Red meat can turn you into dead meat

Researchers tracked more than 500,000 people, ages 50 to 71, over 16 years and found that the top 20 percent of red-meat eaters had a 26 percent higher risk of dying from cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes, infections, or kidney or liver disease, compared with the lowest 20 percent of red-meat eaters.

But the stats on white meat — skin-free poultry and fish — delivered a nice surprise. Those who ate the most unprocessed white meat had a 25 percent reduced risk of mortality over the course of the study, compared with those who ate the least white meat!

On the other hand, red and white processed meats, especially those high in dietary heme iron and nitrate-nitrites were “independently associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality.” They also heighten the risk for Type 2 diabetes.

Your tip? Lean, unprocessed white meat, as well as plant protein like nuts and beans, can be the foundation of a healthy diet. Opt for no more than three servings a day of 3-6 ounces of white meat and make sure to dish up seven to nine servings of fresh produce daily.

Mental gymnastics

If you want to double up your brainpower so you can memorize lines or just a shopping list, researchers at Johns Hopkins say dual learning is the key. Their recommendation: a program called Dual N-back that strengthens your working memory by up to 30 percent.

Dr. Mike has been a proponent of Double Decision, a brain game that improves brain-processing speed. Research has shown that it can decrease dementia in 73- to 83-year-olds by over 33 percent when practiced for five weeks.

Dual N-back is an excellent complement to that. It works on a similar principal of exercising your short-term memory and challenging your recall. As you progress through Dual N-back, the levels become more and more difficult, just like Double Decision, and your brain becomes more and more used to flexing its muscles in your prefrontal cortex.

So, to improve your sharpness and upgrade your executive function, check out these intriguing programs. The demos for both are free, but Double Decision has a small maintenance fee. You can explore it at www.brainhq.com. The Dual N-back program carries no charge unless you want to contact the developers and customize your own scalable features into the program. Check it out at https://dualn-back.io/.

Email questions for Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen to youdocsdaily@sharecare. com.