… is the title of a just-published article in Psychological Bulletin. From the abstract:
Since the 1920s, there have been many studies on individual vitamins (especially B vitamins and Vitamins C, D, and E), minerals (calcium, chromium, iron, magnesium, zinc, and selenium), and vitamin-like compounds (choline). Recent investigations with multi-ingredient formulas are especially promising. However, without a reasonable conceptual framework for understanding mechanisms by which micronutrients might influence mood, the published literature is too readily dismissed. Consequently, 4 explanatory models are presented, suggesting that mood symptoms may be expressions of inborn errors of metabolism, manifestations of deficient methylation reactions, alterations of gene expression by nutrient deficiency, and/or long-latency deficiency diseases.
I am eager to see the data. The whole brain is the same stuff. If something affects mood, it should also affect reaction time, which is much easier to measure.
Reference: Psychological Bulletin. 2007 Sep Vol 133(5) 747-760
The way that influences on mood are characterized make it sound as the default mood is “good”, while the various deficiencies, errors, alterations, etc. decrease “good” mood. But some things surely improve mood, e.g. sleep deprivation is known to improve mood, even in those who aren’t depressed. BTW, it seems that sleep deprivation and mood effects would be a perfect subject for self-experimentation.
Well, I know that vitamins give me a lot of energy. If I didn’t take my vitamins every morning, I would be out of gas by noon.