The culture of misinformation

Food and Behaviour Research www.fabresearch.org

I am often asked for miracle cures for a particular complaint and if I don’t come up with a snappy answer within seconds, then I can’t be much cop as a practitioner. I remain mystified by the instant fix philosophy. Ask a builder what he requires to build a stable house and he will provide you with an extensive list. The same applies to the human body - if your wires are crossed, your plumbing leaky and your brickwork is crumbling, no single nutrient or drug is likely to mend it.

Much of what we know about health and nutrition comes from the media, but most sources may be based upon press releases put out by a particular manufacturer promoting a particular food or supplement. Media stories are in many cases commercially driven and the public won’t necessarily know where the information is coming from. To some extent this is inevitable, but it often leaves us misinformed and sees us running from one fad to another.

One could argue that it’s up to doctors to tell us how to live healthy lives as they are in the frontline of healthcare. However, they have very little background in nutrition and much of their on-going training and medical conferences are financed by drug companies, who have an agenda of their own. So perhaps nutritional basics should be taught in schools. The reality is that what used to be cookery lessons turned into domestic science and is now called food technology. Because of a lack of teachers and equipment, children don’t actually learn to cook, but design and market pizza packets on a computer. That’s some progress…

Does it matter? You bet it does, because food is made of “chemicals” and eating is one of the most fundamental ways to alter your biochemistry. Simply put, what you eat affects not only your body but your brain, behaviour and achievements. Today, it’s becoming almost the norm to be overfed yet undernourished, depressed or even antisocial. Reasons not to be cheerful include deficiencies in basic vitamins and minerals – one of these is zinc, responsible for over 200 enzyme systems in the body. Other brain drains are the consumption of refined carbohydrates that some people exist on almost exclusively, as well as the wrong kind of fats in our convenience food.

Dr Alex Richardson, a senior researcher at Oxford University, is particularly concerned about the link between nutrition and learning, behaviour and mood. She has long been investigating the role nutrition plays in diverse mental health conditions, including dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD, the autistic spectrum, depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Surprisingly, current dietary recommendations are based on classic deficiency diseases like scurvy and rickets, not optimum physical health, let alone what might be required to influence brain and behaviour.

Dr Richardson’s aim is to provide access to reliable scientific information for all and with colleagues, she has set up a charity called Food and Behaviour Research (FAB Research). The FAB Research website contains well-referenced factsheets, handouts, news items and links for all those searching for a more in-depth explanation of how our current diet is affecting our health. It’s an ideal resource for parents, teachers as well as doctors, nurses and health visitors. Most importantly, it is information you can trust.

For more details please visit http://www.fabresearch.org/ or write to FAB Research, P O Box 6066, Nairn, Scotland IV12 4YN.

Skin Health and Leaky Gut

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