Nutrition psychology. ADHD and Alzheimer's disease in Finland. Nurture is more likely explanation compared to nature

Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with a psychiatrist about mental health issues, including ADHD and Alzheimer's disease. Psychiatry and psychology view mental health issues from different viewpoints. This is known as nature versus nurture. Psychiatrist's standpoint tends to emphasize more on nature whereas psychological scientists like myself tend to emphasize more on nurture. Health issues are prevalent in Finland, and these health issues are very costly. Some of these health issues are mental health oriented, and typically associated with inability of focus and to suppress impulses, as well as memory loss - dementia. In the common discourse, these conditions are claimed to be explained by nature, and hence, it's possible to apply medical treatment. But (1) psychological science demonstrates a father-effect on emotional and social adjustment as well as cognitive development, (2) nutrition and demographic studies demonstrate that a more likely explanation for memory loss (dementia) is malnutrition by tribalism.

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Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with a psychiatrist about mental health issues, including ADHD and Alzheimer's disease. Psychiatry and psychology view mental health issues from different viewpoints. This is known as nature versus nurture - a long-standing debate in biology and society about the relative influence on human beings of their genetic inheritance (nature) and the environmental conditions of their development (nurture). Psychiatrist's standpoint tends to emphasize more on nature whereas psychological scientists like myself tend to emphasize more on nurture.

In Finland, mental health issues are soaring; here's timeline that had been communicated:

• In May 2020, media reported that after that acting prime minister Sanna Marin and her cabinet, Katri Kulmuni (Centre), Maria Ohisalo (Green), Li Andersson (Left Alliance), and Anna-Maja Henriksson (SFP) had imposed the Covid-19 lock-down, suicide rates in Finland increased by 15% (Yle News, 2020).
  
  
• In November 2020, Eva Roos, a nutritionist working at Folkhälsan, claimed that Finland had a child obesity epidemic.
  
  
• In August/September 2021, during the communal election in Helsingfors, I spoke to several politicians. Most of them mentioned people's lack of mental health in their campaign, i.e. depression was souring.
  
  
• In April 2022, Helsingfors Police department said that Finnish women's relational aggressiveness (psychological violence) (Crick and Grotpeter, 1995; Hyde, 2005) is a huge issue. Note. Relational aggressiveness is (1) typically a female phenomena, (2) part of Domestic violence which is also dominated by women.
  
  
• In parallel to that, the media reported about a mother who murdered her 12-year old son. The social service had isolated the boy with the mother at a place they call 'an institution for women with mental issues' (Björkqvist, 2022).
  
  
• In May, 2022, a director at Finland's ministry of education and culture claimed that the PISA-ranking was misleading - Finnish kids fail reading comprehension and numeracy. The latter is crucial for instrumental and epistemic rational thinking.
  
  
• July, 2022, a mother in Borgå, 50 km east of Helsingfors, tried to kill her 5-year old son. The social service probably knew she had mental issues, because they were the ones who called the police. Despite the police breaking into the home, the mother continued to beat the little boy (Nyquist, 2022). Ergo. Another case where authorities knew the mother had mental issues, but didn't take measures to protect the child.
  
  
• In September, 2022, the minister of education, Li Andersson, warned that Finnish boys are failing school. And speaking to another minister, Ville Skinnari, he said that the simple jobs (n~600 000) that in a historical perspective gave these boys a chance, are gone.
  
  
• In October 2022, I mapped research on Alzheimer's. It showed  that Finland has the most cases per capita in the world (Österberg, 2022).
  
  
• In November 2022, at a conference about children's legal rights, Finland's Child Commissary, Elina Pekkarinen, said that 20 % of Finnish children and adolescents born 1997 or later, have mental issues (that's a staggering 265 000 young humans). Pekkarinen, who specializes in political studies, claimed that the cause was carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and neuro-psychiatry.
  
  
• March 2023, Finland was still topping the suicide ranking in Fennoscandia and Denmark (the Nordic Countries except Iceland) (Österberg, 2023).
  
  
• April 2023, during a residents discussion organized by the city of Helsingfors in collaboration with an organization called Arbis, which provides education in Swedish, one researcher made the claim that “Swedish speaking Finns are happier and live longer” [sic].
  
  
• April, 2023, Finland's Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Fpa) reported their annual review of Finnish people's physical and mental health. They claim that since 2010, Finnish people's ability to work and function has deteriorated. It is predicted to continue to deteriorate if the government doesn't start acting now. Finnish people's lack of work performance ability is attributed to issues with mental health. Fpa/THL also mention:
  
  obesity.
  
  poor nutrition.
  
  
  Link to source.
  
  
• In November 2023, Elina Pekkarinen said that psychological and lethal violence against small children has increased. Maj Estlander, an administrator for the Bensow foundation interjected, saying that 40% of the school children are affected by psychological violence. Note. Psychological violence equals relational aggressiveness which is typically a female phenomena.
  
  
• In January 2024, Swedish-speaking tabloid in Finland, Hufvuvdstadsbladet reported the following:
  
  
  
  
  Link to source.
  
  
• In September 2024, another Swedish-speaking tabloid, Vasabladet, reported that mental health issues cost Finland one (1) billion euros a year, which corresponds to 26,000 people being on full-time sick leave.
  
  
  Länk till källan.
  
  In parallel to that, the Brain Foundation predicts that:
  
  
  

“One in two women and one in three men over the age of 45 will develop a serious brain disease during the rest of their lives.

Indirectly, the disease affects even more people – family members, friends and colleagues”.

And they claim that the cost is 10 times higher ~11 billion euros annually.

If Finn in general live to be 80, which is likely, more than 769 000 thousand (~481 000 Finnish women and more than ~288 000 Finnish men) will be affected (the calculation is based on the premise that ~55 000 Finns are born every year and that Finns live to be ~80; women: 55 000 *.5*0.5*35=481 250; men 55 000*.5*.33*35= 288 750).

So the big question: is this explained by nature or nurture?

ADHD. A common concept attributed to children's inability to function in the school environment is ADHD, and an equally population approach has been nature - the claim that it has a biological root. Therefore, psychiatrists think it's a good idea to treat kids with medication, like Amphetamine Derivative:

“The term “amphetamines” refers to a range of drugs related to amphetamine which share stimulant properties that increase the concentration of dopamine in the terminals of neurons, and the desired effects may include euphoria, perception of increased energy, increased concentration and mental alertness and feelings of greater power and self-confidence” (ScienceDirect).

This is waht Peter R. Breggin wrote in New York times October 13, 2011:

Link to source.

Willcut (2012):

Although prevalence estimates reported by individual studies varied widely, pooled results suggest that the prevalence of DSM-IV ADHD is similar, whether ADHD is defined by parent ratings, teacher ratings, or a best estimate diagnostic procedure in children and adolescents (5.9-7.1 %), or by self-report measures in young adults (5.0 %). Analyses of diagnostic subtypes indicated that the predominantly inattentive type is the most common subtype in the population, but individuals with the combined type are more likely to be referred for clinical services. Additional research is needed to determine the etiology of the higher prevalence of ADHD in males than females and to clarify whether the prevalence of ADHD varies as a function of socioeconomic status or ethnicity. Finally, there were no significant prevalent differences between countries or regions of the world after controlling for differences in the diagnostic algorithms used to define ADHD (The prevalence of DSM-IV attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analytic review),

Psychological science demonstrates that mental adjustment and development is most intense during the first 4 - 5 of living (Baumrind, 1966; Gopnik, 2016; Hart och Risley, 1995). And there's a father effect: children who grew up with both parents, or the father, have better emotional and social adjustment as well as cognitive development (including visuospatial perception) compared to children who grow up the a single mother (Baker et al. 2020; Farran och Formby, 2011; LaFlamme et al. 2012; Olsson, 2022; Rolle et al. 2019; Sethna, 2017; Vieno et al. 2009, 2014; Österberg, 2004.

A common reason for children's lack of emotional and social adjustment and cognitive development is mother's relational aggressiveness and worst case scenario - custodial conflict. In Finland, women's custodial conflicts are supported by personnel in the social service and the courts. Recent research shows that work in the social services is not based on science and proven experience (Bergström et al. 2022).

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disease of the brain that causes clinical dementia with memory impairment and specific microscopic pathology, such as senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (ScienceDirect). It seems that the common source of variation is things that have to do with mental stuff, especially memory.

Memory research is complex. However, there are some things that are assumed to be fundamental:

• Memory is not for forming associations but for simulating scenarios about the future we don't know much about (Gilbert och Wilson, 2007; Gallister, 2017; Kaku, 2014).
  
  
• Memory is divided into several instances: declarative and non-declarative respectively (Graf och Schacter, 1985; Squire och Zola, 1996).
  
  
• Declarative memory is divided into semantic, episodic and personal semantic (autobiographical).
  
  
• Semantic memory relates to facts - 2+2=4, Paris is the capital of France etc. and is stable over time (ScienceDirect).
  
  
• Autobiographical memory is formed around the age of 5-6 and is vulnerable to memory hacking (Fivush och Graci, 2017; Nelson och Fivush, 2004; Shaw, 2016).
  
  
• Episodic memory concerns events we have been part of. When we have to remember an event, a copy of the event is not retrieved from memory. Instead, a construction of the sequence of events takes place that is adapted to the current situation (Schacter och Addis, 2007), and is vulnerable to memory hacking (Shaw, 2016).
  
  
• For this to work, animal-based protein, fat and micronutrients are required (Adesogan et al. 2020; Allen, 2003; Balehegn et al. 2019, 2023; Cui et al 2024; Dobersek et al. 2023; Ede, 2019, 2022, 2024; Ylilauri et al. 2019).

Here's an interesting catch. People in:

• people in the Stockholm area has similar biology and socio-culture as people in the Helsingfors area.
  
  
• people in the Umeå area has similar biology and socio-culture as people in the Vasa area.
  
  
• people in the Haparanda area has similar biology and socio-culture as the people living in the Torneå area.

If the nature approach were true, then the prevalence of mental health issues like Alzheimer's disease would be equal in Finland and Sweden.

In 2023, a survey from the EU demonstrate that Alzheimer's disease is twice as common in Finland compared to Sweden.

(Finland; Sweden). The report shows that the prevalence of dementia, especially Alzheimer's, is twice as great in Finland compared to Sweden.

Sweden:

Finland:

In 1863, Russia demanded that Finland stop using the trade language around the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic Sea. One implication was that enlightenment thinking (McKneown, 2009; Pinker, 2018; Widmalm, 2012) was suppressed by tribal thinking which is present in Finland to a greater extent compared to Sweden (Pagel, 2019). In the 1950, Finland was one of the Countries in the Seven countries study. The main conclusion: saturated fats and salt were dangerous. This was reiterated by Finland's Institute for Health and Welfare as late as March 2022. When these claims were implemented, Alzheimer's diseases started to increase.

In 1971, ~25 men and ~25 women died because of Alzheimer's, and that number was steady until 1980. Then the number of cases started to increase (link).

Diagram from Statistics Finland.

Conclusion. Health issues are prevalent in Finland, and these health issues are very costly. Some of these health issues are mental health oriented, and typically associated with inability of focus and to suppress impulses, as well as memory loss - dementia. In the common discourse, these conditions are claimed to be explained by nature, and hence, it's possible to apply medical treatment. But (1) psychological science demonstrates a father-effect on emotional and social adjustment as well as cognitive development, (2) nutrition studies demonstrate that the brain and the mind demand animal source protein, fats, and micro nutrients to function. 14 pages. 

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