Dietary Lipids for Healthy Brain Function

Research suggests that lipids including cholesterol, fat soluble vitamins and some carotenoids participate in maintaining brain function. This book focuses on how nutrients can improve brain development in early life leading to slower age related decline of higher brain functions. Chapters review how nutrients affect brain and cognitive development; cognitive decline and age-related disease; as well as neurological, mental, and behavioral disorders.

Claude Leray, PhD, earned his PhD in biology from Marseille University, France, in 1968. During and after this first research period, he specialized in fish biology. In 1971, he joined the faculty at the Department of Biology, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he held the rank of associate professor for three years. In 1974, Dr. Leray joined the National Center for Scientific Research as research director, at the University of Strasbourg, France, where he developed works on fish, focusing on the influence of dietary lipids on the gill and intestine membrane composition, mainly in the context of the animal salinity changes.

He collaborated on several projects including the importance of n-3 fatty acids in the physiology of rat adipose tissue (Ecology and Energetic Physiology Center, National Center for Scientific Research, Strasbourg) and human platelets (Blood Transfusion Center, National Institute of Health and Medical Research, Strasbourg). His main fields of interest are fatty acids and phospholipids. Dr. Leray has published extensively in the field of lipid and membrane biochemistry. He is the founder and creator of the website: www.cyberlipid.org. He published two books on lipidomics: one in French (Les lipides dans le monde vivant—Introduction a la lipidomique, Lavoisier, 2010) and one in English (Introduction to Lipidomics— from Bacteria to Man, CRC Press, 2013). Recently, he published a book in French on the relationships between lipids and health (Les Lipides—Nutrition et Sante, Lavoisier, 2013).