Kids Health and the Human Brain

In many ways, today's children are as busy as today's adults, leaving little time for balanced, sit-down meals. And as important as proper nutrition is for healthy adult lifestyles, it's even moreso for kids. There's no other time in life where a healthy diet will have the strongest impact than childhood, as 80 percent of the human brain is fully developed by 2 years old.

Proper nutrition is an essential aspect of overall health and brain function for kids and adolescents. What makes this so important is the fact that brain development occurs at a rapid pace during childhood; however, the process isn't complete until late adolescence. In order to nurture this development, all of the essential vitamins and minerals must be provided within a child's daily diet. Any deficiencies risk the possibility of your child developing physical, emotional or behavioral problems later in life.

From birth to 2 years old your child's brain is developing as many as 250,000 neurons per minute. The pathways needed to connect these neurons together so they can communicate are also being developed. As your child continues to take in sensory information, these neural pathways learn to transmit new stimuli to and from different areas of the brain. How fast this information travels will depend on how well his neural pathways are insulated. Kids' health and nutrition during these years will determine how strong these brain centers will be.

Glial cells are another component of the brain under development during childhood. These are the cells that nourish and support neurons, as well as insulate the pathways in between them. Balanced diets containing specific nutrients work to feed the brain's nutritional needs during this time. Proteins, irons, iodine and omega-3 fatty acids provide the vitamins and minerals needed for a kid's healthy development. B vitamins, zinc and folate are also necessary for healthy neural and motor functions.

In order to make the most of a nutritional diet, childhood development requires ongoing sensory stimulation to help build the connections taking place within the brain. Whenever a parent reads to or plays with her child, she is helping to build and refine the growing pathways within her child's neural system. Without sensory experience, a kid's mind has little to work with in terms of understanding and forming relationships within his world. These experiences are essential to a child's cognitive makeup.

It's not uncommon to view malnutrition as a problem that mainly occurs in Third World countries. However, diets that consistently lack essential nutrients can have the same malnourished effects on a kid's health, and especially her brain development. The prevalence of emotional and psychological problems among young people may have as much to do with their daily dietary intake as it does genetics or dysfunctional family dynamics. With emotional responses being so heavily reliant on chemical processes within the brain, it only takes one mineral deficiency to throw this system out of balance.