How to eat for confidence: B12 as an intervention for depression and anxiety

Happiness and peace-of-mind is sought after during all stages of life for good reason. But during the pivotal childhood and teenage years it’s absolutely essential. Time spent trying to boot your son’s mood is never wasted! Here’s how B12 can help depression and anxiety…

B12 helps with transmission of nerve signals and a deficiency can damage the nerve cells, leading to depression, anxiety and extreme fatigue. Ensuring your son’s diet is rich in B12-containing foods will allow him to maximise his mood and cognitive ability at school and in his social life.

Does B12 help with depression and anxiety?

It’s no secret that the way we eat affects the way we live. This article will aim to help fathers find key nutritional strategies to promote confidence and self-belief in their sons- and selves! Eating a diet rich in B12 is one such strategy that can play an important role in tackling depression and anxiety. Something all of us could benefit from at some point in our lives, but especially developing children and teenagers.

In this post, we’ll explore the science behind B12’s link with mental health so you can make an informed decision when considering adding more of it to your son’s diet. We’ll look at how increasing B12 naturally can be powerful as a preventative solution while offering advice on where to best source this key nutrient. So if you’re looking for long-term nutrition solutions to improve the overall well-being and development of your son, dive right in!

Mental health is also heavily affected by obesity. Read more about it here!

The signs of low B12 levels and depression/anxiety

Skimping on B12-rich-foods can impact your son’s psychological well-being, leading to depression and anxiety. Physical symptoms include weakness, fatigue and even heart palpitations. But signs of low B12 levels can also present themselves emotionally. Depression and anxiety can be the result of the neurologic and psychiatric symptoms that come with a B12 deficiency.

Although these mental symptoms are well-known, the difficulty with the correlation is that it’s not always clear what is causing what. Mental health issues themselves can contribute to nutrient deficiencies, as children with depression or anxiety may have a harder time eating nutritious meals or simply not get out in the sunshine enough to produce adequate amounts of vitamin D- for example.

Learn more about the importance of vitamin D here…

In the case of vitamin B12 deficiency it can be difficult to notice which comes first, the deficiency or the depression. If you notice extreme fatigue, low mood or a lack of concentration in your son then checking that his diet contains enough B12 sources is one of your first checks.

Regardless of what causes B12 deficiency, it is important to recognize the impact it can have on an individual’s life and seek the appropriate treatment.

The importance of B12 in mental well-being

Does B12 help with depression and anxiety

Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is an essential nutrient that plays a critical role in maintaining nerve function, producing red blood cells, and supporting DNA synthesis. It’s a crucial vitamin for maintaining mental well-being and plays a significant role in brain function and development. Its deficiency can result in severe neurological problems. Consider that your child or teenager is going through a serious growth phase and their cognitive development is one of the most crucial areas.

Vitamin B12 helps the body produce myelin, a fatty substance that covers nerve fibres, ensuring smooth nerve transmission. Deficiency in B12 leads to myelin loss, eventually causing nerve damage, depression and memory decline. Maximising your son’s B12 intake while his brain is still fragile can protect his cognitive development at a pivotal time.

Therefore, it’s vital to consume an adequate amount of B12, ideally through diet! Although supplements or fortified foods can be an option especially if your son insists on a diet low in good-quality meats or takes medication that makes it more difficult to absorb B12. Vegetarians, vegans and children eating an ultra-processed diet are at higher risk for B12 deficiency, making it even more important to regularly monitor their levels.

How else can you boost your son’s well-being? Click here for our post on 7 positive parenting techniques for teenage boys!

The 10 best foods for your teenage son…

Foods that are rich in B12 and how to incorporate them into your diet

Unfortunately, many young people are deficient in B12, leading to fatigue, weakness, and low mood which can seriously affect their educational and social life. An increasingly unatural diet is one of the main culprits. A study on US children up to the age of 19, published in 2021, found that the proportion of calories from ultra-processed foods rose from 61% in 1999 to 67% in 2018(1). During this period the amount of calories from whole foods decreased from around 29% to 23.5%.

Fortunately we live in the 21st century and the availability of the most coveted foods in history are more widely available than ever. Whereas the majority of the human population since the agricultural revolution about 10,000 years ago have survived on cheap grains, most of us now can go to the supermarket or butchers and buy red meat. A food once reserved for kings is everywhere!

Some of the best sources of B12 include meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products. It’s important that the animals these products come from are grass-fed and as naturally raised as possible. The meat and milk of ruminant animals acquire B12 through a symbiotic relationship with bacteria in their stomachs and the B12 is then stored in their tissues(2). It’s the same with seafood. Phytoplankton acquire B12 through their relationship with bacteria and are then eaten by fish.

Therefore you should advise your son to eat a diet rich in these foods. Not only will he benefit from greater cognitive performance and more energy but meats contain many more essential nutrients a growing boy needs!

Why exactly does your son absolutely need red meat? Click here to learn how it can boost his brain in more ways…

Benefits of eating meat as an intervention for depression and anxiety

Recent studies have shown that incorporating meat into your son’s diet can have a positive impact on mental health. A study published in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience in 2020 found that a diet rich in red meat was associated with better mental health outcomes, specifically reduced anxiety and depression(3).

Beef, lamb, and other types of meat contain high levels of essential amino acids, including tryptophan, which helps the brain produce serotonin. Serotonin, a neurotransmitter that regulates mood, is often targeted in the treatment of depression and anxiety. Amino acids are also necessary for the production of hormones, enzymes, and neurotransmitters that are vital for regulating mood and cognitive function. Red meat and it’s associated saturated fat also has a positive affect on testosterone, an extremely important hormone for young men during, and after, puberty. Low testosterone levels have been linked to depression(4).

Ensuring that your son eats plenty of good-quality meat may help alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Click here to learn more about how meat can boost your son’s potential!

Healthy recipes for incorporating B12 into meals

It doesn’t sound very exciting and in this world of 10 second TikTok cooking clips, it definitely wont excite your teenage son. But it shouldn’t surprise you, or him, that humans weren’t meant to eat fancy over-fussed foods. For hundreds of thousands of years we thrived off simple roasted and stewed meats. It might not be sexy but the simpler, the better!

Many people are quick to have a go at meat and diminish its importance. One reason people can be put off meat is they perceive it to be expensive. And they can be right if they go about things the wrong way. The prime cuts of steak are expensive. Not only that, they might be the least useful cuts on the whole animal!

A fillet steak might be tender enough to cut with a spoon but this tenderness comes from the fact that it’s almost entirely muscle meat. When people think of meat this is what they think of and this is what they want. But what about everything else in the body that isn’t muscle? Cheaper cuts contain saturated fats, sinews and tendons that provide a different nutritional profile. Things such as collagen, the most common protein in your body. Basically, by choosing the cheaper cuts you get more bang for your buck and you don’t damage your wallet. There’s a reason that the leaner steaks used to be fed to the dogs while humans gorged on fat, organs and marrow!

8 easy ways to give your son a hit of B12 in his breakfast…

So does B12 help depression and anxiety?

In conclusion, having the right balance of B12 in your body is key to reducing feelings of depression and anxiety. Incorporating more B12-rich foods into your diet, such as good-quality meats and seafood, can help.

With these tips on how to get enough B12 into your son’s diet and ideas of healthy recipes to get him started on the right path to mental well-being, it has never been easier or more delicious to incorporate these essential nutrients into your day-to-day life!

Click here for 10 more things your son needs to maximise his potential!

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For an incredibly simple 2-week programme with easy meals that make getting more B12 simple and enjoyable, be sure to subscribe to the Son of Man email list for access to our FREE nutritional reset plan! Reclaim your ability to live life without relying on your meal times. You’ll be shocked at how much time you gain by allowing your body to run off it’s own fat!

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