This blog was originally posted on November 27 from health.gov.
We’ve all heard the popular saying, “You are what you eat,” but have you ever stopped to think about what that really means for your body, mind, and spirit? How can we expand our thinking about the relationship between food/nutrition and physical health care to include emotional health and well-being? Can we develop interventions that go beyond traditional mental health and substance use treatments and incorporate social determinants of health and food/nutrition to better promote mental health, prevent disease, and promote recovery? What policies need to change so that we can prioritize healthy and culturally appropriate nutrition and behavioral health care resources more equitably across the country?
These are the questions that inspired the development of the Food and Mood Project. In recent years, regional staff at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — specifically the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) — and the US Department of Food and Nutrition of Agriculture (USDA) has delved into the impact of food on our disposal. The Food and Mood Project aims to promote emotional well-being and reduce the impact of mental health and substance use conditions among the K-12 population by identifying and implementing strategies that address the intersection between behavioral health, food/nutrition safety, and of cultural food diversity.
A “gut check” for brain health: The role of the gut microbiome
Of the examples that can be cited of how food can affect our mood, its role gut microbiome it illustrates the deep interactions that occur in areas of the body that are seemingly far from the brain. Exists well documented evidence about the importance and function of the gut microbiome in maintaining our physical health, including metabolic functions and immune system health. There is also a growing body of research on the impact it has on our brain health.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins examine the brain-gut connection and its implications for mental health. Their work takes a deep dive into the pathways involved in the two-way communication between gut microbiota and the brain. They have examined how the enteric nervous system (ENS), commonly referred to as “brain in the gut,” is crucial to understanding how our food affects our mood—and how our mood can affect everything in our gut. For example, they note that “the gut produces 90 percent of the body’s serotonin and half of its dopamine,” both of which are “powerful neurotransmitters that affect mood, help the mind stay calm and focused, and are natural antidepressants.” . But because this relationship is bidirectional, “changes in our mood can also affect everything in the gut.”
Social Determinants of Health
The physiology of how gut bacteria affect our well-being is only part of the story. More broadly, there are factors that influence everything from access to food to the specifics of our food choices — long before we even eat. These everyday influences are what we refer to as social determinants of health (SDOH). Officially, Healthy People 2030 defines SDOH as “the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship and age that influence a wide range of health, functioning and quality of life outcomes and risks. »
National Institutes of Health (NIH) partners examine one aspect of SDOH in the relationship between cultured foods, healthy gut bacteria, and diet-related chronic disease risks. The health of our gut microbiome is affected throughout life, starting with pregnancy. Examining how changes in dietary patterns lead to the increase or loss of healthy gut bacteria can help guide development, especially in understanding the influences of “cultural dietary patterns and sociocultural factors (eg, culture) . This understanding may also assist in the “implementation of effective nutritional interventions.” Information recently shared NIH lab advocates “the notion of food as a cultural element influenced by, among other things, access to food, environmental factors, belief systems, history, racial/ethnic identity, and migration.”
Just as positive aspects of SDOH can have positive influences, differences in SDOH—such as lack of access to nutritious food—can affect our health and well-being in negative ways. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as emotional abuse, community violence and discrimination can have long-term negative consequences on our health. Research indicates that youth exposed to 4 or more ACEs were more than 3 times more likely to experience food insecurity in young adulthood, highlighting the need for interventions to include food assistance programs when supporting people who have experienced ACEs; especially emotional abuse.
In 2021, 33.8 million people lived in food households and 5.0 million children lived in food insecure households where children and adults faced food insecurity. Previous research has shown that food insecurity is associated with psychological distress and other mental health outcomes, including depression. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we witnessed increasing rates of food insecurity and evidence that food insecurity was is associated with an increased risk of mental illness. Furthermore, Low-income individuals experiencing food insecurity were 3.6 and 3.5 times more likely to report symptoms of anxiety and depressionrespectively, compared to those that were safe for food.
Attempts at food and mood in progress
Federal and state agencies, tribal nations, and community-based organizations are already taking steps to promote emotional well-being through food. The USDA Indigenous Food Sovereignty Initiative promotes traditional diets, food and agriculture markets in Indian Country, and Native health through foods tailored to the nutritional needs of American Indians/Alaskan Indians (AI/AN). The USDA Farm to School Grant Program awards grants that connect students to the sources of their food through education, taste testing, school gardens, field trips and local food sourcing for school lunches. In addition, other HHS funding has supported efforts that use horticulture, cooking, and nutrition education to prevent and reduce the occurrence of unhealthy coping patterns and mental and physical illness. These strategies are based on growing research on how food affects mood.
A call to action
Good nutrition is vital to optimal health and well-being, and children need fruits and vegetables daily for healthy growth and brain development. However, there are silos in our health care system when it comes to prevention, treatment, and recovery services between behavioral health and physical health conditions. How can food-based nutritional interventions be integrated into our health care system to prevent and treat mental illness and substance use disorders across the lifespan? Below, we lay out opportunities and invite you to consider ways to incorporate Food and Mood into your efforts:
We can all take small steps to ensure families and communities are fed and thriving. This is good for the body, brain and soul.
