A study conducted on 23,000 pregnant women by Prof. Felice Jacka at the University of Melbourne in Australia examined the relationship between the mothers' eating habits and their children's emotional health in the first few years after birth between 18 months and five years old.
The findings showed that babies from mothers who eat more processed foods and junk foods such as sweet drinks and salty snacks during pregnancy displayed such behaviors as aggression, anger, and tension compared to those babies whose mothers eat foods with lots of fiber.
The findings also showed that not only mother's diet impacts mental development of the baby, but if children eat too much junk or processed foods and not enough of the healthy foods, they also expressed similar behaviors including sadness, anxiety, worries and nightmares, Prof. Jacka observed.
Education, income, mother's mental health and parenting style were taken into consideration to account for any other possible sources of variations in the results of the study.
These findings were also confirmed in other studies conducted in Spain, the Netherlands and Canada.
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Four days of junk food types of diets will have an impact on the cognitive functions of the hypocampus.
Harmoni@Harmoni-Health (HS-0010)
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Another study conducted at the University of Bordeaux in France on rats lacking Omega 3 fatty acid that is good for the heart and arteries showed that the rats took refugee at the shaded area in the holes rather than exploring the much lighted area as normal rats would do.
Without Omega 3 fatty acid, the brain does not develop and function normally. The brain's grey matter is 90 percent fat that the brain cannot produce on its own. Fish, organ meat, vegetable oil and seeds and nuts such as almonds are good sources of Omega 3 fatty acids. Junk foods are usually lacking such essential nutrients to our brain.
The amount of Omega 3 fatty acids entering the brain is crucial to make the brain more efficient as they help improve electrical properties of cell membranes. Neurons rich in Omega 3 propagates signals faster. Depriving the brain of Omega 3 increases the risk of the brain functioning less efficiently.
The general population is deficient in Omega 3 that is instrumental in improving the electrical properties of the brain, faster propagation of the signals and for more efficient neural networks.
When meals are poor in nutrients and always the same, it resultd in aggression and hypersensitivity . . .
When meals are poor in nutrients and always the same, it results in aggression and hypersensitivity as observed in hamsters rats during breeding as they tend to devour their infants the first day after birth. This behavior affected 80pc of the female rats observed in the study.
"We have insufficient intake of Omega 3 especially during the prenatal developmental period. During this period, Omega 3 invades itself in massive quantity into the brain. Also in adolescence when there is often a change of food and during old age when the incorporation of Omega 3 into the brain tends to be less effective. So, we must increase its intake," says Dr. Sohie Laye from University of Bordeaux.
Harmoni@Harmoni-Health (HS-0010)
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In a study conducted on young prisoners in eight prisons in the Netherlands, the prisoners were provided with vitamins, minerals and fatty acid supplements for three months. Consequently, the level of aggression in the prisons fell down as observed by the decline in the number of incidents of solitary confinement by about one third.
The study conducted by Prof. Dr. So Young Park from University of Lubek in Germany also demonstrated how what we eat influence the decisions we make. In the study, 24 participants came to the laboratory and they were served with two different types of breakfast.
And the results have shown that the same person could make a completely different decision based on what kind of breakfast he or she eats the same day. ...
Those who had breakfast with high protein content as opposed to sugar showed more tolerance and less emotional response to accept unfair offers they were presented to on the tests. However, those who had breakfast with higher contents of carbohydrates rejected the unfair offers twice as often.
In a subsequent blood test conducted on the subjects in the study, it was noted that those with higher level of tyrozin found in their blood tend to accept the unfair offer. Tyrozin is found in the amino acid called Dopamine that is critical for brain function in coordinating communications between neurons reponsible for motivation and risk taking.
What we eat alter the chemistry of the brain influencing the communication between neurons and consequently our decisions within a matter of hours. Diets play a decisive role in our mood and possibly in our mental health as well.....
Harmoni@Harmoni-Health (HS-0010)
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The study conducted in the University of Sydeny in Australia focused on rats fed with the kind of junk food cheaply and readily available in resturants such as pies, chips, cakes and biscuits. The rats feeding on these junk foods immediately double their rations. But more critically, the rats who ate more food with more fat and sugar contents were found their memories deteriorated resulting in impairment of their special momery. Such decline in memory was associated with observed damages in the hypocampus which is essential for learning and the consolidation of memory.
Studies conducted in humans also showed that the two energy rich diets interfer with the functions of the hypocampus. Four days of junk food types of diets will have an impact on the cognitive functions of the hypocampus.
Overly rich diet confuses the immune system triggering inflamatory reactions especially in fatty tissues. Due to associated deregulation as a result of unbalanced nutritions, microbial cells within the brain which are important to remove dead neurons now start to eat the living neurons that should stay functional.
Harmoni@Harmoni-Health (HS-0010)
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The increase in glucose concentration in brain cells leads to more electrical activity in the cells showing more potential for action. Glucose has the ability to modify the activities of the entire brain areas that control emotions and pleasure.
From the results of the studies, it appears that the power of sugar is more similar to that of drug. Rats fed with cocaine and sugar were found four times more likely to prefer to feeding on more sugary water to the one with cocaine in it.
This seems to suggest that sugar has a more addictive power than drugs such as heroine and cocaine.
Apart from sugary foods, we usually find sugar in other food items which do not normally have sugar contents.
In a study conducted at the Oregon Research Institue in Eugene on a hundred students, half of whom regularly eat icecream while the other half never ate it. But when both groups of subjects were given milkshakes while their brain activity was being monitored, the brains of those students who do not regularly eat icecream showed strong electrical activity while the others exhibited a much more diminished response. This result indicated that regular consumption of sugary foods reduces the pleasure of eating those types of foods over time.
. . . regular consumption of sugary foods reduces the pleasure of eating those types of foods over time.
The reward circuit which is the region of the brain that controls pleasure tends to show less response for the same amount of sugary food consumed. However, it is activated more readily as the brain shows hypersensitivity for images of food in the case of those subjects who frequently eat such foods. That triggers the habitual consumption of such foods even in the absence of hunger leading to obesity and weight gain.
Harmoni@Harmoni-Science (HS-0010)
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Gut bacteria play important role in our food choice, and these bacteria establish the link between our food and our brain. A diet good for our mood is the one that is suitable to the gut bacteria. And the diversity of the diet is found crucial in shaping the composition of these microbials in our guts.
A diet good for our mood is the one that is suitable to the gut bacteria. And the diversity of the diet is found crucial in shaping the composition of these microbials in our guts.
Mediteranian foods is one good example of the types of foods which are suitable to our microbials and then to the effective functioning of our brain. These Mediteranian foods include all sorts of lefty grains, different colored vegetables, fruits and very importantly legumes, lentils and chickpeas, nuts, seeds, fish and particularly olive oil.
Such diversity in the foods we eat is linked to the diversity in our gut microbials that is important for good health outcomes in our brain functions.
Source: Better Brain Health - DW documentary (March 5, 2020)
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