By Dr. Sarah LoBisco, ND

“The holidays are coming, the holidays are coming!”

-Well, maybe that’s not the exact Paul Revere quote?!

It’s that time of year again; the manifestation of all those well known holiday triggers is upon us. As Bing Crosby’s melody of “I’ll be home for Christmas” echoes in the valleys, mixtures of feelings of appreciation, joy, and gratitude, bubble up inside us alongside sentiments of sadness or sheer terror from remembrance of previous family “celebrations.”

With food serving as a natural opiate and mood shifter, it’s no wonder that gatherings have it as a buffer. Yes, food is medicine and a drug! I’ve written about this in the past:

In an excerpt from Mark Hyman’s Newsletter, Dr. Hyman reviews the science behind the cycle of failed willpower:

Here are some of the scientific findings confirming that food can, indeed, be addictive (ii):

1. Sugar stimulates the brain’s reward centers through the neurotransmitter dopamine exactly like other addictive drugs.

2. Brain imagining (PET scans) shows that high-sugar and high-fat foods work just like heroin, opium, or morphine in the brain.(iii)

3. Brain imaging (PET scans) shows that obese people and drug addicts have lower numbers of dopamine receptors, making them more likely to crave things that boost dopamine.

4. Foods high in fat and sweets stimulate the release of the body’s own opioids (chemicals like morphine) in the brain.

5. Drugs we use to block the brain’s receptors for heroin and morphine (naltrexone) also reduce the consumption and preference for sweet, high-fat foods in both normal weight and obese binge eaters.

6. People (and rats) develop a tolerance to sugar-they need more and more of the substance to satisfy them-just like they do for drugs of abuse like alcohol or heroin.

7. Obese individuals continue to eat large amounts of unhealthy foods despite severe social and personal negative consequences, just like addicts or alcoholics.

8. Animals and humans experience “withdrawal” when suddenly cut off from sugar, just like addicts detoxifying from drugs.

9. Just like drugs, after an initial period of “enjoyment” of the food the user no longer consumes them to get high, but to feel normal.

The fact is, whether its alcohol, work, pills, drugs, or food, at times of emotional dramas, most people will reach for something to boost their feel good brain chemicals. Pills, Food, and Booze seem to be the holiday mood elating favorites. But, are the holidays really a time manufactured by Pfzier, Nabisco, and Captain Jake to increase sales? Maybe it would be good for our brains and waistline to look deeper and address the cause of our feelings, rather than just suppressing or medicating them.

Why Drugs aren’t Hitting the Mark

With over 10% of American people on antidepressants, why is our society still not happy? Why aren’t these antidepressants working? A 2008 metanalysis in PLoS determined that antidepressants were no more likely to be effective than placebo for mild to moderate depression. However, those with major depression did derive some benefit:

Drug–placebo differences in antidepressant efficacy increase as a function of baseline severity, but are relatively small even for severely depressed patients. The relationship between initial severity and antidepressant efficacy is attributable to decreased responsiveness to placebo among very severely depressed patients, rather than to increased responsiveness to medication.

A researcher at the 2009 Neuroscience Conference in Chicago explains why this may be the case:

Because the cause of depression has been oversimplified and drugs designed to treat it aim at the wrong target… A study from the laboratory of long-time depression researcher Eva Redei… appears to topple two strongly held beliefs about depression. One is that stressful life events are a major cause of depression. The other is that an imbalance in neurotransmitters in the brain triggers depressive symptoms. Both findings are significant because these beliefs were the basis for developing drugs currently used to treat depression.

Redei… found powerful molecular evidence that quashes the long-held dogma that stress is generally a major cause of depression. Her new research reveals that there is almost no overlap between stress-related genes and depression-related genes… [A]nother reason current antidepressants are often ineffective is that they aim to boost neurotransmitters based on the popular molecular explanation of depression, which is that it’s the result of decreased levels of the neurotransmitters serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine.

But that’s wrong, Redei said… Redei found strong indications that depression actually begins further up in the chain of events in the brain. The biochemical events that ultimately result in depression actually start in the development and functioning of neurons.

“The medications have been focusing on the effect, not the cause,” she said. “That’s why it takes so long for them to work and why they aren’t effective for so many people.”

Are we aiming for the wrong thing?

New research is pointing to the effect of antidepressants on a new protein molecule in neural tissue:

Underlying these DMI-induced changes were alterations in the protein interactions between the synucleins and NET with the tubulins. These results are the first to implicate ?-Syn or ?-Syn in the pathophysiology of depression and suggest that targeting synucleins may provide a new therapeutic option for depression.

All this research searching for the biochemical result of the feeling is missing the mark. Science is chasing downstream medicine. What about the combination of  functional issues such as nutritional deficiencies, prenatal exposure, environmental and emotional stressors, hormonal imbalances, and blood sugar issues . These are some major starting points to address when someone feels low. The main mood connection not to  forget- digestive health?

Remember my article on the Gut Brain Connection that mentioned that 95% of your serotonin and 60-80% of your immune system resides in your gut?? In fact, the gut has a specific name for its own nervous system (enteric nervous system) and immune system (the GALT-gut associated lymphoid tissue). This enteric nervous system interacts with many different enzymes and hormones (leptin, ghrelin, insulin, ect) to send feedback to the brain; whereas, the GALT helps manage your immune system’s reactions.

In a fun grammatical oxymoron, a recent Hungarian research article described the link between nutrition, mood, and food via digestion:

Local inflammation through the release of cytokines, neuropeptides and eicosanoids may also influence the function of the brain and of other organs. Role of metabolic burst due to inflammation represents a new aspect in both pathophysiology and treatment of the depression. Finally, an increasing number of clinical studies have shown that treating gastrointestinal inflammations with probiotics, vitamin B, D and omega 3 fatty acids, through attenuating proinflammatory stimuli to brain, may also improve depression symptoms and quality of life. All these findings justify an assumption that treating gastrointestinal inflammations may improve the efficacy of the currently used treatment modalities of depression and related diseases. However, further studies are certainly needed to confirm these findings.

Yet, another study showed how just one nutrient, zinc, a mineral important for enzyme activation in blood sugar, immune function, and hormonal balance, can modulate the brain’s perception of pain, showing how nutrients and mood are interconnected:

Zinc is abundant in the central nervous system and regulates pain, but the underlying mechanisms are unknown. In vitro studies have shown that extracellular zinc modulates a plethora of signaling membrane proteins, including NMDA receptors containing the NR2A subunit, which display exquisite zinc sensitivity.

So, the question remains- what to do with the moody blues during the holidays and still manage our waist line?

Answer: Support the body’s nutritional and stress response with proper functioning, address the causes mentioned above, and just as importantly, figure out what type of blue you are!

Psychiatry is the only Medicine that doesn’t look at the Organ Part it treats

We are treating depression as one entity, but we need to treat the underlying cause of mood imbalance and weight issues, not just the effects with serotonin or other neurotransmitters. I spoke of how to look at the whole person and assess for imbalances in any and all of their organ systems. The other is to find out what type of depression one has.

According to Dr. Amen, there are 7 types of depression with 7 types of treatment, some overlap and a person can have more than one:

1.       Anxious depression

2.      Depressive

3.       Mixed (Anxiety and Depression)

4.      Over focused depression

5.      Cyclic Depression (waves of depression such as in Bipolar, PMS)

6.       Temporal lobe Depression (irritable, evil thoughts, usually from an injury)

7.       Unfocused depression (Usually from a physical or environmental insult)

Once all the causes and brain chemistry are dealt with, how do we deal with food?

I’ll refer you to another blog on self compassion for that and to one with a list of tools to keep your belly happy over the holidays.

References:

Garr, Lisa. The Aware Show. Daniel Amen. November 2011.

Alexis M Jeannotte, John G McCarthy, Eva E Redei, and Anita Sidhu. Desipramine Modulation of ?-, ?-Synuclein, and the Norepinephrine Transporter in an Animal Model of DepressionNeuropsychopharmacology. (2009) 34, 987–998; doi:10.1038/npp.2008.146; published online 17 September 2008. Accessed at: http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v34/n4/full/npp2008146a.html

Mercola, J. If You’re Taking This, Don’t Take Aspirin. Mercola.com. November 4, 2011.articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/04/antidepressant-with-aspirin-may-increase-bleeding-risk.aspx

Fehér J, Kovács I, Balacco Gabrieli C. Orv Hetil. [Role of gastrointestinal inflammations in the development and treatment of depression]. Orv Hetil. 2011 Sep 11;152(37):1477-85. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21893478

Kirsch, I. et al. Initial Severity and Antidepressant Benefits: A Meta-Analysis of Data Submitted to the Food and Drug Administration. PLOS online. http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.005004

Wetherby, C. Fish Oil Boosted Younger Adults’ Brain. VitalChoice Newsletter. November 4, 2011. http://newsletter.vitalchoice.com/e_article002257820.cfm?x=bkcWDTT,b1h0JlRD

Chihiro Nozaki, et al. Zinc alleviates pain through high-affinity binding to the NMDA receptor NR2A subunit. Nature. August 2011. http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v14/n8/pdf/nn.2844.pdf?WT.ec_id=NEURO-201108

Be sure to check out my informational blog on Saratoga.com which includes:

1. Naturopathic Philosophy Highlight Fun Facts:

a.       Eat for Your Type: Healthy Thanksgiving Day Recipes

b.      Gluten and ADHD

c.       Hormones and the Holidays

2. Upcoming Events!

a.       November 15th: Our Poor, Sad, Food Supply (University of Albany)

b.      November 20th: The Healthy Living Expo in Saratoga

c.       Upcoming Essential Oils Workshops with Terry Quigley at the Healing Garden. Contact Terry at 518-831-9469

3. Radio For Your Body–Mind-Soul:

a. Core Balance for Women’s Health
Marcelle Pick
November 8, 2011 Hitting Reset

b. Flourish!
Dr. Christiane Northrup
November 10, 2011 Planting Seeds in the Dark

4. Book of the week: Wisdom of Menopause

5. Don’t miss out: