Food and Neuroscience, two passions collide

By now, I’ve made my love of food clear on here. But making delicious things to enjoy with my friends isn’t the only reason why I’m interested in food.

Lately, I’ve become increasingly interested in the nutritional content of certain foods, and I think it’s something that I’m going to start blogging about from time to time, even if Alissa may be the only one who cares:-). I’m really interested, or perhaps concerned would be a better word, in how our modern diet (especially the diet of an average American) is so off-balance with respect to our nutritional needs, and I find it intriguing that our diets have evolved to this state despite the fact that our ancestors frequently relied on foods that were nothing short of nutritional powerhouses. I’ll write more about the interaction of my anthropological and nutrition interests another time, but today there is something else that my nerdy self finds super cool that I would like to share.

Given my background in cognitive neuroscience, it should be no surprise that I’m fascinated by how certain properties of foods can affect our neurological health. Heavily in the spotlight lately are Omega 3 fatty acids. Found perhaps most commonly in salmon, walnuts and flax seeds, these acids have been known for some time to be good for our cardiovascular health, but recently their importance has been implicated for our mental health as well.

This past weekend I happened across this article.  

Basically, Dr. Hibbeln believes that the excessive levels of Omega 6s (found in processed foods made from soybeans and corn and their oils and safflower oil, as well as in the meat from animals fed soy and corn based diets) in comparison to the low levels of Omega 3s in the modern western diet could be the cause of some of our most debilitating psychological afflictions.

Although it seems that Dr. Hibbeln has some strong beliefs that may or may not turn out to be fully backed by the data, I think that he is spot on in getting research moving in this direction. I really believe that we need to be more aware of how the things that we put in our body are influencing our brain because, let’s face it, our brain controls everything in our lives.

I think this also begs the obvious question from somebody who’s been doing developmental cognitive neuroscience research for so long. How does exposure to certain nutritional properties, at certain stages of development, influence our long-term neurological health? Are there sensitive periods during development in which the consumption of certain properties may offer long-lasting neurological protection?

More specifically, could early exposure to a healthy balance of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids, for example, provide long-term protection against mental illness, such as depression, addiction or even dementia? If so, wouldn't you like to know?

On a more societal level, arguments like these have even broader reaching implications. How does a person living in Minnesota, for example, who is devoted to living a “green” lifestyle, incorporate enough Omega 3s into their diet to balance their intake of Omega 6s?

First, Salmon is far from indigenous to the Great Plains and  importing goods from far away is known to produce those huge carbon footprints that people are ashamed of these days.

Salmon farms are also notoriously non-environmentally friendly. Read this if you have your doubts. 

So are Midwesterners, or anybody else living far from a natural wild salmon habitat for that matter, doomed to make Sophie’s choice?  Do you want dementia and depression and cardiovascular problems or do you want to destroy the world that your grandchildren have to live in? And even if you don’t care about the world, getting Omega 3s into your diet is expensive, be it from salmon or other sources, and we all know how tight money is for the average American lately.

More personally, last night, as Paola and I gorged ourselves on salmon and tuna rolls from our favorite sushi shop, we wondered how a gluten-intolerant person like herself, whose bread and pasta are corn based, could ever take in enough Omega 3s to overcome her obvious Omega 6 imbalance. We were trying, but the fact is that Omega 6s are everywhere, and we can’t afford sushi every night.

I really believe that these are going to be big questions in our immediate future. It's going to be exciting to see where science takes us, and how public policy responds.