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Eur J Nutr (2008) 47[Suppl 3]:2537 DOI 10.1007/s00394-008-3003-x
SUPPLEMENT
David Benton The influence of childrens diet on their cognition and behavior
j Abstract The rapid growth of the brain and its high metabolic rate suggests that it is reasonable to consider whether their diet may inuence the cognitive development of children. To date although there are few nutritional recommendations that can be made with condence, there is a growing body of evidence that diet can inuence the development and
functioning of the brain. Several lines of evidence support the view that the diet of the mother during pregnancy, and the diet of the infant in the perinatal period, have long-term consequences. The provision of fatty acids has been the most studied aspect of nutrition, although the evidence is lacking that supplementation has long-term benets. There is increasing evidence that the missing of breakfast has negative consequences late in the morning and a working hypothesis is that meals of a low rather than high glycemic load are benecial. The aim is to introduce a range of topics to those for whom this area is of potential interest. Where appropriate the main themes and conclusions are
summarized and attention is drawn to review articles that allow those interested to go further.
j Key words breakfast brain development food intolerance malnutrition
D. Benton Department of Psychology University of Swansea Swansea SA2 8PP, UK
ILSI Europe a.i.s.b.l (&)
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IntroductionIts a very odd thing As odd as can be That whatever Miss T. eats Turns into Miss T.
Walter de la Mare
The poem expresses the truism that you are what you eat. It follows that a good diet may help development, whereas an inadequate diet has the potential to inuence adversely the rate and nature of the growth of the brain. A strong argument for considering
nutrition is that particularly in the nal third of gestation and the rst 2 years of life, but also throughout childhood, the brain develops rapidly placing demands on the diet to provide the building blocks from which it is formed. It follows that an inadequate diet has the potential to cause damage. Therefore, the effect of the provision of food will...