What you eat impacts on the effectiveness of your brain, writes Deborah Graham
Every parent wants the best for their child, and feeding them the optimum nutrition that contains brain-building foods can improve and expand their mind, helping them reach their full potential.
Food plays a major part in our overall health, but latest research has found that introducing certain brain-boosting foods into a child’s diet right from conception could affect his/her brain development, memory, concentration and IQ.
These brain-boosting foods include essential fats, vitamins and minerals, protein and amino acids.
Possibly the most potent of all brain- boosting food are essential fats.
According to dietitian Anne Till, 50 to 60% of the dry weight of the brain consists of fat, specifically DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), and arachidonic acid (AA), and a deficiency can have an impact on a child’s intelligence and behaviour.
Omega-3 and omega-6 essential fats are the building blocks of the brain. Most importantly, they are essential for the development of nerves cells and the myelin sheath that surrounds these nerves which help the brain deliver messages to the rest of the body.
Research indicates that a deficiency in omega-3 and omega-6 could result in learning difficulties and skills such as writing and reading.
A good source of omega-3 containing EPA and DHA is oily fish such as mackerel, salmon and sardines.
Author Patrick Holford suggests mixing linseeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds in a jar and eating one heaped teaspoon daily, or grinding them up and sprinkling them over your child’s cereal every morning.
A daily dose of this three times a week, he says, may aid development of your child’s brain and help boost their IQ.
In his book, Optimum Nutrition For A Child’s Mind, vitamin and minerals help turn glucose into energy, amino acids into neurotransmitters and essential fats into GLA and DHA.
An essential vitamin to include in the diet is Vitamin B. Vitamin B1 turns glucose into energy, which is used up by the brain.
Vitamin B3 improves mental health as it aids in the manufacturing of serotonin and melatonin, which maintain a child’s emotions.
Vitamin B6, B12 and folic acid are all vital for the formation of neurotransmitters vital for brain communication.
Antioxidants are important for our overall health as they protect the body against free radical damage.
Free radicals are unstable and potentially harmful substances that can damage body tissues and organs.
Till says excessive exposure to environmental pollutants, ultraviolet light, illness and cigarette smoking can cause the body to increase its production of free radicals.