The health of your brain affects your mental health. Your nutrition status affects your biochemistry. Your biochemistry affects your brain health and your gene expression.

Your life experiences can affect your brain. The structure and biochemistry of your brain affects your mental health.

The field of neuroscience helps us understand the brain and nervous system. It also helps us understand and predict behaviour.

Clinical nutrition testing can help us test and measure important biomarkers that directly correspond with your brain health.

Our psychological wellbeing is linked to life experience and also affects how we view and interact with and process the world in which we live.

Nutrition plays a major role in our psychological wellbeing and mental health.

Nutrition affects:

Neurotransmitter synthesis: need amino acids, vitamins and minerals in order to make neurotransmitters that are our key chemical messengers in the brain. You've probably heard of some of them and their primary associations: serotonin (associated with contentedness), dopamine (associated with attention and motivation), GABA (calming), epinephrine (fight and flight and hyperactivity), acetylcholine (memory).

Epigenetic regulation of gene expression: DNA repair, expression, and enzyme function are all dependent on nutrients and antioxidants.

Adjustment of neurotransmitter reuptake: the chemicals at the synapse that affect the availability and usability of a neurotransmitter by a nerve at the synapse is dependent on the right nutrition. Something simple like folic acid can affect this.

Protection against oxidative stress and DNA damage: DNA damage is what causes aging and diseases like cancer. Our body is able to repair itself, methylation for example plays an important role in DNA repair, so does enough antioxidants to protect against free radicals and recover from other oxidative stress. Oxidative damage can contribute to inflammatory diseases and also many mental health conditions such as bipolar disorder.

Concentration and focus and attention and structure:

Our nerves and our brain also needs nutrients to make important structures like myelin sheaths which aid in faster conduction through nerves, and our nerves require fuel for energy and key nutrients for attention and focus and memory.