One of the fields that has been talked about the most lately in nutrition is that of mental health. A complex subject that only those who have had the courage to dedicate their lives to it should speak of.
Multiple factors intervene in the development and maintenance of cognitive function, many of them environmental, which makes their study even more difficult.
The brain is a large consumer of Energy. Therefore, it is the first thing to take into account, without gasoline (glucose) it does not work and everything else does not matter anymore, and if we want to do our best at work or at school in terms of our mental capacity the Fuel is critical for that purpose.
Therefore, adequate energy intake for each age and each physiological state with Complex Sugar (not the sucrose of coffee). And it is not advisable to have an excess of energy that increases the vulnerability of neurons, accelerating the processes of dementia by producing an excess of free radicals. However, to make an exact dietary recommendation would be simply to make it up.
The true value of Omega 3
We start with Ω-3, more specifically, acid docosahexaenoic, commonly known as DHA (Look at baby milk, they highlight it). Current evidence points to its importance in brain development in the embryo and early stages of life.
However, supplementation has not been seen to improve cognitive function, there are only results in children with psychomotor problems. So, let’s eat the fish it touches, white and a little less blue and that’s it. Uh, it smells bad .. and you get dirty!
And no, we will not put one dietary guide to know the number of servings, because everyone should have one in the fridge, instead of a photo with their latest paragliding feat … to say the least (the pyramid, if that).
Eating less polyunsaturated fatty acids (the previous ones) of which it touches, we fill the gap with saturated ones, there is parallelism between the increase in cognitive problems, and the increase in the consumption of saturated fat such as that contained in red meat and processed meat in the style of prepared food, sausage , precooked, fast-food, etc.
And where could the problem be? Where there is excess fat, in the atheroma plaques in the blood vessels. The hill, precursor of acetylcholine (neurotransmitter). That of the egg, liver, bread … contributes to a great extent to the genesis of the neurotransmitter.
But do we need more? In general, no. Studies point to a possible supplementation only in very specific cases, which must be constantly remembered.
A little light on Proteins
Proteins, as biomolecules that they are, play a fundamental role for life, such as synthesizing their own, enzymatic, homeostatic, etc … Buff, ‘let’s spare!
With the recommended protein adjustment for our diet (which we do not mention as we have already said) we reach the necessary levels and it is to be expected that in a correct nutritional state of the individual, situations of competition between amino acids to cross the blood-brain barrier (the way to the brain) do not influence by preventing the passage of those necessary for the synthesis of neurotransmitters, as well as it could occur with an inappropriate nutritional state (deficit or excess of proteins for this specific case).
La homocysteine It is neurotoxic and there are studies underway, but all are not very conclusive at the moment. Thus, biochemical control is necessary to anticipate a possible deficit of folic acid that results in an increase in circulating homocysteine.
Actually we continue talking in relation to proteins since homocysteine is the result of the metabolism of methionine that comes from the proteins we eat.
How many proteins? It is in the dietary guides translated into food rations.
The harsh reality of Vitamins
La Vitamin B6 It is also important in the regulation of homocysteine levels contributing to its degradation, and equally important is the Vitamin B12, which also contributes to the regulation of the narrow ranges of homocysteine among some of its virtues, in addition to helping the effects of alcohol after staying up late …
Therefore we must anticipate subclinical vitamin deficiencies by eating the corresponding food groups in the recommended amounts, all logical and normal. What is not proven is that vitamin supplementation of the B Group (like the aforementioned vitamins) are capable of reversing any risk of cognitive impairment.
So, another accolade to the supersonic effects of certain foods …, which is ambiguous because they are a specific weapon against complex ailments, when it is a total falsehood that by eating certain fruits we solve nothing. The most conclusive is the relationship between the B12 and cognitive impairment, but in studies conducted in older people. So if you expect to be number 1 in the office based on B’s kicks12… You are ready.
What else ?, antioxidation, as in the whole organism (Vitamin C, Vitamin E). Logical. And can we eat some supersonic food that provides a superoxidation as the tone of the information hollywoodienses suggest ?.
Well no, of course not. Yes, there are foods with more vitamin C or E than others, that’s it, just like that. The Flavonoids They are also related by their antioxidant effect and there are also studies in animals that point to ways. Wow, there are flavonoids in wine …! Will it be a miraculous food? … Hopefully.
The not so miraculous Minerals.
As would be expected, those essential for the body’s cells are also essential for those of the brain, the neurons among them.
Calcium, Sodium and Potassium, due to their role in electrical conduction, would have higher requirements at the nervous level, but the diet usually provides sufficient amounts.
Is Custard Apple a food that actually has significant hidden amounts of kryptonite inside? For followers of superfoods, possibly for science it is a food with significant amounts of potassium, period.
The perfect dose for our brain
And what does all this cover? Lately, the cool or sensationalist influence makes people talk more about a Superfood than about our Mediterranean Diet, declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2010 by UNESCO.
I think that in many cases because the Mediterranean concept is associated more with gastronomy, even when the term diet is used, and there is enormous confusion between nutrition and gastronomy, in the sense that everything that is called Mediterranean in terms of food is corresponds to a form of healthy gastronomy.
And no, it corresponds to a healthy diet, the Mediterranean Diet, which can take shape using gastronomy, and if it does so with the precepts of the Mediterranean diet, then we could call it Mediterranean gastronomy.
Many will think … No no no, it’s the other way around !, No, because the definition of diet is: “what we eat”, “what we eat”, “what we eat”, giving treatment to digest it but not looking sensory pleasure strictly speaking.
So there is egg before chicken, far from extravagant gymnastic-culinary exercises adorned with whiffs of Michelin stars, which falls under the category of “art.”
Treating gastronomy as pseudo-science is something very, very old and nothing, nothing “modern”. Although, as the eminent and accredited father of gastronomy Brilliant Savarin defined in his day:
Nutrition, diet and gastronomy must go hand in hand.