Nutrition psychology. A list of nine popular science articles about food for physical and mental health (2019 – 2024)

During my time as a performance coach, food was important for an athlete's ability to perform. When I myself became a course leader and toured the long country of Sweden, the issue of food was usually included. The source was the Swedish National Food Agency. In 2008 I met Rune Larsson who spoke about fat and salt. From 2014 to 2018 I was part of a center at Karolinska Institutet. There I presented new findings about fat. In 2019, the J-curve became relevant for salt consumption. From 2019 to 2024 I have written about food. See the list of seven articles about food and physical and mental health.

Please support the blog via Swish (Sweden), MobilePay (Finland) or Wise.

During my time as a performance coach, food was important to the athletes' ability to perform. Therefore, the question of food was often included in the course you attended.

When I myself became a course leader and toured the long country of Sweden to lecture on how to do somersaults and twists, anatomy and physiology and sports psychology, the question of food was usually included.

What was learned about food at that time came from the Swedish Food Agency's compilation, which originated in the Seven Countries study (and North Karelia Project) and the something called the diet-heart hypothesis, that saturated fat and salt was bad for health. Hence, the guidelines warned us, and still do, from eating saturated fats, meat and salt, in favor of vegetarian options.

In 2008, when I, as a PhD student and responsible for a PhD course for future managers in academia, hired the ultramarathon runner Rune Larsson, also three-time Spartathlon champion, to make a lecture on goal management. Rune's talk was preceded by a joint lunch.

Rune spoke inspiringly about the importance of eating fat and salt, something I had previously avoided as much as possible. My eyes probably rolled as I squinted for a salt shaker on Rune's behalf.

2014 – 2018 I was part of a center at Karolinska Institutet – Social Sustainability. We saw each other at least annually at conferences where the dishes were full of buns and sweets, i.e. the products that explain welfare diseases. Fat clogs the arteries were heard repeatedly during the conferences.

Since the healthcare staff preferred to talk about things I was an expert in, leadership, work climate and creativity, I chose to talk about things they should know a little more about – food and health.

In 2017, Scientific American published an interesting article. I presented it to the nursing staff, many with doctorates and some with professorships.

Länk till källan.

Researchers had found forgotten raw data from the Seven Countries study. And these came from an institution where they had control over what the patients ate. It was thus possible to conduct perhaps the world's largest randomized control study. The result dismissed the diet-heart hypothesis (Ramsden et al. 2016).

In 2017, a couple of Russian studies were also published where they tested how salt affects thirst and hunger. The results showed that salt does not affect thirst at all (Kolata, 2017).

In 2018, researcher Andrew Mente made a presentation about salt. He talks about the J-curve. If you remove salt completely, then the risk of heart problems increases exponentially, the very hook of the J. If you eat too much salt, the risk increases slowly. Professor Mente believes that we need to eat 1.5 – 2.5 teaspoons of salt per day (Mente, 2018; Mente ett al. 2021).

In June 2019, I met Professor Mente at a symposium at the Royal Society in Brussels. We stayed at the same hotel. Frank Mitloehner, who devoted his research to air pollution and agriculture, also lived in the hotel. Mente and Mitloehner were key-note speakers. I traveled to Brussels to listen. Our host, Frederic Leory asked if we should take a taxi or walk to the Royal Society? We decided to go. Frank and Frederic went a little further. Andrew and I walked a few meters behind. That means I could ask quite a few questions. Of course, I asked the occasional question about salt and how it relates to blood pressure. Dr. Mente said that salt is a systemic component. If you remove it, anything can happen.

The diet heart hypothesis and warnings about salt have been proven false. Why do people continue to follow these habits?

My framework is nutritional psychology and 2019 – 2024, i.e. to date I have published a few works within the framework of the same:

• a compilation on food from my presentation on food and mental health at the seminar series for experts in food and nutrition at the University of Helsingfors
  
  
• an article in a medical journal
  
  
• nsome popular science articles:

1. 2019. Nutrition psychology. What is the future for sustainable food? The case for prospective thinking (UH). Peter Österberg, PhD, Vetenskapsblogg.
   
   
2. 2020 a. What’s the Prospect of sustainable Food? The Case for mental health. Vik Food Science Seminars.
   
   
3. 2020 b. Children’s right to food education – tools for a more sustainable future.
   
   
4. 2021. Ny forskning: Människor som avstår animalisk föda mår och presterar sämre (In Swedish). Företagande.
   
   
5. 2022. VAD SKA VI ÄTA FÖR ATT UPPRÄTTHÅLLA FYSISK OCH MENTAL HÄLSA? (In Swedish). Brain Athletics.
   
   
6. 2023. Meat, eggs, and whole dairy. FAO now supports my conclusions from 2021. That's great!
   
   
7. 2023. Hur ska vi välja mat i butiken. Medicinsk Access.
   
   
8. 2024 a. Är köttkonsumtionen dålig för klimatet? (In Swedish) Företagande.
   
   
9. 2024 b. Därför är animaliskt baserad mat som kött, ägg och mejerier nyttigt för hälsan (In Swedish). Företagande.

Please support the blog via Swish (Sweden), MobilePay (Finland) or Wise.

More about my expertise:

Executive coaching for CEOs/managers and workshops to facilitate Organizational Performance, Learning, and Creativity for Problem Solving | Lectures: Nutrition for physical and mental health | Course/lecture: children's emotional and social adjustment and cognitive development | Language training – Swedish | Academy Competency | CV | Teaching skills and experience | Summary of research project | Instagram | Linkedin | YouTube-channel | TikTok | Twitter