Harvard and Stanford are studying “metabolic psychiatry” revealing how insulin resistance, inflammation, nutrient deficiencies, and ultra-processed food quietly rewire the brain’s ability to think, feel, and self-regulate.
The crisis is more alarming in our kids. As school meals and home diets have become ultra-processed, academic performance has lummeted, attend problems have soared, and special-education enrollment is surging.
When the brain is properly nourished, cognitive and emotional regulation improve naturally. When it isn’t, the prefrontal cortex becomes less active, and the emotional centers become more reactive.
We are biochemically sabotaging millions of children and adults with diets that disintegrate the brain – then medicating the symptoms, punishing the behaviors, and wondering why our schools, prisons, and mental-health systems are overwhelmed.