steiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny) (09/07/85)
*** Food Can affect people's moods, researchers say CHICAGO (AP) -- Researchers at the University of Chicago have made it official: You are, indeed, what you eat. The researchers said that they have established a definite link between food and moodiness, including irritability, anxiety and depression. But it is too early to pinpoint particular foods as the source of certain moods, Dr. John Crayton, an associate professor of psychiatry who directed the study, said Thursday. Although doctors still don't understand how, the food-induced moodiness also appears related to changes in the immune system, which fights disease, Crayton said. "We're not talking about what might be called the 'traditional' food allergies, such as breaking out in hives or a rash after eating certain foods, but marked changes in mood and behavior," he said. "Such a link has been theorized but it has seldom been studied and almost never shown," he said. Crayton's group studied 35 volunteers who were fed controlled diets of capsules containing powdered wheat, milk, chocolate and a placebo over eight days. The volunteers included 23 psychiatric patients who had complained of food sensitivity the past, and 12 healthy people with no such complaints. Neither the researchers nor the participants knew the capsules' contents until the project was completed Crayton said. Among the 23 volunteers who had histories of food complaints 16 developed marked mood and behavior changes, and they showed alteration in their immune system as well, he said. Mood changes were linked to wheat and milk, but chocolate was less likely to cause anxiety, irritability or depression, he said. The immune system changes included a higher level of proteins that help control the immune system's reactions, and lower levels of proteins formed in the course of an immune system reaction. One theory about the relationship, he said, is that substances formed during an immune system reaction cause local swelling of the brain, which could trigger mood swings. Santa Cruz Sentinel Sept. 9, 1985 -- scc!steiny Don Steiny @ Don Steiny Software 109 Torrey Pine Terrace Santa Cruz, Calif. 95060 (408) 425-0382 (also: hplabs!hpda!hpdsqb!steiny)
seb@mtgzz.UUCP (s.e.badian) (09/11/85)
A woman I know has serious brain food allergies. She had been diagnosed as a manic-depressive in college. We're talking major mood swings here. She went to clinic in NY and somehow they determined what foods made her depressed. It turned out that they were the foods she lived on at college(cottage cheese being a real biggie). Once she was put on a program to reduce her intake of the foods that she reacted to, she felt much better. This woman has many other allergies besides, but there are particular foods that seem to affect her moods more than others. I have allergies and I know how they can effect me in many different ways. It isn't too hard for me to believe that certain food allergies may effect the brain. Sharon Badian ihnp4!mtgzz!seb ...just running up that hill...
wws@ukma.UUCP (Bill Stoll) (09/13/85)
Thanks to Don Steiny for sharing the article about food affecting mood, mind and behavior (as Dr. Jeff Bland & Dr. Alexander Schauss would say) as well as immunity. Those working in the new medical field called "CLINICAL ECOLOGY" have been seeing this for years. Of course, the predictable response by the conventional allergists (for the past 40 years) has been to try to destroy anyone practicing Clinical Ecology. There is presently a Bill pending in California, sponsored by the California Medical Assn., along with the California Allergists Assn., to prevent the practice of Clinical Ecology. While on the other hand, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Texas has just been handed a $10,000,000.00 punative judgement because they refused to pay for a Clinical Ecological workup in Dallas. Not only was the $10 million awarded but Blue Cross also had to pay all court costs, lawyers fees & all the medical expenses. A number of studies have shown that if you will put any large group of institutionalized mental patients on a strict water fast for 1 week that, by the seventh day 75% of them will have lost whatever mental abberation they had had. Of course, as soon as they are put back on their regular diet, the symptoms recur. The job of the Clinical Ecologist is to construct a program the individual can live with outside the hospital. Interestingly enough, the same statistics are true of rheumatoid arthritics. Their symptoms do not always completely go away; the reports indicate about 75% have significant to marked improvements in their arthritic signs and symptoms. Truly: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT! What else could you be? Sometime I will share on the net the major exception to that statement: many people, especially older ones, have significant difficulty absorbing some of the more difficult nutrients necessary for a healthy human. cbosgd!ukma!wws(Walt Stoll) YOU Walt Stoll, MD, ABFP ARE MORE Founder & Medical Director Holistic Medical Centre THAN YOU THINK 1412 North Broadway Lexington, Kentucky 40505 -- Walt Stoll, MD, ABFP Founder, & Medical Director Holistic Medical Centre 1412 N. Broadway Lexington, Kentucky 40505