Mood food

♯footprintforum Sustainable Responsible Business

MOOD FOOD 22ND MARCH 2012

Nick Fenwicke-Clennell CEO


Matt Dawson MBE

Food and Performance

courtesy of


Professor John Stein

Food, Mood and Behaviour

Emeritus Professor of Physiology & Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford


Supported by the Wellcome Trust, the Dyslexia Research Trust (www.dyslexic.org.uk) & the Institute of Food, Brain & Behaviour

John Stein Dept. Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics &

Magdalen College Oxford

Food, Mood & Behaviour

A highly sociable person leads a happier life?

Overview •  We grew such large brains because

humans are the most social animals •  Successful, coopera9ve, social interac9ons

require rapid and accurate focussing of visual and auditory a'en*on to pick up social cues

•  Rapid & accurate a@en9onal focus depends on ‘magnocellular’ neurones

•  These are very vulnerable to lack of essen9al nutrients normally provided by fish

•  Providing these as supplements can improve mood & behaviour

Increase in Homanoid Brain Size

Size of brain

Size of group

Primate brain size humans

Robin Dunbar

New? threats to Social Brain •  Increased complexity of life? •  Crowding; XS stress? •  Informa9on overload? •  Collapse of old certain9es? •  Lack of respect? •  Not enough educa9on? Child abuse:

Early stress damages brain •  Sink estates – impoverished

environment damages brain Are these really worse than 150 yrs ago:

very high child mortality, abuse, violence, starva*on?

The only truly new threats to the social brain are:

• Poor nutri9on • Lack of exercise • Obesity

Nutrition - Did we evolve in the sea?

Botticelli – Venus emerges from the sea

•  Did humans evolve from apes that lived in or very near water (Alistair Hardy, Elaine Morgan, Michael Crawford)

•  Naked - v. little hair

•  Sweating, not panting

•  Low Larynx

•  Bipedal

•  Our nutrition: we need vitamins A & D, omega 3s, EPA & DHA; also iron, zinc, selenium, iodine in diet, all found in fish

•  Because fish was so plentiful, no selective pressure to synthesise them

Fish Diet •  We adapted to a fish hunter/

gatherer economy •  Fish supplied plenty of omega-3

Docosahexanoic acid (DHA) •  Our brains contain 100G of DHA •  This allowed our 10x expansion of

brain size and our 100x increase in brain connections compared with chimps

•  Sugar, saturated fats (high in calories) and salt were rare, so we are genetically programmed to like them

•  But invention of agriculture and food industry made them cheap

•  So the 3 S’s now kill us!

Modern diet is appalling! Too much of the 3 S’s: sugar, saturated fat, salt

Not enough omega 3s from fish; vits A&D, iron, iodine, zinc, fibre

An effect of the 3 S’s and lack of fish

Fish oils are vital for focussing attention. This is far more important than you might think!

A@en9on is mediated by magnocellular

systems

•  Social communica*on (speech, literacy, reading social cues) depends upon being able to accurately sequence speech sounds, tones of voice, le@ers, facial expressions

•  This requires accurate sequen9al focussing of visual & auditory a'en*on

•  Main sequencing system – the ‘dorsal a@en9onal system’ is dominated by input from magnocellular neurones

•  Impaired development of magnocellular neurones is found in neurodevelopmental condi9ons such as dyslexia, Asberger’s, an9social conduct disorder

•  These magnocellular neurones need omega 3 fish oils (DHA and EPA) to func9on properly

•  But fish is expensive and 3/4s of popula9on eat no fish at all

•  So DHA and EPA supplements should be used to improve a@en9on, speech, reading and social interac9ons

Attention and Fish

Magnocellular nerve cells are much larger than others- rapid responses for timing events:

high sensitivity to motion & flicker - control sequencing of

attention and eye movements - very vulnerable to omega-3

deficiency

Most nerve cells are smaller (parvocellular): for static responses eg colour, fine

detail

Magnocellular Neurones

Visual magnocellular system directs visual attention & eye movements.

The magnocellular system is excep*onally vulnerable – eg impaired development in

dyslexia •  30% smaller LGN magnocells

post mortem •  Reduced and delayed evoked

brain waves •  Unstable eye control •  Reduced visual mo9on

sensi9vity •  Reduced ac9va9on of cor9cal

mo9on areas (FMRI) •  Lower sensi9vity to contrast

•  Lower sensitivity to flicker •  Lower stereoacuity •  Reduced visual jitter •  Weaker visual attention -

slower visual search •  Visual crowding •  Mini left neglect - clock

drawing •  Prolonged line motion

illusion •  Reduced Ternus effect

Abnormal magnocells in dyslexic brain

Impaired auditory magnocells in neurodevelopmental condi9ons?

•  Changes in voice frequency and amplitude signal commands, persuasion, anger, fear, pleasure

•  Processed by auditory magnocellular neurones in the auditory brainstem

•  Dyslexics have smaller magnocellular neurones in L. medial geniculate N.

•  Lower AM & FM sensi9vity •  The inappropriate responses of an9social

offenders to auditory social cues may result from impaired development of their auditory magnocells

Fish! -‐ cod liver oil queue, 1949

In 1941 Dr Hugh Sinclair, Magdalen College, Oxford persuaded the WW2 government to provide free cod liver oil to all pregnant mothers and young children.

He’d found severe deficiencies in Vitamin D and fish oil omega 3 fatty acids in London’s East Enders.

“The average Brit was better fed at the height of the blockade in 1943 than today”

Your brain contains 100G of DHA; this cons9tutes 30% of excitable membranes. Magnocellular

neurones are especially vulnerable to low DHA. In order to open and

signal fast, their ionic channels need flexible DHA in the surrounding membrane

Fish is good for the heart & brain!

•  By increasing membrane flexibility, DHA speeds up neuronal Na, K, NMDA, GABAa currents; ie accelerates neuronal responses

•  ∴ improves vulnerable magnocellular timing functions

•  EPA is converted into eicosanoids: thromboxanes, prostaglandins (3 series), leucotrienes (5 series), resolvins

•  These are all anti inflammatory and anti stress: IL1 ↓, TNF ↓, cortisol ↓, pain ↓

•  Increase neurogenesis; decrease apoptosis

•  Increase neurite outgrowth (syntaxin) and synapse formation

•  Strengthen hemispheric lateralisation,

•  Reduce pain transmission (TRPV1 receptors)

•  Prevent accumulation of insoluble amyloid precursor protein & improve memory (Alzheimer’s)

Good diet is crucial for proper neuronal growth. Without the omega-3, DHA, these nerve cells

failed to grow proper axons. EPA is also required for eicosanoid signalling

molecules– prostaglandins, leucotrienes, resolvins

Impaired neurogenesis in developing orbito-‐ frontal cortex in absence of omega-‐3s

DHA & EPA deficiency in dyslexia, ADHD and an9social

behaviour? •  Magnocellular neurones media9ng the focussed a@en9on required for accurate sequencing are par9cularly vulnerable to omega 3 (fish oil) deficiency

•  Low blood and brain omega-‐3s •  Omega 3 supplements can improve reading, concentra*on and behaviour

Gold standard for proving causal effect – double blind, randomised control trials – RCTs. Randomly allocate half to active supplements; half to placebo; then all other factors should be the same between the groups. Hence any difference in outcome must be caused by the supplement

Durham RCT -‐ Omega 3 EPA supplements helped dyspraxic children to improve their concentra9on and their reading

(Richardson & Montgomery)

Increase in Reading age in 3 months

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

n-3 placebo

RA

incr

ease

n-3

placebo

ADHD treatment effects aTer 3 months supplements

Global scales(Mean change / Baseline SD)

0.26

0.31

0.34

0.54

0.58

0.61

0.50

-0.60 -0.40 -0.20 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80

Conners' Index

DSM Hyperactivity

Emotional Lability

Conners' Total

Restless-Impulsive

DSM Total

DSM Inattention

HUFA (n=15)Placebo (n=14)

Richardson et al.

Antisocial Behaviour

"I would there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty, or that

youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing in the between, but

getting wenches with child, wronging the ancients, stealing, fighting.“

William Shakespeare

A Winter’s Tale

Omega–3, vitamins & mineral supplements reduced offences in 275 Young Offenders by 1/3rd ��

(BJP - Gesch et al.)

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

Before Supplementation During SupplementationRatio

of R

ate

of D

isci

plin

ary

Inci

dent

s Su

pple

men

tatio

n/Ba

selin

e

Active

Placebo

Error bars at 2SE to indicate the 95% confidence interval

1133 offences: ITT- Active v Placebo: -26.3 % (p ‹ 0.03) Supplementation for at least 2 weeks: -34.0% Violent offences only: -37.0% (p <0.005) In progress: 750 young offenders in 3 UK prisons; results soon!

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

voormeting nameting

voedingssupplementenplacebo-conditie

No of incidents in Dutch prison per 1000 prisoner days

Supplements versus placebo.

Conclusions •  Poor modern nutrition prevents people’s brains working

properly •  Causes impaired magnocellular function leading to

defective focussing of visual & auditory attention; also affects skin & muscle senses, motor intention

•  Hence impairs cognition, communication, mood, social interaction → impulsivity, lack of self control

•  Thus diet deterioration is causing mind change - changes comparable to climate change –- adverse effects on human mood, intelligence, behaviour and creativity

•  This is not trivial! It is a leading cause of ill health in the developed world. Costs: $400 billion per annum in USA (cf heart disease $500 billion)

•  The most important cause is decreased omega 3 consumption.

•  This knowledge is exciting because this can be fixed!

Best of all; eat more fish!

Amanda Ursell

Nutrition in the Workplace

courtesy of


Nutrition in the Workplace

*  1. The role of nutrition in the workplace and what it can do for you. *  2. Examples where nutrition is being taken seriously in the workplace – and its impact. *  3. The appetite for more knowledge about nutrition from businesses and people that work in them. *  4. My experiences of changing attitudes towards nutrition in the workplace.

Happy!

Impact?

*  Understand the culture of the individual business

*  Be relevant

*  Remember that everyone counts

How should it be done?

*  Wholemeal carrots

*  Stone-‐ground eggs

*  Free range bread

Dark Chocolate and a…

Everyone’s a Winner!

Jessica Collinge

Food and Mood

vielife


Global leaders in health solutions

Footprint Forum: Food and Mood Jessica Colling, Product Director

vielife

Who is vielife? We work with organisa9ons to improve the well-‐being of their staff. • Online, telephonic, paper and on-‐site services • Mul9-‐lingual: 26 localised versions of the solu9on • Personalized, customizable solu9on • Detailed client repor9ng • Detailed personal informa9on and recommenda9ons for individuals

Assess Report Targeted improvement Re-‐assess

© vielife 2012: not for distribution or reproduction

Who we work with


vielife Philosophy – four core pillars

Stress Nutri*on

Ac*vity Sleep


Online services


Measuring the impact


"   3 in 5 people (60%) have a poor or ‘at risk’ nutri9on status

"   Only 18% report ea9ng 5 or more por9ons of fruit and vegetables a day

"   90% don’t eat 6 or more por9ons of fibre a day

The Results: nutrition in the workplace

Results from ~42,000 assessments

"   People with a good nutri9on score have: –  15% higher mood score –  14% be@er physical ac9vity score –  6% higher job sa9sfac9on

The impact of nutrition

"   Overall, a good nutri9on score correlates with a 28% be@er stress management score

"   A closer look: Nutri*on score compared to Stress score

Nutrition and stress

Produc*vity "  People with poor nutri9onal balance report being 15% less produc9ve than those with good nutri9onal balance… "  2.8 hours per week difference "  If work 46 weeks a year, that’s 16 days of lost produc9ve 9me: over 3 weeks!

Sickness absence "  Respondents with poor nutri9on scores report 50% more sickness absence than those with good nutri9on scores: 4.8 days per year vs. 3.2 days per year

Overall impact "  60% of the popula9on have ‘high risk’ nutri9on scores: 3.5 weeks of lost produc9ve 9me per person/year

The business impact

Thank you!

[email protected]

the panel..

Jessica Colling Product Director vielife Dr. Sue Gatenby Nutrition Director Europe Pepsico Int. Richard Neal Director Lancing Press Felicity Yardy Juice Master Blender Innocent Drinks David Steel Development Chef Lexington Catering


Mood food

Business

Transcript of Mood food