Food is closely linked to physical and mental health. For this reason, it is necessary to take the right vitamins and nutrients to protect the brain from cognitive deterioration and keep it always active. At least that’s what a nutritional psychiatrist from Harvard University says.

The relationship between the brain and the gut has its origin in the same cells of the embryo and they remain connected as the human being develops, he affirms.

For example, between 90% and 95% of serotonin, a neurotransmitter related to appetite regulation and other functions, is produced in the intestine.

If the diet is not healthy, inflammation of the intestine occurs, which affects the development of anxiety, lack of attention and diseases such as depression.

“You have the power at the end of your fork,” says Uma Naidoo, a nutritional psychiatrist at Harvard University School of Medicine (United States), in an interview with BBC Mundo.

The specialist is the author of This is your brain on food (“What food does to your brain”), a guide with foods that help mental health, the most harmful and those that you should try to avoid.

Naidoo, also director of nutritional and lifestyle psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, referenced the benefits of B vitamins in keeping the brain young and healthy, especially B12, B9 and B1.

The expert, then, pointed out some positive foods to reinforce the health of the brain and have a better state of mind.