Nutrition & the Developing Brain

The brain is a specialised tissue in which functionality depends upon the generation of electrical potentials and their conduction over long axonal components of cell-bodies and through the synaptic gaps between these cell-bodies. Nutrients and growth factors regulate brain development during fetal and early postnatal life. The rapidly developing brain is more vulnerable to nutrient insuffciency yet also demonstrates its greatest degree of plasticity. All nutrients are important for neuronal cell growth and development, but some appear to have greater effects during the late fetal and neonatal time periods. These include protein, energy, certain fats, iron, zinc, copper, iodine, selenium, vitamin A, choline, and folate. Nutrition and the Developing Brain reviews the evidence from animal and human research, emphasizing the influence of specific nutrients on brain function and cognitive development. With a unique, integrative approach to the nutritional, environmental, and genetic influences on brain development, the book inspects issues such as single versus multiple limiting nutrients, critical periods of deficiency, and the impact of the child-parent relationship on the architecture of the developing brain. The effect of undernutrition on the developing brain of infants and young children can be devastating and enduring. All life processes are subject to the influence of biological and nurturing factors and ultimately to their interplay. Brain growth and development and the functional outcome of these, behaviour, are no exception. During embryonic, fetal and early postnatal life, genetic determinants specify the fate of neuronal progenitors and their migration to brain regions. These genetic determinants also modulate synaptic signal transmission and contribute to the establishment and maintenance of the central nervous system. At the same time, environmental determinants play an equally critical role in shaping the neural configuration through postnatal synaptic blooming and pruning that incorporates ongoing experiences into the developing synaptic architecture of the brain. Nutrition is an environmental factor as it represents access to resources from the environment, but in contrast to other environmental resources like medical care, education or experiences, nutrition can directly modify gene structure and mediate the expression of genetic factors by providing the specific molecules that enable genes to exert their potential or targeted effects on brain growth and development.