Unprocessed: How the Food We Eat Is Fuelling Our Mental Health Crisis

by Kimberley Wilson

We all know that as a nation our mental health is in crisis. But what most don't know is that a critical ingredient in this debate, and a crucial part of the solution - what we eat - is being ignored.

Nutrition has more influence on what we feel, who we become and how we behave than we could ever have imagined. It affects everything from our decision-making to aggression and violence. Yet mental health disorders are overwhelmingly treated as 'mind' problems as if the physical brain - and how we feed it - is irrelevant. Someone suffering from depression is more likely to be asked about their relationship with their mother than their relationship with food.

In this eye-opening and impassioned book, psychologist Kimberley Wilson draws on startling new research - as well as her own work in prisons, schools and hospitals around the country - to reveal the role of food and nutrients in brain development and mental health: from how the food a woman eats during pregnancy influences the size of her baby's brain, and hunger makes you mean; to how nutrient deficiencies change your personality.

We must also recognise poor nutrition as a social injustice, with the poorest and most vulnerable being systematically ignored. We need to talk about what our food is doing to our brains. And we need decisive action, not over rehearsed soundbites and empty promises, from those in power - because if we don't, things can only get worse.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Food, Science, Psychology, Nutrition, Audiobook

282 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 23, 2023

Reviews

[K.J. Charles]

A passionate and at times furious book about the nutrition we need to build our brains and keep them healthy. It's furious because as the author, who has worked in public health, points out repeatedly, there are many simple and low cost interventions the government could take to vastly improve brain health from before conception, but they don't. Feeding low income kids and basic nutritional supplements for pregnant women being just two.

It is ranty. If I worked in public health and saw first hand the human and financial cost of nutritional deprivation (in schools, in prisons), I'd be ranty too. Let us not forget that dementia is now the leading cause of death, and it's a shitty miserable way to live and die, and our diets are a significant contributor.

Lots of good advice in here. I am eating more omega 3s. I would be eating more choline but regrettably it gives me a Dolly Parton earworm.

[Erica Berti · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is easily my most impactful read of the year. Maybe the most important book I’ve read- period. Before reading, I considered myself to be “mostly healthy” and understood the importance of eating whole, unprocessed foods. What I didn’t know about was apparently an entire body of research that identifies micronutrients essential to brain health and neurodevelopment (omega-3, choline, DHA, vitamin d, magnesium). Fascinating and infuriating! This investigation into the potential impact of our modern diet on neurological health (from conception to end of life) is extremely well-researched and accessible. Read. Or listen. Each chapter is full of revelations and I need a friend to discuss this with!

[Vinay Sutaria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some interesting research for sure, but seems like more of a rant against the Conservative government and its policies. Would be better if the book focused on less jargon and politics and more on useful information.

[Ben Tallon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that alarms and enlightens by pulling back the curtain on the criminally protected processed food market.

Corporate lobbying to keep the sugar high in children's breakfast cereal and kick stricter policy off government agendas should come as no surprise, but still shocks. Profit over public health is abhorrent, and Kimberley provides plenty of accounts of it in practice.

Through brilliant scientific research and compelling narrative, she has wrtten a book so full of precious nutritional information that should be atop every adult book pile, and mandatory for parents and parents to be.

Despite at times being (unavoidably) compex, Kimberley signs off with a great overview of what a balanced diet should look like, and warnings of the dire future we face if we do not address our diet's role in worsening mental health crises.

[Daniella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay I need to eat better

[Alanna Inserra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I adored How to Build A Healthy Brain and was hoping for more of the same with an emphasis on how ultra processed food impacts us, but this was too public policy focused for me to enjoy. I found the parts I was interested in - on the connection between nutrition and the mind - were very short, but surrounded by long technical sections talking about disease generally (most of which I knew and is just depressing) and public policy (which I’m not the audience for).

[Elainedav · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came to this book as a follow up to the books Ultra Processed People and Food for Life, as it was recommended on a facebook site related to reducing ultra processed foods (UPFs).

Unorocessed is a really fascinating read. The author focusses on how nutrient rich food is needed for brain development and health both prior to birth and throughout our lives. The link between poor food choices and dementia is frankly terrifying - I cannot think of a better motivation to improve my diet.

One of my takeaways from this book is the need for Government action and for our institutions - think education, health and rehabilitation - to really engage and move away UPF and towards proper nutrition. This book is evidenced throughout and the lack of Government action is clear.

Highly recommended to anyone interested in food, nutrition and eating less UPF. This author seems to have attracted fewer reviews than perhaps the better known Chris Van Tuliken and Tim Spector (who incidentally have both endorsed the book). Kimberley Wilson's book is just as good as theirs are. In my opinion, she needs readers to review and help to spread the word.

[Rumi's Friend · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Clear, concise, very readable and eye-openingly important. Anyone with any health or diet concerns need to read this book! Kimberley Wilson is understandably angry and appalled at the British Government for their inaction on Health. However this could be most other Governments in the world I would venture to say.

[Kim Pears · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book everyone needs to read. The brain is an organ. It needs to be well-nourished otherwise things turn to custard. Not literally.

After reading this I made changes to what I eat, and I feel better for it.

Kimberley Wilson is a clear, passionate and highly informative writer.

Grab yourself a copy and eat it up.

[mol · Rating 4 out of 5]

v informative xx need to get those omega 3s in girlies xx

[Kimberley C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opened my eyes to the link between mental health crisis and what we are eating. Hadn't really thought about it that much. How food has changed over time and in turn it has changed and shaped society as a whole, increase in violence, lack of concentration and dementia are just some of the symptoms as a result of poor food choices proven in studies showcased here. Got lots of interesting facts out of the book. Illustrated the UK government policies and how they can improve. Just last couple of chapters got a bit lost long winded and lost concretion in detail. Otherwise informative and engaging.

[Aiko Friant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reads.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to follow, look at how processed food affects brain health and the impact on society. Recommended reading.

[Lot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would’ve been 5 stars, but I felt that there was a lot of pregnancy talk for a book I thought would be about mostly mental health.

[Justin Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

- EARTHQUAKE ANNOLOGY: Kimberley Wilson begins her book ‘Unprocessed’ with an earthquake analogy. In Japan, they have buildings designed to withstand earthquakes they have no control over. They build in resilience. When it comes to physical health, we employ and consider the principle of prevention, we tell children to brush their teeth to prevent tooth decay, stop smoking because to prevent the risk of lung cancer. When it comes to physical health, we're always thinking prevention but with mental health however, we wait for something to go wrong. We wait for the disaster and then ‘see if we can drag you back to health or patch you up well enough to get back into work. Wilson argues that it should be the other way, Wilson wants people in positions of power to start thinking why we don’t do something similar with the brain. There's no reason that we don't try to build in mental health resilience prevention and that kind of strength into the brain, because the brain is a physical organ. it's built into the keystones of its strength and integrity, in the connections in it and we know what that process is, so why do we leave it to chance. We need to realise the importance of nutrition, not just for the health and growth, but the importance of ensuring your brain is fed properly.
- PRE-CONCEPTION: Before people get pregnant and during pregnancy, most know you should take folic acid. The reason that folic acid is important is that it helps to prevent neural tube defects and the neural tube is the part of the embryo that becomes the brain and the spinal cord. We know there's a clear problem, it's evident in its physical presentation. When there is a lack of folic acid in our diet, there is a neural tube defect and when you replace it in the diet in pregnancy, then you see that a beneficial outcome. But why would we assume that that there’s only one nutrient that would have that kind of effect on brain development. Also, are we taking it early enough. The evidence suggests that we're not because the brain is one of the earliest organs to start developing, which means that the nutritional status of the woman at conception is important to how that process starts building the foundations of the brain. This means that preconception nutrition is a key factor. Women who start their folic acid 3 months before conception, their children have better neurological outcomes. Yet the state of prenatal health in women in the UK is actually very poor. Hopefully people are supplementing adequately, but we have widespread population level deficiency in nutrients that are essential to brain development, irreplaceable in the brain structure, and we must start wondering what the downstream consequences of what this means for brain development, developmental neurological illnesses and conditions and mental health.
- THE FLYNN EFFECT: Society is seeing a decline in the Flynn effect. The Flynn effect is the observation that since records began, global IQ's have been increasing and that's been attributed to three factors. One is improved education; second is the reduced exposure to toxins in the environment, taking lead out of paints which impacts on neurological development. Last is improved nutrition, more access to quality food and the right nutrients. Global this has been increasing for 100 years. Then sometime around the 1990s, in Western countries like Norway, Denmark, Germany and the UK have seen a decline in these scores. In UK high schools, educational levels have been decimated in terms of IQ. So why is that the quality of our global education is falling through the floor. We haven’t started putting lead back into paint, education is accessible so. maybe there's something about the declining quality of our nutrition that is having this impact on brain development and IQ. It’s not just folic acid, is it it's also iodine and choline.
- IODINE: Iodine has been declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the leading cause of preventable brain damage globally. There is a very clear association between iodine consumption and brain development. The old term used to be cretin or cretism for iodine deficiency. You have swollen glands, but you also have restrictions in mental and physical growth at the extreme end. People who grow up in areas of iodine deficiency can have an IQ of 15 points lower than those who grow up with sufficiency of iodine. WHO has global recommendations, yet 67% of pregnant women in the UK are iodine deficient. The message isn't getting across. people aren't aware of it that should be one of the nutrients that should be as high as folic acid.
- CHOLINE: We also need to think about choline. International research conferences where scientists say we must put choline into pregnancy supplements, because it's as crucial for brain development. It’s one of the building blocks of the brain, and you can't synthesise it, you must get it from your diet, and we have huge deficiency. However, choline which is found in liver, eggs and animal foods, because it helps to make what's called acetylcholine, which is a neurotransmitter, as well as to create your brain cell membranes. There is growing evidence, questions in the research as to whether deficiencies in choline are associated to our increases in autism and ADHD. There are questions about whether we can make definitive associations, but what's not in question is the brain is made from food, it's made from some key nutrients that we're not eating and so we fundamentally have a problem.
- When scientists have these conferences on early nutrition, they say we must put this these nutrients into the supplement and if you’re thinking about starting a family, take choline. However, you won’t find it in pregnancy supplements as choline salts are quite bulky. and it's inconvenient, so we don't do it. This is a commercial decision, being made companies who think people don’t want what they don’t know. However, this is a concern over public health because midwives, health visitors and doctors will do is to say get whatever over the counter supplement is there, and they will assume that it contains everything that you need when you're trying to build a baby's brain. Parents will assume that they are getting everything they need to build their baby's brain and they're not. Not because the information isn't out there but because the people producing the supplements are aware, they're just not, because it's not convenient to them and to their profit and it's not being legislated for. If there's no public demand for it, then why should companies change.
- THE FAT BRAIN / DHA 3: Our brains are mostly fat. in fact, if you were to take your brain and put it out on a lovely sunny day and take all the water out, 60% of what was left would be left is fat, and of that about 20% is a fat called Docosahexaenoic acid (omega 3). if you imagine your brain as a as a brick wall or a house, one in every three bricks is made of this fat. It is an essential building block to a healthy brain. And to get adequate amounts, you need to be eating one to two portions of oily fish per week. This was a recommendation made by the government back in 1994 and we're still not meeting that. We know that it is irreplaceable in the brain, because both in animal studies and human comparison trials, when you restrict the availability of DHA, you get less connectivity in the brain and a smaller overall brain volume. People who have a higher intake of omega 3 throughout their lives have up to 49% reduced risk of developing dementia. If you remember the zika virus which is still around, the massive concern about getting zika virus was the effect of the virus had created shrunken heads of babies. The way the Zika virus works is to prevent the absorption of DHA from the bloodstream into the brain, so you have a very clear demonstration of the effect of insufficiency of this single nutrient that none of us are getting enough of on brain development.
- MAGNESIUM: Magnesium is really important for a whole bunch of stuff; it makes 600 different enzyme reactions. Basically, anything that happens in your body that needs energy, requires magnesium. Hardly anybody's getting enough magnesium but it’s at the centre of the chlorophyll molecule, so the darker green the more magnesium you're going to be getting. You find folic acid in large leafy greens, and if you're not pregnant in liver. if you’re pregnant in egg yolks. It’s also found in salmon, pork, chicken, fish and seaweed.
- UPF FOODS: Regarding ultra-processed foods (UPF) makes people feel full, but in terms of nutrition, contain little nutritional benefits such as minerals. The book discusses the Nova scheme of so there's a little controversy about ultra-processed foods in the scientific literature because food is complex and some things that might fit into one category, you could argue, fit into another but also the fact that something is an ultra-process doesn't automatically make it healthy so we shouldn't necessarily use process as a sign of healthy food.
- NOVA CLASSIFICATION: the Nova classification is the name of the classification that came out of Brazilian research breaks food down into four categories. category one are basically things that you would find plucked out of the ground or very minimally processed whole grain such as rice, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, milk. Category two foods are things are culinary ingredients made from extracts from Group One foods such as sugar, oils, vinegars or salts. Category 4: is food sold ready to eat or heat, they contain an ingredient or a process that cannot be replicated domestically so if you're reading on the label that says it contains emulsifiers, additives, preservatives, then it would be considered an ultra-processed food, because you've taken a whole food, extracted it, pulled it apart, and then put it together with added salt, sugar, emulsify that help other chemicals to improve the mouth feel of it anything that contains foaming agents or firming agents or similar, that would make it a category for ultra-processed food. About 55% of the average UK's persons diet is category four foods, and up to 67% of children's diets in the UK are category four foods or UPF. The problem with that, it's not that these foods in themselves, eating a Kit Kat isn't going to kill you, the problem is that when you process something, you extract something from it and the thing you tend to extract are the essential nutrients. when you take the outer layer off rice or a whole grain, you're removing essential oils and fats when you remove the BRAN, because they oxidise, turn bad and go rancid, so you increase the shelf life. You remove the B vitamins, fibre and magnesium. Refined grains remove 80-97 percent of magnesium. At least twenty nutrients are removed in refining flour and only five are put back in when refined flours are “enriched”. You remove magnesium, 70% of the magnesium is lost in the processing from whole to process and from studies following hundreds of thousands of people, that the higher your intake of UPF the lower your intake of vitamins A, B vitamins including B12, vitamin C, vitamin D, a whole bunch of minerals including magnesium, zinc and selenium and your Omega threes and essential fibre. The more you're eating foods in this category, the hungry your brain is, but these foods are depleted in essential vitamins and minerals. Companies do enhance foods afterwards. When they have a breakfast cereal and you think, well they've added lots but its nutritionally weak. You have children who are overweight and yet malnourished. The thing is that only a select nutrients are put back into these foods, the ones that are cheapest. As we remove all of the nutrients from a whole food there might be thousands of important plant compounds in an apple that we simply haven't identified in a lab and can't then put them into an apple flavoured health bar. You're never going to get the kind of balance and complement of nutrients from an UPF as you would from a whole food.
- FREE WILL: a lot of Kimberly’s book is quite political. We think we have free will and the book talks about the politics of choice. Government thinks that we think we are agents our own destiny, but we’re basically manipulated. It not just that were manipulated, but so much of our decision making is unconscious, not just in terms of our immediate choices, but also our historical ones.
- IN UTERO: Your food preferences are learnt and start to be learnt in utero, there based on the things that your mother was eating, and you don't have a choice about them. If drinking fizzy pop, you are creating increased inflammation.
- BABY FOOD: Children are exposed to lots of those little pouches which tend to have a homogeneous texture, tend to be slightly sweeter, and it can make it more difficult to then introduce children to more homemade textures and foods and less sweet flavours and any kind of moderately palatable diet.
- Children under two shouldn't be having any free sugars at all but a rusk biscuit which is manufactured an advertiser weaning food is 30% sugar. There's a real a contradiction in what's being marketed to parents who care and are interested in their children's well-being and the recommendations in which our choices are preset. We just eat the things that are familiar. We have brains that are primed for famine, the more your advertise certain food, the more you see it presented to you, that lovely smell they pump from bakeries at the back of the supermarket before you’ve even crossed the threshold, is designed carefully to get you to spend more money. The government's own impact analysis for the buy one get one free is that controversial, they don't help you to save money, they're not economical because they encourage you to spend more and you spend up to 20% more than you intended in the first place. They cause a lot of food waste.
- THE PRISON STUDIES: There is an excellent podcast that I recommend on Crime and Nutrition by Kimberly Walsh – worth a listen. There have been at least 5 studies worldwide including UK – funded by the Home Office were a well-researched, double bind experiment so it’s a gold standard. The UK has one of the largest prison populations in Europe, only behind such author authoritarian states as Turkey and Russia in terms of per capita prison incarceration. Prison incarceration is expensive to house a prisoner and we have been cutting budgets for the last 13 or so years, which means that prisons are understaffed, the staff are less experienced, and prisons are becoming more dangerous. They're expensive, they're dangerous as morale is through the floor. There are a number of studies using a randomised control trials describing causal effects, they have been replicated and there have been at least four other studies, in America, the UK (which was funded by the Ministry of Justice), the Netherlands and in Singapore demonstrating the same magnitude of effect, where if you improve nutrition and in these studies they used nutritional supplement versus placebo, and that if you improve nutrition in prisons, you reduce objective incidents of violence so the number of people violently assaulted reduced by 30%. The UK study was done in 2002 with Home Office funding and they have done nothing about it. In UK studies, antisocial behaviour reduced by around 30% and violent acts reduced by 37%.
- The impact also on prisoners and on prison staff if you're if you go to work frightened about how your day is going to go, if your morale is through the floor you can't take care of your family, you leave and you'll go and do something else, it makes a prisoners less likely to rehabilitate and it compounds the problem. The fact that these trials were done through supplementations. Though it’s not Whole Foods, but through supplementations, it's cheap, it's accessible and there are no side effects, and yet we're just sitting on our hands. In the Netherlands they have implemented changes but in the UK we’ve done nothing.
- Politian’s, say we need tougher sentences, but for decades we have very long prison sentences compared to other countries and more prison places but it's not solving the problem. It’s doing the exact opposite.
- COOKING: We have become less skilled at cooking ourselves, partly due to the removal of cooking classes in schools and around people having to work more. Parents are cooking less at home and so children are picking up those skills less and less, but we know that big food industry and companies like McDonald's count on the fact that millennials can't cook and that's why they invest in things like’ just eat’.
- So many people are worried about vaccines and medicines regarding the neurological impact that heavy metals in vaccines like mercury and aluminium have on babies and young children, given there's an increasing amount and the rate of autism. We need to learn to cook real foods.
- Concern around consumption of oily fish and the risk of mercury isn’t borne out in the data. When they have looked at studies where they take blood from the unbiblical cord at birth what they've seen is a correlation between mercury and better neurological outcomes. The benefits of oily fish consumption outweigh any potential risk and that it's still important to consume it but in terms of other exposures – well, we need oxygen to live but give too much oxygen to a new-born baby and it can be fatal.
- We know the most rapid period of brain development is in the first thousand days to around the age of two and then obviously onwards your brain is not fully formed until the age of 25 when myelination in the prefrontal cortex at front part of your brain is completed. The most important nutrients are going to be vitamin D so everyone over the age of 1 in the UK should have a vitamin D supplement. Vitamin D is required for the dopamine system in the brain and that's why there's association between vitamin D and ADHD which affects the dopamine system. Also, polyphenols found in brightly coloured fruits and vegetables helps keep the blood vessels in the brain healthy and a Omega 3 fatty acids.
- DEMENTIA: The book finishes with some studies on dementia and how eating a healthy diet full of nuts, fish and vegetables, fruit and beans can also be good for you.
- A fascinating book.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a psychiatrist, I am well aware that a healthy diet is one of the fundamental pillars of mental (and physical) health. In fact, I advise my patients to set regular snack and meal times, add more omega-3 fatty acids to their diet and make sure they’re getting enough micronutrients, such as zinc, iron, and magnesium. Unfortunately, most of my patients find it hard to believe in the importance of a healthy diet and have the rather unrealistic expectation that medication alone will achieve complete eradication of their symptoms.
This is where ‘Unprocessed’ comes as a deus ex machina.
In the first two parts of the book, psychologist Kimberley Wilson discusses the crucial role of omega-3 fats in the growth of the human brain. She specifically focus on DHA, ‘the cornerstone of brain development’, and discusses the important role of this omega-3 fat in the foetal brain development. She then goes on to present some worrying data about the poor dietary habits of the UK population, which often lead to nutritional deficiencies, which in turn may contribute to the increasing prevalence of mood (depression), neurodevelopmental (ADHD) and neurodegenerative (dementia) disorders. As well as the significant role of DHA, Wilson also discusses that of choline (another critical nutrient for brain development), folate, iodine and magnesium.
In the third (and largest) part of the book, she explains the harmful role of (excess) sugar, ultra-processed foods and alcohol in the health of the brain throughout one’s life (from conception to old age). She then discusses research studies which have shown improvement in mental health (mood and ADHD) symptoms as a result of a better diet. She specifically discusses prison studies that have shown reduced levels of aggression following simple nutritional interventions. In the last two parts of the book, she examines the links between nutritional deficiencies and dementia, as well as the potential pitfalls of veganism.
Alongside the above, the author discusses how UK politicians have often failed to act on scientific evidence and take measures that might have resulted in the population’s improved mental (and physical) health. She explains the links between poverty, nutritional deficiencies (in pregnant women as well as children, adolescents and adults) and poor mental health (concentration and learning difficulties, chronic stress, aggression and emotional dysregulation). She argues that better nutrition and mental health are often less of an individual’s choice, and more of a government’s responsibility. My only concern is that her voice may come across as perhaps a bit too strong and this may alienate Conservative voters. But then again, the messages that ‘Unprocessed’ passes are important for individuals and societies alike, and as such they are highly political.
All in all, I would personally recommend ‘Unprocessed’ to my patients. Not only is it an engaging and ‘easy read’, but also -using evidence-based information- it successfully illustrates the importance of nutrition for everyone’s mental health, and specifically how a poor diet can contribute in the causation, prevention and management of a range of mental illnesses and symptoms from cradle to grave.

[LeKaSt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book!

This well-researched deep dive into nutrition and mental/brain health left me informed and with clear action items as to how I can improve my own health and that of my (future) family - without being to dogmatic or making me feel bad about myself.

Rather, it left me concerned and angry about how politicians fail to drive policies for the greater good of society and their most important constituents - the people who they are supposed to represent, govern, protect. While being a battle cry for change, the author makes many reasonable and fairly easy-to-implement suggestions that are far from utopia and could make a meaningful difference.

4 instead of 5 stars only because, while being evidence-based as much as possible, (very) few conclusions don’t seem 100% bullet proof.
Also, I would’ve loved for the book to include a closer look into the history of nutrition - i.e. was there ever an „ideal“ time with regards to availability x quality? If the claim is that our mental health is declining due to worsening nutrition, it must’ve been better in the past. But when?

Finally, being German and wondering about the state in my home country, I hope this book gets translated despite being very UK-specific in its political chapters. A partnership of Kimberly Wilson with some international authors to adapt the content to local circumstances would be fantastic!

[Irene · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book focuses more on government policy than on nutritional information for individuals. The author seems to think that government policies can rescue us from our own poor decision making. While it's true that fresh produce and wholesome foods are more expensive than ultra-processed junk, it's also true that government intervention to "make things better for poor people" often backfires and creates unintended consequences that worsens the situation. The problem with legislating health behaviors is that the science of nutrition is constantly evolving (remember margarine and how much healthier than butter it was supposed to be?), yet once laws are enacted to prohibit or encourage something, it becomes almost impossible to rescind them. Also, ranting against conservative lawmakers (while ignoring the subpar contributions of liberal lawmakers) removes the spotlight from the companies making and selling junk food. If people stopped buying this s**t, then companies would stop making it. If you know something is bad for you yet continue to do it, whose fault is that? On the other hand, if companies knowingly sell harmful products, they should be held accountable. I am not convinced by the author's arguments that government regulation will solve our health crisis. In fact, I suspect it might make things worse.

[Podge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading the book got half way through and read some of the negative reviews of it on this app. So I was expecting a turgid end to the book with the author railing about the government, maybe a bit left wing bias etc? When the author at the point I was at went off into prisons and talked about over crowding she nearly lost me as I was like what has this got to do with the topic you have discussed, however I was wrong and I am glad I persevered.
The book is excellent, has loads of practical and useful ideas, the concepts are presented logically and in a clear and concise way and it has influenced me.My mother has dementia Alzheimer’s and I wish to escape the same fate. The shaming of the government at the end of the book was not too heavy or preachy and did stir me to be annoyed by some of the hypocrisy’s that are out there. An excellent piece of education but I nearly did not buy because Fearne Cotton, a sage in my opinion( heavy sarcasm!) recommended it and I can’t abide flimsy celebrity non entities cashing in on health trends.
Recommend you buy and read it has helped me to enhance my diet.

[Kaisa Viljarand · Rating 4 out of 5]

We're all doomed.

A study was done on a group of people who typically ate a nutritious diet. They were asked to eat western style diet for a week, and within that week eat two Belgian waffles for breakfast on four days and consume a takeaway meal twice. The study group suffered impairments in learning and memory and poorer appetite control.

Alcohol is a neurotoxin, destroys brain cells and increases a risk of developing dementia.

Oh, and did you know that combination of textures and flavours, i.e. salted caramel ice cream with pieces of crisp wafer and chewy chocolate chunks (combination of temperature, sweet and salty tastes, and smooth, crisp and chewy textures) taps into something called hedonic response where your liking of the food increases the more you eat it...?

I mean if I can't have alcohol, salted caramel ice cream and Belgian waffles, what is the meaning of life?

I think I need a more positive read next.

On serious note - a very informative and eye-opening read and would recommend it.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book everyone needs to read. It has really opened my eyes to what kind of foods I need to be eating, and is explained so simple it's incredible easy to understand it all.

If you are considering pregnancy, breastfeeding, going vegetarian/vegan, or looking on healthier eating habits then this is definitely a good book to start with.

It is a bit overwhelming, as I feel stressed about how much foods I need in pregnancy to get all these essential nutrients. If you can take a step back from the panic and read it as an informative and educational guide for food then it is recommended.

It does mention the government a lot so it's perhaps more relevant to the UK, but the food statistics and studies are still valid across all countries.

I just really feel like this should be taught in schools or GP surgeries. This is not common knowledge and we should know more about our health and what we need. I will reread this book a few times in future.

[Annie Voynova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely eye-opening and interesting book.
The information is mostly presented in a very understandable way, even tho there are some scientific terms, which might be unknown to some people. However there is a glossary at the end, which helps a lot and I personally had no trouble understanding the concepts.
The findings presented in the book about nutrition and how it affects our brain are truly astonishing and I would recommend this book to everyone, who wants to take care of themselves and their health. I would strongly recommend the book for pregnant, breastfeeding or women planning to have a child soon because the author reveals shocking and extremely useful information about maternal nutrition during those periods.
If you are not from the UK there might be some information that is not relevant to you(as it was in my case), but the book is still a must read regardless of where you live.
I will for sure be introducing the new learned information from the book in my diet.

[Sean Brennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent.

Especially the bits about dha, the diet of mothers even before conception, the diet of prisoners, school meals.

As a vegan I don't eat fish. I figured I was getting enough omega 3 from seeds and nuts but I've ordered algae supplements now as a security measure. (F.y.i fish have high levels of omega 3 not because they're fish, but because they eat algae, or they eat fish that eat algae, or they eat fish that eat fish that eat algae etc).

The chapter about "veganism and brain health" has a wonderful line... "The key nutrients I have highlighted in this book are found predominately in fish, or occasionally animal foods"... she reminds me of one of those "vegetarians" that think fish are vegetables ;)

[Laura Macdonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is undoubtedly an important book but after reading both Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken and Ravenous by Henry Dimbleby Unprocessed didn't hit the mark for me. The heavy emphasis on pregnancy, much of which I ended up skimming, the political rant (I hate the Tories too but this was too much) and the lengthy section on prisons just seemed to make Wilson's argument wander a bit. I would prefer to have had more useful advice for individuals without the occasional slightly smug asides (e.g. how the author started making baked beans at the age of twelve). I found it a pretty depressing read and will read something more positive next, although I did take away some useful information to apply to my own dietary habits.

[Sally Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

A bit like Chris Van Tulleken's Ultra Processed People, this should be compulsory reading for all health workers, public health professionals and policy makers in the UK and western world generally. I knew how unhealthy processed food was for physical health, but I was less aware of the link to mental health and brain development. This book is truly frightening, but at the same time probably not surprising.

I heard Kimberley Wilson speak at the Cheltenham festival and she was inspirational.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is much more than advice about what to eat to improve your brain health, it is full of information about the issues faced in Britain today including inequality, poverty, government inaction and avoidance of methods of addressing the issues and the impact of giving priority to business and profit over health benefits to the people. I found this a powerful and impassioned argument for social policy to be designed to improve the population's awareness and access not only to a healthy diet but to the nutrients needed to ensure optimum physical and particularly mental health.

[Victoria Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye opening and terrifying in equal measure.
A book to read now as she references the Government in power, ministers, policies at the time of writing a lot. All relevant and useful now re putting her view across about how politicians arent addressing or understanding the issue and consequences of upfp. But it wont take long before you will wonder whether policies and attitudes in Government circles have changed eg already I'm wondering what the Labour government take is.

However still worthy of 5 stars, as is extremely informative and well written.

[leo___lelion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply incredible. Although I've lived by 'you are what you eat', it is only now I feel I actually grasp the extent of the phrase. I have been lucky to be transmitted healthy nutritional habits, but having a full understanding of the science & facts behind it - the exact compound correlation between food & mental health, sleep, brain & body deterioration or preservation - now feels like an essential education to have. This book should be gifted to all so it becomes common knowledge and the driver for a food revolution.

[Michael J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

chock-full of excellent insights into the damage we're doing to our minds with the foods we stuff in our mouths - in particular concerns about pre and post natal nutrition - and the impact of (the right) food on our prison population. A minor quibble would be that the book is out of sync with current research on saturated fat and red meat. Other than that, much to ponder and I hope the powers that be sit up and take notice. I'm not holding my breath, mind.

[Rikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating and so important. Would have given 4-5 stars if it wasn’t for the incessant complaining about the Tory government. Don’t get me wrong, I hate them too, but within the context of this book it sounded too much like moaning and detracted from the power of the arguments.
Otherwise, it definitely gave me food for thought (pun intended) and has compelled me to rethink my family’s eating habits.