Moms protect their grandkids’ brains by eating these foods

health

To Mark Laranilla

August 4, 2023 | 3:42 PM

The foods pregnant women eat can protect the brain health of their children and possibly their grandchildren.

That’s the conclusion of a new study that found that certain foods containing a molecule called ursolic acid can protect the brain health of the offspring of those who eat them.

Researchers were investigating how nerve cells become weakened and damaged over time, causing nerve deterioration and brain dysfunction.

“We asked whether natural products in the diet could stabilize these symptoms. [nerve cells] It prevents breakage,” said Professor Roger Pocock of Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. said in a news release.

Pocock’s team used roundworms as a test model for their research. Published in Nature Cell BiologyBecause some of the animal genes are also found in humans.

Researchers were able to find that foods high in ursolic acid caused the production of a type of fat that protects the parts of nerve cells called axons that transmit nerve signals.

“We found that ursolic acid turns on genes that make certain types of fat,” Pocock said. “This particular fat also prevented axonal fragility as animals age, by improving axonal transport and thus improving the animals’ overall health.”

Ursolic acid is found in apples and several common herbs such as basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and sage.

A specific type of fat, called a sphingolipid, travels from the mother’s intestine to the egg in the uterus, where it protects the next generation, and the axons that follow it.

“This is the first time that lipids/fats have been shown to be inherited,” Pocock said. “Furthermore, feeding sphingolipids to mothers protects axons in the next two generations.

“This means that a mother’s diet can affect not only her child’s brain, but potentially future generations as well. To support a healthy diet during pregnancy,” he added.

Other recent research suggests that nuts consumed during early pregnancy, specifically walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pine nuts, and hazelnuts, which contain healthy fatty acids, may help a child’s brain develop. I already know.

Women who ate about three handfuls of nuts a week gave birth to children with better memory, higher levels of attention and better thinking skills.

“The brain undergoes a series of complex processes during pregnancy, which means that maternal nutrition is a determinant of fetal brain development and can have long-term consequences.” study leader Florence Gignac said.

“We suspect that the observed beneficial effects may be due to the fact that nuts provide high levels of folic acid, especially essential fatty acids such as omega-3 and omega-6,” Gignac added.