New info on protecting your brain....

Today's post: Thursday, 8-7-2008

Your ability to do your work, do the other things you want to do, & to enjoy life all depend on your brain.

If it stops working right or begins to work less well as you get older – or it already has – that’s NOT good.

So, we’ve already posted that regular exercise, particularly interval cardio, helps improve your brain circulation. And, we’ve posted that the researchers recently discovered that exercise causes your brain to grow new nerve cells. Both strength training and interval cardio likely do well at growing new brain cells due to the growth hormone release they cause.

(And, we’ve done many posts on how to prevent heart disease including those on lowering homocysteine. Using that information, also improves brain circulation & protects your brain.

Plus, taking the supplement Curcumin helps to prevent Alzheimer’s disease and some cancers.)

Here are two more pieces of information on how to ensure your brain is protected and gets enough circulation to stay healthy.

1. I read today that the news that exercise builds new brain cells is true; but the complete news is even better.

Exercise also causes these new brain cells to grow interconnections & become useful brain components; AND it causes your body to add new blood vessels to supply the new brain cells.

In addition, other studies show that people who exercise think and remember better than similar people who don’t. (The studies on exercise growing new brain cells helps to explain why this is so.) The new brain cells do make a positive difference in other words.

2. On this past Monday, Reuters Health News reported a study that found that although some older people developed dead areas in their brains that may have been caused by lack of circulation, “Older adults who regularly eat fish may have a lower risk of subtle brain damage that contributes to stroke and dementia, as long as the fish isn't fried…..”

They found that the people who ate the most fish regularly tended to have no dead areas in their brains. This was not true or was much less true of the people who didn’t eat fish or ate fish very infrequently.

This effect is due to two factors I think:

Eating fish provides more of the omega 3 oils, DHA and EPA than taking fish oil supplements unless you take them by the handful; & DHA is directly good for brain function plus these omega 3 oils in this amount tend to lower or prevent high blood pressure; improve circulation; lower inflammation and triglycerides; & prevent the kind of heart rhythm problems that can temporarily shut off blood flow.

And, people who eat fish are NOT eating as much fatty meats that are high in saturated fat that can tend to cause cardiovascular problems.

There are two caveats in eating fish however.

Mercury is high in some fish & causes brain damage in those who ingest too much of it.

King mackerel (not regular mackerel though); swordfish; & to a smaller extent tuna, are too high in mercury to eat or eat at all often if you want to avoid mercury.

Tuna is likely OK once or twice a month; but sardines, wild caught salmon, and regular mackerel are better choices to eat once or twice a week or three times. Oysters, shrimp, & scallops also work.

Second, farmed fish are often fed grain which causes them to have the omega 6 oils that tend to produce inflammation and not as many of these omega 3 oils -- plus they tend to have a high level of pollutants like PCB’s etc.

Lastly, in addition to eating fish that are wild caught and NOT high in mercury once or twice or three times a week I think it also makes sense to take DHA supplements and some purified fish oil supplements daily so your brain and body have those during the days of the week you don’t eat fish.

So, only taking the supplements and eating beans instead of fatty meats is probably better for your brain and your health than eating farmed fish.

Bottom line, regular exercise and eating the right fish and seafood regularly &/or taking omega 3 supplements plus limiting fatty meats from animals that have been fed grain, all work well to protect your brain.