The Russell Partnership:  news:  Food for the Brain:

Food for the Brain
Project goes Live

Major New Initiative to Promote the Link Between Children’s Nutrition and Mental Health

There’s been more than enough studies to show that multivitamins, essential fat supplements, low sugar, additive-free diets improve children’s learning and behaviour but what happens if you give a child all of this – optimum nutrition for the brain?

The Food for the Brain Schools Campaign aims to find out the impact, in a unique social experiment involving primary schools, of radically improving the children’s nutritional intake over a six month period. The campaign, supported by the National Association of Head Teachers and most of the leading charities in mental health, is the brainchild of nutritionist and psychologist Patrick Holford who formed Food for the Brain, a not-for-profit organisation, with the support and advice of some of the leading brains in psychology, brain chemistry, nutrition, education, psychiatry and the catering industry. “We want to change the whole culture around food, not just for the kids at school but also at home. We will be giving a daily multivitamin and essential fat supplement, and measuring the results in terms of behaviour, school grades, learning and IQ.” says Holford, Director of the Brain Bio Centre at the Institute for Optimum Nutrition.

The first school, a primary school in London for children with special educational needs, will receive a nutrition ‘makeover’ in April. This will involve workshops with both the kids and the parents, encouraging them to try out new foods, fresh fruit and water available every day at school, a ban on sugary drinks and snacks, and a super-healthy lunch menu. The children will also be encouraged to do exercises, which enhance coordination. Each child will be tested before and after, with a mid-point testing at three months. The second school will start after the summer holidays and run through till May ’07, when the children sit their SAT exams, to enable a comparison of SAT scores from one year to the next.

The Food for the Brain team includes Kerry Torrens, a nutritionist who has helped students in university improve their diet, nutritionist and kitchen wizard, Fiona McDonald Joyce, catering expert Professor David Russell, founding partner of The Russell Partnership - the UK’s leading strategic food consultants, educational psychologist Madeleine Portwood, and Deborah Colson, co-author of Optimum Nutrition for Your Child’s Mind (Piatkus, 2006), who treats children with mental health problems at the Brain Bio Centre in London.

Food for the Brain is working closely with contract caterers and innovative food, drink, health and wellbeing companies to create a sustainable result for other schools to follow. “It’s no good just proving what works’ says Holford “we want to make sure that schools can access school meals that maximise a child’s potential and that parents also have access to both the information and the kinds of food that makes a difference.”

The project is being filmed by Granada Media, with the Daily Mail as the print media partner.

Key Messages of the Food for the Brain
Schools Campaign

A substantial and convincing body of scientific evidence shows that what a child eats has a profound effect on their learning and behaviour. There are four consistent findings that form the basis of the FfB principles these are:

• A low glycemic load diet, low in sugar and refined carbohydrates, improves learning, attention and reduces anxiety and aggressive behaviour. Hence we recommend low GL foods and low/no sugar foods and drinks, flavoured water and diluted juices.
• A diet high in vitamins and minerals, and supplementation with vitamins and minerals, improves IQ and concentration. Hence we recommend wholefoods, rather than refined, fresh rather than highly processed.
• A diet high in essential fats, especially omega 3 essential fats, as well as supplementation improves attention and reading, and reduces anxiety and aggression. Hence we recommend eating oily fish and seeds.
• A diet low in chemical additives and allergic foods among those with allergies and chemical sensitivities improves learning, concentration and behaviour. (This factor is significant for a minority of children, not all, and therefore should not be applied across the board, but borne in mind for children with learning difficulties.) Hence we recommend additive-free food, and some wheat-free and dairy-free options, being among the most common allergens.

For further information visit:
www.russellpartnership.com and follow the link
or visit www.foodforthebrain.org

Nutrition Initiatives

The Russell Partnership, in association with Food for the Brain, has developed a unique Best Practice Nutritional Model and can provide a a first hand assessment of your nutritional rating, based on a site visit from our Nutritional Team, led by the Partnership’s own Nutritional Therapist, Fiona McDonald Joyce, Dip.ION, mBANT. For details see this document on the Commercial Nutritional Audit Model.

Our one-day workshop on the Commercial Application of Nutrition will enable your catering team to improve the nutritional quality of their food and successfully market these benefits to customers. For details of the workshop, see this document.