NUTRITION FOR THE DEVELOPING BRAIN
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT The human brain grows and develops fastest before the age of five years. The quality of a child's nutrition within the first few years of life, affects the brain development. E arly brain development creates a lasting impact on a child’s ability to learn and achieve in life. At birth, the average baby’s brain is a quarter of the dimensions of the typical adult brain. Interestingly, it doubles in size within the first year. It gets to about 80% of adult size by age 3years and 90% by age 5. The early years present the best opportunity for a child’s brain to develop the connections needed for the child to learn skills and knowledge to become a successful adult. The connections needed for many important, higher-level abilities like motivation, self-regulation, problem solving and communication are formed in these early years. If they are not properly formed during this time, it becomes more difficult for these essential brain conne...