The impact of nutrition on children’s brain function

While the association between nutrition
and general health is now increasingly accepted in the medical community, also
thanks to movements as Nutritank, it is only recently that the effects of
nutrition on the brain have started to be investigated.

Among other mechanisms, one way poor
diet impacts brain function is by inducing a
low-grade chronic inflammation state. In the brain, the hippocampus is
especially sensitive to inflammation; in fact, hippocampal dependent abilities
(e.g. long term and spatial memory) are severely
impacted by poor nutritional status.

Using functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI, see picture below) we are investigating how children’s diet and
BMI relates to their abilities to orient, a
hippocampal-dependent ability, and the way they use their brain to
do so. We will also be researching whether relating
these results to participants’ inflammation levelsto
see if inflammation mediates the
relationship between dietary quality, BMI and cognitive abilities.

The fMRI machine used for our experiment- Donders
Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging (Radboud University, Nijmegen, the
Netherlands).

We expect that our results will support the importance of a healthy (Mediterranean-like) diet for optimal
cognitive abilities and brain function
in children. With obesity and poor dietary quality being on the rise, studies
investigating the relationship between nutrition and cognition are extremely
important to start informing new policy changes, such as in education and
healthcare.
We hope that our results, together with previous literature, will encourage an
increased attention to the pivotal role of diet in impacting children’s brain
health. Medical professionals in general, and paediatricianspediatricians
in particular, should receive formal training in order to be able to support
parents to make informed nutritional choices for their kids, in order to
promote a healthy development of their most important asset: , their
brain.

Contact:

Instagram:
food.foryourthoughts.

Email: ilaria.lisi.1@gmail.com