ABSTRACT
This chapter explores that foods and their constituents and contaminants are capable of causing mental and neurological disorders of a variety of types, in a variety of ways, and under a variety of conditions. Given such extreme diversity, generalisations about diet-induced mental illness are hazardous, but a few may nonetheless be made. One is that while some diet-induced disturbances of mental function may be completely reversible upon removal of the cause, others may cause permanent structural damage to the nervous system and others still may lead to death. In view of the gravity of some mental and neurological conditions of dietary origin, the field ought not be dismissed as either trivial or quirky. The fact that people continue to suffer from avoidable diet-induced mental dysfunction, deformity, and even death indicates that the main task for future investigators is in the realm of applied rather than basic medical and behavioural science, at the level of both individuals and populations.
