Lifelong impact of nutrition for brain health, WHO reveals

10 Aug 2022 --- A position paper from the World Health Organization (WHO) reveals five critical needs for optimized brain health throughout life. These factors include physical health, lifelong learning and social connection, healthy environments, access to quality services and safety and security.

“Brain health can be defined as the state of brain functioning across cognitive, sensory, social-emotional, behavioral and motor domains, allowing a person to realize their full potential over their life course, irrespective of the presence or absence of disorders,” Sarah Sheppard, department of communications, WHO, tells NutritionInsight.

“Many factors are known to have an impact on brain health at different stages of life such as perinatal, infancy, early childhood, adolescence, adulthood and older age,” Sheppard explains.

“We can improve our brain health throughout the lifespan, even in older age, by minimizing risk factors, as well as by enhancing protective factors that promote neuroplasticity, or the brain’s ability to grow, create new connections and recover or compensate for injuries.”

The study reveals that lifelong nutrition starts in the womb.Lifelong nutrition a key?
The paper titled Optimizing brain health across the life course, affirms that adequate nutrition from pregnancy to old age is essential for both early and continued brain development.

“Brain health determinants are all interconnected,” says Sheppard. “They can act at the individual and the societal level.”

“Nutrition impacts the brain in various ways across life, with both undernutrition and overnutrition negatively affecting brain health,” she underscores. “Eat a healthy, balanced diet – high in fruit, vegetables and fiber – and limit the intake of salt, sugar and alcohol.”

Important for the young
According to the publication, undernutrition and overnutrition in the mother can have dire consequences for brain development in utero, especially nutrient deficiencies. Moreover, conditions like maternal diabetes may also affect a baby’s neurodevelopment.  

“Early on, deficiencies of specific nutrients during pregnancy such as folate deficiency or maternal iron deficiency can cause congenital neural tube defects and impact neurodevelopmental outcomes in children,” Sheppard stresses.

“Breastfeeding is an important factor for brain development – not only because of its nutritional benefits but also for immune protection and mother-infant bonding which are vital for brain health.” 

Important for the old
Nutritional deficiencies have also been linked to dementia and cognitive decline later in life. However, maintaining a healthy weight and eating a healthy, balanced diet has been shown to reduce the risk of developing these neurological disorders.

“Unbalanced diets that are, for example, low in fruit, vegetables, and fiber and high in sodium have been linked to neurological conditions such as stroke, dementia,” Sheppard elaborates.

Sheppard states that maintaining a healthy weight and eating a balanced diet could prevent the onset of dementia and cognitive decline. 

“There are many things that people can do to help their brains,” she continues. “Things like being physically active, getting enough and good sleep and engaging in stimulating activities for the brain.”

“Finally: what’s good for your heart is good for your brain,” she says. “This includes managing cardiovascular risk factors well, but also reducing stress for example.”

It takes a village
Both Sheppard and the publication stress that maintaining adequate brain health for the individual’s lifespan will require an effort by the “whole of society.” These efforts would have to include education, health and social care, infrastructure and the environmental sectors.

“Brain health is a rapidly evolving field, benefitting from advances in neuroscience and technology,” elaborates Sheppard. “So there is an ongoing need to develop evidence-based guidance in the areas of promotion, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and rehabilitation of brain or central nervous system disorders.”

Sheppard concludes: “Extending the definition beyond conceptions of disease – or the absence thereof – by focusing instead on brain structure and functioning, means understanding brain health as a lifelong almost fluid continuum, ranging from well-being to disorders and disability, that gives room for improving brain function even in the presence of a brain disorder, which is a crucial element for the concept of optimizing brain health across the life course.”

By William Bradford Nichols