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You already know that eating certain foods can help you lose weight and lower your risk of diabetes and heart disease, but eating a healthy diet can also keep your brain in shape. The foods you eat impact neurological health in several ways – including effects on insulin resistance, detoxification, and systemic inflammation – and provide essential vitamins, says Dale E. Bredesen, MD, neurologist and author of the book The end of Alzheimer’s disease program, which has an entire section devoted to foods that help prevent cognitive decline. The trick is to find a eating style that optimizes your brain. and is durable.
Scientists are working hard to try to solve this puzzle and find out how we can use nutrition to improve our cognition. For example, a 2015 study published in Alzheimer’s and dementia found that the MIND diet can cut back on your cognitive age by 7.5 years. Short for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, the MIND diet combines the best of Mediterranean and DASH diets, locking in the parts of each associated with protection against dementia. “Good fats, such as olive oil and vegetables (which include a high content of folic acid and crucifers for detoxification) are brain-healthy components of the Mediterranean diet,” says Dr Bredesen. “Meanwhile, both low-mercury vegetables and wild fish are brain-healthy components of the DASH diet.
The team of researchers behind the 2015 study followed more than 900 men and women aged 58 to 98 for an average of 4.5 years, assessing their diets using detailed dietary questionnaires and testing their cognitive function every year. They rated participants’ diets based on their correspondence with Mediterranean, DASH or MIND eating habits. The DASH diet reduced the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by 39%, the MIND diet by 53% and the Mediterranean diet by 54%. But wait – when participants diets moderately well, rather than to the letter, only the MIND diet has shown significant results. It reduced the risk of AD by 53% in those who followed it very closely and by 35% in those who followed it reasonably well. It means that strict adherence to the DASH diet and Mediterranean diets may reduce the risk of AD, but could moderate membership in the MIND plan.
It should be noted that in the study, those with the highest scores on the MIND diet ate cheese and fried dishes or fast food less than once a week, red meat less than four times a week. week and desserts, pastries or sweets less than five times a week. . They also used less than a tablespoon of butter or margarine per day and made olive oil their main source of fat. Translation: It’s not enough to eat brain-friendly foods; To help reduce your risk of AD, it is also necessary to limit these less healthy groups.
“Several trials are currently underway to test the impact of the MIND diet on cognitive decline and other structural changes in the brain after 3 years in 604 adults,” explains Christy C. Tangney, Ph.D., CNS, FACN, professor in the Department of Clinical Nutrition at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and co-author of the 2015 study. “We will learn a lot more from this essay about the role of this diet in brain health. The MIND diet is also one of four lifestyle approaches tested in another ongoing clinical trial called US Pointer (US study to protect brain health through lifestyle intervention to reduce risk) on which I work. ”
For people who really want to take it to the next level, Dr. Bredesen recommends following a diet that supports ketosis, which studies show can boost cognition. Its Ultra Low Carb KetoFlex 12/3 Diet is primarily plant-based and requires you to eat all of your food within a 12-hour window each day and stop eating three hours before bed. If this seems too difficult for you, do all you can to limit your intake of processed foods, red meat, and added sugar while prioritizing brain-healthy foods. Pair the stars below with a vegetarian serving of your choice each day, and you’re on your way to better intelligence.
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