A diet gap could be part of the anxiety problem, research suggests

Anxiety is a feeling where an individual believes their brains are betraying them.

Now researchers are asking whether part of that betrayal might come down to a missing ingredient or nutrient from a regular diet.

A new analysis from UC Davis Health suggests that people with certain anxiety disorders tend to have lower levels of choline, an essential nutrient that helps the brain regulate mood, memory, and cellular health.

Foods like eggs, fish, chicken, beef, and soybeans are all rich sources of choline.

The research pulled together data from 25 earlier brain-imaging studies, comparing 370 people with anxiety disorders to 342 people without.

Using a noninvasive MRI technique that measures brain chemicals, the researchers found that participants with anxiety showed about an 8 percent drop in choline levels in brain regions responsible for emotional regulation and cognitive control.

Speaking to Fox News Digital, Dr. Richard Maddock, senior author of the study and a research professor at the University of California, Davis, said, “An 8 percent lower amount doesn’t sound like that much, but in the brain, it’s significant.”

The thing about choline is that your brain uses a lot of it just to function normally and your body only makes a small amount on its own, which means most of it has to come from food, and research suggests many Americans fall short, whether they have anxiety or not.

Maddock and his team suspect the connection also involves chronic stress rather than a simple nutrient shortfall.

Anxiety disorders are linked to prolonged stress responses that increase the brain’s metabolic workload, which, over time, may reduce choline levels in areas that regulate threat and emotion.

The researchers are careful not to openly discuss this finding as the research doesn’t show that low choline causes anxiety, and it doesn’t suggest people should start taking supplements.