Many of the neurotransmitter substances discussed in other articles in Raw Science Category are present in our foods and, therefore, can directly influence brain chemistry. Here I talk about food-borne neurotransmitters/neuromodulators. Long ago, Hippocrates, the father of medicine, said," Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food". The coming century holds great promise and the opportunities to test the accuracy of this statement. Epidemiologic studies over the last sixty years have clearly linked diet and lifestyle with cancer and cardiovascular diseases. In these studies, the disease-modulating activity of food has generally been associated with caloric density or macronutrient composition. For example, a diet high in fat has been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer and atherosclerosis. However, new knowledge, some anecdotal and some scientific, about mental health and foods has just begun to emerge; antioxidant vitamins and minerals, for example, are thought to attenuate progression of neurodegenerative diseases and seizure. Such effects of foods are more likely to be associated with the presence of neuroactive substances in foods rather than with their caloric density. This section will provide a very brief overview of the types of neuroactive substances found in food.
Serotonin
Serotonin is a chemical the brain produces from tryptophan. Where do we get tryptophan? From the protein in our food. Brain serotonin controls many different types of bodily functions, including appetite, body temperature, libido, and mood, to name a few.
Some of the foods rich in serotonin and tryptophan include:
- Eggplant
- Beets
- Celery
- Lettuce
- Radish (red, white and black)
- Spinach
- Collard
- Turnip
- Dark or light greens, (perfect in smoothies. Please have a look at our Shake Formula for great recipes).
- Pineapple
- Plum
- Nuts and seeds
All the above contain nitrates that convert naturally into nitrites in your stomach, and then react with the amino acids in proteins to form.
Cyclo(His-Pro)
Cyclo(His-Pro) or CHP has profound effects on satiety, hunger, and behavior. Chemical substances like CHP are common in fermented foods or foods containing hydrolyzed proteins and Raw Vegetable Food containing high cyclo (his-pro) improved insulin sensitivity and body weight control. For example, high levels of CHP are found and derived from the hydrolysis of casein, nama shoyu, raw umeboshi raw sauerkraut, raw miso etc. These included good healthy protein foods such as:
- Asparagus
- Broccoli
- Raw peanuts
- Green beans
- Walnuts
- Canteloupe
- Celery
- Avocado
- Strawberry
- Navel orange
- Banana
- Watermelon
- Raisins, seedless
- Blueberry
- Apple, juice
The above foods Ensure Plus and Two Cal HN, and a variety of other food products. A great way to consume these foods is by incorporating them in your lifestyle in a well balanced manner. To guide in this healthy journey choose our chop to impress ebook that can simply be downloaded and kept on your desktop for great easy tasty recipes.
Cholecystokinin
Like CHP, cholecystokinin (CCK) is also found naturally in our brain and gut. Soon after we begin to eat, CCK begins to be released from our gut. When the blood level of CCK rises to a critical level, we feel satiated and stop eating. The release of CCK after satiety has been achieved is terminated by the action of trypsin on gut cells. Unfortunately, large doses of CCK act on sites in the brain that control anxiety and panic behavior. One solution to this problem might be the use of food rich in CCK. Unfortunately, to date we know of no such natural food. This does not mean CCK does not exist in natural foods, only that no one has taken time to screen common foods for this peptide. Meanwhile, there are data to suggest that the use of certain foods to increase blood CCK levels may be possible. For example, many animal and human studies show that a diet containing soy protein, a rich source of trypsin inhibitor, may increase circulating level of CCK. Actually, any food rich in trypsin inhibitors should result in increased CCK secretion and early satiety.
Two other food-derived substances must be mentioned here. The first is peptone broth, a great stimulus for CCK secretion. The second is phenylalanine, a natural amino acid that comes from digestion of protein-rich foods such as casein or soy protein. Phenylalanine has been shown to be a potent stimulant of gut CCK release in human and animal studies, as well as a powerful inhibitor of food intake in hungry human subjects.
Exorphins
Exorphins (exo = exogenous or from outside, orphin = morphin, an opium), the opposite of endorphins, are a family of food-derived peptides that act on brain opiate receptors. Dr. Werner Klee of the National Institutes of Health has shown that when pepsin, an enzyme found in stomach, acts on casein (a milk protein), it generates many peptides, some of which interact with opium receptors in the brain; he called these peptides" casomorphins". Today we know of many peptides that come from gluten (a wheat protein), zein (a corn protein) and casein and act as opium antagonists, which, in addition to being appetite suppressants, affect a variety of other central nervous system functions, including mood.
By TTS Cofounder Botanical Chef Omid Jaffari
|
Prev
