Diet, lipids and brain development

Brain development is a sequential anatomical process characterised by speci fic well-defined stages of growth and maturation. One of the fundamental an d necessary events in the normal development of the central nervous system in vertebrates is the formation of a myelin sheath, It is becoming more evi dent that this process is influenced by dietary lipids, A number of finding s have indicated that the administration of a diet deficient in essential f atty acids during development causes hypomyelination in the rat brain, Our studies have shown that lipids can also play a role in accelerating myelino genesis in the brain of rats whose mothers had been fed, during pregnancy a nd lactation, a lipid fraction extracted from yeast grown on n-alkanes. Fur ther studies have shown that accelerated myelinogenesis is connected to a p recocious appearance of behavioural reflexes, Thus, the use of particular l ipids in human nutrition must be carefully screened for possible effects on brain development. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG. Basel.