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Food for thought: how nutrition impacts cognition and emotion
Hoping to better understand the cognitive–emotional processes associated with overconsumption of food, this 2017 article looks at recent research linking dietary fat intake and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid imbalance with inflammation in developing, adult, and aged brains. Diet and stress exposure during early life can affect cognitive function throughout life, which indicates the high potential of early nutritional interventions in preventing cognitive impairment. Even eating fat-rich diets for a short period of time can stimulate the hippocampus to produce a greater neuroinflammatory response to mild immune problems, resulting in poorer memory. In addition, low intake levels of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids can contribute to memory loss and play a part in the development of depression. Increasing our consumption of fruits and vegetables high in polyphenols can prevent and even reverse age-related cognitive deficits by lowering oxidative stress and inflammation. While more than one-third of American adults are obese (and these statistics are similar for many other countries worldwide), we have identified that it is necessary to expand our knowledge on the relationships between diet, cognition, and emotion to develop effective strategies for preventing and reducing comorbid neurological conditions in the obese. [NPID: diet, unhealthy food, nutrition, healthy food, fats, fatty acids, PUFAs, polyunsaturated fatty acids, stress, cognition, emotion, omega, stress, young, polyphenol, fruits, vegetables]
Year: 2017
