The article below is actually a paper I wrote for my educational psychology class. The class is a life-span class that looks at how all factors can affect the development of people ages 1 day to 100 years old. Pretty fascinating stuff for someone who plans to have children someday.

The assignment was to give a presentation on a research article based on the topic of our choice - I chose to look at how nutritional intake can affect the biological, emotional and cognitive development of children. I have always suspected that there may be some correlation between malnutrition and developmental problems.

My research paper confirmed these suspicions to an extent, however it is very difficult to prove completely due to the number of other factors and the large time frame we are examining. Below is the paper in its entirety, parents-to-be should be taking notes!

The Review

As a self-professed "biology geek", I find the operation of the human body to be a fascinating subject. As I have gained an advanced knowledge of both nutrition and physiology/biology, I have come to believe that so many of society's problems today stem from one simple fact - the vast majority of people are not eating well balanced diets I just cannot imagine that children living off high-fat, low-nutritional-value diets are able to develop as well as children who are raised eating healthy foods from the beginning.

I chose the topic, "How does nutrition effect emotional development" because it is a subject that I felt would be of interest both to me, as well as the class which is full of potential parents, as well as some who already have young children.

Our textbook offers some information about the importance of proper nutritional intake in the early years as related to obesity - noting that obesity can be a cause of self esteem issues in young children. Self esteem issues can certainly lead to other problems down the road, a child distracted by his or her own weight problems may suffer in school because he or she is unable to focus on the work due to constant teasing or fear of being ostracized by their peers.

I hoped to find more specific information about how certain nutrients could cause specific behavioral issues when not consumed in sufficient quantity. The article I chose to review is by psychobiologist Patricia E. Wainwright, from the journal Nutrition Reviews which discusses the subject in great detail, in physiological terms. I will attempt to summarize it in a comprehensible manner.

The introduction to the article discusses the basic physiology of what the article examines - we will be taking a look at how specific nutrients interact with the nervous system development process, and how this may potentially affect the behavior patterns of a neonatal infant. It is implied that studying specific interactions can be quite difficult, as you are attempting to tie neural development with actual behavior - a very complicated subject. We also learn that due to the brain's "plasticity", it can tolerate a high level of neural deficiency and still function normally. An example of this given is that Parkinson's disease requires an excess of 80% loss in the dopaminergic neurons before symptoms will occur.

The first segment of the article discusses the effects of protein and carbohydrates on levels of various amino acids in the body such as tyrosine and tryptophan, and looks at how these proteins interact with the brain. It is thought that a diet deficient in proteins and carbohydrates will lead to reduced levels of said amino acids.

We learn that serotonin, the neurotransmitter released by tryptophan is an important developmental signal in brain development, and may regulate epithelial cell growth in neurons. There is also speculation that it helps regulate sensory and motor processes, as well as motivation - which is an important requirement for learning to take place. Memory and emotion are also affected by serotonin, two obviously important parts of the learning process which could be negatively affected. The next part of the article discusses the essential fatty acids, ?-3 and ?-6. These important nutrients are thought to be what enables such "plasticity" in the brain, and are important precursors to over twenty other fatty acids which are all required for proper brain function.

The omega-3 fatty acids seem to have the most important role in neural development, and a shortage can cause retinal function to be impaired. Dopamine and serotonin uptake can also be affected by a lack of these acids, and deficiency of both has been associated with growth retardation and cognitive development problems. It is theorized that breast milk may provide a more complete range of these nutrients that are better absorbed by the body.

Another area the article looks at is the trace elements, such as zinc, copper and iron. Zinc and iron are the two most common trace elements found in the brain, and both very important to development.

We learn that zinc deficiency can lead to impaired learning, poor memory and even reduced activity. Iron is an important part of the central nervous system as it helps to produce the myelin which insulates and speeds up neural pathways. It is also an important component of many of the enzymes used to send signals throughout the nervous system. Choline is another important vitamin that plays a major role in the nervous system, affecting attention and memory. It is thought that dietary choline can actually increase memory capacity.

Other vitamins and minerals such as the B vitamins and vitamin C have not been studied enough to form a strong conclusion on their effects on neural development.

In chapter 11, the textbook discusses how emotional development can be affected by nervous system disruption. We learn that diseases such as attention defecit disorder, ADHD, learning disorders and even autism can be caused by problems with brain or neural development at an early age.

In the end, we learn that the various nutrients we consume interact with each other on very complex levels, often inhibiting or exciting the release of other enzymes or amino acids in the system. This makes it very difficult to pin down a specific path of singular nutrient deficiency to behavioral problems. This is partly due to the fact that translating neural structure and activity to a measurable behavior outcome is a no easy task.

We have learned that nutrient deficiencies, even though not tied to a specific behavioral issue, can still be linked to more basic system problems. These include memory, emotion, motivation, cognitive ability, physical activity level and even happiness. So it is probably reasonable to think that a combination of deficiencies in these areas could lead to behavioral problems later in life. However, the article also clearly states that the brain is a very flexible and adaptable organ (hence the term "plasticity"), and that it is possible for the brain to recover from these deficiencies (at least in a purely physical neurological sense) as time passes. It would be my recommendation that nutritional intake be monitored for everyone, with the abundance of tools out there to do so (many of them free on the internet), who wants to take a chance with their child's health and development?

Quick Glance At Deficiency Symptoms

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