I just watched a documentary titled Better brain health: we are what we eat. I know I watched it a couple of summers ago because my cable provider has it on demand every now and then. I remembered some of the things stated in the film as they made an impression but this time it's been like seeing a horror movie.

As you can guess by the title, the documentary focus on how our food intake affects our brain. It's been known for decades now how our bodies react to food, even though we are still learning a lot on that matter but the relationship between food and brain is a fairly newer field of study. I'll try to share here some of the most important things I've taken out of this viewing. I won't mention absolutely any medical terms or names on one hand because I have absolutely no education regarding that and on the other hand because I probably couldn't remember or write properly a single one of those terms even to save my life. Also, please keep in mind that because it is a fairly new field, some of these experiments have been done on mice but not yet on people (at least when the documentary was filmed).

• Our relationship with food starts at the womb and it can shape our brains from the very beginning. This goes on to childhood and, of course, adulthood.
• People with poorer diets seem to be more prone to anxiety and aggressive behaviours and also poorer decision making. This change in behaviour can be traced even mere hours after eating a meal. If we eat 3-5 times a day it turns out our entire day (mood, decisions taken, anxiety levels, etc) can in no small part be shaped by what we eat. This is independent from the long-term effects.
• Physical change can be observed in our brains. Some parts may shrink or have inflammatory responses to certain food intake.
• There are specific cells in our brains that are in charge of eating dead neurons. When deregulated, this cells can start attacking healthy, functional neurons.
• Mice being fed a fast food type of diet tend to increase their food intake and even double it as they don't feel satiated.
• Sugar is suspected to be able to change the response of entire brain areas. This may be the core of how sugar addiction works.
• When given a choice between sugary water and a hard drugs solution, rats chose the sugary drink four times more often than the drugs.
• The more sugar you consume, the more you'll need to consume as time goes by in order to have a similar reward response in your brain (does this sound similar to some other kind of substances?). On the other hand, the more sugar you consume, the more your reward responser will be in anticipation to eating sugar.
• When choosing their diet, flys are influenced by the bacteria in their guts. Research is being conducted to better understand the connection between this bacteria and neurons.

As it's common in science right now there are more questions than answers. Studies and research are being conducted in several places regarding the connection between food and our brains. So far there seems to be a consensus about the existence of such a connection. 

I think keeping track of this kind of research or trying to learn a little bit more about it could be beneficial for anyone. I know for certain that I find it quite interesting. If any of you feel like looking it up online please always remember to use trusted sources and contrast them.

As always, thanks for reading.