At the same time, processed food was providing great opportunities for women.
鈥淕rowing up in a single parent household, my mother would have embraced the opportunities afforded to her by ultra-processed food. It enabled her to work full-time and raise four children,鈥 she says.
So, when Professor Rucklidge first heard of Dr Bonnie Kaplan鈥檚 clinical trials on nutrition, she found the idea 鈥渏arring鈥.
鈥淚 heard about the research in passing while I was doing my PhD. I was extremely busy at the time training as a clinical psychologist and seeing patients, and wondered why you would look at nutrition when it had been largely discredited or had a very minimal impact on brain function.鈥
While it challenged Professor Rucklidge鈥檚 thinking, it was data she says she couldn鈥檛 ignore which started a shift in her thinking.听
鈥淚 have great respect for Bonnie [Dr Kaplan] as a scientist and people were getting well with these pills of vitamins and minerals.鈥
As a practicing clinical psychologist, Professor Rucklidge鈥檚 aim was to help make people better, but her experience as well as outcome studies were showing many people weren鈥檛 doing well with conventional approaches.
Moving to New 茄子视频app官网and into a role at the 茄子视频app官网 enabled her to research nutrients as a treatment.
听鈥淪cientists are encouraged through the Education Act to adopt the role as critic and conscience of society, and so I decided to delve into expanding the research that Dr Kaplan was unable to do in Canada.鈥
But it was not all plain sailing. Professor Rucklidge has met with barriers along the way that has her questioning whether the research will get the weight it deserves.
鈥淚t has been an uphill battle. I didn鈥檛 know I would have to deal with barrier after barrier.鈥
With hurdles such as the ethics committees concerned about toxic levels of vitamins, to fear from the medical community and a lack of external funding, Professor Rucklidge has still managed to run her research on 鈥渢he smell of an oily rag鈥.
However, 15 years on, and with recognition through a Health Research Council (HRC) Explorer Grant for transformative research she says this is a start for change in attitudes to her research.
鈥淭he fact I鈥檓 getting emails from GPs who are changing their practices is great, and I鈥檓 constantly being invited to speak at conferences and services all over the world, including the CDHB. It鈥檚 all a step in the right direction.鈥
While change is required at a governmental level, something Professor Rucklidge has been relentless at campaigning for, she maintains her main driver is seeing people get better.
鈥淪eeing the benefits and the amazing turnaround when other treatments didn鈥檛 work is what keeps me going鈥, she says.
Professor Rucklidge is not looking at creating a pharmaceutical from her research, but rather highlighting the fundamental issue of the food we are eating.
鈥淲e need to reverse our dietary habits and return to the food of our grandmothers or even great-grandmothers. This research is the proof-of-principle that our food environment is not adequate for our brain.鈥 听
With research spanning from mental health and nutrient use in pregnant women to her current study on balancing the emotions of dysregulated teens with micronutrients, she is seeing nutrients change lives.
Professor Rucklidge has over 31,7500 participants enrolled in her free听Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)听辞苍听听迟丑谤辞耻驳丑听; nearly 2.7 million views on her TEDx Talk,听; and equates her co-authored book听听(Penguin, 2021) with a positive shift in how people view good nutrition and micronutrients as a treatment to mental health.听 听听
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