"Food & Mood": “Nutri-psychiatry” adds a scientific touch to comfort food
The emerging field of nutritional psychiatry adds a scientific dimension to the idea that food can have a positive effect on our mood. Which ingredients are the most promising, and how receptive are consumers?
The emergence of nutritional psychiatry
Deakin University's “Food & Mood Center” in Australia is a research center specializing in the emerging field of nutritional psychiatry. While the concept of comfort food shows how people intuitively understand the link between food and mood, science is only just beginning to catch up, according to Dr. Sarah R. Dash, a nutrition researcher and honorary member of the center.
"[...] studies conducted in Spain, Norway, Australia, and the United States have all shown that following a healthy and “traditional” diet, consisting of foods we know are good for us—colorful fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and healthy fats—is protective of mental health," writes Dr Dash. "The bad news, which may not be surprising, is that the opposite also appears to be true: unhealthy and processed foods are not only bad for our waistline or our heart, but also for our mental health."
The Food & Mood Center gives five simple dietary tips to people who want to manage their mental health through food.
It advises:
- to follow “traditional” diets, such as the Mediterranean, Nordic, or Japanese diets;
- to increase their consumption of fruit, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds;
- to limit their consumption of ultra-processed foods;
- to eat nutritious and healthy foods at every meal and snack,
- to start “small” for lasting changes.
The public has never been more aware of the links between certain foods and stress, relaxation, and sleep. Despite this interest, countless companies have failed to commercialize food products that improve mood over the past ten years.
The 5 challenges of developing new products!
According to Julian Mellentin, founder of food industry consultancy New Nutrition Business, food brands face a major challenge because they must find an ingredient that meets five specific criteria.
- the ingredient in question must be legal;
- , manufacturers must be permitted to use it at a sufficient dosage to deliver the promised benefit;
- it must taste good;
- consumers must also feel a tangible benefit;
- and, finally, it must make "sense" in the product.
"Coffee beans in a snack bar or beverage will be easy to accept, but something less common like L-theanine will fail this test," explains Mellentin.
There are nevertheless some success stories, including Japanese confectionery company Ezaki Glico's "GABA chocolate for mental balance," which helps reduce stress. Launched in 2005, the chocolate bar contains 280 mg of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) per 100 g, about 25 times more than the 9 mg in standard chocolate, and the brand generates approximately $50 million (€45 million) in annual retail sales.
In the short term, foods that consumers consider "natural mood boosters" will continue to be the most beneficial, along with some of the "free-from" diet trends, all fueled by a growing body of scientific research supporting "nutritional psychiatry."
Manufacturers looking to capitalize on "Elimination diet" trends can reduce the sugar and carbohydrate content of their products while focusing on their minimally processed profile.
At the same time, they can also focus on established "natural mood boosters" containing healthy fats such as omega-3s (found in fish, nuts, seeds, and avocados) and gut-friendly foods (fermented products such as kefir and kombucha, as well as probiotics).
Applying the findings to packaged foods
Nootropics, substances said to improve cognitive functions or mental performance in healthy people, and most often used to boost memory, concentration, and creativity, are also attracting consumer interest, with natural sources such as B vitamins, omega-3s, caffeine, tryptophan, L-theanine, and CBD oil.
Deakin University’s Food & Mood Center does not explicitly recommend choosing a packaged nootropic snack for cognitive health.
Nevertheless, could such products be beneficial if they have a simple list of whole-food ingredients or are fortified with added nutrients such as polyphenols?
A study published in 2016 showed that women whose diets were rich in several types of flavonoids, a specific group of polyphenols found in foods such as oranges, berries and cocoa, had a lower risk of depression.
This may be possible, according to Helena Gibson-Moore, a nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation.
“In addition to taste, appearance and price, consumers increasingly expect the foods we eat to be perceived as ‘healthy’ and prefer ‘natural’ products over ‘processed’ products,” she explains to Fi Global Insights. “As consumers may be more aware of the health benefits associated with consuming polyphenols, enriching foods with polyphenols could be well received.”
However, Ms Gibson-Moore also expresses concern about the idea of enriching processed foods with a few selected healthy components, as individuals may choose to replace healthy whole foods such as fruit and vegetables with packaged products. Even if these processed products have been formulated to have a healthy nutritional profile, the ingredients may lack some of the benefits that come from following a healthy diet, such as consuming fiber or other nutrients and bioactive compounds that may interact within the food matrix, she adds.
The importance of scientifically substantiated claims
In any event, brands marketing “Food for mood” products must invest in scientific research to substantiate their claims.
The New Zealand brand Ārepamakes is a nootropic drink made with New Zealand blackcurrants (which it calls “neuroberries”), rich in polyphenols and anthocyanins, and green tea for the amino acid L-theanine.
The start-up spent more than five years developing the formula and claims that if consumers have doubts about the science behind the drink, it is because of years of misleading marketing by “Big Food.”
“We knew when we started that we would face a degree of skepticism because of the misleading marketing by multinationals that sell caffeine and sugar as the ideal solution for optimizing cognitive performance,” she explains. “So we continue to research, test, and develop our formula while using cutting-edge food technology to ensure the effectiveness of our products.”
She is currently working with the University of Auckland’s School of Psychology to assess the neurocognitive performance and brainwave activity of Ārepaaffects drink as part of a randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial.
Although it is a niche and emerging field, the “mood food” category is already attracting the interest of major players. Mondelez, for example, has invested in the prebiotic brand Uplift Foods, whose “psychobiotic” dietary supplement powder contains fiber and resistant starch from green banana flour, Jerusalem artichoke, tapioca, and lupin. According to the company’s website, 90% of serotonin, the “mood-boosting” hormone, is found in the gut, highlighting the importance of the connection between the gut and mood.
But we already knew that ...
Inspired and translated from:
Stephanie Mulligan | Oct 22, 2020 on https://insights.figlobal.com
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