Nutritional impact on brain function: Food for thought, emotions and wellbeing

Abstract

The rate of cognitive and emotional dysfunction is increasing in the modern society, therefore nutritional impact on the brain functioning is receiving higher attention in science and practice. In order to summarize the latest scientific knowledge concerning nutritional impact on the nervous system and particularly on the brain functioning we performed literature search and analysis. Increasing number of scientific data show that macronutrients and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) affect multiple brain processes through control of diverse mechanisms as: synaptic transmission, neurotransmitter pathways, signal-transduction pathways, membrane fluidity, epigenetic changes, etc. Impact of specific macronutrients and micronutrients in brain functioning and their food source is presented in details. We believe that these data might be of interest to wide spectrum of professionals as: physicians, nutritionists, psychologists, neuroscientists etc.