Child nutrition expert, Ngozi Manukaji, has advised mothers to practice healthy feeding for their children, especially the younger ones who are more vulnerable to diseases, by including docosahexaenoic acid due to its nutritional benefits to the body, adding that 90% of brain growth and crucial aspects of its development occurs in the first five years of life.
She said: “This is a crucial window of opportunity to maximize a child’s learning potential through nutrition. Nutritional inadequacies during this crucial period of brain growth often lead to irreversible cognitive deficits cumulating in impaired work productivity in adulthood. Several nutrients in the diet are known to positively impact cognition and influence learning. Among all these nutrients however, docosahexaenoic acid in particular is recognized as essential for normal brain function. Docosahexaenoic acid is a major building block of the brain. It is the most abundant omega-3 poly-unsaturated fatty acid present in the brain and is found in oily fishes such as salmons, sardines and tuna.
According to Manukaji, including docosahexaenoic acid in a child’s daily diet contributes to brain development, which supports the sensual parameters, “Docosahexaenoic acid also improves a child’s visual recognition, positive effects on motor skill development in early childhood, problem solving ability, improvement in short-term memory, reasoning and cognitive speediness. Overwhelming evidence for the benefits of the acid comes from a recent research by health experts where they concluded that higher docosahexaenoic acid in children’s diet translates into better brain function, especially for cognitive and visual function.”