lunes, 2 de marzo de 2009

Review nº 3

Name: Cristina Soledad Guzmán
Source: www.economist.com
Date of publication: July 17th 2008


Review nº 3: Article ‘Food for thought’


In the era of junk food doctor Gomez-Pinilla gives a strong recomendation of eating healthy. It means that eating vegetables, fruit and fish will help us to develop our bodies and minds healthier. This view is not new but within the article ‘Food for thought’ from a publication of The Economist, this doctor also explains some properties of those kind of food and the risks of overeating them.
These days children are force-feeded by their pushy parents with Omega-3 oils at every opportunity because they are supposed to make children brainier. But there are many other nutrients which have proven cognitive effects not only in childhood but throughout a person’s life. Professor Fernando Gomez-Pinilla has analysed more than 160 studies of food’s effects on the brain, and he concludes that some foods can enhance congnitive abilities, protect the brain from damage and counteract the effects of ageing. Their effects are so profound that even the mental health of entire countries are linked to them. One of the needed nutrients is folic-acid which helps ward off the cognitive decline of ageing and depression, they are found in spinach, orange juice and Marmite. Antioxidants, like vitamin E, protect against the general effects of ageing and are found in vegetable oils, nuts, green leafy vegetables, and berries. Antioxidants can also protect the synaptic brain membranes, where the central parts of learning and memory take place. In this account, Omega-3’s benefits include improved learning and memory, and resistance to depression and bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dementia, attention-deficit disorder and dyslexia. It is found in oily fish such as salmon, walnuts and kiwi fruit.
This article is of public interest if we want to have a better life style and be informed of how to provide a healthy diet to our children. As the author says: “ Eating well, then, is one key to a healthy brain. But a word of warning – do not overeat”, that will undo all the good work of antioxidants, for example.
In conclusion, this article explains the benefits of eating healthy food like vegetables and fruits throughout our lives. Surely if we follow the doctor’s advice we would not need extra vitamin tablets or chemically altered food to keep our minds and bodies healthy. But the author also warns about the risks of overeating that food. Finally, I give a last advice quoting the author: “ why not put the Nintendo brain trainer away tonight, and eat your way to intelligence instead?”.

No hay comentarios: