Feed Your Brain explores the link between diet and mental health, and how food influences brain function. How what you eat — or don’t eat — can change the way you feel, and even affect your ability to learn new things, remember past events and sharpen your focus.
You probably associate vitamin D with bone health, but that’s just a fraction of the picture. There are receptor sites for this vitamin throughout the brain and deficiency is associated with a range of neurological disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, dementia (including Alzheimer’s) and Parkinson’s disease.
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As well as needing fat for fuel, a baby’s brain requires specific fat for normal cognitive development and intellectual skills. Without that specific fat, there is a serious risk of developing brain dysfunction.
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Most people practise intermittent fasting in order to lose weight, and it is indeed an effective strategy. Less well known are the neurological benefits, which include improved mood and memory, and reduced risk of stroke, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
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Your cholesterol dependency begins before you are born. There is rapid accumulation in the brain of this substance during the last three months of pregnancy. After birth, the brain continues to grow at quite a pace, requiring a large and constant supply of cholesterol. This much-maligned yet essential substance is found in all body tissues. Without it, you wouldn’t be able to make vitamin D, or your sex hormones. As far as the brain is concerned, cholesterol has four main functions, as outlined in this article.
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The dry weight of the brain is 60% fat. It’s all there: saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat. There’s also a good deal of cholesterol, a fat-like substance. As well as forming part of the structure of the brain, and providing fuel, these fats play a role in maintaining memory and other aspects of cognitive function.
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Sometimes you crave the very foods that are making you ill. These foods can mess with your mind, as well as your body. Of all potential food felons, there’s nothing quite like gluten. This protein can trigger a broad range of symptoms and conditions, from gastrointestinal pain to schizophrenia, from depression to fatigue.
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When you take antibiotics, you effectively destroy the good with the bad. The “friendly” bacteria that live in your gut are carpet-bombed, along with everything else.
You need good bacteria, not only to maintain your digestive and immune health but also your mental health. When you take antibiotics, you effectively destroy the good with the bad. The “friendly” bacteria that live in your gut are carpet-bombed, along with everything else.
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There is a mistaken but widespread belief that we are all helpless victims of cruel fate and random DNA, marching through our lives towards a preordained conclusion. Instead, the evidence suggests that developing dementia is largely a matter of what you eat and drink. Here are four dietary changes you can make now that can play a significant role in maintaining the health of the ageing brain.
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Human babies are the only land mammals born fat, and there is good reason for that. When humans evolved from plant-eating tree-dwellers to omnivorous land-dwellers, an extraordinary burst of brain growth was triggered. The large human brain is dependent on fat for growth and function, from conception to old age.
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Vitamin D is usually associated with bone health, but it also plays an important role in brain development — there are receptor sites for this vitamin throughout the brain. A whole spectrum of neurological disorders have been linked to lack of vitamin D, including depression.
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