People often ask: How can one eat to nourish one’s brain? Do you really have [brain tonic] food?
In short, if there is a long-term lack of a certain nutrient, it may indeed affect the normal function of the brain. However, extra supplements of certain nutrients in excess do not make people smarter.
More generally, besides us [eating what], there is also [how to eat].
If several important principles are grasped, it will help maintain the normal operation of the brain and reduce and delay the decline of brain cognitive function affected by age and diseases as much as possible.
Comprehensive and balanced nutrition is beneficial to brain cognitive function.
Under normal circumstances, with the growth of age and the influence of diseases, some minor damages on the brain will gradually accumulate, eventually causing slow cognitive decline.
If the brain lacks one or several nutrients and continues to lack them for a long time, it may produce some harmful reactions, which will make matters worse.
1. Reduce cognitive decline in the elderly and patients with Alzheimer’s disease
Some micronutrients are helpful to slow down the cognitive decline of the elderly and patients with Alzheimer’s disease, or maintain the cognitive level, and can promote the recovery of mild/moderate brain injury.
- -3 Polyunsaturated fatty acids: It is commonly found in deep sea fish (such as salmon), flaxseed, krill, kiwi fruit and peanuts. Vitamin E: commonly found in spinach, asparagus, avocado (avocado), nuts such as peanuts, vegetable oils such as olive oil and red palm oil, and malt. Vitamin D: cod liver oil, fish oil, mushrooms, milk, soybean milk and grains. Vitamin C, carotenoids: grapefruit, fresh fruits and vegetables, beef and beef liver.
2. Restoring Women’s Cognitive Function
Some nutrients have a positive effect on women’s memory. Especially for young women with iron deficiency, after iron supplement treatment, cognitive function can be restored.
- Iron: red meat, fish, poultry, lentils, soybeans. Vitamin B12: Only obtained from animal products, such as red meat. Vitamin B6, folic acid:
3. Increased ability to accomplish difficult tasks
Some micronutrients can increase the ability to complete difficult tasks. It also plays a role in resisting neurotoxic substances and protecting nerves.
Choline: egg yolk, chicken, beef, turkey liver, lettuce.
4. Antioxidation
- Carotenoids: grapefruit, fresh fruits and vegetables, beef and beef liver. Flavonoids: cocoa, green tea, grapefruit, ginkgo, dark chocolate. Selenium: nuts, grains, red meat, fish, eggs. Curcumin: curry.
Of course, this does not mean that food eaters can keep their brains healthy as long as they care about [eating]. A series of complicated metabolic reactions in the human body may eventually affect brain function.
Excessive calorie intake will affect learning and memory ability.
Recommendation 1: Try to control calories while reducing saturated fatty acids.
Studies have shown that excessive calorie intake not only increases the risk of obesity and cardiovascular diseases, but also reduces synaptic plasticity. The outstanding strong plasticity is the necessary condition for learning and remembering new things.
In diet, if the energy from saturated fatty acids such as butter, ghee, suet, lard, coconut oil, cotton seed oil and palm oil is too high, it will accelerate cognitive decline and worsen the cognitive damage to the brain injured and the elderly.
Recommendation 2: Controlling diet calories and losing weight will help promote learning ability.
It is worth noting that whether you eat more or less is largely determined by your endocrine hormones.
For example, there is a hormone called leptin.
Leptin is a hormone secreted by human fat, which means fat people secrete more.
It will directly act on hypothalamus and other regions in the brain. For people without obesity problems, it can reduce appetite, reasonably control dietary calories, and help to keep fit. The name [leptin] is still very appropriate.
However, the endocrine function of obese people is different from that of ordinary people, which leads to the inability to play its normal role.
Some studies have found that abnormal leptin receptor function in mice will affect learning ability. However, if leptin is injected into the brain, it can recover as before. Areas such as prefrontal cortex, which is related to advanced cognitive function, and hippocampus, which is closely related to learning and memory, will also be affected by leptin.
Recommendation 3: Adhere to and ensure adequate daily exercise
On the basis of the influence of heat on brain cognition, increasing exercise is tantamount to icing on the cake.
If you don’t exercise and stay at home all day, you will either lose your appetite soon or go to the road of getting fat. And like patients after surgery in hospitals, doctors will also encourage early lightweight exercise to stimulate the gastrointestinal vagus nerve to maintain normal activity and promote gastrointestinal digestion.
The study also found that exercise is additionally helpful to cognition and even has positive effects on some neurological diseases.
In short, if you want to be effective [nourishing your brain], you should actively develop correct living habits and lifestyles.