By now we know that eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly can keep cardiovascular diseases at bay. But now researchers suggests that regular exercise and healthy diet can also ward off mental disorders.

Fernando Gómez-Pinilla, professor of neurosurgery and physiological at the University of California, Los Angeles, said, “Food is like a pharmaceutical compound that affects the brain.”

He said, “Diet, exercise and sleep have the potential to alter our brain health and mental function. This raises the exciting possibility that changes in diet are a viable strategy for enhancing cognitive abilities, protecting the brain from damage and counteracting the effects of aging.” Prof. Pinilla has been studying the effects of food, exercise and sleep on the brain from a long period.

The researchers analysed nearly 160 studies about food's affect on the brain and found that consuming omega 3 fatty acids, found in cold-water fish such as salmon and tuna, walnuts and kiwi fruit can provide many health benefits such as improving learning and memory and it also helps in fighting away mental disorders like depression schizophrenia and dementia.

The omega 3 fatty acid is also responsible for keeping the synapses in the brain healthy, which joins neurons and cause learning and memory.