Early Life Nutrition and Mental Health: The Role of DNA Methylation
Does the quality of our diet during early life impact our long-term mental health? Accumulating evidence suggests that nutrition interacts with our genes and that there is a strong association between the quality of diet and mental health throughout life. Environmental influences such as maternal di...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Nutrients |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/9/3111 |
| _version_ | 1797517735108804608 |
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| author | Rola A Bekdash |
| author_facet | Rola A Bekdash |
| author_sort | Rola A Bekdash |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Does the quality of our diet during early life impact our long-term mental health? Accumulating evidence suggests that nutrition interacts with our genes and that there is a strong association between the quality of diet and mental health throughout life. Environmental influences such as maternal diet during pregnancy or offspring diet have been shown to cause epigenetic changes during critical periods of development, such as chemical modifications of DNA or histones by methylation for the regulation of gene expression. One-carbon metabolism, which consists of the folate and methionine cycles, is influenced by the diet and generates S-Adenosylmethinoine (SAM), the main methyl donor for methylation reactions such as DNA and histone methylation. This review provides current knowledge on how the levels of one-carbon metabolism associated micronutrients such as choline, betaine, folate, methionine and B vitamins that play a role in brain function can impact our well-being and mental health across the lifespan. Micronutrients that act as methyl donors for SAM formation could affect global or gene methylation, altering gene expression and phenotype. Strategies should then be adopted to better understand how these nutrients work and their impact at different stages of development to provide individualized dietary recommendations for better mental health outcomes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T07:20:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-82192e92e6f044b589d6797b046f2994 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-6643 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T07:20:20Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nutrients |
| spelling | doaj.art-82192e92e6f044b589d6797b046f29942023-11-22T14:37:31ZengMDPI AGNutrients2072-66432021-09-01139311110.3390/nu13093111Early Life Nutrition and Mental Health: The Role of DNA MethylationRola A Bekdash0Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ 07102, USADoes the quality of our diet during early life impact our long-term mental health? Accumulating evidence suggests that nutrition interacts with our genes and that there is a strong association between the quality of diet and mental health throughout life. Environmental influences such as maternal diet during pregnancy or offspring diet have been shown to cause epigenetic changes during critical periods of development, such as chemical modifications of DNA or histones by methylation for the regulation of gene expression. One-carbon metabolism, which consists of the folate and methionine cycles, is influenced by the diet and generates S-Adenosylmethinoine (SAM), the main methyl donor for methylation reactions such as DNA and histone methylation. This review provides current knowledge on how the levels of one-carbon metabolism associated micronutrients such as choline, betaine, folate, methionine and B vitamins that play a role in brain function can impact our well-being and mental health across the lifespan. Micronutrients that act as methyl donors for SAM formation could affect global or gene methylation, altering gene expression and phenotype. Strategies should then be adopted to better understand how these nutrients work and their impact at different stages of development to provide individualized dietary recommendations for better mental health outcomes.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/9/3111brainepigeneticsmental healthmethyl donorsmethylationnutrition |
| spellingShingle | Rola A Bekdash Early Life Nutrition and Mental Health: The Role of DNA Methylation Nutrients brain epigenetics mental health methyl donors methylation nutrition |
| title | Early Life Nutrition and Mental Health: The Role of DNA Methylation |
| title_full | Early Life Nutrition and Mental Health: The Role of DNA Methylation |
| title_fullStr | Early Life Nutrition and Mental Health: The Role of DNA Methylation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Early Life Nutrition and Mental Health: The Role of DNA Methylation |
| title_short | Early Life Nutrition and Mental Health: The Role of DNA Methylation |
| title_sort | early life nutrition and mental health the role of dna methylation |
| topic | brain epigenetics mental health methyl donors methylation nutrition |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/9/3111 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rolaabekdash earlylifenutritionandmentalhealththeroleofdnamethylation |