Back to the Brain

Thanks to Mike Murray for the following...

The brain is the most metabolically active tissue in the body. It is quite a miracle in all of its function. Two new studies highlight the importance of taking care of your brain through nutrition. First, the news on “bad” foods…. In a study presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, once again the negative effects of fast food on brain health were quite evident. The study was conducted in Brazil in over 10,000 men and women with an average age of 51 years old. The subjects were followed up to 10 years with dietary questionnaires as well as by cognitive tests such as word recognition, and immediate and delayed word recall. The study showed that those who regularly ate ultraprocessed foods like hot dogs, sausages, burgers, French fries, sodas, cookies, cakes, candy, and doughnuts had a 28% faster rate of decline in mental function decline. Particularly harmful are ultraprocessed foods that contain little or no whole foods and typically also include a lot of synthetic food additives such as artificial flavors, colors, emulsifiers, and sweeteners. Now here is something to consider, in Brazil, ultraprocessed foods make up 25% to 30% of total calorie intake. Contrast that with 58% of the calories from ultraprocessed foods being consumed by Americans and 48% by Canadians. And keep in mind that in addition to the negative impact on the brain, eating more than 20% of calories as ultraprocessed foods also leads to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and a significantly shorter life span. O.K, so eating a lot of junk food is harmful, pretty obvious, and so too is a study showing eating a diet high in flavonoids prevents cognitive decline. If you are a regular reader of my work, you know of my love affair with flavonoids – a collection of over 8,000 compounds that not only are responsible for many of the colors of flowers, fruits, vegetables, and other plant foods, but also for their tremendous health benefits. In a study conducted at Rush Medical Center in Chicago that was published on November 22, 2022 in the journal Neurology, researchers once again showed that eating more high-flavonoid foods slows age-related mental decline. Based upon dietary questionnaires, researchers found that eating foods rich in a group of flavonoids known as flavonols delivered fantastic brain benefits to older adults. Flavonols are found in fruits like green leafy vegetables, berries, tea and wine. They found that simply eating a single serving of high flavonol food per day slowed cognitive decline by about 32%, compared with those who did not eat any foods with high flavonols. Examples of a serving of a high flavonol food are one cup of either a green leafy vegetable, any sort of berry, or green tea. The amount of flavonols in these per serving is about 15 mg. I recommend a target of 500 mg per day. And I believe that hitting this high flavonoid intake target almost every day may be the most important factor age-defying strategy for your brain. My article “Dr. Murray Top Superfoods” on my website provides a flavonoid content chart of common foods that you can use to total up your daily flavonoid intake. The 4-oxo-flavonoids category includes the flavonols, like quercetin, that the latest study showed so helpful in improving brain health. The specific foods that the researchers found contributed the most to slowing down mental decline included kale, spinach, broccoli, apples, beans, tomatoes and tomato sauce, oranges, pears, olive oil and tea. And while food is where a healthy diet starts, supplementation is also vitally important. Flavonoids constitute a high priority in my personal supplementation plan. As far as my Top Superfoods, here are the seven superfoods that I try to ingest on a daily basis because of their exceptional health properties:

• Berries

• Raw Cacao Powder and Dark Chocolate

• Green tea

• Bee pollen

• Ground flaxseeds

• Whey protein

• PGX

The last item, PGX, is a revolutionary dietary fiber matrix that is backed by over 15 years of research and development. Detailed clinical studies have shown PGX to exert the following benefits:

• Reduces appetite and promotes effective weight loss

• Stabilizes blood sugar control

• Increases insulin sensitivity

• Reduces the glycemic index of any food, beverage, or meal by 35–50%

• Lowers blood cholesterol and triglycerides

PGX is available in a variety of different forms, including granules, capsules, and part of drink mixes for satiety or meal replacement. I know that featuring a newsletter that focuses on making healthy dietary choices during the Holidays may not be popular, but remember “nothing tastes as great as healthy feels.” Be well and choose wisely.