Do your brain a favor — take off the tie

Tying one on really does reduce your brainpower — even if all you’re doing is fastening a piece of fabric around your neck.

Recently, researchers in Germany conducted a study published in the journal Neuroradiology that examined the negative effects of wearing a tie. They recruited 30 men (half wore ties, half didn’t) and scanned their brains with an MRI to see what that fashion accessory was doing to their blood flow. Turns out the constricting cravats cut circulation to the brain by 7.5 percent — enough to be lethal for some men with high blood pressure and an amount guaranteed to reduce cognition and creativity in any mind.

But don’t think it is a oneoff: This follows an earlier report that found wearing a necktie is associated with an increase of pressure within the eye, a characteristic of glaucoma.

Ties have been worn in one fashion or another since the Thirty Years’ War in the 1600s, when Croatian mercenaries sported a piece of cloth around their neck as part of their uniform. Mankind has not gotten smarter about conflict management or fashion in the ensuing centuries, so clearly it might be time to take off the tie.

Nut butters: badder, better or as nutty as nuts themselves?

What is it about peanut butter that makes it attractive to so many songwriters, from the Wiggles (“There’s a food going round that’s a sticky, sticky goo/peanut, peanut butter”) to the Wutang Clan (“Don’t eat Skippy, Jif or Peter Pan peanut butter”)?

Nuts and pure nut butters made from nothing but peanuts (we know it’s a legume, but for this discussion that may be close enough), walnuts, almonds, cashews and/or hazelnuts are packed with heart-loving poly- and monounsaturated fats and nutrients, including protein, iron, calcium and potassium.

One study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that eating peanuts and tree nuts two or more times a week and walnuts at least once a week was associated with a 13 to 19 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease and up to a 23 percent reduced risk of coronary heart disease.

But not all nut butters are healthy options — something the Wu-tang Clan figured out. Their lyrics called out brands that contain heart-damaging trans fats/ hydrogenated palm, cottonseed and soy oils and added sugar/honey/artificial sweeteners. Stick with those made with nuttin’ but nuts (and maybe water).

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