I thought nutrition should be focused on more as part of
supporting brain development, since our focus on brain development has
primarily been on children’s experiences.
The following is from the website regarding the importance of nutrition
on the brain:
Brain development
is most sensitive to a baby's nutrition between mid-gestation and two years of
age. Children who are malnourished--not just fussy eaters but truly deprived of
adequate calories and protein in their diet--throughout this period do not adequately
grow, either physically or mentally. Their brains are smaller than normal,
because of reduced dendritic growth, reduced myelination, and the production of
fewer glia (supporting cells in the brain which continue to form after birth
and are responsible for producing myelin). Inadequate brain growth explains why
children who were malnourished as fetuses and infants suffer often lasting
behavioral and cognitive deficits, including slower language and fine motor
development, lower IQ, and poorer school performance.
A baby's birth weight--and brain size--do depend on the
quality of his or her mother's nutrition during pregnancy. Pregnant women
should gain about 20 percent of their ideal pre-pregnancy weight (e.g., 26
pounds for a 130-lb woman) to insure adequate fetal growth. This requires
consuming an extra 300 calories per day, including 10-12 extra grams of
protein.
After
birth, brain growth depends critically on the quality of a child's nutrition.
Breast milk offers the best mix of nutrients for promoting brain growth,
provided that breast-fed infants receive some form of iron supplementation
beginning around six months of age. (Most infant cereals are fortified with
iron, and breast-fed babies require this supplementation at six months whether
or not their mothers are iron-deficient.) Iron deficiency has been clearly
linked to cognitive deficits in young children. Iron is critical for
maintaining an adequate number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells, which in
turn are necessary to fuel brain growth. Bottle-fed babies should receive
formula that contains iron.
Because of the
rapid pace of myelination in early life, children need a high level of fat in
their diets--some 50 percent of their total calories--until about two years of
age. Babies should receive most of this fat from breast milk or formula in the
first year of life, and breastmilk remains an excellent source of liquid
nutrition into the toddler years. However, whole cow's milk can be introduced
after the first birthday, and provides an excellent source of both fat and
protein for toddlers in the second year. After two years of age, children
should begin transitioning to a more heart-healthy level of dietary fat (no
more than 30 percent of total calories), including lower-fat cow's milk (1 or
2%).
Learning about gender differences added new insights to me
regarding brain development. The
information this topic:
Neuroscientists have known for many years that the brains of
men and women are not identical. Men's brains tend to be more lateralized—that
is, the two hemispheres operate more independently during specific mental tasks
like speaking or navigating around one's environment. For the same kinds of
tasks, females tend to use both their cerebral hemispheres more equally.
Another difference is size: males of all ages tend to have slightly larger brains,
on average, than females, even after correcting for differences in body size.
Electrical
measurements reveal differences in boys' and girls' brain function from the
moment of birth. By three months of age, boys' and girls' brains respond
differently to the sound of human speech. Because they appear so early in life,
such differences are presumably a product of sex-related genes or hormones. We
do know that testosterone levels rise in male fetuses as early as seven weeks
of gestation, and that testosterone affects the growth and survival of neurons
in many parts of the brain. Female sex hormones may also play a role in shaping
brain development, but their function is currently not well understood.
Sex
differences in the brain are reflected in the somewhat different developmental
timetables of girls and boys. By most measures of sensory and cognitive
development, girls are slightly more advanced: vision, hearing, memory, smell,
and touch are all more acute in female than male infants. Girl babies also tend
to be somewhat more socially-attuned—responding more readily to human voices or
faces, or crying more vigorously in response to another infant's cry—and they
generally lead boys in the emergence of fine motor and language skills.
Overall, the website is a wonderful resource to use
in discovering a variety of new topics and gaining new insights regarding familiar
topics.
Jana,
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how much information children retain as their young minds are developing as opposed to older adults whose memory capacity seems to gradually fade with age. Although, new research studies show connections between brain plasticity and older adults. Mario Garrett, Ph.D. reports, "the brain has the ability to change throughout life by forming new connections between brain cells, and to alter function." (Garrett, 2013, para 1).
Great post!
Garrett, M. (2013). Brain plasticity in older adults. Psychology Today. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/iage/201304/brain-plasticity-in-older-adults
I have to agree with Tracey, brain development in young children is fascinating. Most do not realize how critical a child's first three years are. Thanks for sharing such useful information!
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