Can dietary supplements improve brain function?

The diet has benefits for cognitive and emotional processes at every stage of life. The brain needs nutrients to build and maintain its structure, both to function harmoniously and to prevent premature aging. Dietary supplements aim to complement a normal and varied diet, compensating a certain nutritional absence and/or improving health conditions. Furthermore, they can be used to prevent depression, mental and physical fatigue, among other diseases. In this work, the more relevant groups of dietary supplements that have been suggested to protect the brain functions improve mood and wellbeing were revised, namely those containing ω-3 fatty acids, amino acids, vitamins, and antioxidants. The role of ω-3 fatty acids in cognition include the reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines synthesis, maintenance of cell membrane integrity and neuronal function, and reduction of β-amyloid. Amino acids are also very important because they convert directly into neurotransmitters (e.g. tryptophan into serotonin). In turn, vitamins can assist essential fatty acids to be incorporated into the brain and help amino acids conversion into neurotransmitters. Moreover, some vitamins (e.g. vitamin E) work as antioxidants. A wide range of other antioxidants are also available in the market, either in the form of pure compounds or, for instance, containing medicinal herbs (e.g. Curcuma longa and Ginkgo biloba). In this way, these dietary supplements, alone or combined, can be interesting tools to prevent deficits of certain nutrients and maintain the normal function of the brain.