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[newziesuzie]

Interesting!
The whole article is at the link.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mediterranean-eating-habits-prove-good-for-the-brain/?WT.m...

"Whenever the fictional character Popeye the Sailor Man managed to down a can of spinach, the results were almost instantaneous: he gained superhuman strength. Devouring any solid object similarly did the trick for one of the X-Men.

As we age and begin to struggle with memory problems, many of us would love to reach for an edible mental fix. Sadly, such supernatural effects remain fantastical. Yet making the right food choices may well yield more modest gains.

A growing body of evidence suggests that adopting the Mediterranean diet, or one much like it, can help slow memory loss as people age.

The diet's hallmarks include lots of fruits and vegetables and whole grains (as opposed to ultrarefined ones) and a moderate intake of fish, poultry and red wine. Dining mainly on single ingredients, such as pumpkin seeds or blueberries, however, will not do the trick.

What is more, this diet approach appears to reap brain benefits even when adopted later in life—sometimes aiding cognition in as little as two years.

“You will not be Superman or Superwoman,” says Miguel A. Martínez González, chair of the department of preventive medicine at the University of Navarra in Barcelona. “You can keep your cognitive abilities or even improve them slightly, but diet is not magic.”

Those small gains, however, can be meaningful in day-to-day life.

From Fork to Brain

Scientists long believed that altering diet could not improve memory.

But evidence to the contrary started to emerge about 10 years ago."

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"In February, Morris and her colleagues published online a study recommending a modified diet largely consistent with the Mediterranean diet but one cheaper to adopt in the U.S. Morris's so-called MIND diet emphasizes green, leafy plant and whole grain consumption. Its staples include two veggie servings a day, two berry servings a week and, instead of the almost daily fish consumption required in the Mediterranean diet, fish only once a week.

Morris found that even moderate adherence to the MIND diet for an average of 4.5 years appeared to reduce Alzheimer's risk compared with the Mediterranean and another diet."

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"A pilot study published in June in the Lancet found that making changes in diet and habits later in life can slow the course of cognitive decline.

Scandinavian researchers divided a group of 1,260 people in Finland either to receive standard nutrition and diet advice or to follow a specified exercise plan and eat a modified Mediterranean diet—all while their blood pressure and other health indicators were monitored and, if necessary, treated. Subjects in the experimental group ended up doing significantly better on standard tests of cognition.

“We could really see that [the intervention] can protect against or at least delay cognitive impairments,” says lead study author Miia Kivipelto, director of research and education at the geriatric clinic at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

Unexpectedly, she says, those changes were visible within just two years. And best of all, superpowers are not required."

[Puzzle Piece]

I was doing okay until I had to have several surgeries where anesthesia was used.  Then, the marbles got jumbled.  I work to get them back and in order.

I have to remark that not all fish is good to eat nowadays.  Polluted waters and such.  Fish from farms is also questionable.  I think clean living and thoughts help one to keep what they have to get them through most of life. Some things (such as trauma), I would like to forget.  I like my fruits and veggies so I can deal with that.  However, there are pesticides and genetically altered produce.  What to do, what to do..........................

[Judaline]

Boy, you can sure tell the gvmnt. had something to do with that article-berries twice a week? You're supposed to eat them every day. Their daily requirements of food or supplements have always been ridiculous. Mercola will tell you the real requirements. And he has always said, 'no grains at all.' I, of course, can't adhere to everything he says, but he knows his stuff if you're here to learn.

[winamac1]

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@Judaline wrote:

Boy, you can sure tell the gvmnt. had something to do with that article-berries twice a week? You're supposed to eat them every daily.

I don't eat grains.  I do eat a lot of fish, but I don't eat tilapia or farm-raised salmon.  Cod and mahi mahi are usually from the U.S.  I see too much shrimp that is from Vietnam and China.  I'm very against fish from China. 

I now check before I buy my seafood.  I used to not pay attention.

[Burnsite]

My dad was a country doctor who ate a very healthy diet--eating a lot of wild-caught fish, as many New Englanders do.  He developed Alzheimer's at a cruelly early age. 

They say that genetics loads the gun and that diet and lifestyle can "pull the trigger" on serious illness.  Or perhaps brain function is influenced by environment as well as lifestyle.  He ran 3 miles several times a week, didn't smoke, didn't drink.  6' tall and he weighed 140 lbs.  Read philosophy as his hobby.  Totally disabled by cognitive deficiency by his 50s.

I think people do the best they can with diet--my tendency is to neglect variety, but I do follow a diet rich in foods of the Mediterranean sort--olives, tomatoes and fresh veg and fruits, and fish a few times a week. Red meat maybe once a year or so.  Wild-caught fish only. 

I do this because it makes me energetic, but I am not assuming it will extend my life or prevent cognitive decline. 

[newziesuzie]

Thanks for the posts!  

Its new research findings and

I thought some posters might 

be interested.

😊

[hckynutjohn]

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Mediterranean Eating Habits Prove Good for Brain

newziesuzie,

Something else that has proven to be very good for the brain, especially aging ones?  That would be "USING IT" as often as possible and not for things you know. Test it consistently with hand/eye coordination and times tests of some sort.

I've practiced about as healthy a lifestyle(including a very health eating program), including making sure my brain is engaged as much as possible.

Don't care what a person eats, healthy or otherwise, nothing will maintain the brain better than using it for new things and also doing hand/eye and times testing of reflexes and other things necessary to live as if you are still "Physiologically" sitll a young person. And that is regardless of ones "Chronological" age.