Most of you are probably familiar with how our food can affect our physical health. For example, it can influence our risk of heart disease, diabetes, the effects of food allergies, etc. But you may not be aware that food can also affect our mood. I hope to share with you how our food can influence our mood, which can help improve your overall health and well-being.

Before we dive into the specifics, let’s recap on the basics of digestion. Our digestive system includes the gastrointestinal tract, which is essentially one long tube made up of different tissues for different functions and interacts and communicates with many other organs in the body, like the brain, liver and pancreas. The tract (and digestion) starts in the mouth and ends at the anus. The mouth, oesophagus (‘food pipe’), stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and anus make up the digestive tract. This journey allows our body plenty of opportunity to get the most out of the food we consume. We also have other organs in the digestive system, including the liver, pancreas, and gallbladder. Digestion is where food is broken down into smaller and smaller components and then rebuilt in a useful way for our body to use. Our body needs a regular supply of nutrients and energy to stay healthy, and we get these from our food.

Food is categorised into three macronutrients based on similar properties. These are protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Our body has different pathways for how these macronutrients are digested and absorbed. For example, protein is digested by special protein enzymes. It is absorbed into the blood, broken down into smaller parts called amino acids, and then used to be rebuilt into different components like muscle, hormones and cells that make up our immune system.

Fat is digested by special fat enzymes and absorbed and used to make up the lining of our cells, brain matter, and hormones essential for absorbing fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E and K.

Carbohydrates are digested by special carbohydrate-specific enzymes and are broken down and absorbed as glucose or blood sugars. Glucose is our body’s primary or preferred energy source to fuel our cells and organs - including our brain! Carbs get a bad rep, but we need to eat a certain amount of carbohydrates regularly throughout the day for our body to work well.

Look out for the next blog post which explains the role of blood sugars (glucose) on our mood!