It’s common knowledge that eating a healthy balanced diet and exercising regularly helps prevent heart disease and cancer – but you may not know that it also protects the brain and wards off mental disorders.

Omega 3 fatty acids — found in salmon, walnuts and kiwi fruit — provide many benefits, including improving learning and memory and helping to fight against mental disorders like depression and mood disorders, schizophrenia, and dementia, according to researchers who analysed over 160 studies about food's affect on the brain in the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

Omega 3 also keeps the synapses in the brain healthy, which connect neurons and cause learning and memory.

"Diet, exercise and sleep have the potential to alter our brain health and mental function,” says US neurosurgery Professor Fernando Gómez-Pinilla. “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 ageing."

He said that an Omega 3 deficiency has been linked to learning difficulties and memory problems, and is associated with increased risk of several mental disorders, including attention-deficit disorder, dyslexia, dementia, depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Children who get higher amounts of Omega 3 perform better at school, in reading and in spelling and have fewer behavioural problems.
And although Omega 3 is available through capsule supplements, getting it from food can be more beneficial, providing additional nutrients, Gómez-Pinilla said.

He added that blueberries have been shown to have a strong antioxidant capacity, and are another food that is highly beneficial to brain health.

Meanwhile, in contrast to the healthy effects of diets that are rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, diets high in trans fats and saturated fats negatively affect the brain.

Junk food and fast food negatively affect the brain's synapses, said Gómez-Pinilla, who eats fast food less often since conducting this research. Brain synapses, learning and memory are adversely affected by unhealthy diets, he said.

Another essential nutrient is folic acid, found in foods like spinach, orange juice and yeast. Adequate levels of folic acid are essential for brain function, and folate deficiency can lead to brain disorders such as depression.

Research also shows that getting plenty of Omega 3 fatty acids during pregnancy is essential for the baby’s brain. To find out more, Click Here.