Experts from around the world will come together on April 24th to explore solutions for the escalating incidence of mental health problems, described as a ‘global brain health emergency’ by the European Federation of Neuroscience Societies.
The virtual one-day conference will bring together world-renowned experts in the fields of cognitive and mental health, spanning from children’s health, to dementia prevention, to the gut brain connection and more. Focusing on the latest science and solutions, this conference will give practitioners practical advice to implement with their clients and patients.
The conference is co-hosted by the charitable foundation, foodforthebrain.org with the Nutrition Collective and is chaired by the charity’s founder Patrick Holford.
The world leading experts include:
- Professor Michael Crawford from Imperial College’s Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition, who discovered the essentiality of omega-3 DHA for brain function;
- Professor Bill Harris, leading US omega-3 researcher;
- Sugar expert, Professor Robert Lustig;
- Neurologist Dr David Perlmutter;
- Neuroscientist Assistant Professor Tommy Wood from the University of Washington, expert in active lifestyle;
- Metabolic psychiatrist Dr Georgia Ede, whose specialty is low carb keto diets;
- Professor Julia Rucklidge on children’s mental health and nutrition;
- Dr Sabine Donnai, presenting on fixing a leaky blood brain barrier for dementia prevention; Harvard psychiatrist Uma Naidoo on the mood food connection;
- Dr Victoria Sampson on the oral and gut microbiome and brain connection.
“We need a united and progressive understanding of what’s driving this brain drain to enable the right solutions.”
In the last three years The Children’s Society report that the likelihood of a young person having a mental health issue has increased by 50 per cent. One in six children aged 5-16 are now likely to have a mental health problem.
Antidepressant prescriptions are close to 100 million in the last year representing a 70% increase in the past five years. Mental illness is now costing health services more than cancer and heart disease.
“The growth in mental illness in children and adults is not sustainable. In some poorer areas one in two women are now on antidepressants. Close to a million in the UK have dementia. On the current trend, by 2080, one in three children will have severe neurodevelopment impairment with major functional and communication deficits. These children are our future. It is literally our humanity that is at stake. We need a united and progressive understanding of what’s driving this brain drain to enable the right solutions. We need governments to wake up to the reality of this cerebral tsunami otherwise we are heading for an idiocracy. The global Upgrade Your Brain conference brings all the pieces together with an unparalleled team of experts. All health care practitioners, and anyone in mental health and education, needs to be there.” says Holford.
To register go to foodforthebrain.org/uybconference.
The conference will be followed by a nationwide educational ‘Upgrade Your Brain’ campaign and lecture tour by Patrick Holford, author of a new book Upgrade Your Brain (release April 25th), supported by health food shops across the UK and Ireland.
