Are You What You Eat?

While certain foods may change our mood, it's an overall healthy eating pattern that yields the best results for our health.

By PT Staff, published on October 26, 2004 - last reviewed on June 24, 2009

Meals are not merely fuel. Hippocrates put it well 2,000 years ago when he proclaimed, "Food shall be your remedy." The field of nutritional neuroscience is just beginning to delineate just how food alters, prevents or heals our brains and bodies while it nourishes.

It's tempting to dwell on relationships between a particular food and a corresponding mental benefit or mood boost. But it's an overall healthy eating pattern that yields results, not any one food, warns Larry Lindner, executive editor of Tufts University's Health and Nutrition Newsletter. A diet rich in fruits, vegetables and dairy, for example, can blunt cognitive deficits in most people. But to those who say that eating a piece of bread raises serotonin levels and makes you happy, Lindner responds, "If carbohydrates caused happiness, ours would be the happiest nation in the world."

Each of us processes food in a unique way, too. "Some people have different metabolic rates," says neuroscientist Chandan Prasad, editor-in-chief of the journal Nutritional Neuroscience. "Even rats show individual effects in food studies." He points to the burgeoning field of genomics, where scientists are searching for links between genetic makeup and varieties of response to diet.

With these caveats in mind:

You Eat Blueberries. You Are...

A Maine lover? A sweet-toothed country girl? How about an antioxidant powerhouse: Blueberries are bursting with these compounds, which protect cells by mopping up disease-causing free radicals. Rats on a blueberry kick showed improved memory and motor skills and were less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. Blueberries also help control blood pressure, which in turn prevents small strokes in the brain from occurring. And a study found a compound in blueberries to be as effective at lowering cholesterol as a commercial drug, with fewer side effects.

You Eat Fish. You Are...

A Mediterranean soul, a beach bum, perhaps. You're in a good mood, and you're protected from heart disease, strokes, and inflammatory conditions such as arthritis. Your skin simply glows. Omega-3 fatty acids, present in fish oil, have been found to act as an antidepressant by raising serotonin levels. The acids keep blood cells from clumping and lower "bad" cholesterol while raising the "good" kind. Some dermatologists even claim that salmon will prevent or even reverse the effects of skin aging.

You Drink Red Wine. You Are...

A bon vivant, and one who will live long and think well. Like blueberries, red wine is rich in antioxidants. And its anti-inflammatory effects reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke in moderate drinkers (much more than gin does, according to a study.) While your brain may function more slowly when you're under its spell, the stuff has been shown to improve short-term memory and motor skills, and to increase longevity.

So here's to your health.