Taylor Lockard

Mrs. Hughes

English 1201

March 21,2022

Literature Review

The question being asked is how Food affects your physical and mental health. Food

has affected one's mental and physical health in many ways. There can be positive and

negative benefits from food. Overall, though there are multiple negative effects. Food can cause

gut and physical health while having unhealthy ingredients. People's mental health also plays a

part in the factor of food. Not only does it affect physical health, it affects mental health as well.

There are lots of unanswered questions about this topic but some questions people are

concerned about are which foods affect the mental and or physical health, what you can do to

help either physical or mental health with food and lots more unknown questions that need to be

answered.

Of course, just like any other thing, there have been changes over the years. With food

affecting mental and physical health, people have tried to figure out multiple things throughout

time. Throughout the time they got to think, they came up with ideas of ingredients that could

cause you to feel sick or cause mental problems. Over the years, there has been science found

behind how food affects your mood. Kids and even young adults struggle with EDs as well. This

is a very hard struggle to deal with and can affect your mental and physical health in lots of

ways.

Out of all of my websites I have found, they all have a few common factors. They all go

into detail about how food is affecting your mental and physical health. Each website goes into a
different route but all comes out with the same amount of information. Most of the websites I

found are also either Nutritons or doctors proving that what is being said can be reliable.

The first website I had looked at was “Food for your mood: How what you eat affects

your mental health” . This website is not as detailed as the others, although still gives plenty of

information. This website explains the details behind why food affects your mood. This website

also gives some examples of what to eat to improve your mood and overall health as well.

Fiber, Antioxidants, whole foods and magnesium are good foods that are good foods for your

diets. When starting to eat healthy, you are setting yourself up for less mood swings and more

ability to focus. The website also states “ The connection between diet and emotions stems from

the close relationship between your brain and your gastrointestinal tract, often called the

“second brain.”” Growth of good bacteria is made when healthy food goes into your body.

“Good” bacteria positively affects your neurotransmitter production. Unhealthy eating can also

increase your risk of dementia. The result of a sugar rush, can cause your mood to drop in an

amount of time. Overall there was some reliable information, found in this article, although there

are many other websites that have lots of other information.

The second website that I found is “Eating Well for Mental Health”. It goes into detail

about the stress and depression that is caused by eating. “Sugar and processed foods can lead

to inflammation throughout the body and brain” which will then lead to depression, mood swings

and even the guilt of eating. Lots of people eat too much or not enough when dealing with stress

and depression. Although, this only makes your mental and physical health worse. When having

an eating disorder, it can lead to major stomach problems, and leave you majorly exhausted. It

also talks about the brain food that is healthy for you and food that will help you have a healthy

gut. This website looks very reliable.

The third website I chose was the Harvard Health blog, “Nutritional psychiatry: Your

brain on food”. This article was very reliable because it is written by Harvard people themselves.

Throughout this article it goes into detail about how food fuels your body and brain in different
ways. It also talks about how the foods affect how you feel and go into detail just like every other

website about which foods as well. The “good” bacteria is also brought up in this article and

goes into detail about inflammation happening from what you eat. Overall, I could get some

good information from this article.

The fourth website I found was “Can What You Eat Affect Your Mental Health?”. This

article was posted in 2015. It is a little outdated, but still has some reliable and good information.

Real statistics and evidence is used throughout this article. In the text it states, "the risk of

depression increases about 80% when you compare teens with the lowest-quality diet, or what

we call the Western diet, to those who eat a higher-quality, whole-foods diet.” Meaning that

people with a healthier diet are more likely to be happier than kids with a low quality diet. It also

goes into detail about guilt after eating and how that affects your mental health as well.

Lastly, ``Foods that produce mental and well being” is also a reliable source. This source

is a Northwest primary care that has access to doctors and clinics around. This website overall

ties in with all of the others. In this article it is mentioned that “have a 25% – 35% lower risk of

depression than those who eat high levels of sugar and processed foods.” There is also a video

linked onto this website that gives some good background information.

Overall, these five sources will be very helpful in me writing my paper and are very

reliable.

Works Cited

Gomstyn, Alice. “Food & Your Mood: How Food Affects Mental Health - Aetna: Foods

That Help Your Brain Health.” Aetna, https://www.aetna.com/health-guide/food-affects-mental-

health.html.

“Home.” Sutter Health, https://www.sutterhealth.org/health/nutrition/eating-well-for-

mental-health#:~:text=A%20healthy%2C%20well%2Dbalanced%20diet,can%20slow%20down

%20reaction%20time.
 Marcella. “Foods That Promote and Reduce Mental Well-Being.” Northwest Primary

Care, 11 Feb. 2021, https://www.nwpc.com/foods-promote-reduce-mental-well/.

MD, Eva Selhub. “Nutritional Psychiatry: Your Brain on Food.” Harvard Health, 26 Mar.

2020, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/nutritional-psychiatry-your-brain-on-food-

201511168626.

Miller, Kelli. “Can What You Eat Affect Your Mental Health?” WebMD, WebMD, 20 Aug.

2015, https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20150820/food-mental-health.