Does what we eat affect brain performance and health?

Food plays an important role in brain performance and health. In our review “Brain foods – the role of diet in brain performance and health” we have outlined the role of diet in five key areas: brain development, signaling networks and neurotransmitters in the brain, cognition and memory, the balance between protein formation and degradation, and deteriorative effects due to chronic inflammatory processes.

Vitamins and minerals are as important for the brain development as for the rest of the body, and beside that they often have special roles in the brain. A few examples: vitamin B₆, B₉ (folate), and B₁₂ are important in brain development, i.a. related to one-carbon metabolism and DNA methylation. Vitamin D has been called “the neglected neurosteroid” and has its own receptors in the brain. Iron is essential for development and transmission in the brain, and zinc plays a key-role plays a key-role in maintenance of the brain functions.

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Besides what is mentioned above, dietary components also influence the gene expression and protein synthesis via epigenetic regulation. This might explain long-term dietary and pharmaceutical effects and might become an expansive field of research in the future.

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