"It's exciting that our study shows making specific “diet choices” may lead to a “slower rate” of cognitive decline," said study author Thomas M. Holland, MD, MS of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
"Something as simple as eating more fruits and vegetables and drinking more tea is an easy way for people to take an active role in maintaining their brain health."
These foods contain flavonols.
Flavonols are a type of flavonoid, a group of phytochemicals found in plant pigments.
Found in certain colorful veggies. And fruits. Not all.
After adjusting for other factors that can ding memory - age, sex, and smoking - researchers found that the “cognitive score” of people who had the highest intake of flavonols declined at a much slower rate (rate of 0.4 units per decade) than people whose had the lowest intake of colorful plant foods.
Flavonols act as powerful antioxidants and anti-inflammatories.
They protect your memories.
BTW There is a robust botanical formula in my new daily hormone protection products, that is similar to consuming a diet high in these memory-protective foods.
Flavonols may contain any of four major natural actives: kaempferol, quercetin, myricetin, and isorhamnetin.
The top food contributors for care-taking memory in each category were demonstrated to be:
Parsley, kale, beans, tea, spinach, and broccoli for kaempferol;
Tomatoes, kale, apples, and tea for quercetin; tea, wine, kale, oranges, and tomatoes for myricetin;
Pears, olive oil, wine, and tomato sauce for isorhamnetin.
People who had the highest intake of kaempferol (highly concentrated in the new Biotics products) had a 0.4 units per decade slower rate of cognitive decline compared to those in the lowest group.
Those with the highest intake of quercetin had a 0.2 units per decade slower rate of cognitive decline compared to those in the lowest group.
And people with the highest intake of myricetin had a 0.3 units per decade slower rate of cognitive decline compared to those in the lowest group.
Dietary isorhamnetin did not seem to protect cognition/memories.
Moral of this study:
We are what we eat. Including our brain.
Memory is an outcome we can protect.
Food, hormone therapies, exercise, and decreasing environmental exposure to assaults on the brain from pollution and endocrine disruptors can do a lot to care-take your memories. While helping you to make new ones.
Last year, the American Heart Association published a study on nearly 2 million adults, showing that higher consumption of fruits and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of death. For both gents and ladies.
The authors came up with the simple public health message '5-a-day.'
Five daily servings of fruits and vegetables, eaten as 2 servings of fruit and 3 servings of vegetables.
Keep in mind, though, not all foods that one might consider to be fruits and vegetables offer the same benefits.
For example: starchy vegetables, such as peas and corn, fruit juices, and potatoes were not associated with reduced risk of death from all causes or specific chronic diseases.
Popeye said “Eat your greens”, and this cartoon figure turned out to be prophetic. Ha!
What are your favorite “Top Foods”?
PS For years I suggest that healthy folks eat 5 colorful veggies/day and 2 semi-sweet fruits. But those that are struggling to heal a severe health issue, try to eat 10 colorful veggies/day. This is a practice I’ve kept up since my first diagnosis of cancer 30 years ago.
Dr. B.
Reference:
Association of Dietary Intake of Flavonols With Changes in Global Cognition and Several Cognitive Abilities. Neurology, 2022; 10.1212/WNL.0000000000201541 DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000201541
Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Mortality: Results From 2 Prospective Cohort Studies of US Men and Women and a Meta-Analysis of 26 Cohort Studies. Circulation, 2021; DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.048996
Great review Dr. B. For myself and given my own health history, I go for the 9 cup goal - 3 cups greens (salad greens, kale, chard, etc.), 3 cups onion/cruciferous veggies, and 3 cups colorful veggies. This reflects the Wahls protocol idea - although I may have the categories incorrect. I have also used your rule to have at least 2 blue foods a day - purple cabbage, purple carrots, purple broccoli, purple cauliflower, radicchio. Plus, I really use a bit of herbs - parsley for the apigenin, cilantro, thyme, etc. Plus flax seeds - those muffins of yours oh my - I have added pumpkin to them with good results.