We all are very well aware with the fact that balanced diet and regular exercise are the key to healthy way of living, which keeps the cardiovascular diseases at a bay.

However, a new discovery has further put forward more advantages of healthy diet, which is that it also helps to prevent mental disorders.

The consumption of Omega 3 fatty acids, which are found in cold-water fish such as salmon and tuna, walnuts and kiwi can promise you with many health benefits such as improving learning and memory and further it also provide immunization against disorders like depression, mood disorders, schizophrenia and dementia. The researchers arrived at this conclusion after they had analyzed nearly 160 studies about food’s affect on brain.

“Food is like a pharmaceutical compound that affects the brain,” said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, professor of neurosurgery and physiological at the University of California, Los Angeles. The man had been studying the effects of food, exercise and sleep on the brain from a quite some time now.

He further added that healthy diet, exercise and complete sleep have a potential effect on our mental and brain health.

“This raises the exciting possibility that changes in diet are a viable strategy for enhancing cognitive abilities, protecting the brain from damage and counteracting the effects of aging,” he expressed.

Omega 3 fatty acids are quite beneficial as they also help in keeping the synapses in the brain healthy. Synapses have the crucial function to join neurons with each other, resulting in learning and memory.

Prof. Gomez-Pinilla, who himself is the frequent consumer of omega 3 fatty acids feels that these acids are vital for normal brain-functioning.

He said, "Dietary deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids in humans has been associated with increased risk of several mental disorders, including attention-deficit disorder, dyslexia, dementia, depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. A deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids in rodents’ results in impaired learning and memory" he added.

However, omega- 3 fatty acids are readily available in markets in the form of capsules, but the researcher suggests obtaining them from the natural food sources mentioned.

A study conducted on children in England, Australia and Indonesia resulted in the conclusion that omega-3 improved their school performance in reading and in spelling and fewer behavioral problems.

The researcher also emphasized on the benefit of consuming blueberries that have a strong antioxidant property and thus helps in preventing brain from getting damaged from oxidative damage.

Folic acid found in spinach, yeast and orange juice also has been found to be helpful in proper functioning of brain and deficiency of this essential nutrient can lead to brain disorders such as depression.

Omega-3 fatty acids have been known for preventing heart ailments. But the various studies conducted on this food compound have shown that it also helps in reducing the risk of developing certain cancers, neurological disorders and complications from metabolic syndrome and diabetes.

Laura J. Stevens of Dept. of Foods and Nutrition, Purdue University and colleagues in 1996 found that young children who had the deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids showed more problems with behavior, learning and health. Thus it is clear that omega-3 fatty acids do play a really important role in children’s diet.

On the other hand, excess of junk food has a negative effect on our health, thus exposing us to number of deadly diseases, such as heart attacks, strokes and also an adverse effect on synapse of brain.