The brain needs specific nutritional building blocks to respond optimally to treatment.
En el tercer Simposio Equanimus celebrado en Santiago, el farmacólogo Miguel Copaja Soto ofreció una advertencia tan antigua como la medicina misma: el cuerpo que recibe un tratamiento no es un recipiente neutro, sino un sistema vivo que exige sus propios recursos. Su argumento no cuestionaba los fármacos, sino que señalaba lo que los precede y los sostiene: la nutrición como arquitectura silenciosa sobre la que descansa cualquier intervención clínica. En un momento en que la salud mental ocupa cada vez más el centro del debate médico, su mensaje invita a ampliar la mirada más allá de la prescripción.
- Los tratamientos psiquiátricos pueden estar fallando no por ser inadecuados, sino porque el cerebro carece de los nutrientes estructurales necesarios para responder a ellos.
- El DHA y los probióticos emergen como piezas clave: uno sostiene la arquitectura del tejido cerebral, el otro protege el eje intestino-cerebro que regula desde el estado de ánimo hasta la respuesta inmune.
- Más del 20% de los suplementos en mercados informales presentan problemas de composición, dosis o veracidad según la OMS, convirtiendo la calidad del suplemento en una variable clínica crítica.
- Copaja no propone reemplazar los medicamentos, sino construir el terreno fértil que les permita actuar: lo que se come hoy configura la salud neurológica de las próximas décadas.
- El llamado final es a los profesionales de salud: integrar la nutrición funcional en los planes de tratamiento ya no es opcional, es parte del estándar de cuidado.
En el tercer Simposio Equanimus, realizado en el Radisson Blu Plaza El Bosque de Santiago, el farmacólogo y director técnico de Newscience Chile, Miguel Copaja Soto, presentó una tesis que desafía la lógica habitual del tratamiento médico: los medicamentos no actúan en el vacío. El cerebro necesita lo que Copaja llamó "ladrillos" nutricionales para poder responder a las intervenciones clínicas. Sin esa base, el tratamiento queda incompleto.
Dos nutrientes ocuparon el centro de su exposición. El DHA, componente estructural primario del tejido cerebral, debe obtenerse obligatoriamente desde la dieta o la suplementación, y sostiene funciones como la memoria y la claridad mental que los tratamientos psiquiátricos buscan preservar. Los probióticos, por su parte, actúan sobre el eje intestino-cerebro: un microbioma saludable protege la barrera hematoencefálica y el entorno químico donde la salud mental se sostiene o se deteriora.
Sin embargo, Copaja advirtió que no cualquier suplemento cumple su promesa. Según datos de la OMS, más de uno de cada cinco productos en mercados informales presenta ingredientes no declarados, dosis incorrectas o beneficios no comprobados. Para un paciente bajo tratamiento psiquiátrico, un probiótico que no sobrevive el tránsito intestinal o un omega-3 adulterado no es un gasto inútil: puede ser un riesgo.
El horizonte temporal que propuso Copaja es largo y exigente: las decisiones alimentarias de hoy construyen o erosionan la salud neurológica de las próximas décadas. Su mensaje, dirigido tanto a pacientes como a profesionales, es que la consulta clínica debe incluir no solo qué medicamentos toma el paciente, sino qué come y qué suplementos usa, y si estos han sido verificados. La nutrición no reemplaza al fármaco; lo hace posible.
At the third Equanimus Symposium, held at the Radisson Blu Plaza El Bosque, Dr. Miguel Copaja Soto stood before an audience gathered to discuss mental health and epilepsy with a straightforward message: what you eat matters as much as what you take. The pharmacologist and technical director of Newscience Chile was not arguing against medication. Rather, he was arguing for something the medical establishment often treats as secondary—the nutritional architecture that allows the brain to actually use those medications effectively.
Copaja's central claim was simple but consequential: the brain requires specific nutritional building blocks to respond optimally to treatment. Medications alone, he explained, are not enough. The body needs what he called "bricks"—concrete nutrients that support neural function. This is not a fringe position. It reflects a growing recognition in neuroscience that the gut and brain are not separate systems but deeply interconnected, and that what reaches your digestive tract shapes what happens in your skull.
Two nutrients emerged as pillars in his presentation. The first was omega-3, specifically DHA, the primary structural component of brain tissue. Unlike many nutrients the body can synthesize on its own, DHA must come from diet or supplementation. Its role is foundational: maintaining memory, supporting mental clarity, and sustaining the cognitive functions that psychiatric treatment aims to preserve or restore. The second was probiotics—live microorganisms that colonize the gut and influence everything from immune response to mood regulation. The logic here is biological: a healthy microbiome supports the gut barrier, which in turn protects the blood-brain barrier and the delicate chemical environment where mental health is either sustained or undermined.
But Copaja's emphasis on these nutrients came with a crucial caveat about quality. In informal markets, he noted, more than one in five supplements contain problems—undeclared ingredients, incorrect dosages, unproven claims. The World Health Organization has documented this pattern across regions. A supplement that looks legitimate on the shelf may never deliver what the label promises. For someone taking psychiatric medication, this is not a minor issue. If a probiotic does not survive the journey to the intestines, it does nothing. If an omega-3 product is rancid or mislabeled, it may do harm.
Copaja framed nutrition not as a replacement for medical treatment but as a foundation that allows treatment to work. The distinction matters. He was not telling people to stop taking antidepressants or anti-seizure medications and eat fish instead. He was saying that a person taking those medications will likely see better outcomes if their brain is also receiving the nutritional support it needs to function. The timeline he offered was long: what you eat today shapes your health twenty or thirty years from now. This is not about quick fixes. It is about the slow, daily choices that accumulate into either resilience or decline.
The symposium's focus on both mental health and epilepsy is telling. Epilepsy is a neurological condition where diet has proven therapeutic value—the ketogenic diet, for instance, has been used for over a century to reduce seizure frequency. Mental health conditions, though different in mechanism, share the same basic requirement: a brain that is chemically and structurally sound. Nutrition addresses that foundation. The implication of Copaja's presentation is that healthcare professionals should be asking patients not just what medications they are taking, but what they are eating, and whether the supplements they are using have been verified for purity and potency. Without that conversation, treatment remains incomplete.
Citações Notáveis
What we eat today will directly impact our health over the next 20 or 30 years— Dr. Miguel Copaja Soto
The goal is not to replace medications, but to support the body through functional nutrition that allows it to work better— Dr. Miguel Copaja Soto
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does a psychiatrist need to care about what someone eats? Isn't medication enough?
Medication addresses the chemical imbalance, but the brain still needs the raw materials to rebuild itself. You can give someone a drug that increases serotonin, but if their gut is inflamed or their omega-3 levels are depleted, the brain cannot use that serotonin effectively. It's like trying to build a house with good blueprints but no bricks.
So you're saying the gut-brain connection is real, not just wellness marketing?
It's real. The vagus nerve connects them directly. The microbiota produces neurotransmitters. Inflammation in the gut triggers inflammation in the brain. This is neurobiology, not philosophy. The question is whether we integrate it into treatment or ignore it.
But how do you know a probiotic actually works? The supplement industry is full of empty promises.
That's exactly the problem Copaja was naming. Over twenty percent of supplements in unregulated markets are either mislabeled or ineffective. You need third-party verification, international certifications, proof that the organisms actually survive to where they need to go. Without that, you're buying hope, not health.
If nutrition is this important, why don't doctors talk about it more?
Training. Most medical schools spend minimal time on nutrition. Doctors are taught to prescribe, not to counsel on food. But the evidence is accumulating, and practitioners like Copaja are pushing the profession to catch up. It's a shift that takes time.
What changes if a patient actually does this—eats better, takes quality supplements?
The medication works better. Side effects may diminish. Recovery is faster. And the long-term trajectory improves. You're not just treating the crisis; you're building a brain that can sustain itself.