Mental health is only just coming into the public health spotlight, but it is still a controversial topic. Some people still don’t even believe in mental illness. Others blame the millennials, accusing this generation of weakness and frailty. I recently read an article explaining the sharp increase of anxiety and depressive disorders in recent generations. A chilling conclusion from the article is that our modern, “healthy,” low-fat diet is a significant factor in our apparently deteriorating mental health.

The low-fat/high-carb diet most Americans adhere to is actually destroying our brains and killing the beneficial bacteria in our guts. The changes in the brain that lead to depression and anxiety can be caused by a lack of some omega-3 fatty acids. When these fats aren’t in our blood stream, the brain becomes inflamed. Too many refined carbohydrates and omega-6 fats are also contributors to inflammation in the brain, increasing risk for anxiety and depression. The toxins present in our processed food alter the bacteria in our guts, which also affects the function of the brain. Although they’re about as far apart as two major organs can be, the gut and the brain communicate closely to regulate behavior and disrupting this mechanism leads to negative behavioral changes.

A prominent contributor to mood disorders is the modern diet, the so-called healthy low calorie snacks that help us lose weight. Our ancestors did not eat like this. We’re not designed to eat like this. We don’t have snack-packs growing out of the ground or skim milk coming out of cows because that’s not natural, that’s not what our body is equipped to process. It is also, evidently, not what our brains need.

While modernization of food processing has made consumption safer to a great extent, it also presented people with the opportunity to manipulate and commercialize what we eat, claiming that new foods and diets would provide incredible physical benefits without acknowledging the mental deficits that would soon root themselves into our perceived personalities.

There is a very real biological basis for mood disorders and very well hidden causal factors. It is not because the more modern generations are weak. It is not a question of whether or not one “believes” in mental illness, which, by the way, is akin to saying you don’t believe in cancer. It is a combination of physical, mental, emotional, and environmental features, including the way we eat.