Brain food - fish and whole grains improve powers of concentration

By Martin Faber Jan 9, 2012, 3:06 GMT

Munich - On our way to a business meeting we often grab some chocolate, during the short break a sweetened coffee and for lunch a snack like a hot dog with ketchup. Life is stressful, and eating is often reduced to simply taking in nutrients. The brain needs sufficient energy in order to kick into gear when you hit the button.

All too frequently the energy is sourced from sweet and fatty foods, as they are readily available and have an appealing taste - but is this real brain food? The brain does tend to prefer a bar of chocolate to an apple, as apples contain less of the glucose that is a major source of energy for the brain.

'In situations of stress, the desire for something sweet increases with the quantity of stress hormones produced,' says Ingrid Kiefer, a Vienna-based dietary expert.

Sugars are divided into monosaccharides and polysaccharides, depending on the length of the carbon chain. Monosaccharides, of which the most important is glucose, are contained in sweets, which provide a rapid supply of sugar to the bloodstream.

'If you eat a chocolate, your blood sugar level soars quickly and a lot of the happy hormone serotonin is formed in the brain. But this effect also falls away rapidly,' Kiefer says. The result is a sudden feeling of fatigue, with a resulting effect on the body that is anything but energizing.

Sugars should thus be taken in the form of polysaccharides, or so-called complex carbohydrates. 'Because they still have to be broken down in the digestive system, the blood sugar level is kept more constant, and with it the ability to concentrate,' Kiefer says.

Complex carbohydrates are primarily to be found in whole grain products, oats, potatoes, legumes like peas and beans, and in fruit and vegetables.

The nerve cells in the brain need unsaturated fatty acids if they are to provide a free flow of information. 'Omega-3 fatty acids in particular help ward off events like strokes and clogged arteries,' says Andrea Flemmer, a Munich-based biologist. These 'good' fatty acids are to be found in many nuts and in peanuts, oils like linseed, rape and nut oils, as well as in cold water fish like herring, mackerel, tuna and salmon.

The vitamins A, C and E - the antioxidant vitamins - also form an important component of brain food. 'They eliminate the oxygen radicals that are held responsible for damaging cells and thus offer protection to nerves and blood vessels,' says Berlin-based dietician Manuela Marin.

Deficiency in these vitamins can lead to nervousness, irritability, fatigue and lack of drive. 'Strawberries and kiwi fruit are ideal, as they contain more Vitamin C than oranges,' Flemmer says.

The Vitamin B Group is also essential for good nerves, as they protect brain and nerve cells and stimulate the formation of new nerve tissue. Vitamin B can be found in yeast, wheat germ and beansprouts, liver and in avocados and bananas. Bananas effectively counter stress, as they, like chocolate, contain the protein tryptophan, which the body converts into serotonin.

'But, by contrast with chocolate, bananas contain complex carbohydrates, and this lends them a relaxing effect and provides the basis for more long-lasting ability to concentrate,' Flemmer says.