>What you eat absolutely affects brain chemistry. Eg friends of mine in grad school were studying depression via tryptophan depletion. They'd give volunteers a homemade protein drink which would reliably knock down serotonin levels. In other words, a milkshake that made you depressed. No drugs required.
They tried to induce depression?
That's prison camp science, do your friends study at the Josef Mengele memorial faculty of Medicine?