5) Antioxidants
These protect the brain from oxidative stress. Antioxidants influence the colour of your vegetables and fruit. by eating the rainbow you can help maximise the variety of the antioxidants that your body gets.
Your second brain: the gut
What you eat directly affects the structure and function of your brain and, ultimately, your mood. However, in recent years, the focus on food and mood has been linked in an indirect way. There are also more than 100 million cells in the gastrointestinal tract and many nutritional psychiatrists think of your gut as the small brain, dubbing it the second brain.
While the centre of consciousness is located primarily in our brain, everything that happens in the digestive system is acritical component of our mental health. This happens through the gut-brain axis. Key players in this axis are your gut bacteria. They not only determine how well you absorb nutrients from your foods, but they also limit inflammation, activate neural pathways that travel directly between the gut and brain and determine how much serotonin is produced. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps regulate sleep, appetite and mood. More than 90% of your serotonin receptors are in your gut. Low levels of serotonin in the brain may cause anxiety, depression and problems with sleep.
2) Protein
Protein intake is associated with better cognitive performance, mood and mental health. Protein is crucial in the regulation of stress, and also has a structural function in the brain. More research is required.
A brain diet? The connection between food and mood.
If you think about it, your brain is always 'on'. It takes care of your thoughts and mood but also your movements, your breathing and your heartbeat. For many years the medical world did not fully understand the connection between your brain and food.
Fortunately, nutritional psychiatry has been a growing area of research over the last ten years. We now know that a healthy body is a healthy mind. We also know that nutrition is important for your brain and there are many connections between what we eat and how we feel. Researchers have investigated exactly how nutrition affects mental health and have focussed on the effects of diet on your hippocampus. Research has linked neurogenesis in the hippocampus to a person's mood and cognition. Healthy foods and habits, such as diets that include polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and polyphenols (found in colourful plant-based foods), as well as a diet that meets calorie needs without a person overeating or undereating, appear to promote neurogenesis. Factors that seem to negatively affect neurogenesis in adults include high saturated fat diets, and high intakes of sugar and alcohol, as well as not sleeping enough or stressing out too much.
Skeletal muscle cells are around 15 years old. Liver cells are replaced every year. Red blood cells renew every 4 months. Gut lining cells are 4 to 5 days old. Most of your brain cells are for life. Recently science has revealed that an area in the brain that is involved in memory learning and emotions called the hippocampus can generate new cells; however, the neurogenesis (the ability to generate new cells) decreases with age. It's a no-brainer, therefore, that you need to prioritise nourishing your brain cells to keep them healthy and alive for as long as possible.
Food for thought
4) B Vitamins
Particularly B12 and folate are key in neurotransmitter production.Neurotransmitters are chemicals which allow brain cells to communicate with each other. A deficiency can lead to memory loss, cognitive impairment and depression.
The impact of the menopause on the brain
Brain fog is a very common symptom of the menopause and many women say their brains feel like 'cotton wool'. Women also report being increasingly forgetful, can't remember names, lose their keys, write endless to-do lists and find it very hard to retain information. This can make it especially hard to function at work. Some believe that they are developing dementia. Fortunately, brain changes brought on during perimenopause appear to be temporary.
Two main hormones play an important role in cognition and memory: oestrogen and testosterone. Testosterone strengthens nerves in the brain and contributes to mental sharpness and clarity, as well as overall energy levels. It also strengthen arteries that supply blood to the brain, which is crucial for a well-nourished brain and helps protect against memory loss.
Oestrogen does a lot for the brain. At a cellular level it pushes your brain cells to burn more glucose, which is it's main fuel. If your oestrogen is high, your brain energy is high. Oestrogen stimulates the brain, keeps the neurons of the brain firing, supports the growth of the new cells and helps existing cells to form new connections. During the menopause when oestrogen levels drop, the cells go into deprivation mode and studies have shown there is an overall reduction of brain energy levels, which can then trigger the brain fog, anxiety, depression and even hot flushes. There is also a general decline of your neurons, which means you age faster.
There is a hypothesis that change in oestrogen increase deposits of a key marker of Alzheimers' disease called beta-amyloids or amyloid plaques. Brain scans show that amyloid plaques are rare in men at mid-life; however, women begin to see an increase during the transition to menopause, typically in their 40s and early 50s. Many studies show that Alzheimers' starts with negative changes in the brain many years prior to clinical symptoms. For women this process starts during the menopause transition. Although not all women will develop plaques and not all women with plaques will go to have dementia, if there is a genetic predisposition for Alzheimers' (ie. carrying the APOE4 gene) then the risk is higher.
Premature menopause also correlates with a higher risk of dementia in women. However, the risk drops if they start taking hormones soon after surgery of the ovaries or uterus and continue treatment until the natural age of menopause.
How do you know if your brain is working well?
Good brain health is a state in which you can function well in your daily life and work. When you are mentally and emotionally healthy, you will have the ability to:
- Learn, remenber and think clearly
- solve problems and make wise decisions
- pay attention
- regulate emotions and express them in a healthy way
- interact successfully with others
- cope with change, setbacks and uncertainty
Changes to the body and brain are noraml with age; however, new research indicates that women are more prone to brain-related conditions like Alzheimers'. There are currently over one million people with dementia in the UK yet almost two thirds of those people are women. Women do tend to live longer than men, giving them more time to develop Alzheimers' but gender longevity gap doesn't completely explain the disparity. Sex hormones have a role to play too.
3) Omega-3s
The building blocks of your brain are omega-3 fatty acids. They can improve cognitive function and help prevent age-related decline. The promote new cell growth and reduce oxidative stress.
6) Hydration
Dehydration has been linked with impaired cognitive function and memory, making it harder to remember things and fight off brain fog. Without water the brain can't get enough tryptophan needed to create serotonin - the 'feel-good' hormone, so can contribute to depression.
Lifestyle changes that protect your brain
The good news is that we can support brain health with simple lifestyle changes. There are many things you can do from diet to exercise and sleep and stress reduction.
1) Dietary patterns
The brain is the most energy-hungry organ in the body. Even though it weighs just 1,5kg, it demands at least 25% of the body's energy. Like a car, your brain only functions best when it gets only premium fuel. Eating high quality foods that contain lots of vitamins and minerals and antioxidants nourishes the brain and protects it from oxidative stress - the waste (free radicals)
Brain scans show that the brain of a 60-year-old women on the Mediterranean diet looks five years younger than that of a 50-year-old women on a Western diet. A Mediterranean diet features an abundance of fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, fish and olive oil. A Standard American Diet (SAD) - high in processed fats and sugar - has been linked to inflammation of the brain and increased risk of dementia.
People eating the traditional Mediterranean diet or the traditional Japanese diet have been shown to have 25-35% lower risk of depression, The key difference between the traditional diets and the Western diets is the consumption of high levels of whole, unprocessed foods which are high in fibre. Fibre is the key nutrient for your gut. As the gut plays such an important role in brain health, it is vital to view. health through the lens of the gut.
7) Lifestyle
Physical activity helps to prevent dementia, especially in women. Exercise lowers stress - which is another barrier to good brain health. Women's brains are more vulnerable to chronic stress. Sleep is needed to regenerate parts of the brain. A lack of sleep will cause some neurons in the brain to malfunction - impacting performance and behaviour. Aim for 7-8 hours a nights.
Based on work by Dr Linia Patel - leading dietitian and sports nutritionist