Better Brain Health

Better Brain Health is a short, 2020 DW documentary film in which several health professionals and brain researchers describe the effects of food on the human brain by providing the results of several experiments. The documentary focuses on illustrating the positive and negative consequences of food on human behavior and several areas of the brain. The researchers shed light on the ramifications of frequent intake of processed and refined foods, other than diabetes and heart disease.
Synopsis
As the number of fast food chains and processed foods being sold increase, so does the attention towards the affects of these meals on the human body. A number of health professionals have taken part in various experiments and have researched the effects of food on the brain. The awareness of heart disease and diabetes is common, but the consequences on the brain are not as focused on. This documentary navigates through the various effects food can have on human behavior and emotions. Nutrition impacts the body from as early as development in the gestation period and continues to affect an organism throughout its life. This video highlights the parts of the brain which are affected by certain nutritional factors and brings awareness to the impact food can have.
Experiments
Food Intake during Gestation Period
* Professor Felice Jacka from the University of Melbourne conducted an experiment on 23,000 pregnant women where she followed their eating habits throughout their pregnancy. After the children were born, the researchers followed and observed each child’s behavior until the age of five. They found that women who ate unhealthy foods frequently during their pregnancy had children who were prone to have more tantrums and show more aggressive behaviors.
* In the plains of France, there was a dramatic decrease of the European hamster population, while there was a significant increase of them in areas with many corn fields. In these areas where corn was easily accessible, the researchers found that the female European hamsters showed aggressive behavior around their time to mate. Once their offspring were born, they even ate some them. After various tests and research, it was found that these hamsters were deficient in Vitamin B3. To experiment further, the researchers created a meal enriched with Vitamin B3 and introduced it to the female hamsters. As a result, the female European hamsters began expressing nurturing behaviors towards their offsprings. For a period of three months, the researchers gave the prisoners a meal enriched with minerals, vitamins, and fatty acids and observed their behaviors. As a result, the number of incidents decreased by approximately one third, and the number of prisoners placed in solitary confinement also decreased. The subjects of her study were rats. After feeding the rats with these readily available junk foods, she found a number of effects. First, the rats appeared to have doubled their food rations and appeared to never be satiated. She experimented by placing the rats fed with junk food in a box and analyzed their spatial memory. The results showed that the rats with this diet consisting of processed food displayed a memory impairment.
Neuron Activity
* Research in Bordeaux ,France recorded the electrical activity of a single neuron using specific machines to examine a slice of live mouse brain. The researchers found that there was more electrical activity displayed by the neuron when the glucose concentration of the bath was increased. This experiment suggested that glucose can modify areas of the brain which affect emotions and pleasure.
Reward Circuit
* Doctor Eric Stice from the Oregon Research Institute created an experiment to test how food affects the reward circuit. He and the team of researchers gathered one hundred students. Among these students, half frequently ate ice cream while the other half claimed to never eat it. The researchers placed the students inside an MRI machine and fed them a chocolate milkshake with a large tube. For the students who frequently had ice cream, the MRI machine displayed a diminished response. To the contrary, the MRI scan lit up and showed a large amount of activity for the students who rarely or never ate ice cream. He found that food choice for the flies relies heavily on their deficiencies. If the fly was deficient in protein or sugar, it tended to go for a food containing it. He also found that their decision was influenced by the bacteria in their gut.
Doctor Sophie Laye (University of Bordeaux)
Doctor Ap Zaalberg (Research Center of the Ministry of Justice, Netherlands)
Professor Margaret Morris (University of New South Wales, Sydney)
Professor John Cryan (University of Cork, Ireland)

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