Even as HSC Board examinations are commencing today, our in-house nutrition expert Dr Sujata Udeshi lists the dos and donts while preparing your children

Dear Doctor,

My son will soon be giving his board exams. He sits at home these days for studying. However, he wants to eat every hour. He eats anything from biscuits to noodles. I need to know the types of foods that I should be giving during his study period. Which are the foods that are good for brain activity?

—Kalpana Roshan, Vashi

Dear Kalpana, though the brain and nervous system together have an effect on many functions of the body through their transmission and message delivery ability, today let us focus on nourishment for brain’s attention, retention, thinking and learning capacities. A key strategy for tuning up the brain and nervous system is to provide your body with the nutrients it needs to make healthy nerve cells, to protect them from damage, and to enhance their ability to carry out their functions. The results can be astounding. You can boost your mental alertness, increase concentration, promote learning, enhance both short-term and long-term memory and keep your senses sharp. Your brain requires a constant source of high-quality nutrition. The brain is so metabolically active that a deficiency of any nutrient can lead to poor mental function. Since the neurons in your brain communicate through neurotransmitters, you need to supply your body with the raw materials needed to keep a constant supply of neurotransmitters available.

Nutrition affects the brain in three ways: The cell itself needs proper nutrition to carry on its functions just like any other cell in the body. The myelin sheath covers the axon of the cell like insulation covering electrical wires. It speeds transmission of electrical signals along the axons, the ‘wires’ of the brain. Deficiencies of nutrients that are important for the development of myelin sheath, such as essential fatty acids, delay nerve-impulse transmission.

The neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, carry messages from one cell to the other and affect mood as well as thoughts and actions. Some of the nutrients in the food we eat become part of the neurotransmitters that help us think. Neurotransmitters are probably the biological explanation for the food-mood connection.

Start off with a healthy breakfast: Breakfast means just breaking the overnight fast. Eating breakfast allows you to restock the energy stores that have been depleted overnight and begin the day with a tank full of the right fuel. If you don’t refuel your child’s body in the morning after an overnight fast, the child has to draw fuel from its own energy stores until lunchtime. The stress hormones necessary to mobilise these energy reserves may leave the child feeling irritable, tired, and unable to learn or behave well. A breakfast with the right balance of both brain stimulating and calming foods is recommended. Eating complex carbohydrates along with proteins helps to get a steady supply of energy for brain functioning and the amino acids from these protein, for the neurotransmitters to work better. The best way to eat for alertness is to have meals that contain protein, are low in fat, and have carbohydrates that won’t drag you down. Hence a paneer paratha or dal paratha or omelette with low ghee or oil fo
r breakfast will be a better choice than bread jam or sabudana kichadi.

Eat brain-friendly carbs: The demand for instant energy is high when brain has to constantly function. This is why kids or even adults pick up simple carbohydrate and high energy foods such as biscuits, chips and so on. But these simple sugars can adversely affect the thinking and actions of the child. These sugars enter the bloodstream quickly, reaching high levels in a short time. This triggers the release of large amounts of insulin, the hormone needed to escort the sugars into the body’s cells. These sugars are used rapidly, and when they’re all used up, the blood sugar levels fall down. The low blood sugar triggers the release of some other hormones that squeezes stored sugar from the liver, sending blood sugar levels back up. This blood sugar roller-coaster affects moods and concentration in some children and adults, leading to sugar highs and sugar blues. The ups and downs of blood sugar and adrenal hormones can also stimulate neurotransmitter imbalance, causing the child to feel fidgety, irritable, in
attentive, and even sleepy. Whole grains, pulses and fruits are our brain friendly carbohydrates.

Encourage grazing: To smooth out the blood-sugar mood swings, try the fine art of grazing. Let your child nibble, or graze, on nutritious foods throughout the day. Keep a supply of healthy snacks readily available. In fact, keep a nibble tray at the study table. A tray with bowls containing roasted chana, nuts, sprouts, fruits, khakras, roasted chiwda, salads can always be kept. Cooked snacks like idlis, wheat pastas etc can also be a part of the nibble tray. Encourage the child to sit and nibble from the tray frequently throughout the day, especially late in the morning and in the mid-to-late afternoon, when the fuel from the previous meal begins to wear off.

Food choice in a meal depends on the study pattern. Some kids study throughout the day and sleep at night whereas other kids can study best at night. Depending on this pattern kids need to choose foods to keep them alert and relax when needed. If the kid for example studies during the day he needs to keep his lunch light and can have the rice and dessert for dinner. Plenty of salads, vegetables, pulses, curds and rotis can be planned for lunch where as pulao, raita and ice cream can give him a relaxing sleep at night.

Smart Vs Dumb fats: Eating nuts and oilseeds will give the child his smart fats. To avoid dumb fats, avoid hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats. Read the package label and find out for such fats. The hydrogenation process produces trans-fatty acids which may affect brain function and health in two ways. The trans fats enter the cells of the central nervous system where they may compete with the action of natural fats, so that the nerves in the brain don’t function as well as they were designed to. Also, hydrogenation turns unsaturated fats into saturated fats, in which the fat molecules pack together tightly, like lard. Brain researchers worry that the same type of packing could occur in blood vessels, diminishing the blood flow to the brain. Adolescents tend to eat a lot of saturated fat foods and foods that contain hydrogenated fats (burgers, pizzas, vadapav etc). Also, due to pressure to please their peers and compete in athletics, teens often restrict their fat intake in order to keep fit and trim. 
During teenage growth spurts, adolescents need extra calories, and they should be nutritious ones. Most teens are over fed and undernourished, teen brains need more good fats (nuts, oilseeds and fish) and fewer fries.

Vitamins worth considering: Here are some of the vitamins which have been shown to affect learning:

Vitamin C is required by the brain to make neurotransmitters. In fact, the brain has a special vitamin C “pump” that draws extra vitamin C out of the blood and concentrates it in the brain. Oranges, lemons, tomatoes and alike should be a part of everyday diet Vitamin B12 is vital to maintaining healthy myelin, the tissue that covers and insulates nerve tissue. Non vegetarian foods are the main sources.

Vitamin B6 deficiency causes hyper-irritability and fatigue. Banana, nuts, fish are some sources of B6.

Folic acid deficiency seems to affect neurotransmitter function, resulting in symptoms associated with depression. Vegetables especially leafy vegetables are high in folic acid. Pulses, spices, nuts and oilseeds are again good sources.

Don’t depend on tea /coffee. While caffeine can give you an immediate energy boost, its effects are short-lived. Overdo it and you’ll feel even worse...jittery, restless, irritable, and unable to relax: definitely not how you want to be feeling during an exam! Limit yourself to 2 small cups of tea /coffee per day.

No packaged foods: Especially resist the pressure of packaged foods (which are nutrient poor and loaded with hydrogenated fats) and aerated drinks and juices which are loaded with sugar, artificial colorings and chemicals that can rob the brains and bones of the growing teens of their proper functioning.

Water: Not drinking enough fluids can leave you with a headache or feeling light-headed. Keep yourself hydrated by drinking plenty of water while you’re studying.

Go get some fresh air: Some people can get a bit too sedentary around exam time and only emerge from their bedrooms or study areas on rare occasions. This is not a good idea. A bit of the great outdoors can keep your mind fresh and the batteries charged. If you play sport or exercise regularly, don’t give it up completely - a good workout can leave you feeling revitalised and ready to hit the books again with renewed vigour. Even if you are not a great exerciser at the best of times it is still a good idea to take regular walks around the garden just to clear your head and give the brain a rest.

Sleep Well: Get a good sleep to recharge your brain. Sleep is vitally important when you are revising. Worrying about exams can make sleeping more difficult. Try to get into a routine of going to bed and getting up at the same time each day. Keep the area where you work separate from where you sleep.

Dr Sujata Udeshi (Ph.D, Food Science and Nutrition)

Sujata Udeshi/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication