Make up your mind
Change your brain to change your future
An overview guide by Janis Grummitt
Brain Nutrition - a three part series of articles by our nutitionist Shona Wilkinson
Top Nutritional tips for building a better brain
Food and drink provide fuel for the brain to build itself and function well. This really is a case of rubbish in – rubbish out! Identifying and eating the right foods affects you in a number of ways:
1. They help to build and repair a better brain. Recent research shows that malnourished brains deteriorate because they simply can’t regenerate on a daily basis without the right fuel.
2. They enable you to stay sharp and allow the brain to function at its peak. Functionality can be significantly impacted by food.
3. They help to control your emotions and mood. Different foods create very distinct chemical reactions that in turn contribute to positive or negative emotional responses.
In future articles I will be addressing simple tips for rectifying faulty fuelling. In this first one, I deal with the foundation for fuelling – digestion. If your brain were a car, using the right fuel will make a great difference to the car’s performance – but if the delivery of that fuel to the engine is faulty, the fuel cannot do its job. Digestion is the process by which your body creates and delivers fuel to the brain.
Tip One:
Rev up your digestion
Digestion gives your body and your brain access to the various ‘goodies’ that your food contains. As we age we develop a greater need for specific nutrients to support brain health due to the gradual decline in our digestive function. Among these nutrients are choline, vitamin B12, magnesium and zinc. Eventually, without effective processing, the body will not be supplying enough of these essential nutrients for the brain to function well and rebuild itself, which leads to increasing deterioration in later years. This factor could well be affecting many of our assumptions about dementia and poor memory; they could relate to poor nutrition. Remember, we can be eating very good food and still be lacking essential nutrients because of poor digestion. It is very difficult to take in the nutrients your brain needs without great digestion; if your digestion was not great in your more youthful days, it may be even more of a problem now.
Here are my five key recommendations for revving it up:
1. Chew your food well - your stomach will have an easier job breaking food down into its essential nutrients if you chew your food 15-20 times before swallowing. Aim to be the last person at the table to finish eating.
2. Drink plenty of water - your stomach secretes around 2 litres of digestive fluid daily, so aim to drink a minimum of 6-8 glasses each day to support digestion. Regular water consumption also helps to create soft bowel motions, easing the removal of waste products from your body. If you do not enjoy the taste of plain water, try adding lemon or lime slices or a few mint leaves to your water jug.
3. Have apple cider vinegar before your meals – try 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in ½ glass of water, just before eating. This can help compensate for the reduction in stomach acid that tends to occur as we age. Stomach acid helps to breakdown protein, release essential nutrients from food, and provides the acidic environment needed just beyond the stomach for the absorption of minerals, such as magnesium and zinc. These minerals are essential for making chemical messengers in the brain (neurotransmitters). Always follow this apple cider vinegar drink with food, as acid left in contact with your teeth is damaging to tooth enamel.
4. Include probiotics in your diet – these are helpful bacteria that have a number of useful roles, one of which is keeping your intestines healthy so they are at their best for absorbing nutrients. The probiotic bacteria that research has found to be the most helpful are the strains Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium. A daily serving of probiotic yoghurt will help to maintain the population of helpful bacteria in your intestines. If you are unable to regularly include probiotic yoghurt in your diet consider a supplement containing these two strains.
5. Increase your intake of soluble fibre – this is the food source of the probiotic bacteria mentioned above, and it also helps to create soft, easy moving stools. Great food sources of soluble fibre include prunes, cooked apple, oats, broccoli, carrot, beans, nuts and seeds.
There is no doubt that improving digestion can improve your brain. Start using these simple tips for digestion today and see the difference in a couple of weeks. Once you have developed these basic habits, it will be easier to move on with the tips I will be discussing in future articles, which together will help you build better brain function and repair.
Upcoming topics include: essential nutrients for a healthy brain; what not to eat for a healthy brain; food sensitivities and your brain chemistry; and medications that can reduce your brain power.
Shona Wilkinson is a registered Clinical Nutritionist with a focus on nutrition for great brain health. Shona also has a background in food technology which adds an extra dimension to her understanding of food and its impact on our health. Shona is an active Wiring Warrior, and the current Secretary for the Clinical Nutrition Association. Contact Shona at Nutrition Workshop by emailing shona@nutritionworkshop.co.nz, or calling 09 846 1160.
Top Nutritional tips for building a better brain
Part two – Essential nutrients
This is the second in series of articles with simple tips for rectifying faulty fuelling. In the first one I dealt with the foundation for fuelling – digestion. In this one I will be exploring essential nutrients for a healthy brain: enhancing its function, protecting it from damage and make it more adaptable to change. Poor input of nutrients can be a significant problem for the older brain and often simple changes in brain fuel can make an instant change in your life; I end this article with a story that shows this.
Tip Two: Brain fuel
Once digestion has delivered the various ‘goodies’ that your food contains your brain then uses them to repair itself, and build new cells and wiring (neural connections). Ensuring your brain has access to essential nutrients makes it more resistant to dementia and more resilient after brain injury.
A drop in memory or reasoning can be related to nutritional deficiencies, which are often avoidable and frequently reversible. Take vitamin B12 for example, deficiency can damage brain cells causing symptoms of mild memory loss and disorientation that mimic dementia. This damage is reversible if caught promptly but can become permanent if left undetected. B12 deficiency symptoms can include anaemia, difficulty walking, depression and numbness in fingers and toes. Your GP can run two blood tests to check for deficiency: blood levels of B12 and methylmalonic acid (MMA).
Here are my five key recommendations for fuelling your brain:
1. Eat up your antioxidants – these protect your brain cells from damage caused by tiny chemical vandals called free radicals. Our busy brains create more of these free radicals than any other organ in the body. One particularly important antioxidant, glutathione, we luckily make ourselves, but its creation is dependent on the presence of other nutrients, such as the amino acid Cysteine. Great news is that high levels of glutathione in your blood can improve recovery from brain injury and slow brain aging.
Boost your levels of glutathione by eating cysteine containing foods: asparagus, broccoli, avocado, garlic, onion, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, watercress) and unprocessed fresh meats. Other antioxidants, such as vitamin C and E enhance glutathione’s functions: vitamin E can be found in wheat germ oil, raw nuts and seeds; and vitamin C in broccoli, red capsicum and citrus fruits.
2. Enjoy your fish – the brain is approximately 60% fat, and much of it is made up of the omega-3 fatty acids (omega-3). New discoveries point to high blood levels of omega-3 preventing brain shrinkage and protecting us from dementia. Food sources with the highest amounts of omega-3 are oily, cold-water fish, such as salmon, sardine, herring, and mackerel. Other varieties of fish, walnuts and olive oil also contain good amounts.
3. Arm yourself with minerals – our brains are oxygen hungry, and you need a good supply of iron rich red blood cells to transport oxygen to your brain. Iron, magnesium, selenium, calcium, iodine and zinc are all essential for great brain health. Good blood levels of magnesium may also have a protective effect against brain injury. Great food sources are raw nuts and seeds, meat, fish and dark leafy greens.
4. Increase your vitamin B’s – all the B’s are important, but Choline, B6, B9 and B12 are particularly good for enhancing brain function and protecting it from damage. Choline is essential for making the neurotransmitter acetylcholine that your brain uses to form memories.
Get your B’s from eggs, meat, fish, poultry, dairy, whole grains, and dark leafy greens. B12 is found in animal proteins and because of this, vegans and vegetarians are susceptible to deficiency. Those who are who are low in stomach acid and intrinsic factor (needed for B12 absorption) may also be deficient.
5. Go out in the sun - vitamin D protects the memory forming area of our brains (hippocampus). Unfortunately we have become so good at protecting ourselves from the harmful effects of the sun’s UV rays that we are starting to prevent the beneficial effects too! Fascinating research has also revealed that vitamin D can work with omega-3 to protect you from Alzheimer’s. Clumps of protein, called beta-amyloid, interrupt messages between brain cells and can also kill them. Vitamin D and omega-3 enhance the activities of special cells called macrophages that “eat” the beta-amyloid and clear it from between brain cells.
Vitamin D is formed when the sun’s energy acts upon cholesterol in your skin, we can also get small amounts from food, such as fish, beef, liver and eggs. To make vitamin D you will need to expose your skin to the sun without sunscreen; the safest time for sun exposure, with reduced risk from the damaging effects of UV, is before 10am and after 4pm.
Putting all these ideas together, a perfect “brain meal” would be a fillet of oven baked salmon and steamed broccoli with an olive oil and lemon vinaigrette, sprinkled with chopped raw almonds – served al fresco!
There is no question that great nutrition enhances brain health. Take the tips that we discussed earlier in “Revving up your digestion”, which should be good habits by now, and add this next layer of knowledge. If you still have any doubt about the effect of improving essential nutrients I have a story to share from my experience in practice. A woman in her 40’s had developed difficulties recalling names of objects and people; this caused her to speak haltingly and she was frequently unable to find appropriate words to express herself. She was concerned that her memory was failing at such a young age. We decided to try her on a regimen of omega-3, vitamin D and a form of choline called Citicoline. After a month with these nutrients in her diet she was astonished to find that her recall had improved significantly and she was able to speak articulately.
Naturally solutions can be different in each case of memory loss and there are other reasons for failing memory. My point is that you should check your nutrition before other, more drastic avenues are taken. In short, those who are short of vitamin D and omega-3 are more likely to suffer from memory deficiency; not everyone with memory deficiency is short of these nutrients. Try better nutrition first!
Upcoming topics include: what not to eat for a healthy brain; food sensitivities and your brain chemistry; and medications that can reduce your brainpower.
Part two – Essential nutrients
This is the second in series of articles with simple tips for rectifying faulty fuelling. In the first one I dealt with the foundation for fuelling – digestion. In this one I will be exploring essential nutrients for a healthy brain: enhancing its function, protecting it from damage and make it more adaptable to change. Poor input of nutrients can be a significant problem for the older brain and often simple changes in brain fuel can make an instant change in your life; I end this article with a story that shows this.
Tip Two: Brain fuel
Once digestion has delivered the various ‘goodies’ that your food contains your brain then uses them to repair itself, and build new cells and wiring (neural connections). Ensuring your brain has access to essential nutrients makes it more resistant to dementia and more resilient after brain injury.
A drop in memory or reasoning can be related to nutritional deficiencies, which are often avoidable and frequently reversible. Take vitamin B12 for example, deficiency can damage brain cells causing symptoms of mild memory loss and disorientation that mimic dementia. This damage is reversible if caught promptly but can become permanent if left undetected. B12 deficiency symptoms can include anaemia, difficulty walking, depression and numbness in fingers and toes. Your GP can run two blood tests to check for deficiency: blood levels of B12 and methylmalonic acid (MMA).
Here are my five key recommendations for fuelling your brain:
1. Eat up your antioxidants – these protect your brain cells from damage caused by tiny chemical vandals called free radicals. Our busy brains create more of these free radicals than any other organ in the body. One particularly important antioxidant, glutathione, we luckily make ourselves, but its creation is dependent on the presence of other nutrients, such as the amino acid Cysteine. Great news is that high levels of glutathione in your blood can improve recovery from brain injury and slow brain aging.
Boost your levels of glutathione by eating cysteine containing foods: asparagus, broccoli, avocado, garlic, onion, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, watercress) and unprocessed fresh meats. Other antioxidants, such as vitamin C and E enhance glutathione’s functions: vitamin E can be found in wheat germ oil, raw nuts and seeds; and vitamin C in broccoli, red capsicum and citrus fruits.
2. Enjoy your fish – the brain is approximately 60% fat, and much of it is made up of the omega-3 fatty acids (omega-3). New discoveries point to high blood levels of omega-3 preventing brain shrinkage and protecting us from dementia. Food sources with the highest amounts of omega-3 are oily, cold-water fish, such as salmon, sardine, herring, and mackerel. Other varieties of fish, walnuts and olive oil also contain good amounts.
3. Arm yourself with minerals – our brains are oxygen hungry, and you need a good supply of iron rich red blood cells to transport oxygen to your brain. Iron, magnesium, selenium, calcium, iodine and zinc are all essential for great brain health. Good blood levels of magnesium may also have a protective effect against brain injury. Great food sources are raw nuts and seeds, meat, fish and dark leafy greens.
4. Increase your vitamin B’s – all the B’s are important, but Choline, B6, B9 and B12 are particularly good for enhancing brain function and protecting it from damage. Choline is essential for making the neurotransmitter acetylcholine that your brain uses to form memories.
Get your B’s from eggs, meat, fish, poultry, dairy, whole grains, and dark leafy greens. B12 is found in animal proteins and because of this, vegans and vegetarians are susceptible to deficiency. Those who are who are low in stomach acid and intrinsic factor (needed for B12 absorption) may also be deficient.
5. Go out in the sun - vitamin D protects the memory forming area of our brains (hippocampus). Unfortunately we have become so good at protecting ourselves from the harmful effects of the sun’s UV rays that we are starting to prevent the beneficial effects too! Fascinating research has also revealed that vitamin D can work with omega-3 to protect you from Alzheimer’s. Clumps of protein, called beta-amyloid, interrupt messages between brain cells and can also kill them. Vitamin D and omega-3 enhance the activities of special cells called macrophages that “eat” the beta-amyloid and clear it from between brain cells.
Vitamin D is formed when the sun’s energy acts upon cholesterol in your skin, we can also get small amounts from food, such as fish, beef, liver and eggs. To make vitamin D you will need to expose your skin to the sun without sunscreen; the safest time for sun exposure, with reduced risk from the damaging effects of UV, is before 10am and after 4pm.
Putting all these ideas together, a perfect “brain meal” would be a fillet of oven baked salmon and steamed broccoli with an olive oil and lemon vinaigrette, sprinkled with chopped raw almonds – served al fresco!
There is no question that great nutrition enhances brain health. Take the tips that we discussed earlier in “Revving up your digestion”, which should be good habits by now, and add this next layer of knowledge. If you still have any doubt about the effect of improving essential nutrients I have a story to share from my experience in practice. A woman in her 40’s had developed difficulties recalling names of objects and people; this caused her to speak haltingly and she was frequently unable to find appropriate words to express herself. She was concerned that her memory was failing at such a young age. We decided to try her on a regimen of omega-3, vitamin D and a form of choline called Citicoline. After a month with these nutrients in her diet she was astonished to find that her recall had improved significantly and she was able to speak articulately.
Naturally solutions can be different in each case of memory loss and there are other reasons for failing memory. My point is that you should check your nutrition before other, more drastic avenues are taken. In short, those who are short of vitamin D and omega-3 are more likely to suffer from memory deficiency; not everyone with memory deficiency is short of these nutrients. Try better nutrition first!
Upcoming topics include: what not to eat for a healthy brain; food sensitivities and your brain chemistry; and medications that can reduce your brainpower.
Shona Wilkinson is a registered Clinical Nutritionist with a focus on nutrition for great brain health. Shona also has a background in food technology which adds an extra dimension to her understanding of food and its impact on our health. Shona is an active Wiring Warrior, and the current Secretary for the Clinical Nutrition Association. Contact Shona at Nutrition Workshop by emailing shona@nutritionworkshop.co.nz, or calling 09 846 1160.
Top Nutritional tips for building a better brain
Part three : toxic fuel
This is the third in series of articles with simple tips for rectifying faulty fuelling. In the first one I dealt with the foundation for fuelling – digestion, in the second I discussed essential nutrients for fuelling, in this one I will be exploring the “toxic fuels” you should avoid to keep your brain at peak performance. Input of toxic fuel can be a significant problem for the older brain and often simple changes to your diet can make an instant change in your life.
Tip three: Toxic fuel
There are a number of toxins you can eat and drink that can have a harmful effect on your brain, driving down its performance and having to make those essential nutrients work far harder than they should to keep your brain in great condition. This is the same as filling up your car with high octane fuel and then throwing in a handful of sugar – disastrous!
1. Avoid refined sugar (sucrose)
Sugar is as disastrous for your brain as it is for petrol tanks. Sugar is broken down into smaller units called glucose and fructose when you digest your food. Glucose (also known as blood sugar) is the preferred source of energy for your brain.
Excess glucose in your blood can harm your brain in two ways:
It damages blood vessels in the brain so they can’t deliver oxygen as efficiently, or clear away the protein linked to causing Alzheimer’s Disease. Diabetics are particularly at risk from this type of damage.
High glucose levels also affect the function of specialized proteins in your brain called neurotrophins. These protect brain cells from damage and help new brain cells develop. One neurotrophin, called BDNF, is needed for memory formation, so you can see how excess glucose can directly harm learning and memory.
Foods containing high levels of refined sugar to watch out for are: sweets, syrups, prepared meals and desserts (including tinned products), biscuits, muffins, cakes, sauces, tinned fruit, yoghurt, breakfast cereals , ready to drink beverages including soft drinks, energy drinks, teas and fruit juices. To help keep your sugar intake in check limit the sugar you add to your food and drink, and become a label reader, comparing products for their “sugars” content before purchasing.
The World Health Organisation recently recommended that we reduce our intake of sugar from all sources to 5% of our energy intake, which is around 6 teaspoons a day (25g) for the average adult eating 2000Cal/8,400kj per day.
2. Be aware of your saturated fat intake –
Excess saturated fats have the same effect as excess glucose on the action of neurotrophins, and directly harm learning and memory. We need fats in our diet but it’s healthiest to get these from a range of food sources (e.g. polyunsaturated omega 3’s: fish, flaxseed; monounsaturated: raw nuts and olive oil).
Saturated fats are found in high amounts in takeaways; animal products such as meat, dairy and eggs; and most possessed packaged foods including cakes, biscuits, and ready meals. To ensure your intake of saturated fat is at a healthy level try leaner cuts of meat, avoid processed packaged foods, limit takeaways to twice a month, and increase the amount of omega 3 rich fish (e.g. salmon, herring, sardine)and raw nuts (e.g. walnut, almonds) in your diet.
Lowering your intake of sugar and saturated fat has the added benefit of helping you manage your weight, which then has the additional bonus of reducing your risk of dementia: if you are overweight in middle age your risk of dementia is increased by 35%, if you are obese it’s a whopping 74%.
3. Avoid trans-fats –
These unnatural fats can become lodged in your brain cells and disrupt their function. These unnatural fats are commonly found in commercial, pre-packaged foods, margarine, biscuits, crackers and fried foods (including potato chips). They are listed as ‘vegetable oil’ on ingredient lists and are usually oils that have been heated to high temperatures. Watch out for this toxin by checking labels and choosing options that are free of trans-fats and hydrogenated fats, as these can contain trans-fats. Fats that are naturally solids at room temperature are safest. Try small servings of spreadable butter (size of your thumb) instead of margarine.
Note that heat, oxygen and light can damage fats and oils and make them rancid (oxidised). Oxidised fats then draw on your body’s reserves of antioxidants to prevent them from harming your cells. We need those antioxidants at work protecting your brain not putting out fires elsewhere!
Good quality oils such as cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil are best left unheated, as they have a low smoke point and are particularly susceptible to damage from overheating. Rice bran oil or a small amount of butter are great for stir frying and sautéing. Try adding olive oil after cooking to add flavour, or use it in salad dressings. Store oil in air-tight containers away from heat and light.
4. Be aware of your alcohol intake -
Having more than 14 standard* alcoholic drinks a week can shrink your brain by 1.6%! This is important as brain volume is a measure of brain age i.e. the more brain you have the more youthful it is. If that’s not enough, chronic excessive alcoholic intake can lead to vitamin B1 deficiency, which causes mental confusion as well as other unwanted effects such as loss of coordination and eye paralysis. If alcohol intake remains high the damage to short-term memory is particularly harsh and can become permanent.
Limit alcoholic drinks to one or two per evening and if possible choose those that are low in sugar and also contain antioxidants, such as dry red wine.
*One standard drink contains 10g of alcohol e.g. 100ml glass of wine, 330ml can of beer or a 30ml measure of spirits.
In summary, any excess refined sugar, saturated fat, damaged fats and alcohol you consume will take a hefty toll on the health of your brain, so keep that in mind (pun intended) when making your choices.
In my upcoming articles I’ll be looking into food sensitivities and how they affect your brain, followed by medications that can reduce your brainpower.
Shona Wilkinson is a registered Clinical Nutritionist with a focus on nutrition for great brain health. She also has a background in food technology which adds an extra dimension to her understanding of food and its impact on our health. Shona is an active Wiring Warrior, and the current Secretary for the Clinical Nutrition Association. Contact Shona at Nutrition Workshop by emailing shona@nutritionworkshop.co.nz, or calling 09 846 1160.