Research suggests diet may trigger mental illness

By Staff Writer

A new study by Purdue University suggests that changes in diet can reduce abnormal behavior in people or animals who suffer from mental illness. In fact, researchers found that diet may be also be a trigger for mental illness.

The study surveyed mice who had a predisposition for hair-pulling and scratching. The mice that had already demonstrated these behaviors were given a diet of sugar and tryptophan, which researchers hypothesized would relieve their symptoms. However, these behaviors progressed, and mice who had not yet begun scratching or hair pulling did so after consuming this diet.

The mice were then given a diet of increased sugars and tryptophan. The sugar was meant to trigger a release of insulin, which causes muscles to absorb amino acids that can block tryptophan from the brain. When tryptophan is not absorbed, the hormone serotonin cannot be manufactured, which may affect mood and impulses. The researchers hypothesized that increasing serotonin would potentially cure the mice of pulling out their hair.

Although serotonin levels improved, the symptoms worsened. They found that the mice who exhibited the worst symptoms stopped hair pulling when taken off the new diet. Furthermore, the mice who had not demonstrated these behaviors began to do so after being switched to the new diet.

They concluded that the amount of simple sugars in the American diet could be contributing to the increased prevalence of mental illnesses.