title: Nutrients affecting brain composition and behavior.
abstract: This review examines the changes in brain composition and in various brain functions, including behavior, that can follow the ingestion of particular foods or nutrients.  It details those that are best understood:  the increases in serotonin, catecholamine, or acetylcholine synthesis that can occur subsequent to food-induced increases in brain levels of tryptophan, tyrosine, or choline; it also discusses the various processes that must intervene between the mouth and the synapse, so to speak, in order for a nutrient to affect neurotransmission, and it speculates as to additional brain chemicals that may ultimately be found to be affected by changes in the availability of their nutrient precursors.  Because the brain chemicals best known to be nutrient dependent overlap with those thought to underlie the actions of most of the drugs used to treat psychiatric diseases, knowledge of this dependence may help the psychiatrist to understand some of the pathologic processes occurring in his/her patients, particularly those with appetitive symptoms.  At the very least, such knowledge should provide the psychiatrist with objective criteria for judging when to take seriously assertions that particular foods or nutrients do indeed affect behavior (e.g., in hyperactive children).  If the food can be shown to alter neurotransmitter release, it may be behaviorally-active; however, if it lacks a discernible neurochemical effect, the likelihood that it really alters behavior is small.
authors.affiliation: Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Wurtman
mesh_terms: D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D001519:Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D001692:Biological Transport / Q000502:physiology; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000187:drug effects*; D002395:Catecholamines / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D002794:Choline / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D012701:Serotonin / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism*; D014364:Tryptophan / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014443:Tyrosine / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D002395:Catecholamines; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D004044:Dietary Proteins; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents; D012701:Serotonin; D014443:Tyrosine; D014364:Tryptophan; D002794:Choline; D000109:Acetylcholine