Natural Diet Remedy For Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depression, is a mental illness characterized by extreme mood swings. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 2.6 percent of the American adult population is living with bipolar disorder. While no natural foods diet can replace treatment by psychotherapy and medication, scientific findings suggest that some foods can help control your bipolar disorder by partially relieving your depression symptoms.

Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is usually inherited from a parent who has the illness. The average age for bipolar symptoms to manifest is age 25. When a bipolar patient's moods swing upwards, mania or a milder form known as hypomania appears. A manic bipolar person may appear overconfident, need little or no sleep for days at a time, start more projects than can be easily managed, spend too much money and seek out sexual adventures.

As the mania wears off, a bipolar patient may return to a normal mood or slide into a deep depression, becoming listless and sometimes suicidal. Medication and psychotherapy can control the mood swings, allowing a bipolar patient to lead a relatively normal life. Scientists have also begun examining bipolar patients' nutrition and exercise habits, hoping to find additional ways to stabilize their moods.

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Poor Bipolar Nutrition

A 2017 study by Professor Amy M. Kilbourne and her colleagues at the Department of Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Center compared 2,032 bipolar veterans with 3,065 veterans who did not have bipolar disorder and discovered that bipolar veterans were more likely to eat fewer than two meals per day, did less walking and fewer strengthening exercises, and were more likely to report having gained 10 lbs. over the last six months.
Nutrition problems can affect bipolar patients' mental health. While bipolar disorder is genetic, scientists theorize that the illness can sometimes lie dormant until triggered by outside factors, such as stress, substance abuse or a dietary omega-3 fatty acid deficiency. Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for normal brain functioning.

Fish and Nuts

Omega-3 fatty acids are found in large amounts in fish oil from tuna, sardines and other cold water fish species and can also be ingested from supplement capsules. Another source of omega-3 fatty acids is nuts, including almonds, walnuts and pistachios. Bipolar patients who take fish oil capsules regularly have reported improvement in their depression symptoms and longer intervals between depressions.

Fish oil supplements appear so promising that a paper done by researchers from the University of Cincinnati's Department of Psychiatry proposed creating a long-term study in which children and teenagers at risk for developing bipolar disorder would be given fish oil supplements to see if this strategy might prevent or reduce the development of full-blown bipolar symptoms.

Oil Supplement Precautions

Before increasing the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in your diet by consuming fish oil supplements, consult your physician. High doses of fish oil can cause the following side effects: belching, bad breath, heartburn, nausea, loose stools, nosebleeds, a rash, reduced blood clotting, reduced immune function or increased levels of bad cholesterol in your blood.

Sources:

http://www.nimh.nih.gov:80/statistics/1BIPOLAR_ADULT.shtml
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17680914
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21090835