Nutritional Interventions to Enhance Intellectual Development: Strategies, Key Nutrients, and Mechanisms

Intellectual development is a critical aspect of human growth. While a variety of factors contribute to intellectual development, nutritional interventions have emerged as a feasible approach to promoting intellectual development. However, a knowledge gap remains in consolidating the latest findings that connect nutritional interventions with the promotion of intellectual development. Thus, in this review a bibliometric analysis of research was conducted on the influence of nutritional interventions on intellectual development from 2002 to April 2025. It examined the methodologies employed in this field, evaluated the impact of various nutrients on cognitive development, elucidated the mechanisms by which nutritional interventions affect cognitive development, and forecasts future research trends in this domain. The results may steer the exploration of novel nutrient factors for enhancing functional intelligence, as well as provide a theoretical basis for further in-depth studies on the mechanisms underlying intellectual development.