Conscious Choice: Brainfoods in Breakfast

November 1998

Brainfoods in Breakfast

by Victoria Lord

After years of research scientists have concluded that your mother was (provisionally) right. If you eat nutritiously balanced meals, you’ll not only feel better, you’ll think better too. Remember how your mother nagged you to eat breakfast before going off to school? She always argued that you couldn’t concentrate without that toast, orange juice, and egg. Cholesterol worries aside, she instinctively cooked a breakfast designed to help stimulate memory, prevent fatigue, and deal with stress.

Dietary researchers are just beginning to understand how the foods we eat affect our brains. But it is clear that the nutrients in food can have a positive effect on our intellects.

While it is possible to purchase specially enhanced drinks or supplements, most nutritionists prefer to recommend a balanced diet. Registered Dietitian Rose Ann Hudson explains, "Your body actually absorbs nutrients from foods more efficiently than from a supplement because the nutrients work together to enhance absorption. Also, even a single food, like milk, can contain many different nutrients such as protein, calcium, and vitamin D."

Hudson, who has both a private and hospital practice in Maryland, warns that the key word is balance: too little of any nutrient causes stress throughout the body. But too much of one nutrient can interfere with absorption of another. In addition, getting enough brain nutrients might require you to avoid substances that don’t contribute to brain health. This means limiting or avoiding smoking as well as alcohol or caffeinated drinks, and cutting back on simple sugars. Instead, concentrate on foods that will give you the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants your body needs to maintain a healthy brain.

Antioxidants, which include vitamins A, C, E, and selenium, have recently been touted as a potent weapon against the cell damage created by free radicals, toxic substances produced by the body and possibly introduced through environmental hazards. Because antioxidants are believed to destroy free radicals in the brain as well as the body, they may protect against some of the deterioration that comes with age.

Antioxidants are actually quite easy to obtain; for example,a diet rich in vegetables like broccoli, kale, spinach, carrots, and orange squash naturally provides vitamins C and A. If you don’t like your vegetables, try getting these vitamins from fruits such as oranges, grapefruits, and pumpkin. Vitamin E can be consumed in the form of whole grains, nuts, seeds, and soybeans. Zinc and selenium may be obtained from many of these foods, too.

In addition to working as an antioxidant, vitamin C plays a role in the production of several different neurotransmitters in the brain. Neurotransmitters carry messages from one part of the brain to another, essentially functioning as a communication system within the brain itself. Without neurotransmitters, the brain cannot receive clear and coherent signals. Neurotransmitters manufactured with the help of vitamin C improve attention and memory while reducing fatigue and stress. The vitamin Bs also are important to neurotransmitter production. Serotonin and acetylcholine are just two of the many neurotransmitters that cannot be produced without B vitamins. In fact, deficiencies of B vitamins can lead to a variety of illnesses whose symptoms include depression and dementia.

The B vitamins are complex, often working together to maintain a healthy brain. The B vitamin known as choline aids in the production of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter of memory and learning. Vitamin B1, commonly known as thiamine, acts as acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter used in memory and learning. Niacin, or B3, increases circulation of oxygen and improves memory. Because niacin prevents blood clotting, it may protect the brain against damage from strokes.Vitamin B6 has been linked with learning ability; it also produces neurotransmitters norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine, which reduce stress. Vitamin B12 creates and maintains the protective sheath around nerve fibers; this vitamin also produces the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, implicated in memory and learning. It also enhances the action of folic acid, which protects against neural tube defects in newborns.

While many pregnant women are aware of folic acid’s role in preventing neural tube defects in their babies, few recognize its importance for their own health. Yet folic acid is responsible for an entire class of neurotransmitters, known as catecholamines, which stave off depression and anxiety.

Like other vitamins, Bs are naturally present in wholesome foods. You can — and should — get choline either from the occasional egg or from green leafy vegetables, peas, beans, cheese, liver, or fish. Because too much choline can cause diarrhea, direct supplements should be avoided. Whole grains, soybeans, and black beans are excellent sources of Vitamin B1. Whole grains, chicken, liver, beans, and many vegetables can provide the requisite amounts of B6. Chicken, liver, and fish all contain B3, as well. (If you choose to eat liver, buy organic in order to avoid the toxins that collect in that organ.) Vitamin B12 nestles in meats, fish, milk, eggs, and fermented-soy foods like tofu. Legumes, beans, whole grains, and broccoli all contain folic acid. Even some processed foods like sandwich bread or cereals are enriched with niacin and thiamine (check the labels). The addition of folic acid to enriched breads is currently under consideration and may soon occur.

Pass the Fat, Please
Despite their bad reputation, fats also are important to optimum brain health. They aid in the production of "messenger cells" within the brain. In particular, linoleic acid, also known as Omega 6, and alpha-linoleic acid or Omega 3 help the brain perform optimally. Recent evidence suggests that children need a minimum level of fat for proper brain development. Eating fish, which some cultures refer to as "brain food," provides Omega 3, and Omega 6 is present in primrose oil, sold in most health food stores.

Two amino acids, L-tyrosine and L-tryptophan, serve as precursors for essential neurotransmitters. L-tryptophan produces serotonin, a calming, sleep-inducing neurotransmitter. Found in bananas, milk, and sunflower seeds, L-tryptophan makes for an ideal bedtime snack. Its opposite number is L-tyrosine, required for norepinephrine and dopamine, two neurotransmitters that increase alertness. Meat, poultry, and tofu provide L-tyrosine.

Minerals Play a Part, Too
Minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium also help the brain to function properly. All dairy products contain calcium, and so do many of the leafy greens. Magnesium, which both relieves stress and balances calcium absorption, can be obtained from peanut butter or tofu. Potassium is found in bananas and potatoes.

Iron is probably the best known nutritive mineral. Without iron, the body cannot properly manufacture hemoglobin to carry oxygen into the brain. An iron deficiency can result in problems with memory, concentration, and reasoning. Raisins, red meat, tofu, and squash seeds are good sources of iron. If you choose to eat red meat however, buy naturally raised products. Red meat that is not naturally raised has been linked to the dementia known as "mad cow disease."

Let’s take another look at that breakfast your mother made you eat. Where are the hidden benefits in toast, orange juice and eggs?

Eggs, specifically their yolks, contain choline, helpful to memory and learning. A simple slice of whole wheat toast embodies a sophisticated amalgam of compounds that relieve stress and anxiety while simultaneously improving concentration. Like other whole grains, whole wheat contains B6 and folic acid which stimulate production of norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine to relieve stress. These nutrients also produce catecholamines to prevent anxiety and increase concentration. The orange juice is, of course, most famous for containing Vitamin C. Its reputation for curing colds has obscured the fact that its effects on the brain include preventing fatigue and loss of concentration. Vitamin C also boosts the body’s absorption of iron which, in turn, helps learning and reasoning.

So call your mother and tell her science has proven her right. Tell her that, from now on, you plan to eat a balanced breakfast every day!

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