A global crisis: Declining nutrition and rising mental health issues

The Publication

In the inaugural IFBB lecture, Professor Crawford traced the origins of the human brain’s nutritional requirements, dispelling various flat earth myths along the way.

Our Response

The current mental health crisis started in earnest in the latter half of the last century, leading to mental ill health costs in the UK alone now estimated by the NHS at over £100 billion. Worldwide the number is incalculable. The primary culprit is identified as a dramatic reduction in the diet of the essential fatty acids needed for brain development and maintenance owing to a number of factors. Professor Crawford demonstrated how intensive animal and plant production became land-based, while at the same time marine-based fatty acids from fish and other related nutrients plunged as a dietary source.