Psychopharmaceutical Drugs, Diet and the Brain

Jeffrey Bruno, Ph.D.

Peninsula Child & Youth Assessment Clinics

1. Our knowledge of children's developing brains and the complex interactions between diet, brain development, neurotransmission, and pharmaceutical drugs is still in its infancy. Most psychiatric medications have not been rigorously tested on children, despite their wide-spread use. Additionally, almost no studies have been conducted on the safety of using multiple psychiatric drugs on children's developing nervous systems and bodies.

2. Neurotransmitters are not directly replaced by a pharmaceutical drug (e.g., Ritalin or Prozac). Nobody has a Ritalin or Prozac deficiency! Instead, pharmaceutical drugs attempt to block neurotransmitters' action or increase their availability. The neurotransmitters themselves are primarily manufactured by our cells using nutrients derived from food. However, eating a diet rich in the amino acids and essential cofactors (e.g., vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids) that are precursors of specific neurotransmitters does not always guarantee an increase in the level of those neurotransmitters, but most often helps.

3. Certain foods can negatively impact psychiatric medications, and some medications can likewise create vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Consult with an informed health-care professional when attempting to dramatically shift neurotransmitter levels by chemical, supplemental, or dietary means.

4. The largest class of informational molecules that can affect neural transmission are peptides. Peptides are long chains of amino acids (up to approximately 100, with longer chains called polypetides) “Although peptide structures are deceptively simple, the responses they elicit can be maddeningly complex. This complexity has led to their being classified under a wide variety of categories, including hormones, neurotransmitters, neuromodulators, growth factors, gut peptides, interleukins, cytokines, chemokines, and growth-inhibiting factors.”

Candace Pert, Ph.D., who did pioneering work at the National Institute of Mental Health, describes how every single neurotransmitter her team studied had numerous receptor sites outside the brain and that numerous peptides in the body shared receptor sites in the central nervous system (the brain). It is easy to understand how psychiatric drugs, which are not restricted to brain areas, but circulate in the bloodstream throughout the entire body, can affect neurotransmission in many locations other than the brain, creating unwanted “side-effects.”





The GENIE Model

Our bodies and minds are deeply connected. Children with learning, behavior, or mood problems tend to have greater symptoms of physical illness (e.g., allergies, headaches, stomachaches). To effectively treat the brain requires an integrated approach that considers the Gastro-intestinal tract, the Endocrine glands, the Nervous system, and the Immune system, as well as Environmental factors (the GENIE model). Diagnostic and treatment approaches need to be systemic (addressing systems within the body as well as family, community, and environmental factors). Developmental phases across the lifespan, such as dramatic physical and cognitive shifts that occur during childhood, must also be taken into account.