It’s Your Health: Brain food for children

Proper nutrition fuels the brain and this is especially important for children. To provide optimal brain function, they need a healthy variety of food. Unfortunately, many parents fail to realize that children’s developing brains are extremely sensitive and require a vast range of special nutrients.

Research indicates that food allergies and toxic influences could contribute to the alarming increase in children’s learning and behavioral disorders.

With the rise in genetic modification and nutritional depletion of our present diet, it’s imperative that parents create a plan to ensure that their children receive the appropriate nutrition for a healthy foundation and future.

Many healthcare providers and nutritionists recommend balanced essential fatty acid supplementation for children with conditions such as atopic (allergic) disorders, learning disabilities, and ADHD.

One proponent, Dr. Michael R. Lyon, Canadian Nutritional Medicine’s Medical and Research Director and author of Is Your Child’s Brain Starving? Food, Not Drugs for Life and Learning, found conclusive evidence in his study of 76 ADHD children. Over 80 percent had deficiencies in the omega three fatty acid DHA (fish oils) and about one in five lacked adequate six fatty acid, GLA, found in evening primrose oil.

Recent research from Oxford University seems to concur. Scientists discovered that children with behavioral or learning problems responded positively to a combination of tuna oil and evening primrose oils. Thus, Dr. Lyon predicts that fatty acid supplementation will soon be one of the most critical treatment components for learning and behavioral situations.

Through his research and in his clinical practice, Dr. Lyon has also determined that kids with learning or behavioral problems lack other “brain critical” nutrients such as folate, B12, B6, thiamine, iron magnesium, zinc, calcium, and several trace elements — all key for cognitive health. He suggests an increase in the following:

• Folate: Orange juice/oranges, strawberries, avocado, beans (kidney, black, navy), spinach, asparagus, peanuts, whole grain and fortified breads and breakfast cereals.

• B12: Low fat dairy (milk, yogurt), clams, trout, salmon, tuna, lean beef, pork, chicken, eggs.

• B6: Whole grain, fortified breads, breakfast cereals, oatmeal, poultry, fish, lean meat, beans, sunflower sees, while potato, bananas, tomatoes, peanuts, soy products (soy beans, tofu, low fat soy milk).

• Thiamine (B1): Whole grain, fortified breads, breakfast cereals, wheat germ, fish, pork, beans, peas, and soy products.

• Iron: Lean beef, liver, shrimp, clams, turkey, white potatoes, beans, lentils, black strap molasses, and the aforementioned grains, breads, and cereals.

• Magnesium: Almonds/almond butter, cashews, brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, spinach, and soy products.

• Zinc: Poultry, lean beef, oysters, low fat cheese, yogurt, beans, nuts, and the breads, cereals, grains.

• Calcium: Low fat dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese), calcium fortified tofu, soymilk, calcium fortified breakfast cereal, and cereal bars.

Dr. Lyon concludes that building a foundation for a successful future must include sound nutrition since the brain is composed completely of nutrition. Not only learning and behavioral puzzles, but also distressing increases in obesity, allergic diseases, and other maladies can all be linked to unhealthy diets. He declares, “Parents who truly care must make and take the time to learn, discover, and apply what it really takes to properly feed their child’s precious brain.”

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Kay Sager is a certified fitness and aquatic specialist living at Port of the Islands. She is a personal trainer using land and water fitness and teaches swimming. She also has written articles for Physician and Sports Medicine among other publications. Kay can be reached by e-mail: kswimfit@aol.com.