Does Your Diet Cause Panic? Medical experts and scientists are still trying to figure out why some people have panic attacks.
It's true that there are no definitive answers, but there are studies that suggest certain foods that can cause panic attacks should be avoided.
You can figure out whether your diet has a relationship with your pattern of panic attacks if you keep a food journal.
Jot down what you've eaten, and then after an attack you can compare whether anything you've had that day matches up with something you consumed on the day of a previous attack.
Three of the primary foods that can cause panic attacks have demonstrated effects on just about anyone's behavior: Sugar, coffee, and alcohol.
Let's take a look at each of them.
Sugar stimulates production of lactic acid in the bloodstream.
Lactic acid is something you have naturally in your body.
Generally it increases when you exercise, because it's a byproduct of the metabolic burn that occurs when you work out.
It can also increase when extra batches of unexpected sugars are dumped into your bloodstream.
Coffee contains caffeine, which stimulates the central nervous system.
It bounces into the pituitary gland, and just to be certain that everything's all right, the pituitary gland pours a whole load of adrenaline into your system.
Coffee is just one of several caffeinated foods that can cause panic attacks.
You'll also find caffeine in chocolate, tea, and many popular soft drinks.
Tea contains the most caffeine, followed by coffee and then the cocoa bean.
However, coffee is the primary culprit among all caffeinated foods because it is brewed to be much stronger than tea.
It's true that some teas contain significant amounts of caffeine, but you can't judge a cup by its color-some of the lighter-hued teas contain far more caffeine than their darker cousins.
Caffeinated soda beverages rank next, and don't blame everything on the cola beverages.
There are quite a few soft drinks out there that might be pale in color but they really pack a punch! What about alcohol? The alcohol itself actually works like a depressant rather than a stimulant.
But most people fail to remember that alcohol goes through a fermentation process that produces a high sugar content in the finished beverages.
The result is the same kind of lactic acid stimulation that you get with sugar overloads.
But just as excess sugar is a problem, it's also true that frequent, sudden drops in a person's blood sugar level-hypoglycemia-are often associated with panic attacks.
Scientists are still debating whether the amount of sugar is more important than the fact that for some people their blood sugar levels swing wildly.
Cadmium has been associated with panic disorder, because it blocks the body from utilizing zinc, which has a naturally sedative effect.
It's difficult to blame cadmium as a cause in foods that can cause panic attacks, however, because most foods high in cadmium also contain enzymes that prevent the body from absorbing it.
In cases when vegetables have been grown in cadmium-rich soil, or when meat is obtained from animals exposed to cadmium, there might be a high cadmium level seen in people related to their attacks.