8. Text for Questions No. 4–8
Everybody has heard that eating carrots can help improve eyesight, or that calcium-rich milk is good for your teeth and bones. But what about the brain? From a neuroscientist’s perspective, food is really fundamentally important for brain health, because our brains literally run on nutrients,” says Lisa Mosconi, director of the Weill Cornell Women’s Brain Initiative and author of Brain Food: The Surprising Science of Eating for Cognitive Power. Brains need different nutrients as they age, and early childhood is a particularly __(a)__ time for brain growth, development, and health. “Even just in the first few years of life, the brain is really sprouting neurons at light speed,” says Mosconi, who’s also a neuroscientist. Overall, scientists __(b)__ around 45 nutrients that are key to brain health, including things like protein, zinc, iron, choline, folate, iodine, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and omega-3 fatty acids. Of course, the words “folate” and “choline” are not likely to make anyone’s mouth water—children or otherwise—so the trick is to target the foods that are naturally rich in the good stuff. Berries, plums, sweet potatoes, and fish are some of the good choices. In addition, consider adding oats, nuts, citrus fruits, beans, and __(c)__ to the menu.
The sentence, ‘A baby’s brain has more neurons, more brain cells, than there are stars in the Milky Way.’, should be placed as ….