Berries = Better Brains

Usually the stuff I love to eat isn’t healthy to eat, like ice cream. But I love berries, all kinds of berries, and this article by Beth Fontenot in the Atlantic, which I originally read on the Lumosity.com Facebook site, says that “Berries may provide protection against Alzheimer's as well as age-related memory loss and other types of cognitive decline.”

The article goes on to say that “Marshall G. Miller and Barbara Shukitt-Hale, researchers with the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, reviewed cellular, animal, and human studies on berry fruits and the aging brain and found strong evidence that blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and other berry fruits have beneficial effects.

They found that berry fruits protect the brain in several ways. They contain high amounts of antioxidants that protect cells from damage. Berry fruits also change the way that neurons in the brain communicate, and this may prevent inflammation in the brain that can damage neurons. Components in berries also improve cognition and motor control.”

For me that means on thing, “BERRY BINGEING!”

Here’s a link to the Atlantic article: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/04/the-benefits-of-berries-to-the-brain/255262/

And here’s a link to the abstract in the “Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry” - http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf2036033

PS - Yes this is a bad pun that probably only works in English. 

Copyright: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/profile_subbotina'>subbotina / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

You are What You Eat or, maybe better said, You are as Brainy as Your Eat

The message is getting clearer – your diet significantly impacts your ability to think.  And if you have thinking challenge in the first place, why make “thinking” any harder for your self.

According to a recent article from the Atlantic, “A new study goes deeper in understanding the connection between good nutrition and a healthy brain.” Importantly, in this study researchers used “…biomarkers in the blood to measure the vitamin levels in 104 participants. They also had participants take tests to measure thinking and memory function, and 42 participants had MRI scans to measure their brain volume.”

The result? “The researchers found some striking connections between nutrition and brain health. People who had higher levels of B family vitamins, as well as vitamins C, D, and E had higher scores on cognitive tests than people with lower levels. The same positive relationship was found for omega-3 fatty acids, which have previously been linked to better brain health.

On the flip-side, people with higher levels of trans fats in their blood had poorer performance in thinking and memory tests. Their MRI scans also revealed more brain shrinkage than people who had lower trans fats levels. Trans fats are found in a variety of junk foods, like fried, packaged, and fast foods. “

Here’s a link to the full article in the Atlantic - http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/01/the-connection-between-good-nutrition-and-good-cognition/251227/; and here is a link to the abstract in the scientific journal entitled Neurology - http://www.neurology.org/content/early/2011/12/28/WNL.0b013e3182436598.abstract?sid=22557f7c-d732-4ce6-a48f-a4bd08316626