Anger outbursts may be a Nutritional Disorder, strange??

Not so, when you realize that people with uncontrollable anger are producing too much adrenaline, when it is not needed.

If we mix an inherent tendency of overproducing adrenaline AND a negative self-image we have the full picture of a person that often has no control over their anger outburst. We often read news stories about people losing their cool and committing horrendous crimes for no apparent reason.

A person who recognizes: “Heh, there is something wrong with me, it is not me to act like that, I don’t like what I am doing!!” is in a much better position to do something about their anger than those who have no insight into their anger at all.

Why would a person overproduce adrenaline?

Adrenaline is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands upon the command from centers in the brain (hypothalamus). It functions is to convert glycogen stores in the body to glucose in readiness for quick action in case of danger or when a lot of biological energy is required for strenuous action.

Thus adrenaline is a pretty useful hormone. It makes sure that the brain and the muscles in the body get plenty of glucose when needed for action.

But why OVERPRODUCE adrenaline??

The original signal comes from the hypothalamus, a master gland in the brain. Whenever the hypothalamus senses that the brain is not supplied with appropriate amounts of glucose it will send an hormonal signal to the adrenals to pour adrenaline into the system. This action is so fast that blood adrenaline levels can increase thousandfold in seconds. This is because the brain cannot tolerate any low blood sugar levels. It would die without glucose in minutes just as it would without oxygen. In fact the brain although only 2% of the body by weight requires about 80% of constant supply of available glucose as its only source of energy. This is regardless of whether we are asleep or awake!

The reason is that glucose is the universal source of biological energy. For the brain to produce serotonin - the happy hormone - from tryptophan, it has to change one set of molecules into another. This requires an inordinate amount of biological energy. Thus the brain is energy hungry.

Now if a person has a problem supplying sufficient amount of glucose to the brain, it will start to rely on adrenaline to do so. Normally a slow acting hormone - glucagon from the pancreas - does this job. Thus a person with subnormal supply of biological energy to the brain is all too ready to use adrenaline to do the job.

But why should a person have problems getting sufficient glucose to the brain?

When we eat too much sugar in our life-time, receptors for insulin start to break down. Too much sugar (glucose) in our system tend to cause unnecessary oxidation of tissues. The body reacts by shutting down the receptors for insulin. This is called Insulin Resistance. The receptors fail to push glucose across cell membranes resulting in higher than normal blood sugar levels, but low energy reaching the inside of cell (mitochondria - the power house of cell). With rising blood sugar levels, the pancreas is triggered into secreting more insulin into the blood stream. This can result in a sudden descent or crash of blood sugar level and consequently brain energy starvation.

Hence, now we have a condition of wildly fluctuating blood sugar levels, going up and down like a yo yo. This is the forerunner of full blown diabetes (Type II). This causes the overproduction of stress hormones - mainly adrenaline and cortisol - playing havoc with our mental health. Most of the symptoms of mental illness are believed to be caused by excess stress hormones reacting to unstable blood sugar levels.

We will never control our anger outburst if we do not treat this abnormal metabolic condition giving rise to excess anger. Drugs wont treat the underlying causes and talk therapy may prove to be useless. This situation can be described as “the body controlling the mind”. If we want our mind to control the body we need to treat the abnormal physical condition first.

The best treatment is going on a Hypoglycemic Diet, that will normalize insulin, blood sugar levels AND stress hormones.

Only after the physical treatment of our hormonal imbalance we can have a look how our negative self-image contributes to our uncontrollable moods and actions.