Eating a well-balanced and healthy diet is important to build and maintain a healthy body and brain. Your brain requires oxygen and nutrients to develop, grow and function properly. If you do not consume the right nutrients in sufficient amounts, then you may not have a healthy brain function. Specific foods rich in vitamins can be good for a healthy brain.
Foods Rich in Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fatty acids that play an important role in normal growth and development and proper brain function. These fats are not produced by your body, therefore you must consume them from food. Good foods to eat include fatty fish, such as salmon, herring, halibut, mackerel and sardines. You can also obtain these fats in walnuts, flaxseed, and flaxseed oil. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, omega-3 fatty acids are important for your brain memory, brain performance and behavioral functioning. You can talk to your doctor if you think you can benefit from a supplement.
Foods Rich in Omega-6 Fatty Acids
Omega-6 fatty acids also belong to the essential fatty acids group because your body cannot produce them. Therefore, you must get them from your diet. These fats also play an essential part in normal growth and development and proper brain development and functioning. You can boost your intake of these fats by consuming vegetable oils such as safflower oil, soybean oil and corn oil. They are also present in Brazil nuts, pine nuts and pecans.
Foods Rich in Vitamin B6
Vitamin B6, or pyridoxine, aids your body to produce neurotransmitters, chemical substances that transport body signals between nerves. This vitamin is essential for proper development and function of the brain, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. It helps produce serotonin and norepinephrine, two chemicals that influence your mood. If you do not consume enough of this vitamin, you may experience nervousness, depression, concentration difficulty, and loss of short-term memory. The University of Maryland Medical Center says that the recommended daily intake for this vitamin is 1.3 mg for adults. You can find this vitamin in many foods including brown rice, sunflower seeds, lentils, beans, spinach, carrots, cheese, milk, salmon, shrimp, chicken, turkey and beef liver.
Foods Rich in Folate
Folate is a B vitamin that can occur naturally in some of the foods you eat. You can also obtain this vitamin as a supplement called folic acid. Folate is important to help your body make and maintain healthy new cells and therefore aids in cell growth during infancy and pregnancy. Women who become deficient in folate and are pregnant increase the risk of having a premature or low-birth weight baby, or having a baby with neural tube defects. Neural tube defects is a condition that occurs during pregnancy in which the spinal cord, brain or tissues that surround the brain or spine do not properly develop. The result can be anencephaly, in which most of the skull and brain are absent; encephalocele, in which the brain is partially on the external surface of the skull; or spina bifida, in which the spine forms outside the body surface. The recommended daily intake for folate is 400 ug per day for adult males and females, according to the National Institutes of Health. You can find this food naturally in foods such as spinach, turnips, oranges, lemons, limes, dried beans and peas. Some foods are also fortified with folate, including cereal grains and breads.
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