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 thebrain functioning is receiving higher attention in science and practice. In order to summarize the latest scientific knowledgeconcerning nutritional impact on the nervous system and particularly on the brain functioning we performed literature search andanalysis. Increasing number of scientific data show that macronutrients and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) affect multiplebrain processes through control of diverse mechanisms as: synaptic transmission, neurotransmitter pathways, signal-transductionpathways, membrane fluidity, epigenetic changes, etc. Impact of specific macronutrients and micronutrients in brain functioning andtheir 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.