Science behind the brain foods

Structure of Brain
The Human nervous system consists of two parts Central nervous system and Peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system includes the brain and spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system includes all nervous tissues outside the brain. The adult brain consists of four parts: brain stem, cerebellum, diencephalon, and cerebrum. The brain is the central control and commanding center of the body. It works in synchronization with heart. The brain weighs about 2-3% of the total mass of the body and utilizes about 20% of the total body's Oxygen consumption. Cerebral tissues consume more oxygen as compared to the other parts of the brain because it is known as " Seat of intelligence" involves memory, cognition, reading, writing, thinking, critical thinking, speech, learning, pain, fear, and mood development. Cerebral tissues are the most active tissue of the body as it working day and night requires a continuous supply of oxygen. Only at sleeping time, the oxygen demand of cerebral tissues reduces about 3%. Along with cerebral tissue Neurons also require a continuous supply of glucose to maintain resting membrane potential, synthesize neurotransmitters that are involved in electrical signaling in the brain.

Brain Metabolism
The chemical composition of the brain is highly lipid in nature along with protein, in which myelin sheath weighs more. Surprisingly the only reliable source of energy of the brain is glucose which easily gets enter into the brain independent of insulin. It only utilizes ketone bodies when glucose and glycogen are completely not available. Channel, transporters, receptors, and neurotransmitters are made up of proteins. So the effective working of these all requires some special type of proteins sometimes not synthesized by the body and must be consumed in the diet. Tryptophan and glutamate
are the most abundant amino acids. 

Why Brain Foods?
Evolutionists said that the ancient brains were large as compared to the one we have. The possible reason they concluded was the use of fish and other seafood because of the presence of omega- 3- fatty acids involves in cognition and memory function. The food we consume in daily life is not the food that our brain wants to eat to function like a pro. Each part of the brain requires some special portion of food for effective working. As we age the mass of the brain decreases up to 7% as it was at the time of adulthood. Hypoxia occurs due to the scarcity of oxygen in the brain tissues when all the glycogen depository and glucose becomes depleted. But researchers now say that the reduction in the
concentration of acetylcholine leads to hypoxia. Pre-clinical studies show that the high-fat-diet decreases the number of synapses and dendrites formed by the neurons.
The use of sugar, fat, and processed meals reduces the number of synapses in the brain leads to loss of memory andmemory impairment with brain inflammation. 

What Are The Brain Foods?
The foods which enhance the neuronal plasticity and functioning of the brain are may be termed as brain foods. Thesefoods are sometimes the component of our diet but not always thats why we separately called them brain foods because of its nutritive values for brain activity. The following are the different foods which must be incorporated in our diet
 Omega-3-fatty acids (fish), vitamin E (asparagus, peanuts, olives), vitamin D (fortified foods, milk, and soy milk), and Curcumin (turmeric) Flavonoids (cocoa, green tea, citrus fruits) are the sole enhancer of cognition and emotion.
 Vitamin B complex (various natural sources but not available from plant) has positive effects on memory performances mainly in women of various ages.
 Iron (dates, spinach, red meat, beans, and poultry) treatment is effective for cognitive function in young women.
 Choline (egg yolk, veal, chicken, and lettuce) helps in the improvement of impaired memory after injury.
 A combination of vitamin C, E, and carotene delay cognitive impairment at an elderly age.
 Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), beneficial from early to elderly age because of its ameliorating properties for cognition at any age, found in omega-3-fatty acids.
 Lifelong low Selenium (nuts, eggs, and meat) levels associated with lower cognitive functions.

By: Namrah Maqsood