Brain Nutrition Facts

Dietary Pattern Protective for Alzheimer Disease

Felipe A. Jain, M.D. — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:25:22 +0000

Recent research has uncovered a dietary pattern associated with reduced risk of Alzheimer disease. The traditional approach to studying the association of foods with illnesses is to take one or two foods or nutrients, and determine whether they are individually associated with the condition. The same group at Columbia University in New York that showed that the Mediterranean diet (consisting of a high intake of fish, legumes, vegetables, cereals, fruits, mostly olive oil for fat, a low to moderate amount of regular alcohol consumption, and low intake of dairy products, meat, and saturated fatty acids) protected against Alzheimer disease, conducted a new analysis trying to understand how dietary patterns that might be more relevant to multiethnic populations influenced Alzheimer disease risk. They found that a diet that was low in intake of high-fat dairy products, butter, red and organ meat, and high in dark and green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, brussel sprouts, bok choy, etc.), tomatoes, poultry, fish, fruits and nuts, and salad dressing was associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer disease. Specifically, people who consumed this diet had about a 40% lower chance of developing Alzheimer disease. If you could cut your risk of Alzheimer almost in half by adhering to a healthier diet, wouldn’t you do it? The data suggests that this is a good possibility. Check it out for yourself!

Corcentrum Meditation

Felipe A. Jain, M.D. — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 04:25:28 +0000

Feeding your brain involves more than just the food you eat, but the activities that you do. One of the most beneficial is meditation. There are many different styles of meditation: mantra, visualization, kriya, mindfulness… the list goes on and on. In my own practice of over 15 years, I have found that different meditations are good for different things. At this point, the important things that I want meditation to do for me are 1) to help me relax, 2) to bring me into deeper engagement with my life, 3) to provide more self-understanding and emotional growth. Towards this end, I have created something called Corcentrum Meditation. This is a technique that brings a person into a non-judgmental, body-centered awareness, in a way that is deeply nurturing. Here is the basic idea: Find the center between the top of your head and the bottom of your pelvic bones. This is normally located in the lower chest. Horizontally, it is midway between the front of your chest and your back, and centered from side to side. With this point as your focus, breathe in deeply, naturally and easefully. Allow the breath to flow over this point, and to expand your chest from front to back. With a slightly deeper breath, your lower abdomen and back expand. And ultimately, your pelvic muscles expand into the chair. On the outbreath, relax, and allow yourself to feel that same expansion in your neck and head, so that you are more aware of the space that your body occupies, from front to back. If thoughts arise, simply acknowledge that they are present, and return to the technique. Sit with this practice for a few minutes, and observe how you feel, what you think, and what you sense. Let me know what you experience!

Is EPA or DHA Better for Depression?

Felipe A. Jain, M.D. — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 04:52:30 +0000

A recent meta-analysis demonstrated that it does indeed matter whether EPA (eicosapentanoic acid) or DHA (docosahexanoic acid) is in your omega-3 fatty acid supplement. A total of 21 studies using greater than 50% EPA or pure EPA in the supplement showed significant reductions in depressive symptoms. On the contrary, symptoms of depression were not reduced in 7 studies that used only DHA or more than 50% DHA. Unfortunately, there was evidence of publication bias towards positive trials with good results, and heterogeneity in the trials, limiting their ultimate applicability. Were the authors studying DHA just more honest? That seems unlikely, as there were multiple groups publishing the results. Still, this study provided some evidence that the content of your omega-3 supplements does matter, and that EPA might be better for depression. (J Am Coll Nutr. 2009 Oct;28(5):525-42.)

The Magical Benefits of Yawning

Aaron Burke — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:30:10 +0000

Feeling like you need to yawn? Yeah, me too.

That’s ok though. Go ahead and yawn. In fact, I encourage it. Even if you don’t feel like yawning, go ahead and give it a go. Give yourself half a dozen good yawns. I bet you end up feeling refreshed and more alert by the time you finish. Don’t worry, I’ll wait. In fact, I think I’ll even join you…

There, doesn’t that feel better? I know I feel better.

So here’s the deal: a wealth of medical information shows that yawning actually has significant benefits. Everyone knows that you yawn when tired – but why is that? It’s actually because yawning helps to relieve the brain of the feeling of being sleepy. So when used at a time when you aren’t about to nod off, yawning’s effects can actually perk you up and bring the brain to a higher cognitive state. Similar to some meditation techniques (and actually activating similar structures in the brain) yawning can very rapidly induce a level of awareness that may take minutes with meditation.

Yawning is also highly contagious. You may have even felt like yawning just by looking at the photos at the top of this article? Why is that significant? It is because yawning activates a region of the brain thought to be involved in empathy, thus, when you and others yawn together it can actually help you work better together.

So if anyone ever tells you yawning is rude, just explain to them that it’s an important neurological function, and it actually is helping you become more alert, more aware, and more a part of whatever is going on.

Remember where your car is parked — with chocolate?

Felipe A. Jain, M.D. — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:43:36 +0000

There is so much hype about chocolate, and for good reason. It makes most of us feel good, probably in part by liberating dopamine in the brain – the signal that indicates a pleasurable, or rewarding choice. Its caffeine helps us to wake up, and there is quite a bit of it. Chocolate is also packed with flavonoids: in particular, catechin and epicatechin, and dark chocolate has about four to five times as much of these nutrients as milk chocolate. An article in the Journal of Neuroscience by Fred Gage’s research group found that supplementing the diet of mice with epicatechin actually helped them to retain a memory longer. In the study, some mice were assigned a diet rich in epicatechin, and others a regular mouse diet. Both groups had to find their way around a water maze to a hidden platform. Both groups learned where the maze was at the same rate, but the mice fed epichatechin could make their way through the maze a week after training stopped, whereas the control mice couldn’t. This kind of reminds me of the quandary I get into after working in the hospital for 30 hours straight on an overnight shift — where is my car parked? Will chocolate help me find the way – I’ll let you know!

Enjoy Your Turkey Day!

Aaron Burke — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:58:26 +0000

gobble gobble?

Today is Thanksgiving, and if you’re like a lot of people you may be feeling prematurely guilty about all the food (and turkey!) you may be eating today. Well, don’t be. Turkey actually has a lot of benefits for your health, and it is a meat that seems to be neglected regularly in favor of that other bird, the ubiquitous chicken. But really, turkey has a lot of positive qualities if you just give it a chance.

Without its skin on, turkey actually is quite lean, having only 1 gram of fat per ounce, is a good source of some vitamins as well as folic acid, and of course, contains tryptophan. Tryptophan has often been associated with the sleepy feeling you get after eating turkey, but really the most important thing to know is that it is an essential amino acid and a precursor to the mood molecule serotonin.

And since I’m off to eat now, I’m leaving you with some useful references about turkey to peruse at your own pleasure:

About Turkey

The Health Benefits of Turkey

Brain Health Recipes

Wikipedia article on Typtophan

Wikipedia article on Turkey (the bird)

Do Flavonoids Slow Cognitive Decline?

Felipe A. Jain, M.D. — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:18:38 +0000

A Flavonoid Rich Meal -- with Tuna for Omega-3!

Flavonoids are compounds found in plants. Their functions include providing pigmentation — especially yellow, red and blue tones — and also protecting against the attacks of insects and microbes. Remarkably, they have numerous beneficial effects on the human body and mind as well. A recent study in the American Journal of Epidemiology (Letenneur et al. 2007) demonstrated that flavonoids may be beneficial for the brain. It measured cognitive decline in the elderly over ten years, and divided the subjects into three groups based on their estimated flavonoid intake. Interestingly, there was a significant negative correlation between flavonoid intake and rate of cognitive decline: those who ate the most flavonoid-rich foods had the lowest rates of cognitive decline, and vice versa. The USDA Database for the Flavonoid Content of Select Foods is probably the most comprehensive resource out there for determining the flavonoid content of the foods you eat. It’s technical, but well worth the effort to digest!

Vitamin D and Depression

Aaron Burke — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:06:54 +0000

Do you feel happier in the spring and summer months? If so, is it because of the warmth and the flowers? Or maybe, is it because you’re just getting enough vitamin D?

Vitamin D, known as the “sunshine vitamin” because it is only produced by the human body when exposed to sunlight, is essential for heath. We have known for years that vitamin D deficiency leads to a weakening of the bones, but more research is suggesting that vitamin D has links to cardiovascular health and depression as well.

During the last century, depression has increased, and vitamin D deficiency has increased as well. And although this correlation may not mean that a lack of vitamin D leads to depression, there is enough evidence mounting to support getting the 10-15 minutes of sunlight a day needed to product vitamin D, or to at least take it in supplement form.

A recent study looked at individuals who had experienced some type of heart disease or stroke, measures their vitamin D levels, and assessed them for depression. Interestingly, those with lower levels of vitamin D were more likely to be depressed than individuals with normal levels of vitamin D.

So as we approach winter and the sun gets dimmer and the days get shorter, remember that the seasonal depression many people experience may just be your body telling you it needs more vitamin D. Do yourself a favor a take a multivitamin and see if you feel better!

For more details on vitamin D and health, visit a story on vitamin D on CNN Health.

Alcohol and Brain Health

Aaron Burke — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:23:05 +0000

First there was the research showing that a glass of red wine per day over the long term has beneficial cardiovascular effects. Then, it seemed like research was able to show that other alcoholic beverages like beer could have similar healthy effects, when consumed in moderate quantities. And suddenly it seems like everyone just came to accept that having a drink a day is good for you and has positive health benefits. Those health benefits started to extend to brain health benefits as well.

But hold on… what if some of those benefits correlate to the type of people who drink regularly, and aren’t actually causative? What if we were looking so hard for any benefits we could find that we just accepted any we saw as having been scientifically proven without the proper evidence. (I mean, I like alcohol, most of us like alcohol, and I think we’d all be happy with any extra excuse to have a drink, right?) So there was talk thrown around about long-term brain health benefits from alcohol, and new evidence seems to show that bubble has, err, popped.

In a study carried out at the University College London, researchers found that cognitive benefits thought to be associated with moderate alcohol consumption weren’t actually linked to the alcohol at all. It seems that the type of people that were drinking moderately were also the type of people that had led lives leading to greater thinking skills.

So, it seems that although there are health benefits we can associate with moderate alcohol consumption, we don’t all have the green light to drink and think that it’s some sort of wonder tonic – remember, alcohol is pretty toxic at anything more than a few glasses at a time. However, at moderate levels, it really is pretty great. I think Benjamin Franklin said it best:

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

Cheers to that!

How Can Japanese Knotweed Help the Brain?

Felipe A. Jain, M.D. — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:51:26 +0000

When plants come under attack from bacteria or fungi, they do something very similar to what animals, including human beings, do when confronted with famine: activate a system of protective molecules known as sirtuins. The sirtuins act through complex molecular cascades to increase the lifespan of cells. In 2003, researchers at Harvard Medical School used a molecular screen to identify compounds that could activate the sirtuins – even in the absence of threat or famine – theoretically providing the possibility of extending lifespan, or reducing disease, in humans (Howitz et al., Nature) Many compounds that activate sirtuin are found naturally in vegetables and fruits such as raw spinach, jalapeno peppers, and rowanberries. Resveratrol, the most famous of the sirtuin activators, increased their activity an astounding 15 times. Resveratrol is famously found in red wine, but perhaps surprisingly, is also enriched in Japanese knotweed. Knotweed, many a gardener’s bane, was thought to be essentially worthless, but now provides the major source of resveratrol that is sold in nutritional supplements. Despite the hype, there is one important potential caveat: the sirtuins decrease the activity of p53, an anti-cancer protein. Although tumorigenic effects have not been observed in mice or clinical trials in humans, whether or not this actually might have clinical relevance is yet to be determined.