Could what we eat improve our mental health?

Could mental health conditions such as autism, ADHD, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, OCD and postnatal depression be controlled by analysing what we eat? One group of doctors certainly thinks so.

Advanced Nutrient Therapy seeks to improve the synthesis of serotonin, dopamine, and other neurotransmitters responsible for the quality of our mental health by correctly balancing the body’s stores of certain amino acids, vitamins, minerals and other biochemicals.

Proponents of Advanced Nutrient Therapy reason that, as amino acids, vitamins, and minerals are the source material for the synthesis of neurotransmitters, ensuring the body has correct stores of the right kinds is crucial to maintaining good mental health.

However it’s not as simple as eating more fruit and vegetables (although that certainly won’t hurt). No two people are the same and neither is their chemical makeup. Advanced nutrient therapy emphasises the importance of determining “the biochemistry of each patient…to develop an individualised treatment plan aimed at normalising brain chemistry.” In other words, while one person with a mental health disorder might have not enough of a certain mineral, another sufferer might have too much – making accurate testing very important before starting any treatment plan.

As it centres around food-sourced nutrition, one of the greatest advantages of Advanced Nutrient Therapy is the absence of side effects usually associated with psychiatric medication.

According to William J. Walsh, founder of the not-for-profit Walsh Institute and creator of Advanced Nutrient Therapy, “Advanced nutrient therapy can used together with medication and counselling providing great flexibility to the mental health practitioner.  As brain science advances, nutrient therapy may gradually replace psychiatric drugs as the treatment of choice for mental illness.”

William Walsh along with a contingent of mental health specialists from the U.S. will be in Australia in April of next year to conduct a series of workshops for medical practitioners and patients as well as a program of patient assessment.

The workshops and patient assessments will be held at Mantra Legends Resort on the Gold Coast from the 4-8 April 2020. Early bird bookings through host organisation, Bio Balance, are now open.

For more information or bookings visit the Bio Balance website, call 07 5679 6675, or email [email protected].