A significant contributor to the increasing rate of crime, aggression, depression and poor school performance is poor nutrition. That's the conclusion of an inquiry held by the Associate Parliamentary Food and Health Forum, who issue a report today urging for government to fund a campaign to research, increase awareness, and encourage us to eat more fish and whole foods high in essential fats, vitamins and minerals.

The Parliamentary Food and Health Forum want more money spent on researching the link between diet, nutritional supplements and mental health; doctors to be better educated; mental health patients to be checked for nutritional deficiencies as a first line procedure on the NHS; government funded healthy breakfast clubs at schools and government campaigns promoting the importance of optimum nutrition for mental health.

Less than half a percent of all money for medical research is spent on nutrition largely because there are no patented, profitable drugs at the end of it. Most doctors today have virtually no training in this area and simply don't know that improving diet and supplementing specific nutrients often works as well, if not better than drugs for treating depression and mental illness. I welcome this report, which fairly and squarely recommends that government should put more money where our mouths are.

Recent research has reported:
. Children with learning and behaviour problems improve focus, concentration and school grades when given essential fat supplements; and IQ scores when given multivitamins.
. Eating breakfast and a low glycaemic load (GL) diet, low in sugar, improves behaviour and concentration
. Supplementing essential fats improves depression
. Supplementing B vitamins improves depression and symptoms of schizophrenia, and stops or slows down memory decline in older people.

To find out more about how you can improve your mind through nutrition read Optimum Nutrition for the Mind and/or Optimum Nutrition for your Child's Mind

For further information on this report please go to www.foodforthebrain.org/FHFReport

Wishing you the best of health

(by Dr. Patrick Holford, a British nutritionist)