It’s impossible to avoid them! For decades
we have been surrounded by sweet and fatty foods. And the body has not been
dealing well with these eating habits. But what about the brain? Do our mental
health, our moods, and our brain abilities suffer from the wrong kind of
nutrition? We know that junk food is making us fat, but science is telling us
now that it might also be shrinking our brains. Brain researchers have joined
the dining table? to study the effects of our eating habits. Diets that are
high in fat and sugar, in the long term, lead to changes in part of the brain
involved in memory.
This is a recent field of research, a
developing science that spotlights a new facet of nutrition. Habitual intake of
foods high in fat and sugar results in a reprogramming of the brain. In short,
our brain is affected by what’s on our plates. It all starts with our very
first meals, even before birth. The brain is built up during pregnancy. How it
functions later on depends on how it has been nourished by the expectant
mother’s diet over nine months. A number of consequences of poor nutrition
during gestation have been known for a long time.
Today, scientists in Australia are looking at
the repercussions of nutrition on brain function. Felice Jacka, a professor at
the University of Melbourne, examined the behavior of babies after following
the eating habits of 23,000 pregnant women. We measured their intake of junk
and processed foods, we measured their intake of the healthful foods, foods
with lots of fiber and nutrients, etc.
And then we looked at the emotional health
of their children over the first few years of life from 18 months to 5 years.
Of course, taking into account things such as education, income, the mother’s
mental health, parenting practices, these sorts of things. And what we saw very
clearly was that mothers who ate more junk and processed foods, so sweet
drinks, and salty snacks, you know, cakes, biscuits, during their pregnancy,
their children had more of these behaviors such as aggression, and anger, and
tantrums.
This
disquieting correlation suggests that the mother’s diet impacts the mental
development of the baby, though the link remains to be demonstrated on the
biological level. In any case, Felice Jacka is convinced. So what we also saw
in this large Norwegian study is that the children’s diet seemed to be
important as well, independent of what mum ate. If children were eating too
much junk and processed foods, and/or not enough of the healthful foods, they
had more of these anger and aggressive-type behaviors, but also sadness,
anxiety, worry, nightmares.
Since then, Professor Jacka’s conclusions
have been confirmed by studies in Spain, the Netherlands, and Canada. Excess
fat and sugar are now in the sights of scientists working on the brain. Excesses
and deficiencies. Junk food is often low on essential nutrients, so it leaves
the body, and especially the nerve cells, lacking. In this laboratory at the
University of Bordeaux, scientists are studying the consequences of dietary
deficiencies on mouse brains.
This
experiment is used to measure anxiety. The animal has the choice between
exploring the lighted area or hiding in the shade. A normal mouse takes the
time to examine the lighted area. But this animal was deprived of omega-3 fatty
acids during its development. Omega-3s are called ‘good’ fats due to their
benefits to the heart and arteries. Instead of exploring the environment, the
mouse takes refuge in a dark corner. It is stressed, anxious.
The wait is
over! The all-new, second-gen Mahindra Thar has been revealed in full ahead of
its market launch on October 2, 2020.
