UCLA Newsroom:
Scientists
learn how food affects brain
By
Stuart Wolpert
|
7/9/2008 [Full
Text]
In addition to helping protect us from heart disease and
cancer, a balanced diet and regular exercise can also protect the brain and ward
off mental disorders.
"Food is like a pharmaceutical compound that affects the
brain," said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a UCLA professor of neurosurgery and
physiological science who has spent years studying the effects of food, exercise
and sleep on the brain. "Diet, exercise and sleep have the potential to alter
our brain health and mental function. This raises the exciting possibility that
changes in diet are a viable strategy for enhancing cognitive abilities,
protecting the brain from damage and counteracting the effects of aging."
Gomez-Pinilla analyzed more than 160 studies about food's
affect on the brain; the results of his analysis appear in the July issue of the
journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience and are available online at
Nature.