Nutrition and Lifestyle connections to Depression: Part 2
Part Two: The Nutrition
In Part One, we explored the many factors that can contribute to depression, from hormones and chronic stress to underlying health conditions. Now, let's take a closer look at something we have a little more control over: nutrition. What we eat provides the building blocks our brains need to produce neurotransmitters, regulate mood, and support overall mental health. Nutritional deficiencies and imbalances may contribute to symptoms of depression, and addressing them can be an important part of a comprehensive treatment plan. In Part Two, we'll explore the vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and healthy fats that support brain health, along with dietary changes that may help you feel your best.
Amino Acids
For energizing neurotransmission and beating depression, the three most important amino acids are phenylalanine, tryptophan, and tyrosine. 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) - a biochemical the body makes from tryptophan - is also important in boosting serotonin. The essential amino acid phenylalanine helps create dopamine, the neurotransmitter that (among the other factions) controls the body’s “reward center,” which delivers feelings of deep satisfaction. Tyrosine can help you reset your physical and emotional pace. In fact, it’s very likely you need more tyrosine if you have depression and low energy.
Low amino acids don’t just connect with depression, when depression sets in, levels of amino acids drop even further - and more severe period of depression may be triggered by those lower levels. Physical and mental fatigue - common symptoms of depressions - also deplete amino acid levels. Normal amino acid levels are a must for generating neurotransmitters.
Getting amino acids in your diet isn’t that difficult. They’re found in protein-rich foods like meat, eggs, and beans. Intake doesn't always determine levels of amino acids; it was protein absorption that made all the difference. You can have too little stomach acid, a common problem.
Supplementation with free-form amino acids has been one of the most consistent and effective approaches to improve and restore mood. Amino Acid Replete from Pure Encapsulations or perfect Aminos are good products
Action plan for Amino acids:
If you’re feeling depressed and not on an antidepressant, try:
Free-form amino acids like amino acid replete from pure encapsulations or Perfect Aminos from body health
NeuroPure from Pure Encapsulations 2-4 a day am and pm
A supplement containing digestive enzymes and HCI 5 min before each meal. NOW brand Ultra enzymes are good. This will help other supplements properly digest.
If you have excessive rumination - consider taking 5-HTP, a serotonin precursor, if you are currently not taking antidepressants.
Suggested dose: 50 to 200mg, in two divided doses (breakfast and dinner). Start low and increase gradually - 5-HTP can cause stomach upset, gas, and cramping If you’re taking an antidepressant, you shouldn’t take 5-HTP, tyrosine - or any individual amino acids - without your doctor’s approval and guidance. The combination of 5-HTP and serotonin-boosting antidepressants like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) raises the risk of serotonin syndrome.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a must for normal levels of serotonin. But depression-causing deficiencies are common. Scientists also discovered more than one thousand brain-related genes that contain “vitamin D response elements.” In other words, it takes vitamin D to activate those genes - genes responsible for maintaining the health of brain cells.
In the endocrine glands, which generate hormones
In the liver, which purifies the body of toxins
In the skin, which connects us with and protects us from, the outside world
In the immune system, which repels foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses
In the digestive system, which assimilates food
In the heart, which pumps life-giving blood through the body
In the brain, which allows us to think, feel, and act
Vitamin D is a prohormone, a substance the body converts into a hormone. Foods that are naturally rich in vitamin D include fatty fish, cod liver oil, eggs, beef liver, mushrooms. Sunlight typically accounts for 90 percent of the vitamin D in the body.
D3 acts in a hormone-like fashion, as it binds to vitamin D receptors on cells. Its tasks include:
Regulating the amount of calcium and phosphorous in cells
Making sure bone grows and is repaired
Regulating cellular growth and division (making the vitamin a powerful foe of cancer)
Easing inflammation, the cause of many chronic diseases
Strengthening the immune system, by boosting the activity of several types of white blood cells
Fortifying the stress-protecting adrenal glands
Increasing the production of the brain-regulating neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine
Sufficient levels of vitamin D in the brain activate enzymes involved in the synthesis of three neurotransmitters, chemicals that transmit messages from neuron to neuron. Serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine
Vitamin D regulates the production of serotonin - simply put, less vitamin D translates to less serotonin.
Action Plan for Vitamin D
1. Test. Optimal lab values are 70-100.
2. Supplement 3000 to 10,000 iu daily of d3 k2 which ensures that the calcium absorbed because of Vitamin D ends up in your bones rather than your arteries.
3. Retest after three months of supplementation
4. Help maintain sufficient exposure to sunlight to generate vitamin D levels. Spend ten to fifteen minutes, three to four times a week in the sun. Always protect your face with a sunscreen or hat. Maintain dietary intake of vitamin D, with two or three servings per week of fatty fish like salmon, tuna, sardines.
B Vitamins
Vitamin B12: Deficiency and Depression
B12 is as important to your body as tires are to a car. B12 is a must in the creation of DNA, the cellular instruction manual that guides all the activities of body and mind. B12 is sometimes called the “feel-good” vitamin. B12 stimulates the production of neuronal growth factors, proteins that are critical to the growth, development, and survival of neurons. Low levels of these growth factors - like brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) - are strongly linked to depression, anxiety, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and schizophrenia. Low blood levels of B12 have been linked to many mental health problems, including depression, mania, paranoia, memory loss, behavioral changes, and psychosis.
Testing for B12
Every person who is depressed should have their B12 levels checked, without exception. B12 deficiency is very common - with one study showing that 40 percent of Americans have low levels, and 20 percent of seniors have severe vitamin B12 deficiency (because of a declining ability to absorb the vitamin). Vegetarians and vegans are also at risk because of lack of dietary intake. My clinical experience has shown that many cases of depression where B12 is under 500 will usually respond to B12 supplementation. “Normal” doesn’t mean optimal.
Supplementing with B vitamins
B12: Enough stomach acid are a must for absorbing B12. There’s an easy way to bypass the stomach and virtually guarantee B12 levels are restored: injections of B12, otherwise methylcobalamin is good for the oral route. Injections have to repeated often though and often aren’t time or cost effective. I like integrative therapeutics b complex because it has other b vitamins as well.
Folate (vitamin B9)
Folic acid. This is the synthetic form of the nutrient
Folate. The natural form of the vitamin
L-methylfolate (LMF). This is the biologically active form of the vitamin: It readily crosses the blood-brain barrier, the specialized cells that line the blood vessels of the brain, filtering out toxins.
Low levels of folate, high risk of depression
Antidepressants work better with LMFas well.
Thiamine (Vitamin B1)
In the brain, thiamine is involved with the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which plays a role in the learning and memory, sleep, pain levels, the processing of sensory information, and muscle movement and control. Thiamine deficiency is linked to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and thiamine supplements can help both conditions.
And in my clinical experience, deficiency isn’t uncommon. It can be caused by celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, bariatric surgery, anorexia, alcoholism, and a poor diet loaded with ultra-processed foods.
Niacin (Vitamin B3)
Regulates levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine
Helps with the synthesis of other neurotransmitters, like histamine and acetylcholine
Increases blood flow to and in the brain
Action Plan for B Vitamins
1.Take a B12 test
2.Take an MTHFR genetic test, a simple test usually involving an easy, painless cheek swab If the MTHFR test is positive for any variant - indicating a genetic mutation that blocks the creation of LMF, the active form of the vitamin - you need to start taking at least 2mg per day of LMF.
3 Consider testing for homocysteine. If the level is high (above 12), it’s more likely you have a b12 deficiency
4. If B12 levels are under 500pg/mL, supplement with B12, by ingestion or injection. Pure melt b12 is also a good option sublingual.
5.Consider eating more B12-rich food, like beef, fish, chicken, eggs, milk, cheese, and yogurt. Eat more folate-rich foods. They include asparagus, citrus fruits, leafy green vegetables like spinach, and legumes (peas, beans, and lentils). Eat more thiamine-rich foods, including shellfish, seeds, and vegetables like brussels sprouts, asparagus, peas, and acorn squash.
Minerals
Zinc, magnesium, chromium, iron, and other minerals are musts for mental health. Zinc-rich diets lower the risk of depression. Zinc boosts the power of antidepressant meds.
Zinc is a biomarker for depression.
Copper
The essential minerals zinc and copper are like a nutritional seesaw: if the level of one goes up, the level of the other goes down. High zinc, low copper. High copper, low zinc. And while a tiny amount of copper is a must for good health, more copper is not necessarily a good thing. Extra copper has been linked to many mental disorders, including schizophrenia, general anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder - and depression. Excess copper also creates an excess of dopamine and its partner norepinephrine, causing symptoms like irritability and agitation. And high copper blocks the neurotransmission of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a neurotransmitter that helps regulate anxiety, stress, sleep, and pain.
When copper is up, you may feel down.
Magnesium
Magnesium plays a role in more than three hundred enzyme systems, the biochemical spark plugs that ignite and direct cellular activity. As a cofactor, magnesium is way more active than any other nutrient, mineral, or vitamin.
Too little magnesium can cause mayhem in the brain:
Neurotransmitters. Magnesium plays a key role in the formation of neurotransmitters.
Stress hormones. The mineral helps regulate the release of neuron-damaging stress hormones in the brain.
Ultra-processed foods are very low in magnesium
Mechanized, commercial farming has stripped the soil of magnesium
Alcohol and caffeine block the absorption of magnesium and increase urinary excretion
Chronic health conditions like type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, and celiac disease can decrease magnesium absorption.
Iron
Iron deficiency can cause anemia, a condition in which the body doesn’t have enough healthy red blood cells. And anemia is strongly linked to depression (and apathy and fatigue, both symptoms of depression).
Iron activates nitric oxide, a neurotransmitter. Nitric oxide also widens blood vessels in the brain, ensuring an adequate supply of oxygen
Iron balances the neurotransmitter glutamate, an “excitatory” neurotransmitter that can over-active or overstimulate neurons
Iron is critical for the activity of GABA, an “inhibitory” neurotransmitter that calms neurons
Low levels of ferritin under 50 the risk of increase the risk of depression.
Iron deficiency is the most common nutrient deficiency in the world.
I recommend that everyone who is depressed (particularly women with heavy menstrual bleeding) be tested for iron and for ferritin. I like three arrows simply iron because it is a whole food without the need for cofactors. Iron bisglycinate is another option if you like.
Action Plan for Minerals
Zinc
1. If you’re depressed, take zinc. I recommend 60mg of zinc per day, 30mg twice daily, with meals. (Caution: Zinc can deplete copper levels if you take more than 40mg per day over a long period. A doctor should monitor your copper levels if you plan to take 60mg or more long-term.)
2. Eat more zinc-rich food. They include oysters, red meat, eggs, wheat germ, spinach, pumpkin and squash seeds, nuts, chocolate, chicken, beans, and mushrooms.
Copper
1. There are two ways to know for certain that you have excess copper and low zinc, a setup for depression: the Trace Mineral Hair Analysis, a hair test that measures zinc and copper levels.
2.With results in hand, your doctor can definitively determine whether or not you have excess copper and low zinc. If you do, there’s a straightforward, simple way to treat the problem.
3.If you’re taking more than 40mg of zinc per day, or if you have celiac disease or inflammatory bowel disease, ask your doctor to test you for low levels of copper.
Magnesium
1.Talk to your clinician about clinical indicators of magnesium deficiency. They include anxiety, insomnia, constipation, and health conditions that involve muscle spasms (asthma, muscle cramps, migraines, eye twitching, etc.)
2.Irrespective of testing or symptoms - take magnesium. Even without testing, I recommend a magnesium supplement for every patient with depression - because deficiency is so prevalent and because magnesium is so safe and effective. I like 500-1000 mg a day of glycinate.
3. Eat more magnesium-rich foods. Magnesium supplements are a must for treating depression. But don’t forget about increasing magnesium in your diet, too. The best sources are spinach and other dark green leafy vegetables, potatoes, beans, nuts and seeds, yogurt, oatmeal, brown rice, avocados and fish.
Chromium
If you have the following disorders, diseases, or lifestyle factors, consider supplementing with chromium 200 mg a day.
Atypical depression, with overeating and weight gain
SAD
PMDD
Prediabetes or diabetes
Overweight or obesity
Carbohydrate cravings
Iron
1.Get tested for levels of iron; a full panel including ferritin. (particularly if you’re a woman with heavy menstrual bleeding).
2.If levels are low, eat more iron-rich foods (meat, poultry, seafood, beans, and iron-fortified cereals) and take heme iron atleast 2 caps a day up to 6 depending on weight.
Goal: Iron levels higher than 70g/dL, and ferritin levels close to 100g/L, TIBC under 350.
3.Retest after three months of supplementation. Once iron levels have normalized, you can stop taking the supplement or slowly cut back to maintenance dose(more likely)
Low-Dose Nutritional Lithium
This is been widely research as an option, usually 2mg of lithium orotate to start up to 4 mg daily. If you’re pregnant or trying to conceive, you shouldn’t take low-dose nutritional lithium because there’s not enough evidence to definitively say it is safe for you.
Essential Fats
Omega-3 fatty acids are a must for healthy neurons.
60 percent of your brain is fat - which means that your brain needs a steady supply of dietary fat for its health and wellbeing. Specifically, your brain depends on essential fatty acids (EFA), the building blocks of fat.
Neurotransmitter signaling, which helps control mood, mental activity, and behavior, is disrupted
Cellular receptors for the neurotransmitter dopamine become malformed, lowering dopamine levels - and low dopamine is a recognized cause of depression
Neurons are more likely to atrophy in response to stress, anxiety, and depression
In short, just about every aspect of neurotransmission - the movement of information from neuron to neuron that underlies every emotion, thought, and action - depends on omega-3s.
Bottom line: A deficiency of omega-3s is bad news for your brain. And omega-3 deficiency is common. EPA tames depression. Less inflammation = less depression. High omega-6 and low omega-3 is a setup for depression. Make sure your fish oil (or krill oil, or algae) omega-3 supplement is from a company that adheres to stringent standards for product testing and purity
Plan for essential fats:
Take up to 3g of fish oil per day, with an EPA to DHA ratio of three-to-one. I like equazen or nordic naturals. Testing is not necessary before starting supplementation.
After three months of supplementation, test for omega-3 levels, and work with your doctor to adjust supplementation accordingly. Ongoing, test annually to ensure levels are normal.
Maximize omega-3s in your diet. Eat seafood at least twice a week, especially salmon, sardines, albacore tuna(low in mercury). Eat meats from grass-fed animals. Eat plants foods that deliver omega-3s, including flaxseeds and flaxseed oil, chia seeds, walnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, tahini, hummus, tofu, and fresh spinach.
Cholesterol
If you’re depressed have your total cholesterol checked. If it is below 160mg/dL, consider eating more cholesterol-rich foods, like eggs and full-fat dairy products. I strongly recommend quarterly cholesterol testing for a time to monitor and adjust cholesterol dosing until blood levels are stabilized. After levels are stabilized, I recommend testing annually,
Polyphenols
Here are some things polyphenols do:
Limit the production of glutamate, an excitatory (stimulating) neurotransmitter
Slow the production and release of histamine
Strengthen and repair the delicate blood-brain barrier
Improve blood flow to the brain
Balance brain waves. Imbalanced alpha waves (associated with relaxation and calm) are linked to depression.
Grape Seed Extracts, blueberries, green tea are great sources. Green tea has l-theanine as well which is very calming.
Rhodiola Rosea
Enhancing concentration, and often used in treatment of ADHD, I like 100-300 mg a day. Gaia herbs has a great one.
Curcumin: Gold-Standard Depression Relief
As an antioxidant
As an anti-inflammatory
As a neuroprotective compound
Significant antidepressant effects. I like curcumasorb as a product. Ben Lynch has some great products through his seeking health line also.
Eat a Gluten-Free Diet
If you have bowel issues and you’re depressed - you should be tested for celiac disease. Even if celiac is not detected, you should consider a period of gluten-free eating, to see if your gut issues and depression are eased.
Clear Candida
When Candida runs rampant in the gut, it can produce several neurotoxins, like acetaldehyde and ethanol. Those internal poisons can leak out of the gut and into the bloodstream, entering the brain, where they can spark neuroinflammation, disrupt neurotransmitters - and trigger or worsen depressive symptoms, including low mood, poor sleep, physical and mental fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and irritability. take the probiotic supplement Saccharomyces boulardii, minimize sugar and take caprylic acid. Amy Meyers has a great candida defense line with oregano oil.
Consider the possibility that a chronic infection - like Candida, Lyme disease, or Long COVID - might be contributing to or causing your depressive symptoms.
Don’t Eat Ultra-Processed Foods
What we eat doesn't just affect our physical health. It can also influence how we feel mentally and emotionally. Ultra-processed foods, such as packaged snacks, sugary cereals, sodas, and many ready-to-eat meals, are often high in added sugars, refined carbohydrates, and sodium while being low in the nutrients our brains need.
A good place to start is by making small changes. Swap a packaged snack for fruit and nuts, choose whole grains over refined grains, and focus on meals that include vegetables, quality proteins, and healthy fats. You don't have to eat perfectly to make a difference. The goal is to give your body more of the nutrients it needs to support your physical and mental well-being.
As you can see, nutrition plays an important role in supporting brain health and emotional well-being. From essential vitamins and minerals to healthy fats and amino acids, the nutrients we consume help our bodies perform countless functions that influence how we feel. But remember, depression is complex, and nutrition is just one piece of the puzzle. Supplements and dietary changes aren't a replacement for professional mental health care, but they may be helpful alongside appropriate treatment, particularly when nutritional deficiencies are present.
Read on to Part Three, where we'll explore how lifestyle habits and everyday choices can affect your mental health, along with practical steps you can take to support your overall well-being.
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