IN MY VIEW... WE MUST FEED OUR BRAINS

WE TAKE care to eat right for our bodies — but should we be thinking more about how we feed our minds?

The brain takes up about 20 per cent of our calorie needs, but it is the type and quality of food consumed that I believe we doctors need to pay more attention to — especially when treating patients with mood disorder such as depression or anxiety.

Around 60 per cent of the dry weight of the brain (much of it is water) is fat (it is the fattiest organ in the body) — or, more specifically, essential fatty acids.

Yet we are unable to synthesise these within the body, so the only way to obtain these vital materials is from the food we eat.

Now, an important review of data from 19 trials involving more than 1,200 people with anxiety given dietary supplements of omega 3 essential fatty acids has found that the supplements produce ‘statistically significant’ improvements compared to the effects of a placebo.

It’s thought the oils help form part of the brain membrane and that this may reduce any inflammation and could impact on the way neurotransmitters — brain chemicals — signal to one another.

The study has limitations: it was small and the participants were taking the supplements at various doses for varying lengths of time.

More research is on the way, but these observations should be sufficient to make us health professionals think.

I am not suggesting that doctors prescribe all their mental health patients fish oil capsules — after all, the same oils are present in a can of sardines that you could simply eat on toast once or twice a week. However, as we know, antidepressants don’t work for all — so this study is definitely food for thought.