Food to FUEL up your mind

PREVENTING the onset of Alzheimer’s and mitigating its symptoms after diagnosis is a cherished aim in the 21st century. After hearing from researchers all over the world, I believe such an achievement is within our grasp — and it starts with how we fuel our bodies.

The food we choose to eat could very well bring the greatest benefits to brain health now and in the future.

After all, we eat every day, and the way our body responds to what we put in our mouths ultimately influences our entire physiology — brain included.

As a neurosurgeon I have dedicated my career to investigating the science behind brain optimisation and the ways in which we can all stimulate the growth of new brain cells and protect ourselves against age-related mental decline.

All this week my new book, Keep Sharp, is being serialised in the Irish Daily Mail, and today my focus is very specifically on food.

It is great to know there is strong evidence that fuelling your body well can go a long way towards protecting your brain.

In fact, I like to think of good nutrition as the assembly of ‘brain scaffolding’ which provides the effective support structure you need to enable you to carry out the ‘renovations’ I have been recommending — and also reinforce the foundations of good brain health.

Although I am convinced no single food or nutrient holds the key to good brain health, it is very clear that a combination of healthy foods will help shield the brain against assault, and it is never too early to switch to a brain-healthy diet.

We do know that high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and high cholesterol, especially in midlife, substantially increase the chances of developing dementia later.

The food you eat in your youth can begin to lay the groundwork for protecting your brain in your later years. That is why prevention should begin early, but to make it count, you need to have a proper strategy. This has to be a plan that you can easily incorporate into your daily life. And improving your general diet is the best possible place to start.

HOW YOU CAN FEED YOUR MIND

I SET out to find the best possible diet for my brain, spent countless hours with experts all over the country and synthesised a great deal of information. It should come as no surprise that the typical Western diet, which is high in salt, sugar, excess calories and saturated fats, is not brain-friendly.

As the research concludes, a plant-based diet that is rich in a variety of fresh whole fruits and vegetables, particularly berries and green leafy vegetables, is associated with better brain health.

This is backed up by studies which show that people who stick to a Mediterranean-style diet enjoy greater brain volume as they age compared to those who don’t eat that way.

Research consistently concludes that this plant-based diet is associated with better brain health.

I’m fascinated by the MIND diet for healthy brain ageing, which was based on years of research into nutrition, ageing and Alzheimer’s disease.

It was created for a large study by merging the Mediterranean diet and very similar DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), and modifying the two to incorporate science-supported dietary changes that improve brain health.

The protocols are simple: it’s

a thumbs-up for vegetables (especially green leafy ones), nuts, berries, beans, whole grains, fish, poultry, olive oil, and (for those interested) wine; and a thumbs-down on red meat, butter and margarine, cheese, pastries and other sweets, and fried or fast-food.

The long-term studies showed that ten years on this diet can measurably prevent cognitive decline and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

In fact, the closer you stick to the rules, the better your chance of avoiding dementia.

The researchers found that people who followed the diet to the letter had the slowest rate of cognitive decline and those who followed it less rigidly had a faster rate.

The difference between the highest third and lowest third in cognitive decline was equivalent to about seven-and-a-half years of ageing.

FERMENTED FOOD IS YOUR SECRET WEAPON

CHANGING your diet in an effort to optimise your brain will take some time, I realise — and, of course, it should.

Over the past few years I have focused on creating a style of eating that I can easily maintain even when I’m on the road. Most of us have a general idea of what’s good for us, and what we like and don’t like.

Fermented foods such as pickles are a secret weapon for me but maybe not for you. I occasionally snack on them to boost my productivity.

We are all different, and part of the solution is figuring out what really fuels you in the best way without digestive problems or food allergies.

However, if you focus more on what you should eat instead of what you shouldn’t eat, you will end up refuelling with good calories and naturally avoid the bad ones.