain, thus elevating levels of serotonin which is a neurotransmitter that regulates mood. Unfortunately, if the meal includes even a small amount of protein the availability of tryptophan will be decreased. What this means is that if we eat a meal that contains even less than a 5% proportion of protein those carbs won’t do a bit of good.

It is true that some nutrients in specific foods have been found, under specific laboratory conditions, to affect our moods. But, the amounts of those nutrients we ingest during the typical meal are not sufficient to alter or modulate mood. Rather, it is found that supplements are more efficient for use as mood enhancers or regulators.

Doctors have found that a folate deficiency in elderly patients is often associated with depression in that age group. Folate is a form of a B vitamin, Vitamin B9, which is naturally found in food. If for some reason the body is not able to absorb enough folate from foods, supplementation is often required. The synthetic supplement used to treat folate deficiencies is folic acid. Although you can find it alone it is usually part of the water soluble B complex of vitamins.

Foods and beverages containing caffeine are said to elevate our mood, but the jury is still out on that. It appears that caffeine, rather than altering mood per se, actually gives up a quick metabolic boost that is often mistaken as an elevation in mood. More energy is not synonymous with elevated mood. The two can go hand in hand, but are not necessarily the same thing.

The conclusion is that while nutrients can and do effect mood, the best way to provide enough nutrients to make a difference is through supplementation as opposed to eating foods containing those nutrients.