According to brain research, a brain malnourished by junk food could be behind uncontrolled outbursts of anger, irrational aggression and even hate messages.
Most people know that a poor diet contributes to heart disease, obesity and diabetes. But the fact that junk food could be the reason for uncontrolled outbursts of anger should be new to many. But this is exactly what the US brain researcher Prof. Bonnie Kaplan and the New Zealand psychologist Prof. Julia Rucklidge see as an explanation for the increase in verbal threats, insults and emotionally aggressive escapades on the part of politicians and in social media. Her thesis: Many people are becoming more and more obnoxious because their brains are screaming for food in this way. Because the modern, ultra-processed junk food diet lacks important micronutrients without which the brain cannot function properly.
«Our angry society is starving»
When it comes to fat, protein and carbohydrates, the western world tends to be oversupplied, write the two researchers and authors of The Better Brain in the science magazine The Conversation. Rather, the glutted society is cheated of important minerals and vitamins, which are only contained in small amounts in burgers, fries, chips, chicken nuggets, soft drinks and the like. Frightening: For more than two-thirds of adults (especially in the USA), extremely processed foods and thus junk food are the main daily source of food. And not only does the body suffer, but also the brain.
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How junk food weakens character and leads to uncontrolled outbursts of anger
In order for our brain to function, feel balanced and remain calm even in stressful situations, it needs the complex interaction of over 30 micronutrients, write the two experts. «If they are missing, negative psychological symptoms appear, in particular irritability, explosive anger and unstable mood.» In return, dozens of studies from Europe, Asia, Canada and Australia have shown that people who eat a balanced diet are less likely to suffer from depression and anxiety become ill as junk food followers.
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Studies have shown that changing your diet can work wonders
Irritability and an unstable mood are known to be typical features of depression that can be alleviated with a simple change in diet. The same happened to 76 sufferers who took part in a study on nutrition and depression in 2012. After switching to a wholesome Mediterranean diet (fruit, vegetables, whole grains, fish, olive oil and legumes) to accompany their usual therapy, their symptoms improved more than those of the control group after just 12 weeks. And this is just one of many studies that have come to a similar conclusion, according to Rucklidge and Kaplan.
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A constantly angry brain is a malnourished brain
According to the experts, anyone who doesn’t have their emotions under control, constantly explodes and lets their hatred of everything and everyone out unfiltered has a disturbed brain metabolism. Because in order for the brain to be able to produce the feel-good messenger substance serotonin and the happiness messenger substance dopamine, it needs the said nutrients from food. Since a poor diet of junk food usually manifests itself in childhood, the deficiency is so severe by adulthood that the resulting outbursts of anger are only part of the problem.
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Well-nourished society can withstand stress better
Rucklidge and Kaplan see a clear connection in the face of rising public outbursts of anger and the junk food epidemic. “A well-nourished population is better able to withstand stress. Aggression and the accompanying loss of politeness is really a brain starved of nutrients.”