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Why you should fatten up your brain
21st January 2006
Here's another cruel fact of life you can add to the list, (alongside tax returns, baldness, the menopause, and toast always falling on the buttered side...)
Our brains shrink as we get older.
Experts reckon that the average brain shrinks 2% during each decade of adulthood.
As a man in his early forties, I've lost just over 4% of my brain. By the time I'm 60, I'll have lost 8%... and if I get to 80, I'll have lost a whopping 12% of my brain.
I feel dizzy even writing it down...
Worse still, as you age the neurotransmitters in your brain begin to go on the blink.
This means that messages travel a lot more slowly through the tissues of your brain.
Poorer circulation also means that your brain doesn't receive vital nutrients as efficiently, so the cells don't function as well as they used to.
Okay. So far, so bad.
But did you know that, despite all this, memory lapses and confusion are NOT an inevitable result of ageing?
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Why your brain is fat
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It might surprise you to learn that the human brain is 60% fat.
To keep its complex networks of fibres working properly, the brain needs good supplies certain types of fats, known as omega3 fatty acids.
Now you've probably heard me go on about these before, but they're important.
Found in fish, animal meat and eggs, these fats are essential if you want to keep your brain healthy. They can also help you ward off depression, memory loss, aggression and learning difficulties.
A lowfat brain means that millions of vital fatty brain connectors begin to malfunction.
And you'll never guess what...
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Shock horror! The mainstream media agrees!
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While I was researching this letter, I was surprised to see a report on Monday's BBC news backing this up.
The report was about how the West's diet - low in organic fish, eggs, seeds and nuts - was damaging our mental health.
Dr Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said: 'we are only just beginning to understand how the brain as an organ is influenced by the nutrients it derives from the foods we eat and how diets have an impact on our mental health.'
Actually, research has been throwing up evidence like this for years now - it's just the mainstream media is slow to report them.
Dr McCulloch went on to say that diet changes were having better results for mental health problems in some cases than using drugs.
Well, forgive me if I don't fall off my chair in shock.
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Diet is the cause of many modern ills
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As you know from many Good Life Letters, simple dietary supplements often outperform expensive drugs peddled by corporations.
You see, we just aren't getting enough of the good natural stuff these days...
-- We eat two thirds less fish than 30 years ago
-- Mass-produced meat contains 22% fat, rather than the 2% it contained 30 years ago
-- We eat fewer vegetables and, when we do, they've travelled for thousands of miles and are coated in pesticides
The decline in our diet has opened the doors for dozens of mental health problems.
Recent studies say poor diet could be linked to depression, schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and Alzheimer's disease
Now more clinical trials are underway to find out whether omega-3 supplements could reduce problems such as depression, dementia and schizophrenia.
As an interesting side-note...
Do you remember that film from 1992 starring Nick Nolte, called 'Lorenzo's Oil'?
Well, the oil used to help the child with a degenerative nerve disorder in that film was an omega-3 fatty acid.
There are other fats your brain needs, too...
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3 more fats to boost your brainpower
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Here are three more brain-building fats you should enquire about:
-- Phosphatidylserine (PS) helps your brain cells do their jobs properly. You can give your PS levels a boost with supplements like soybean lecithin.
-- Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALC) can improve your mood and memory while protecting the nerve cells in your brain. You can ask for these supplements at your local health store.
-- Coensyme Q10 gives your brain energy, while also protecting your brain from the side-effects of that energy production: dangerous free radicals. Domestically farmed meat doesn't have enough of this fat, so you'll need daily supplements instead.
So there you have it. A fatty brain is good for your mood, memory and mental health.
Try and eat high quality protein every day. Ideally, that means good organic meats and fish... or you can top yourself up with the supplements I mention above.
And finally...
While dietary changes can protect your memory and ward off things like Alzheimer's, there's nothing like a bit of brain exercise. On Sunday I shall reveal the best brain-booster exercise I've ever tried. You can do it in half an hour a day, from ANYWHERE - at home, on the bus, at work... but I'll explain all at the weekend!
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Your's as ever
Ray Collins
The Good Life Letter |
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