Many New Zealanders have chronic health conditions and our hospitals are struggling.
Part of the problem is poor nutrition, says psychologist Julia Rucklidge.
Photo: Advanced Science News
Photo: University of Canterbury
Julia Rucklidge is co-author of The Better Brain. Her website has recipes and resources, including a free online course on mental health and nutrition.
In the last 100 years, our food environment has changed more dramatically than ever before in human history and is now "a complete mismatch to what the brain needs," Rucklidge tells Karyn Hay.
In New Zealand supermarkets, 69 percent of the food sold is ultra-processed, high in calories and low in vitamins and minerals.
"About half of the calories that we eat come from processed products our grandparents didnt eat."
Our current concept of "eating well" incorporates a lot of highly processed foods and doesn't take into account scientific knowledge about the nutritional needs of our brains, she says.
Although it makes up just 2 percent of our body weight, the brain uses 20 to 40 percent of the nutrients we consume.
"When we eat we're really feeding our brain so we should be taking into consideration what the brain needs."
Those needs include a range of key vitamins and minerals that most food packaging doesn't list or give daily recommendations for.
"We're overlooking some of the most vital nutrients that play a huge role in all of the brains."
Even if a person is getting plenty of vitamins and minerals, we use these nutrients at faster rates when we're under stress, Rucklidge says, and it's essential we supplement these, particularly B vitamins.
Listen - Julia Rucklidge on nutrition during times of stress and trauma
Studies, such as a New Zealand trial taking place during the Christchurch earthquakes, have shown nutritional supplements can lower the risk of PTSD.
The "obvious solution" of using nutrition to promote mental health has been overlooked in recent decades as we became sidetracked by the promise of medication, Rucklidge says.
We now know medication isn't the solution for everyone as 20 percent of New Zealanders are on antidepressants yet depression rates are still skyrocketing.
"When medications were really booming in the 1980s, 1990s, we had this great hope that they were going to cure mental health problems but when we look at it now the statistics are still quite dire. So if they'd had the effect we'd hoped that they'd have we'd have a much lower rate of mental health problems.
"This isn't a new idea. It's just one that we parked for a while. I think we're starting to recognise that was probably a bit of a mistake to think nutrition was irrelevant to brain health."
The future of medicine will involve a more holistic approach to our overall health and greater attention paid to the "huge" contribution of lifestyle factors, Rucklidge says.
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