Feb 17 2025 56 mins
In this fantastically informative episode with Dr. Bonnie J. Kaplan, we explore the direct connection between mental health and nutrient intake. The evidence detailed in this episode and in Bonnie's book, The Better Brain is clear and consistent across populations. It is my hope that by releasing this episode folks will be inspired to change their diets and see for themselves the mental health benefits that transpire. I believe that a proper diet can keep us off medications or help us decrease them, but if you are on psychiatric medications make sure to work with a professional if you plan to take micronutrients. You may need medication adjustments.
In this episode, we uncover:
* what happens to our mental health when we eat processed foods
* the definition of what Bonnie calls a "hungry brain"
* how the brain gets vitamins and nutrients and what it does with them
* the ways focus changes the brain's needs
* what it means to eat your cofactor
* why focusing on one single nutrient or vitamin will not fix your brain health
* why eating whole foods isn't always enough for brain health and what to do about it
* how minimally processed foods could be better than nonprocessed
* what to look for in a broad spectrum multi-nutrient
* cases of psychosis and trauma being modulated by micronutrients
* what Bonnie hops all mental health clinics will tell their clients when they're first referred
* and so much more...
Bonnie's formal training and degrees (masters, PhD, postdoc) were from the University of Chicago, Brandeis University, the West Haven, Connecticut, VA Hospital Neuropsychology Laboratory, and Yale University Department of Neurology. When Bonnie is asked how she became interested in Nutrition and Mental Health, she explains that her training in psychology and neuroscience led her to focus on the biological basis of human behaviour. For many years she studied the role of nutrition in mental illness and brain development. Three awards that she feels very honoured by: are her election in 2017 as one of 150 Canadian Difference Makers in Mental Health, the Dr. Rogers Prize for excellence in complementary and alternative medicine because of her research on nutrition and mental disorders, and in 2021 chosen as one of the top7over70 in Calgary.
As Bonnie approached retirement, she decided to focus on two tasks. One was knowledge translation -educating the general public about the role of diet in creating vulnerability to mental health problems. From that goal, her book The Better Brain emerged, written for the general public with Professor Julia Rucklidge, and published in 2021 by Harper Collins. Her second goal was to raise funds to support her junior colleagues who were leaving the field because of their inability to convince government funding agencies that scientific research on nutrition and mental health was worthwhile. She established two charitable funds, one in Canada (managed by the Calgary Foundation) and one in the U.S. (managed by the FJC Foundation in New York City). So far, the two funds have attracted over $1 million CAD. All of it has been distributed, mostly to support clinical trials and biomarker research in relation to nutritional treatment of mental health. Scientists in Canada, the U.S., and New Zealand have been recipients of those funds, and now additional money is being sought for further assays of epigenetic, microbiome, and metabolomic indicators of the benefit of micronutrient treatment.
Follow Bonnie on Instagram.
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Opening and Closing music: Other People's Photographs courtesy of Daniel Zaitchik. Follow Daniel on Spotify.