Abstract:
Dear editor,
The importance of diet in health and disease has been recognized
since the dawn of time. Hippocrates wrote the proverb "Let food be thy
medicine and medicine be thy food" approximately 400 B.C. Moses
Maimonides, a renowned philosopher and physician, declared in the
12th century that "any illness that can be healed by diet should be
addressed by no other means." In the twenty-first century, we are
inundated with media claims about "superfoods," miraculous nutritional
supplements, and special diets that promise to treat or prevent illness,
enhance health, and restore function. Research into neurological illnesses, brain health, and psychological functioning has gotten a lot of
press attention (behavior, cognition, and emotion). Aside from exaggeration, we have come a long way in understanding the significance of
certain nutrients and dietary patterns in brain development, physiology,
and function in the last two decades [1–3]. Interaction between
inherited genotype and outside environmental influences including
food, determines how well human brains function. Food and nutrition,
which are crucial for maintaining brain function, can help prevent and
treat mental problems. Several experimental models and epidemiological investigations, have demonstrated that both the general nutritional
profile of human diet and particular dietary elements have effects on
brain function. A summary of the relationship between diet and five key
aspects of brain function that are related to mental health and performance include: (1) brain development; (2) signaling networks and
neurotransmitters in the brain; (3) cognition and memory; (4) balance
between protein production and degradation; and (5) deteriorating effects brought on by chronic inflammatory processes [4]. For optimal
overall brain development during prenatal stage and early years of life,
enough levels of vital nutrients must be provided at specific susceptible
times. All nutrients are required for brain development, but some
nutrients—like protein, long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs), iron, copper, zinc, iodine, and vitamins A—have disproportionately large effects during the first few years of life and they exhibit
critical or sensitive periods for neurodevelopment. These times also
correspond to the times when a particular brain region is growing and
needs the greatest nutrients [5].