Sarcopenia can also raise the risk of developing cognitive disorders. One study found people with sarcopenia were six times more likely to have cognitive impairments than those without the disease.

We know that exercise can help protect against age-related muscle loss and boost our cognitive health. But what about the role that nutrition plays?

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The power of blended antioxidants

Oxidative stress, which plays a significant role in age-related health issues, is the progressive cellular damage caused by free radicals.

The best defense against oxidative stress? Antioxidants. Consuming foods rich in antioxidants can reduce cell damage and slow down age-related health decline.

In a recent study, researchers gave aged mice a blended antioxidant supplement known as Twendee X (TwX). The supplement contains the following antioxidants:

• Vitamin C
• L-glutamine
• Niacin
• L-cysteine
• Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)
• Vitamin B2

Results showed the mice experienced significant improvements in spatial cognition, short-term memory and muscle durability.

These results suggest that such antioxidant cocktails may benefit both memory and muscle strength in aging humans.

The right foods for antioxidants

Many foods are rich in antioxidants, but unfortunately, most of the foods highest in antioxidants are those that most of us don’t eat enough of.

If you’re ready to make an effort to improve your dietary antioxidant intake, look for these:

• Glutamine/l-glutamine: Beef, cabbage, cottage cheese, milk, pork, poultry, raw parsley, raw spinach, ricotta cheese and yogurt
• Niacin (B3): Bananas, beef, beef liver, brown rice, fish, fortified cereals and breads, legumes, nuts, pork, poultry and seeds
• Cysteine/L-cysteine: Beef, egg, poultry and whole grains
• CoQ10: oily fish (such as salmon and tuna), organ meats (such as liver) and whole grains
• Vitamin B2/riboflavin: Almonds, cheese, chicken breast, dairy milk, fortified cereals and breads, eggs, lean beef and pork, organ meats (such as beef liver), salmon, spinach and yogurt
• Vitamin C: bell peppers (all colors), broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cantaloupes, cauliflower, grapefruits, leafy greens (turnip, mustard, beet, collards), honeydew melons, kale, kiwi, lemons, oranges, papayas, snow peas, strawberries, sweet potatoes and tomatoes

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• Vitamin E: Almonds, avocado, leafy greens (beet, mustard, turnip), peanuts, red peppers, spinach (boiled), Swiss chard and sunflower seeds
• Carotenoids (including lutein and zeaxanthin): Apricots, asparagus, beets, broccoli, cantaloupes, carrots, bell peppers, kale, mangos, oranges, peaches, pink grapefruits, pumpkins, winter squash, spinach, sweet potatoes, tangerines, tomatoes, turnip and collard greens and watermelon
• Selenium: Barley, brown rice, Brazil nuts, fish, shellfish, beef and poultry
• Zinc: Beef, cashews, chickpeas, fortified cereals, lentils, oysters, poultry, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and shrimp
• Phenolic compounds: Anthocyanins (blueberries, strawberries), catechins (berries, cocoa, tea), coumaric acid (berries, spices), quercetin (apples, onions, red wine), resveratrol (grapes, peanuts, and red wine)

Sources:

Blended antioxidant supplement improves cognition and memory in aged mice — ScienceDaily

A Blended Vitamin Supplement Improves Spatial Cognitive and Short-Term Memory in Aged Mice — International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Antioxidants — Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Glutamine — Mount Sinai

Niacin – Vitamin B3 — Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Dietary Cysteine and Other Amino Acids and Stroke Incidence in Women — Stroke

Coenzyme Q10: The essential nutrient — Journal of Pharmacy & BioAllied Sciences

Riboflavin – Vitamin B2 — Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

The post Why antioxidants are the answer for aging brains and muscles appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Sounds perfect, right?

Not exactly.

What good is losing weight and looking trim if your memories are slowly being erased?

Take a look at the newest research on artificial sweeteners and what they do to your cognitive abilities…

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Artificial sweeteners steal your brain power

A large Brazilian study has found that the most common artificial sweeteners — those found in diet sodas, flavored waters, and processed snacks — are strongly associated with a decline in memory and loss of cognitive skills.

The study looked at seven low- and no-calorie sweeteners. You’ve probably seen some of these on your soda, chewing gum, or snack labels:

• aspartame
• saccharine
• acesulfame-K
• erythritol
• xylitol
• sorbitol
• tagatose

The study followed 12,772 adults for an average of eight years. At the start, participants completed questionnaires about what they ate and drank during the past year. They were then broken up into three groups based on the total amount of artificial sweeteners they’d consumed.

All participants were given cognitive tests at the start, middle, and end of the study to track memory, language, and thinking skills over time. These tests looked at things like verbal fluency, working memory, word recall, and processing speed.

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People who consumed the highest amount of these sweeteners showed a 62 percent faster decline in overall thinking and memory skills than those who consumed the lowest amount — the equivalent of 1.6 years of extra brain aging.

Just to give you some perspective, for aspartame, a common sweetener, the highest amount was equal to drinking just one can of soda per day!

Other findings:

• People under the age of 60 who consumed the highest amounts of sweeteners showed faster declines in verbal fluency and overall cognition.
• The link to faster cognitive decline was stronger in participants with diabetes than in those without diabetes.

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Alternatives to artificial sweeteners

This isn’t the first time the alarm has sounded about the impact of artificial sweeteners on cognition.

In 2017, a study at Boston University found that people who drank diet soda daily were almost three times as likely to develop stroke and dementia when compared to those who did not.

In case you’re not already convinced to give up those diet sodas, here are some other scary things that artificial sweeteners can do to you:

• Xylitol (used in sugar-free chewing gum) and erythritol (found in sweeteners like Splenda) have been strongly associated with “sticky” blood that leads to stroke.
• The World Health Organization lists aspartame (found in everything from bread to hot cocoa to jam to vitamins) as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”

Fortunately, there are healthier alternatives to sweetening your food and drink. And if you don’t overdo it, there’s no need to worry about the calories.

• Honey – known for its antioxidant and antibacterial properties
• Maple syrup – contains manganese and potassium, and has a lower glycemic index
• Coconut sugar – made from the sap of the coconut palm
• Stevia – a plant-based sweetener with no calories and no effect on blood sugar
• Monk fruit – a natural sweetener with a sweetness level 300 times higher than sugar, and no calories or carbohydrates

So if you’re looking to stay healthy by losing those extra pounds, make sure you don’t lose your mind power, too.

Sources:

Sweeteners in diet drinks may steal years from the brain — Science Daily

Association Between Consumption of Low- and No-Calorie Artificial Sweeteners and Cognitive Decline — Neurology

The post Why diet drinks can prematurely age your brain appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Your heart? Your lungs?

Nope. It’s your brain.

Your brain accounts for only 2 percent of your body’s weight, but it uses 20 percent of your body’s total energy.

The energy that fuels the brain is produced by mitochondria, organelles located inside every cell in the body, commonly known as “the powerhouse of the cell.”

Unfortunately, quite a few things can mess with our mitochondria and keep them from producing the energy the brain needs, like environmental toxins, physical inactivity, poor nutrition and aging — all of which lead to oxidative stress.

When this happens, the result can be neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia.

These conditions have always been considered irreversible — they only get worse with time.

But for the first time, thanks to a groundbreaking study, there’s hope of reversing memory loss.

And it all comes back to that “powerhouse of the cell” — the mitochondria.

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Boosting mitochondria can restore memory

A group of Canadian researchers has found that mitochondrial dysfunction can cause the cognitive symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s.

This is a really big deal. Using a new tool, these researchers have shown that not only are dysfunctional mitochondria associated with these diseases — they’ve established a “causal link,” a term you rarely hear in research.

The tool is an artificial receptor that activates specific proteins within the mitochondria, which stimulates mitochondrial activity.

In the Canadian research, the activation of these proteins in the brain cells of mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases successfully increased their mitochondrial activity.

More importantly, it restored their memory performance. In other words, the study linked impaired mitochondria to dementia symptoms and showed that boosting mitochondrial activity can restore memory in animals.

“This work is the first to establish a cause-and-effect link between mitochondrial dysfunction and symptoms related to neurodegenerative diseases, suggesting that impaired mitochondrial activity could be at the origin of the onset of neuronal degeneration,” explains Dr. Giovanni Marsicano, co-senior author of the study.

And according to Dr. Étienne Hébert Chatelain, another co-senior author of the study, “Ultimately, the tool we developed could help us identify the molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for dementia and facilitate the development of effective therapeutic targets.”

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How to support your mitochondria

These findings confirm older research that links impaired mitochondrial activity with Alzheimer’s.

A 2017 study found that by stimulating the natural self-protective mechanisms of mitochondria, amyloid plaque (a hallmark of Alzheimer’s) was reduced and cognitive decline reversed in mice.

So, it’s pretty clear that we should support our mitochondria… but how do we do that?

CoQ10 (Coenzyme Q10) is a vitamin-like compound produced by the body. PQQ (pyrroloquinoline quinone) is a natural enzyme similar to CoQ10 and found in tofu, green tea, and spinach. Both of these have been shown to support and even replenish mitochondria, which naturally decrease in production after age 40.

It isn’t easy to get a therapeutic dose of PQQ from food. The best thing is to supplement with at least 5 to 20 mg per day of PQQ, and/or 50 to 100 mg of CoQ10.

An anti-inflammatory diet rich in probiotics goes a long way toward protecting your mitochondria. Eating probiotic-rich foods like yogurt (or taking a supplement) as well as adding green leafy veggies, blueberries, salmon and avocado to your diet will help.

Aside from your diet, the usual candidates for promoting wellness will also help strengthen your mitochondria…

Avoid stress. Chronic stress leads to chronic inflammation. Meditation, massage, aromatherapy, or a hot bath… find the relaxation technique that works for you.

Get enough sleep. Getting less than six hours of restful sleep a night has been linked to markers of chronic inflammation.

Exercise. No need to join a gym. A brisk walk every day will do the trick and help you slash your risk of inflammation.

Sources:

Scientists reversed memory loss by powering the brain’s tiny engines — Science Daily

Potentiation of mitochondrial function by mitoDREADD-Gs reverses pharmacological and neurodegenerative cognitive impairment in mice — Nature Neuroscience

Healthy mitochondria could stop Alzheimer’s — Science Daily

The post Reviving the brain’s energy can reverse memory loss appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Women often face dramatically higher risks for certain health dangers, and even very different symptoms for conditions that men may also suffer from, leading to confusion over diagnoses and treatment, and poorer outcomes.

It’s a phenomenon that has been most recognized in women’s heart health. However, the female brain also faces unique risks…

For decades, researchers have been trying to identify the exact reasons why two-thirds of people who develop Alzheimer’s are women.

Along the way, they’ve found that…

• Changes in a female hormone, known as follicle-stimulating hormone (or FSH), during menopause contribute to brain changes associated with memory loss and other Alzheimer’s symptoms.
• The loss of estrogen with age reduces energy to the brain and can cause it to age more quickly, leading to the formation of amyloid plaques, the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.
• Women with increased numbers of large particle HDL (even though it’s known as ‘good cholesterol’) run a higher risk of developing dementia.

But there’s more…

According to scientists from King’s College London and Queen Mary University London, a startling omega-3 deficiency may explain women’s Alzheimer’s risk — another risk factor that men do not share.

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A noticeable loss of essential fatty acids

For their research, the scientists analyzed blood samples and measured brain inflammation and brain damage in 841 participants, divided into three groups: those with Alzheimer’s disease, those with mild cognitive impairment, and cognitively healthy individuals.

They then focused on the lipid (fat) content in the blood to determine the balance of unhealthy, saturated fats to healthy, unsaturated lipids (omega-3 essential fatty acids).

According to senior study author Dr. Cristina Legido-Quigley, “Women are disproportionately impacted by Alzheimer’s disease and are more often diagnosed with the disease than men after the age of 80. One of the most surprising things we saw when looking at the different sexes was that there was no difference in these lipids in healthy and cognitively impaired men, but for women, this picture was completely different.”

In fact, the scientists say that not only did women with Alzheimer’s show a steep increase in harmful lipids, they also experienced a sharp loss of healthy omega fatty acids.

The researchers believe this marked drop in protective omega fats found in female patients could explain why women are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia more often than men.

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Feed your brain what it needs

The good news is that, despite the increased risks women face regarding cognitive decline, this provides a good starting point for reducing those risks…

As Dr. Legido-Quigley points out, “Our study suggests that women should make sure they are getting omega fatty acids in their diet — through fatty fish or via supplements.”

The Mediterranean-style diet focuses on fatty fish, olive oil, lean meats and plenty of fresh fruits and veggies. This type of diet has been shown to reduce cognitive decline.

But for brain-saving omega-3 benefits, past research has shown that dosage matters. That’s because only a small percentage of the omega-3s, specifically DHA and EPA, reach your brain from the bloodstream. And if you’re a carrier of the Alzheimer’s gene APOE4, even less makes it to the brain.

Aim for at least 2 grams daily, and that can be as a combination of fish oil supplements and fish in the diet a couple of times a week. The FDA says that you can safely take up to 3 grams of omega-3 supplements containing EPA and DHA per day. 

However, many people who start supplementing with fish oil stop for reasons that include indigestion and fish burps. I found a way around that by taking krill oil supplements instead. It’s a cleaner source of omega-3s and sits much better on your stomach.

Krill is also rich in astaxanthin, a powerful antioxidant that challenges aging by protecting against oxidative stress and the inflammation that’s considered the root of disease, from Alzheimer’s to heart disease.

If you are on blood thinners, talk to your physician before adding fish oil or krill oil supplements to your daily routine.

Sources:

A startling omega-3 deficiency may explain women’s Alzheimer’s risk – ScienceDaily

The post The startling deficiency behind Alzheimer’s in women appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

For the lucky few who survive the event, an almost insurmountable challenge lies ahead. Stroke is the leading cause of permanent disability in adults. Speech problems, strength and mobility issues and memory loss are just a few of the impacts of stroke.

Right now, no approved treatment reverses the damage caused by stroke in the U.S. But that hasn’t stopped researchers from trying. And one team may have hit upon a drug that could do the trick — and nip a few other diseases in the bud as well…

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GAI-17 could help heal stroke damage

Acute ischemic stroke is caused by blockage in an artery feeding blood to the brain, which cuts off its oxygen supply and causes cell damage and death.

Researchers in Japan developed a mouse model of acute ischemic stroke to investigate the role of toxic aggregation of the glycolytic enzyme, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). This multifunctional protein is associated with the development of many difficult-to-treat brain and nervous system diseases.

The mice were subjected to 30 minutes of ischemia (stroke) followed by periods of reperfusion, and researchers determined that ischemia-reperfusion-induced GAPDH aggregates led to cell death and paralysis in the mice. By creating a construct encoding human GAPDH-C152A, the team was able to inhibit the aggregation of mouse GAPDH.

Next, the researchers developed and optimized a GAPDH aggregation inhibitor (GAI) to see if using a drug to inhibit GAPDH aggregation could prevent ischemic brain damage and be a therapeutic approach for acute ischemic stroke.

When this inhibitor, known as GAI-17, was given to the mice with acute strokes, there was a significantly lower level of brain cell death and paralysis compared to untreated mice.

Considering that stroke is a condition in which time is essential for successful treatment, it’s promising that improvements were observed in the mice even when GAI-17 was administered six hours after the stroke.

And that’s not even all GAI-17 may do…

“The GAPDH aggregation inhibitor we have developed is expected to be a single drug that can treat many intractable neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease,” says Hidemitsu Nakajima, a professor at Osaka Metropolitan University who led the study team.

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Prevention and stroke support

To sum up, GAI-17 shielded mouse brains from stroke damage, restored movement, worked up to six hours after onset, and did so without harm. Plus, it may be used to treat various neurodegenerative diseases in addition to stroke.

It will be exciting to see if studies in humans reveal the same promising effects that could lead to an approved treatment.

In alternative medicine, many natural compounds have shown promise in helping survivors of stroke…

According to a preliminary study presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2024, ginkgo biloba may hold promise for patients recovering from ischemic stroke, particularly when it comes to recovering their cognitive ability.

So, it’s not at all surprising that IV preparations of ginkgo biloba’s active ingredients are widely used in China as a complementary treatment for ischemic stroke.

A study published in the journal Stroke found that both coffee and green tea have varying degrees of benefit for stroke survivors as well.

However, your best defense against stroke is a good offense. Taking steps to reduce your stroke risk includes:

• Quitting smoking: According to one study, people who smoked were 1.9 times more likely to have a severe stroke and 1.7 times more likely to have a mild to moderate stroke than people who were not smokers.
• Managing blood pressure: That same study found people with high blood pressure were 3.2 times more likely to have a severe stroke and 2.9 times more likely to have a mild to moderate stroke than people without high blood pressure.
• Controlling your blood sugar: Elevated blood sugar is a risk factor for stroke, so do your best to avoid developing diabetes.
• Eating a healthy diet: Avoid foods high in saturated fats, sodium and added sugars. This will help with managing blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol as well.
• Exercising: Physical inactivity can increase your stroke risk, so aim for at least a few days a week of moderate-intensity exercise, such as a brisk walk, a run, a bike ride, or a swim.

Sources:

Six-hour ‘undo’ button: GAI-17 rewinds stroke damage and may beat Alzheimer’s — ScienceDaily

Inhibition of GAPDH aggregation as a potential treatment for acute ischemic stroke — iScience

Heart Disease & Stroke Statistics 2025 Update — American Heart Association

Stroke Recovery: Dealing with Long-Term Disability After a Stroke — American Brain Foundation

Risk Factors Under Your Control — American Stroke Association

The post The drug that could heal stroke — and a lot more appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But what would be even better is if we could do the same thing for our brains.

After all, the accumulation of damaging amyloid proteins in our brains is what leads to memory problems and puts us on the path to severe cognitive decline.

Now, researchers are discovering how to scrub our brains clean with the power of two natural compounds that, when combined, reverse age-related cellular deficits and improve the brain cells’ ability to clear away damaging buildup.

Here’s what you need to know…

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Energy decline equals protein buildup

According to the researchers, the problems with aging in our brains are due to a lack of energy. That’s probably not a surprise to any of us who have found it more challenging to concentrate and focus with every passing year.

Lead author Gregory Brewer explains that, “As people age, their brains show a decline in neuronal energy levels, which limits the ability to remove unwanted proteins and damaged components.”

A contributor to this buildup is declining levels of guanosine triphosphate, an essential energy molecule for mitochondria — your brain’s energy hubs.

Think of it this way…

Your brain has a natural system that acts like a vacuum cleaner, sucking up and getting rid of amyloid proteins. But it has to have the energy available to power that vacuum.

The solution? Reinstate youthful levels of guanosine triphosphate — and that’s what Brewer and his team are working on…

The supplements that provide the solution

They discovered that a combination of naturally occurring compounds — nicotinamide (a form of vitamin B3) and epigallocatechin gallate (a green tea antioxidant) — restored brain energy levels in aged neurons to those typically seen in younger cells in just 24 hours.

And this revival triggered a cascade of benefits, including improved energy metabolism and efficient clearance of amyloid beta aggregates — hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.

According to Brewer, “We found that restoring energy levels helps neurons regain this critical cleanup function.”

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To top it off, restoring brain energy levels also reduced oxidative stress, which leads to neurodegeneration in the brain.

Past research has shown that limiting oxidative stress can reduce the damage typically caused by beta-amyloid.

As Brewer points out, “By supplementing the brain’s energy systems with compounds that are already available as dietary supplements, we may have a new path toward treating age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease.”

It seems then that the one-two supplement punch of nicotinamide and epigallocatechin gallate could be the start to revving up mitochondrial energy in the brain and cleaning out cognitive decline for better brain health — no matter what your age.

However, we’re not there yet…

He cautioned, “More work is going to be required to find the best way to administer this treatment, since a recent clinical trial involving UC Irvine researchers showed that oral nicotinamide was not very effective because of inactivation in the bloodstream.”

Until then, you can read here about how to start supporting your power-generating mitochondria today.

Sources:

UC Irvine researchers find combination of natural compounds for brain cleaning — EurekAlert!

The post Researchers find ‘cleaning combo’ clears brain buildup appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Hearing loss can result in isolation, communication difficulties and reduced alertness, among other impacts. And all of this can lead to greater feelings of loneliness, something more than a third of seniors have reported experiencing.

What’s worse, research shows this combination of hearing loss and loneliness can open the door to one of the most frightening age-related ailments….

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Loneliness and hearing loss accelerate memory decline

Researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) analyzed data from 33,000 older European adults participating in the large-scale Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to study the combined impact of hearing loss and loneliness on memory.

Since 2002, participants have been surveyed every two years on various aspects of their daily lives, including activities, social connections and perceptions. They also undergo tests on cognitive function.

Using the data, the researchers identified three profiles based on the degree of social isolation and perceived loneliness:

• Individuals who are socially isolated and feel lonely
• Individuals who are not socially isolated but still feel lonely
• Individuals who are socially isolated but do not feel lonely

Then, the researchers examined whether these different profiles experienced cognitive decline differently, depending on the type of perceived isolation and the degree of hearing loss. Previous research has linked hearing impairment to as much as a two to three times higher risk of cognitive decline.

The results were sobering. ‘‘We found that people who were not socially isolated but who felt lonely saw their cognitive decline accelerate when they were deaf,’’ says Matthias Kliegel, a UNIGE professor and co-author of the study.

In other words, the findings show hearing loss speeds up cognitive decline particularly among individuals who feel lonely — regardless of whether they’re socially isolated.

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Addressing hearing loss and loneliness

The study results support the importance of addressing both hearing loss and loneliness in efforts to prevent cognitive decline. This is particularly critical for people who are not socially isolated but still feel lonely. In such cases, a simple intervention like using a hearing aid may be enough to help them engage more fully socially.

“These individuals are already socially integrated, so it’s a matter of removing a sensory barrier in order to reinforce their engagement and protect their cognitive health,” says Charikleia Lampraki, postdoctoral researcher at UNIGE and first author of the study.

If you find yourself experiencing hearing impairment and feeling lonely as a result, talk with your doctor about getting a hearing aid. Once you’re able to hear better, it can really help with interacting with people socially.

If your hearing has been corrected but you’re still experiencing loneliness, here are some steps you can take to engage more socially:

• Mindfulness and tai chi: Meditation and tai chi practices have both led to significant improvement in loneliness scores. Other studies have found tai chi can be effective in relieving symptoms of depression in older adults. (Not to mention it’s great exercise!)
• Pets (real or robotic): Having a pet has been proven to reduce loneliness in seniors. If you can’t have a flesh-and-blood pet, even a robotic pet has shown to be just as effective at alleviating those lonely feelings.
• Talking about art (or making it): Simply describing a painting and the feelings, memories and thoughts it evokes, was found to lower loneliness scores. And I know from my own mother’s experience that she feels a lot less lonely when she creates art — especially as part of a class at her senior center.
• Indoor gardening: Caring for plants can be just as rewarding as caring for pets or people. A study of an indoor gardening program in a nursing home showed a decrease in loneliness scores among residents who participated.

Sources:

The silent threat: How hearing loss and loneliness are fueling memory decline — ScienceDaily

Profiles of social isolation and loneliness as moderators of the longitudinal association between uncorrected hearing impairment and cognitive aging — Communications Psychology

Addressing Hearing Loss May Reduce Isolation Among the Elderly — NYU Langone Health

The post How loneliness and hearing loss accelerate cogntive decline appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

While numerous studies have found a link between the toxic particles we breathe and cognitive decline, many weren’t large enough to be considered definitive, and some studies disagreed with their findings entirely.

Now, however, the debate has been settled for good, and science has shown that air pollution is a real and present danger to your brain.

Here’s what you need to know about the dementia triple-threat hidden in air pollution and what you can do to fight back…

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The culmination of more than four dozen studies

Unlike previous studies, which relied on data from a single population of thousands or tens of thousands, the University of Cambridge’s research combined a treasure trove of results from 51 studies and over 29 million participants.

They then carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of the scientific literature to examine the link between Alzheimer’s and air pollution further to deliver “more robust overarching conclusions.”

Overall, the researchers found a positive and statistically significant association between three types of air pollutants and dementia…

• PM2.5 – This describes particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less, which means they are small enough to be inhaled deep into the lungs. Air pollution of this magnitude originates from various sources, including vehicle emissions, power plants, industrial processes, wood-burning stoves and fireplaces, and construction dust. The research showed that for every 10 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m³) of PM2.5, the risk of dementia goes up by 17%. (PM2.5 air pollution is also linked to ischemic heart disease, heart failure and atrial fibrillation.)
• NO2 – Nitrogen dioxide is found in vehicle exhaust, especially diesel exhaust, and industrial emissions. Not only is it bad for your brain, it can irritate your respiratory system, bringing on and worsening conditions like asthma and even reducing lung function. It takes just 10 μg/m3 of NO2 to raise your cognitive risk by 3%.
• Soot – Soot, from vehicle exhaust and burning wood, was also found to damage the brain. It can also aggravate respiratory diseases and increase the risk of heart problems. It only takes 1 μg/m³ of the soot found in PM2.5 to increase your chances of developing Alzheimer’s by 13%.

Sadly, each of those levels of pollutants can be found every hour in average roadside measurements in cities across our country and the world.

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Your brain on air pollution

The good news is that when you know that pollution is a danger to your brain, you can take steps to lessen the impact.

The key lies in understanding how the toxic particles you breathe fuel the development of Alzheimer’s in the first place, which researchers say involves two mechanisms — inflammation and oxidative stress.

Both oxidative stress and inflammation play a well-established role in the onset and progression of dementia.

According to the scientists, air pollution triggers these processes through direct entry to the brain or via the same processes underlying lung and cardiovascular diseases. It also enters your bloodstream from your lungs, traveling to your organs (including your brain), and sets off local and widespread inflammation.

Additionally, further analysis revealed that while exposure to these pollutants increased the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, the effect seemed stronger for vascular dementia, a type of dementia caused by reduced blood flow to the brain.

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Brain-saving tips to fight pollution damage

So when you fight back against inflammation, oxidative stress and reduced blood flow to the brain, you fight back against the dementia dangers of air pollution.

Take these steps to just that…

1. Eat to douse the fires that fuel dementia – One study found that eating an anti-inflammatory diet can slash dementia risk by 31%.
2. Boost your brain’s blood supply– Plenty of fruits and vegetables are loaded with nutrients like flavonoids that support good brain function.
3. Add an antioxidant cocktail – Dementia research found that taking three specific antioxidants could be the secret to repelling dementia.

Remember, while the research is settled, proving that air pollution really does cause dementia, the fight for your brain health is far from over.

Sources:

Is the air you breathe silently fueling dementia? A 29-million-person study says yes — Science Daily

The post 29 million-person study finds 3 ways air pollution fuels dementia appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

However, as is so often the case with medications, the truth is somewhat murkier. The gabapentinoid class of drugs, which includes gabapentin, has been associated with a 30 percent higher risk of hip fracture.

And some of the possible side effects of gabapentin use include fatigue, dizziness, headache, difficulty speaking, memory loss, movement problems and unusual eye movements and double vision.

All of that is disturbing enough. But for people who have taken gabapentin for years, an even more alarming side effect could be waiting for them…

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Gabapentin linked to increased cognitive impairment and dementia risk

A team of U.S. researchers examined real-time data from TriNetX, a health research network containing electronic health records from 60 U.S. healthcare organizations.

They studied the health records of adult patients who had and hadn’t been prescribed gabapentin for chronic low back pain between 2004 and 2024 (with 26,414 in each group). They took into account demographics, co-existing conditions and the use of other pain-relieving drugs.

The results were astonishing…

Those who had received six or more prescriptions for the drug were 29% more likely to be diagnosed with dementia and 85% more likely to be diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) within 10 years of their initial pain diagnosis.

What’s more, when the records were stratified by age, those between the ages of 18 and 64 who were prescribed gabapentin were more than twice as likely to develop either dementia or MCI than those who hadn’t recieved a prescription. That’s a lot younger than those normally considered at risk for those conditions.

When the younger cohort was broken down further, there was no heightened risk found among those between the ages of 18-34 who were prescribed the drug.

But for users between the ages of 35-49, the risks of dementia more than doubled — and MCI more than tripled. A similar pattern was found in those between the ages of 50 and 64.

There was also a correlation between risk and prescription frequency. Patients with 12 or more prescriptions were 40% more likely to develop dementia and 65% more likely to develop MCI than those prescribed between three and 11 times.

As recently as 2023, gabapentin was ranked #10 in a list of the top 50 most commonly prescribed drugs in the U.S.

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A worrisome association

Because this is an observational study, no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect. The researchers also note they weren’t able to account for dose or length of gabapentin use.

However, they conclude, “Our findings indicate an association between gabapentin prescription and dementia or cognitive impairment within 10 years. Moreover, increased gabapentin prescription frequency correlated with dementia incidence.”

These findings provide “a foundation to further research whether gabapentin plays a causal role in the development of dementia and cognitive decline,” the investigators write in the study.

In the meantime, they say their observations “support the need for close monitoring of adult patients prescribed gabapentin to assess for potential cognitive decline.”

If you use gabapentin for pain or seizure control, you may want to talk to your doctor about whether you should switch to a different medication. Definitely don’t stop using it without speaking with your doctor first about an alternative.

Sources:

Nerve pain drug gabapentin linked to increased dementia, cognitive impairment risks — Medical Xpress

Risk of dementia following gabapentin prescription in chronic low back pain patients — Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine

Does Gabapentin Raise Dementia Risk? — Medscape

The Top 50 Drugs Prescribed in the United States — Healthgrades

The post A top 10 commonly prescribed drug linked to dementia appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Unmanaged high blood pressure can weaken small blood vessels in the brain. Over time, these damaged blood vessels can no longer deliver the same amount of oxygen to the brain, causing nerves and brain cells to gradually die off.

This leads to what’s known as “white matter lesions,” areas of the brain that have been associated with cognitive decline and dementia.

Judging from this, it seems obvious that lowering your blood pressure can reduce your dementia risk. But is there proof of that?

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Blood pressure and dementia risk

In an exciting four-year study known as the China Rural Hypertension Control phase III (CRHC-3), a diverse team of researchers looked into how controlling high blood pressure might affect the risk of dementia. They gathered nearly 34,000 participants who were struggling with uncontrolled hypertension.

The participants were split into two groups: one received special care, while the other went about their usual care. The intervention group had community health providers, under the guidance of primary care doctors, start them on medication to manage their blood pressure. This group also got support with lifestyle changes, medication management, and tips for keeping track of their blood pressure from home. The aim was to get their blood pressure down to a healthier level—specifically, less than 130 mm Hg for systolic and 80 mm Hg for diastolic.

On the other hand, the usual care group just had their blood pressure checked at clinics without any additional support. After 48 months, the results were telling: the intervention group was taking an average of three different blood pressure medications, while the usual care group managed with just 1.2 medications.

The findings were really positive. About 4.6% of the intervention group were diagnosed with dementia, compared to 5.4% in the usual care group.

This means that treating high blood pressure reduced the risk of developing dementia by about 15%. Not only that, but the intervention group also experienced fewer issues with cognitive impairment without dementia, a significant indicator of brain health.

Throughout the study, the intervention group managed to lower their blood pressure by an impressive 22.0/9.3 mm Hg, and they had fewer serious health complications during the trial compared to their counterparts in the usual care group.

Dr. Jiang He from UT Southwestern Medical Center shared the study’s groundbreaking results, highlighting it as the first to show a significant reduction in dementia risk linked to high blood pressure treatment. These findings align with the results from a similar U.S. study, the SPRINT MIND trial, which found that stricter blood pressure control could also lower the risk of cognitive decline and dementia.

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Getting blood pressure under control

The researchers did note that participants were relatively young and the follow-up was relatively short. The baseline age was about 63 in both participant groups.

However, most experts agree that cognitive decline typically begins during one’s 60s and beyond but can be influenced by many factors.

If you have high blood pressure now, make sure you and your doctor discuss options for controlling it. If it’s only mildly high, the following lifestyle adjustments may be enough to bring it into the normal range:

• Eat a heart-healthy diet (the DASH diet is a good example). Make sure it includes plenty of potassium-rich fruits and vegetables.
• Make sure you’re getting plenty of healthy fats and omega-3s, like the kind you get from fatty fish such as salmon and tuna. An analysis published in the Journal of the American Heart Association identified the optimal daily amount needed to help lower blood pressure.
• Get some exercise. Research has found it can be as effective as medication.

Sources:

Common Intervention Lowers Dementia Risk, Trial Shows — MedPage Today

Blood pressure reduction and all-cause dementia in people with uncontrolled hypertension: an open-label, blinded-endpoint, cluster-randomized trial — Nature Medicine

The correlation between aging and cognitive decline — Greater Good Health

The post High blood pressure? Lower it and your dementia risk appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

That was decades ago. So why am I thinking about this now?

Because it makes me susceptible to a painful condition that affects about ten percent of people who have had chickenpox — and you’ve probably guessed that I’m referring to shingles.

That may not sound like a big risk. But some research I’ve read lately has me thinking more and more about getting the vaccine, not only to prevent this condition, but also because of its fascinating connection to dementia…

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What is shingles?

Like me, you may have had chickenpox as a child. If so, you now have a virus lingering deep in the roots of your nerves that can be reactivated at any time.

If that virus wakes up, it can cause you to suffer painful blisters and searing nerve pain, possibly even long-term nerve damage.

This is shingles, also called herpes zoster, after the virus that causes it.

In mild cases, a band of fluid-filled blisters that itch intensely will appear, most commonly around the left or right side of the body.

In more severe cases, though, the pain of shingles can be so intense that even a slight breeze or pulling a sheet over the body can cause unbearable pain. This pain can last months or even years and is known as postherpetic neuralgia (PHN).

There are also several variations of shingles that have varying degrees of severity:

Ophthalmic shingles, or shingles of the eye, can cause complications including corneal ulcers, glaucoma and potential blindness.

Ramsey Hunt Syndrome is a form of shingles that can cause blisters in and around the ear and mouth on one side of the face. The virus attacks a central facial nerve and can result in loss of hearing, facial paralysis, ear pain and changes in the ability to taste.

Internal shingles happens when the virus affects the body but does not cause a rash. Symptoms may be mistaken for the flu: fever, headaches, muscle aches, chills, and swollen lymph nodes. If the virus attacks internal organs, pneumonia, hepatitis, or encephalitis can result. If you feel sick but have neurological symptoms, like numbness, tingling and burning under the skin, you need to get medical treatment immediately.

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Shingrix does more than we bargained for

Since 2006, a vaccine called Zostavax has been used to prevent shingles, and in 2018, a new shingles vaccine called Shingrix was approved.

Unlike Zostavax, it does not use live viruses and is considered safer for people with compromised immune systems. But here’s an interesting “bonus” to both these vaccines:

In July 2024, research published in Nature Medicine revealed that the original Zostavax vaccine was associated with reduced risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. At the time, the newly approved Shingrix vaccine, which became the treatment of choice for shingles, reduced that risk even more.

However, in these previous studies based on health records, researchers could not account for a significant source of bias: Vaccinated people tend to be more health-conscious. Behaviors such as diet and exercise, for instance, are known to influence dementia rates, but are not included in health records — so it was hard to truly narrow the reduced rates of dementia specifically to the vaccine.

Fast-forward to 2025, and the findings of a seven-year “accidental experiment” published in Nature in April 2025 appear to have strengthened the vaccination’s impact on dementia even more.

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An ‘accidental’ clinical trial

A fortuitous “natural experiment” in the rollout of the shingles vaccine in Wales that began in 2013 seemed to sidestep the bias. The vaccine used then contained a live-attenuated, or weakened, form of the virus.

How the vaccine rollout was designed — intended to ration the limited supply of the vaccine — meant that the slight difference in age between 79- and 80-year-olds made all the difference in who had access to the vaccine.

By comparing people who turned 80 just before Sept. 1, 2013, with people who turned 80 just after, the researchers could isolate the effect of being eligible for the vaccine.

The researchers compared the health outcomes of people closest in age who were eligible and ineligible to receive the vaccine, over seven years. By factoring in actual vaccination rates — about half of the eligible population received the vaccine, compared with almost none of the people who were ineligible — they could derive the vaccine’s effects.

By 2020, one in eight older adults, who were by then 86 and 87, had been diagnosed with dementia. But those who received the shingles vaccine were 20% less likely to develop dementia than the unvaccinated.

“It was a really striking finding,” said Pascal Geldsetzer, M.D., PhD., assistant professor of medicine and senior author of the recent study published in Nature in April 2025. “This huge protective signal was there, any which way you looked at the data.

“What makes the study so powerful is that it’s essentially like a randomized trial with a control group — those a little bit too old to be eligible for the vaccine — and an intervention group — those just young enough to be eligible.” 

They also found that protection against dementia was much more pronounced in women than men. This could be due to sex differences in immune response or in the way dementia develops, Geldsetzer said. On average, women have higher antibody responses to vaccination, and shingles is more common in women than in men. More women are also diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and dementia than men.

The circumstances, well-documented in the country’s health records, were about as close to a randomized controlled trial as you could get without conducting one.

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Over 60? You’re at higher risk

While it’s not entirely clear what the connection is between dementia and the shingles vaccine, scientists have two possible explanations.

Here’s one: When a baby is born, specific molecules that potentially could cause inflammation and accelerate aging are silenced. But viral infections like shingles can reactivate the production of these molecules, which could lead to dementia.

Another possibility is that certain viruses, like the one that causes shingles, have the potential to support the rogue form of Amyloid-β proteins that accelerate the onset of dementia.

It’s also unknown whether a newer version of the vaccine, which contains only certain proteins from the virus and is more effective at preventing shingles, may have a similar or even greater impact on dementia.

Geldsetzer looks forward to a large, randomized controlled trial, which would provide the most decisive proof of cause and effect. Participants would be randomly assigned to receive the live-attenuated vaccine or a placebo shot.

As effective as the vaccine seems to be at reducing the risk of developing shingles (and potentially reducing the risk of dementia), it’s not entirely risk-free…

It carries an FDA warning about Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a rare neurological disorder, considered an autoimmune disease, in which the immune system attacks the nerves. In some adults over 65, there was a slightly elevated risk for developing GBS within 42 days of receiving it. Researchers describe the risk as “about three excess GBS cases per million vaccinations.”

It’s a personal decision, and you may have many factors to weigh, including your family history or genetic risk for dementia.

Sources:

Study strengthens link between shingles vaccine and lower dementia risk — EurekAlert

New Shingles Vaccine Does Even Better Job of Delaying Onset of Dementia — Science Alert

The recombinant shingles vaccine is associated with a lower risk of dementia — Nature

Herpes Zoster Vaccination Reduces Risk of Dementia — nih.gov

Newer Shingles Vaccine Edges Out Its Predecessor — Jefferson Health

The post The connection between dementia and the shingles vaccine appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But did you know that with obesity also comes an increased risk for cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease?

That’s right. All those fast-food meals can cause brain inflammation that leads to cognitive impairment and memory loss.

But is obesity the cause, or is it the food itself?

Well, it takes some time to become obese, no matter how bad a person’s diet. So, if obesity were the main factor, it stands to reason that it would take that same amount of time before cognitive deficits start to appear.

However, new research presents evidence that the effects of a high-fat diet on the brain show up in as little as three days.

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High-fat eating creates cognitive changes in just 3 days

A few years ago, researchers at Ohio State University showed that just one meal high in saturated fat (like the kind you’d get in a fast-food drive-thru) is enough to mess with your mental performance and focus.

These researchers didn’t investigate the “why” of this, but a more recent study has.

“We’re really looking for the effects of the diet directly on the brain. And we showed that within three days, long before obesity sets in, tremendous neuroinflammatory shifts are occurring,” says senior study author Dr. Ruth Barrientos.

Dr. Barrientos is an investigator in the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research at Ohio State University.

This study investigated the impact of a high-fat diet in rats after three months (to model diet-induced obesity) as well as after just three days (to model the rapid changes that occur when we eat fatty foods).

After just three days, the rats showed negative inflammatory changes in the brain and two types of memory impairment common in older people with dementia:

• Contextual memory is the ability to remember emotional or social circumstances related to an event and is controlled by the hippocampus, the primary memory center of the brain.
• Cued-fear memory (recalling a stimulus that has signaled danger in the past) originates in the amygdala, the fear and danger center of the brain.

“The results dispel the idea that diet-related inflammation in the aging brain is driven by obesity,” says Dr. Barrientos.

“Unhealthy diets and obesity are linked, but they are not inseparable. We’re really looking for the effects of the diet directly on the brain. And we showed that within three days, long before obesity sets in, tremendous neuroinflammatory shifts are occurring.”

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Preserving your brain power

The MIND diet was created by researchers from Rush University Medical Center and is based on decades’ worth of brain health research.

In a 12-year study, people who ate a diet that resembled the MIND diet reduced their risk of being diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (the precursor to dementia) or dementia by 19 percent.

Another study indicated that, when it’s strictly adhered to, it can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 53%.

So, what can you eat on the MIND diet?

• Berries are emphasized over other fruits due to their high antioxidant content.
• Eating fish, a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, is recommended at least once a week.
• Leafy greens are especially emphasized. Compared to other vegetables, they are especially linked to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline.
• A daily 5 oz. serving of red wine.

Are you surprised by the red wine? There’s certainly science there…

Barcelona-based researchers discovered that the antioxidant resveratrol, found in the skin of grapes, protected mice against memory loss induced by a high-fat diet and prevented memory loss in mice altered to have Alzheimer’s. The antioxidant also reduced amyloid plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles, both of which are manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease.

Other foods allowed on the MIND diet include whole grains, poultry, beans, lentils, soybeans and olive oil.

The MIND diet does include a few “unhealthy” foods that you’ll need to limit. You can only eat ½ teaspoon of butter a day and not more than one serving of fried food or pastries per week.

If this sounds like a plan you can stick to and you want to save your brain, then give it a try.

Sources:

Memory is impaired in aged rats after 3 days of high-fat eating — Eureka Alert

Obesity-associated memory impairment and neuroinflammation precede widespread peripheral perturbations in aged rats — Immunity and Ageing

The MIND Diet — Barrow Neurological Institute

The post What a high-fat diet does to the brain in just 3 days appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a treatable condition brought on by long-term liver damage. But it’s hard to diagnose…

That’s because HE is usually preceded by cirrhosis, where the liver is damaged and scarred. Cirrhosis is considered a silent disease and is usually not detected until its later stages — making the resulting disease, HE, even harder to diagnose.

Hopefully, healthcare providers and patients can work together at diagnosing these conditions — now that we’re learning as much as 13 percent of people diagnosed with dementia may instead have an underlying silent liver disease causing or contributing to their symptoms…

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Hepatic encephalopathy: A life-changing misdiagnosis

Researchers examined medical records of 175,000 former patients treated by the Veterans Health Administration over ten years — specifically choosing those who had been diagnosed with dementia on at least two separate occasions.

Using clinical data, they calculated a FIB-4 score (a score based on liver blood results and age that can be used to predict liver damage). Ten percent had a FIB-4 score higher than 3.25 (the cut-off for diagnosing liver scarring).

High scores were more common in patients with risk factors for liver disease, like viral hepatitis and heavy drinking — and less common in patients with risk factors commonly associated with dementia, like diabetes, hypertension and kidney disease.

Next, the researchers confirmed their findings by looking at a separate group of people assessed for dementia at their hospital. They found similar results, with 9 percent having a high FIB-4 score and potential cirrhosis.

This suggested that around 10 percent of people diagnosed with dementia may instead have underlying silent liver disease with HE causing or contributing to the symptoms.

But that number keeps going up…

In a recent follow-up study, Virginia Commonwealth University researchers repeated this review with 68,807 medical records of patients from a national database who weren’t veterans.

They were surprised to find that even more patients with high FIB-4 scores were found in this population — almost 13 percent.

“This important link between dementia and liver health emphasizes the importance of screening patients for potentially treatable contributors to cognitive decline,” concluded Virginia Commonwealth University hepatologist Jasmohan Bajaj.

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HE symptoms and similarities to dementia

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is becoming increasingly common and is an early-stage liver disease. But left untreated, it can progress to hepatic encephalopathy.

Initial symptoms of HE can be subtle and seemingly harmless, including changes in sleep patterns or irritability.

But as the condition worsens, symptoms become more apparent: forgetfulness, disorientation or confusion.

It’s easy to see how these symptoms can be mistaken for the cognitive decline that leads to dementia — though the damage caused to the brain has a different origin…

In HE, when a liver scarred by cirrhosis can no longer detoxify the blood, then toxins (mainly ammonia) build up and enter the brain, interfering with brain function.

Dementia, on the other hand, is caused by long-term damage to brain function, usually due to damage to the small blood vessels that supply blood to the brain. Diabetes and vascular dementia are two ways that this can happen.

If a loved one is showing signs of dementia and you have any reason to think they might have a damaged liver, get your physician to check. Ultimately, HE can lead to coma and death in its most severe form.

But diagnosed early enough, HE can be treated, first with laxatives that help to remove ammonia and other toxins that accumulate in the gut. This is followed by treatment with an antibiotic (rifaximin) that kills some of the harmful ammonia-producing bacteria in the gut.

By getting your doctor to run a few tests, you could help a loved one escape a double-whammy: the slow decline into dementia, and a painful death from liver disease.

Sources:

Many Dementia Cases Could Actually Be a Hidden Form of Liver Disease — Science Alert

Up to 13% of Dementia Cases May Be a Misdiagnosed Treatable Condition — Science Alert

Undiagnosed Cirrhosis and Hepatic Encephalopathy in a National Cohort of Veterans With Dementia — JAMA Network

The post When dementia starts with your liver appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

While the exact reason why has been a mystery, there are a couple of theories…

Women tend to live longer than men, and the most significant risk factor for Alzheimer’s is age. It skyrockets in those aged 75 and older.

Also, women are twice as likely as men to have an autoimmune disease. Since some experts say beta-amyloid is a normally occurring molecule that is part of the brain’s immune system, an overactive immune system seems a logical connection.

Changes in hormones have also linked Alzheimer’s to women, not only the loss of estrogen, but higher levels of cortisol in midlife as well.

Fortunately, recent research may not only explain why women are at higher risk of the disease — but also lead to the development of a simple blood test that could detect Alzheimer’s in the early stages…

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The roles of acetyl-L-carnitine and free carnitine

An international team of researchers measured blood levels of two amino acids essential for healthy brain function — acetyl-L-carnitine and free carnitine — in two separate groups of men and women in Brazil and California. Some were diagnosed with varying degrees of cognitive impairment, while others were cognitively healthy.

The researchers discovered that blood levels of acetyl-L-carnitine were lower in both women and men with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, levels of free carnitine, a byproduct of acetyl-L-carnitine in reactions essential to brain function, showed a steady decline in women in amounts related to the severity of their cognitive decline.

Tests also indicated that levels of the two molecules aligned in direct proportion to increased levels of amyloid beta and tangled tau protein, both of which are long considered markers of Alzheimer’s severity.

The research team’s accuracy in diagnosing Alzheimer’s severity rose from more than 80% when using either the two blood molecules or amyloid beta and tangled tau protein levels from cerebrospinal fluid, to 93% when using both.

The fact that declines in men were only evident in acetyl-L-carnitine reveals a disease-specific difference between the sexes and could explain the higher risk of Alzheimer’s in women.

“Our findings offer the strongest evidence to date that decreased blood levels of acetyl-L-carnitine and free carnitine could act as blood biomarkers for identifying those who have Alzheimer’s disease, and potentially those who are at greater risk of developing early dementia,” says study lead investigator Dr. Betty Bigio, a professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

“Because declines in acetyl-L-carnitine and free carnitine tracked closely with the severity of Alzheimer’s disease, the molecular pathways involved in their production offer other possible therapeutic targets for getting at the root cause of the disease and potentially intervening before permanent brain damage occurs,” said senior study investigator Carla Nasca, PhD. Nasca is an assistant professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Dr. Nasca suggests that further research is needed to clarify the role of acetyl-L-carnitine in brain chemistry. If further studies confirm the latest findings, she adds, they could be used to develop a simple blood test for dementia and to track the progression of Alzheimer’s.

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Getting enough acetyl-L-carnitine

Previous studies have found that acetyl-L-carnitine can help improve Alzheimer’s symptoms by enhancing cognitive function and mitigating cognitive impairment.

One study found memory and cognitive scores in Alzheimer’s patients given 2,250 to 3,000 mg daily of acetyl-L-carnitine improved 2.8 times better than placebo-treated subjects over 12 weeks.

Carnitine is produced naturally by the body through synthesis by the liver and kidneys. However, levels of carnitine in the body do decline with age, with one study finding levels were about 20% lower in aged rats.

So if you’re older, it may be a good idea to consume foods rich in carnitine. These include animal products such as red meat, poultry, fish and dairy products. Fruits, vegetables and grains contain negligible amounts of the amino acid.

You could also try acetyl-L-carnitine supplements. Just be careful if you’re taking blood thinners or drugs for lowering blood sugar — you’ll want to talk to your doctor first before adding acetyl-L-carnitine to the mix.

Sources:

Study advances possible blood test for early-stage Alzheimer’s disease — EurekAlert!

Sex differences in mitochondrial free-carnitine levels in subjects at-risk and with Alzheimer’s disease in two independent study cohorts — Molecular Psychiatry

Acetyl-L-Carnitine in Dementia and Other Cognitive Disorders: A Critical Update — Nutrients

Why are women more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease? — Harvard Health Publishing

Acetyl-L-carnitine supplementation restores decreased tissue carnitine levels and impaired lipid metabolism in aged rats — Journal of Lipid Research

Carnitine — National Institutes of Health

The post Two molecules explain Alzheimer’s ‘mystery’ and enable early detection appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But what many people don’t realize is that a stroke doesn’t always occur out of the blue. Just as often, your body gives you a tap on the shoulder that says, “Hey! Take care of this now, or worse things are coming!”

One of these warning signs is known as a “mini-stroke.”

But there’s nothing “mini” about it.

If you have one of these mini strokes, research says that it’s only a matter of time until another, possibly more damaging, stroke can occur… unless you heed the warning your body is giving you.

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TIA is a warning that leaves its mark

When you have the most common type of stroke — ischemic stroke — blood flow to the brain is cut off, either by a blood clot or plaque from artery walls. Hemorrhagic stroke is caused by a burst blood vessel. These types of strokes can cause significant damage, even death.

Then, there’s what’s known as a mini-stroke, more technically called a trans-ischemic attack.

When someone experiences a TIA, blood flow to the brain is blocked only for a very brief period, but the symptoms are the same as those for a major stroke:

• Sudden weakness or numbness on one side of the body
• Difficulty speaking or understanding speech, or both
• Vision problems
• Dizziness
• Loss of coordination and balance

Unlike a major stroke, TIA symptoms typically resolve within minutes — most within an hour. And that’s what makes a TIA so dangerous…

You see, many people ignore TIA symptoms once they feel normal again, not realizing that it could be only weeks before they fall victim to a full-blown stroke.

According to the Mayo Clinic, about 1 in 3 people who have TIAs go on to have a stroke. And the risk of stroke is exceptionally high within 48 hours of a TIA.

But that’s not the only concern from TIA…

An extensive epidemiological study by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that the impact on the brain in terms of cognitive decline is concerning.

Immediately after a TIA, “we don’t see an abrupt change in cognition,” as measured by cognitive tests administered every other year,” says Dr. Victor Del Bene, a neuropsychologist and lead author of the study.

Five years later, the picture was different. People who had experienced TIAs were cognitively better off than those who had suffered strokes. But both groups were experiencing cognitive decline — and at equally steep rates.

“If you have one stroke or one TIA, with no other event over time and no other change in your medical status, the rate of cognitive decline is the same,” said Dr. Del Bene.

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Mini-stroke requires FAST attention

Unlike other urgent conditions, a TIA may not appear dramatic or even be visible; patients themselves must determine how to respond.

Dr. Claiborne Johnston, a neurologist and chief medical officer of Harbor Health in Austin, Texas, commented:

“Feeling back to normal doesn’t mean you can ignore this, or delay and discuss it with your primary care doctor at your next visit,” Dr. Johnston says.

That means symptoms should prompt a 911 call and an immediate evaluation in the emergency room.

So, how do you know if you or a loved one is having a TIA?

Dr. Tracy Madsen, an emergency room specialist at the University of Vermont, believes in the acronym BE FAST — the same advice in case of a full-blown stroke:

• Balance loss
• Eyesight changes
• Facial drooping
• Arm weakness
• Speech problems

The T  is for time, as in don’t waste any.

It’s important to know that women can present with very different stroke symptoms.

The bottom line: Go with your gut. If something’s off, seek help.

But knowing that a TIA can eventually lead to the same decline as a major stroke should be a wake-up call to all of us. It’s a perfect example of why prevention truly is the best medicine.

This does not matter whether you are young or old. Stroke is on the rise among people under the age of 65. You can read more about that here and find advice on a stroke prevention lifestyle.

Sources:

A Mini-stroke Can Have Major Consequences — KFF Health News

Cognitive Decline After First-Time Transient Ischemic Attack — JAMA Neurology

First-Time Transient Ischemic Attack Associated With Long-Term Cognitive Decline — doc wire news

First-Time TIA Associated With Long-Term Cognitive Impairment — Breaking Med

The post The major impact of mini-stroke on the brain appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Factors like exercise, stress levels and sleep quality can cause your brain to appear older or younger than your chronological years.

However, one of the most significant influences on brain aging could be a common condition half of Americans struggle with…

Recent findings from one of the largest Brain MRI intervention studies indicate that getting it under control is crucial for promoting a youthful brain…

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Long-term blood sugar and brain changes

As we age, the brain experiences structural changes — specifically, the hippocampus often shrinks while the lateral ventricles expand, signaling brain aging. A younger brain age is associated with improved cognitive health, while an older brain age may raise the risk of cognitive decline.

Previous research showed that following the Green Mediterranean diet can slow brain aging by an impressive 50% in just 18 months.

To understand why, researchers at Ben-Gurion University compared MRI scans of individuals with stable blood sugar levels to those with elevated levels, aiming to assess how blood sugar maintenance affects brain age.

The results were striking: declines in HbA1c, a marker of long-term blood sugar levels, were significantly linked to positive changes in specific brain regions often affected by age-related shrinkage.

Notably, individuals with better blood sugar control demonstrated a more youthful thalamus, caudate nucleus, and cerebellum — areas crucial for cognitive function, motor control, and sensory processing.

In other words, the current study further strengthened existing research that the Green-Med diet may not only support metabolic health but also exert protective effects on brain structure and function.

The Green Mediterranean diet is rich in polyphenols from plant-based foods, such as Mankai (a high-protein aquatic plant also known as duckweed) and green tea, and low in red and processed meats.

The study’s lead researcher, Prof. Iris Shai, from Ben-Gurion University, an adjunct professor at Harvard University, and an Honorary Professor at Leipzig University, explained, “Maintaining low blood sugar levels, even within the normal range, shows promise for preserving a younger brain, especially when combined with a healthy diet and regular physical activity. Specifically, polyphenols found in plant-based foods may cross the blood-brain barrier and help reduce brain inflammation, which is crucial for memory”.

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Blood sugar control helps preserve brain age and function

Considering that roughly half of the U.S. population struggles with either diabetes or prediabetes, it’s easy to see why rates of cognitive decline keep climbing.

This study is one of the first large-scale trials to directly link dietary changes, particularly those associated with the Green-Med diet, to improved glycemic control and slower brain aging.

But if you aren’t sure how to incorporate duckweed into your diet, berries could help you harness the power of polyphenols, and have a reputation for both brain and blood sugar health.

Here’s how:

• Polyphenols enhance the secretion of gastrointestinal hormones, thereby regulating blood glucose levels and improving glucose tolerance.
• They also regulate the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, improving mood and memory function.
• Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs), which form when sugars react with proteins and fats, contribute to cognitive decline. Polyphenols and antioxidants stop the formation of AGEs.

One berry in particular, the Aronia berry, is known as the “blood sugar berry.” In one study, blood sugar levels normalized in just three months with no other dietary changes among participants who drank aronia berry juice daily.

America’s favorite, the blueberry, has been shown to support healthy insulin levels and weight management. In a 12-week study, men and women who drank a daily serving of blueberry juice performed better on memory tests than the placebo group and showed improved blood flow.

The acai berry is considered to be the antioxidant “superstar.” When German scientists measured antioxidants in different fruits and vegetables, some acai levels ranked so high they were off the charts and could only be estimated. This is important because high levels of antioxidants have been shown to protect against free radicals and support normal blood sugar levels.

There are many more to choose from. And if keeping your brain from the aging effects of blood sugar problems is important to you, give them all a try.

Sources:

New study reveals blood sugar control is a key factor in slowing brain aging, highlighting the benefits of the Mediterranean diet – EurekAlert!

The post The common condition rapidly aging American’s brains appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Some believe genetic makeup is a factor, but the truth is, in less than one percent of people, Alzheimer’s is caused by specific genetic changes that almost guarantee they will develop the disease.

For the rest of us, the answer seems to lie in a combination of genetics, other health conditions and lifestyle and environmental risk factors that impact the brain over time — including sleep patterns, lack of exercise, diet, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, depression, alcohol and air pollution, to name a few.

But there is one lifestyle-related element that scientists are just beginning to focus on: stress.

A previous study found that having chronic stress or depression more than doubled the risk of Alzheimer’s. And in those who had both chronic stress and depression, the Alzheimer’s risk was four times as high!

This is only one study. But there is more research that indicates the stress connection should be taken seriously — especially for women…

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The role of cortisol in Alzheimer’s

A team of researchers led by The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) notes that so-called “sporadic” Alzheimer’s is the leading cause of cognitive decline in older adults. During this prolonged asymptomatic phase, amyloid beta accumulates into amyloid plaques, ultimately leading to progressive cognitive decline.

Unfortunately, these biological changes are already well-established by the time symptoms appear, which is why effective early interventions are needed.

Some investigators have zeroed in on cortisol, also known as the “stress hormone.” Cortisol is necessary for maintaining cellular balance and triggering the stress response, also known as the fight-or-flight response.

But when the release of cortisol in the body becomes chronically elevated, it can cause all kinds of problems.

Some studies have already indicated that higher blood cortisol levels are linked to an increased likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s.

Stress, Alzheimer’s and post-menopausal women

To shed further light on these findings, researchers from the University of Texas Health San Antonio led a comparison of cortisol levels in 305 cognitively unimpaired, middle-aged participants from the Framingham Heart Study. A little under half of the participants were women.

Approximately 15 years later, they assessed the burden of amyloid beta and tau protein using PET scans. This allowed them to investigate cortisol’s impact at an earlier stage in Alzheimer’s development, when interventions might be most effective.

The findings were sobering. The researchers discovered high levels of cortisol in midlife were linked to increased deposits of amyloid in post-menopausal women. No significant associations were observed in men.

The researchers theorized that post-menopausal hormone changes may amplify cortisol’s effects on amyloid buildup. Both estrogen and testosterone have neuroprotective effects that might mitigate cortisol’s negative impact on neural tissues, but levels of both hormones drop dramatically in menopause. This indicates that both stress reduction and hormonal interventions may help prevent Alzheimer’s in at-risk women.

Dr. Arash Salardini, a professor at UT Health San Antonio and first author of the study, adds that follow-up of the study cohort is necessary to determine whether these early amyloid changes translate into clinical symptoms, as well as to clarify the causal role of cortisol in Alzheimer’s development.

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Women and their higher burden of Alzheimer’s

None of this is really surprising. More than two-thirds of people living with Alzheimer’s are women, and hormones have been indicated previously.

But understanding the involvement of yet another hormone, cortisol, gives us one more target to focus on to reduce the odds.

If you’re a woman and you find yourself constantly stressed out, talk to your doctor about testing your cortisol levels. Certain medical conditions, including Cushing’s syndrome, adrenal fatigue, adrenal tumors and pituitary tumors, can cause chronically elevated cortisol levels.

Depression and anxiety have been linked to elevated cortisol levels due to the disruption of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which regulates cortisol production. 

 If outside stressors are the problem, lifestyle interventions, like these, may help:

• Yoga. With its emphasis on slow, deliberate movement and breathing, yoga not only helps mellow you out but has also been shown to help build up the brain’s left prefrontal cortex, an area responsible for critical mental functions such as learning and memory.
• Meditation. Research has shown that practicing meditation regularly can increase brain density, boost connections between neurons, decrease symptoms of depression and anxiety, provide clarity of thought and increase positive mood endorphins.
• Emotional regulation. By purposely changing your focus and heading off negative emotions and stress before they arise, you can reduce ruminating — which is linked to cognitive decline and brain aging.
• L-theanine. A 250 to 400 mg dose of this amino acid daily can help lower your cortisol levels and sharpen your focus and attention.

Sources:

Stress can lead to Alzheimer’s disease in women who are post-menopausal, UT Health San Antonio study finds — EurekAlert!

Elevated serum cortisol associated with early-detected increase of brain amyloid deposition in Alzheimer’s disease imaging biomarkers among menopausal women: The Framingham Heart Study — Alzheimer’s & Dementia

Alzheimer’s disease — Mayo Clinic

The post How stress becomes a post-menopausal Alzheimer’s trigger appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

With each serving comes a green blob of wasabi. I do NOT allow it to touch my sushi. I simply can’t tolerate the heat it gives off — especially what people refer to as “wasabi brain burn.”

If you know, you know… but I’m beginning to think about training myself to tolerate wasabi. It seems that it can do more than just spice up my sushi…

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How it works

A new study shows that wasabi can improve certain areas of cognition in people over the age of 60.

The key to this ability is the compound 6 methylsulfinyl hexyl isothiocyanate (6-MSITC), which has been previously linked to anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities shown to protect cells and slow cell damage.

In the present study, 72 healthy participants aged 60 to 80 took either 100mg of wasabi extract or a placebo before bed for a period of 12 weeks.

At the end of the experiment, those who had taken wasabi tablets showed significantly better performance in their episodic memory (recalling events from the past) and working memory (holding information temporarily) based on a series of cognitive tests.

Why does the green stuff improve memory?

While the study did not really look at the biological mechanisms behind the improvements, the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of 6-MSITC are thought to play a critical role.

These properties may help protect against brain damage and enhance neural functions in key areas of the brain like the hippocampus, which is vital for memory.

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Wasabi supplements and other ways to protect memory

So do you have to learn to endure the high-intensity, eye-popping heat you get from eating wasabi in order to protect your brain?

Absolutely not! There are already plenty of wasabi supplements on the market, which means it’s already well-known for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

You’d have to eat a LOT of wasabi to even come close to getting the benefits described here. And, unfortunately, in the US often what we’re served with our sushi is actually what’s known as “western wasabi” — or horseradish.

Of course, it can never hurt to get more anti-inflammatory and antioxidant-rich foods into your diet on a consistent basis.

And there are so many of them to choose from…

• Berries
• Broccoli
• Dark, leafy greens
• Nuts
• Whole grains
• Dark chocolate
• Beans

All of these foods and more are included in the MIND diet, which consists of foods with proven brain benefits.

If you’re at all concerned with protecting your memory as you get older and preventing dementia, what better way to get started on prevention right now?

Sources:

Wasabi Compound Enhances Memory — Neuroscience News

Benefits of Wasabi Supplements with 6-MSITC (6-Methylsulfinyl Hexyl Isothiocyanate) on Memory Functioning in Healthy Adults Aged 60 Years and Older: Evidence from a Double-Blinded Randomized Controlled Trial — Nutrients

Japanese Condiment, Wasabi, Boosts Memory — Healthnews

Anti-Oxidant and Anti-Hypercholesterolemic Activities of Wasabia japonica — Hindawi

The post This Japanese spice turns up the heat on brain power appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Take the warnings about blue light, for example…

Research says artificial light disrupts the natural order of things, like our circadian rhythm. That blue light exposure from screens potentially accelerates aging by altering mitochondria — the powerhouses of our cells.

But not everything related to screens is bad…

In fact, according to a study published in Scientific Reports, spending time on your computer could help keep your memory sharp.

Here’s why…

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Your brain on the internet

The internet has transformed our lives in numerous ways — from deciding what recipe to cook for dinner to how we make travel plans and connect with friends.

And according to the research which analyzed data from the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study, it has even transformed how our brains retrieve information.

That’s because the internet gives “transactive memory” a workout. This type of memory requires that we remember the source of information we use rather than the information itself.

So researchers set out to determine how using the internet can help us in our quest for better brain power as we age.

The team delved into data on 36,542 people, categorizing them based on their internet use frequency and comparing that use to their performance on memory recall tests.

The study clearly showed that using the internet more often leads to better results when it comes to keeping your brain at its best…

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Daily use equals better recall

Compared to those who used the internet several times every week, several times each month, several times every year or never, the researchers found that daily internet users performed far better on:

• Immediate recall tasks  –  an example of this is remembering someone’s name during a conversation right after being introduced. Decreased immediate recall can be due to reduced attention, concentration or poor working memory capacity.
• Delayed recall tasks – an example is being given a list of words or a paragraph to remember and successfully recalling those items later. Delayed recall is important because it measures the specific memory recall impairment in Alzheimer’s disease.

A similarly positive impact of internet use frequency on recall task performance was observed in all other internet use categories. In other words, people who used the internet several times a week performed better than those who used it several times a month or less.

So enjoy your time on the internet, knowing it could be helping your brain do its job better for longer.

Remember to take frequent breaks from sitting, though, so your body gets as much of a workout as your brain.

One study found that if you get up from your desk every 30 minutes to walk just two minutes, you’ll increase blood flow, including oxygen and nutrients to your brain.

This is vital since scientists have shown that the reduced blood flow to your brain that you get from sitting too much can dramatically raise your risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Sources:

Daily internet use supercharges your memory! — News Medical Life Sciences

What Is A Delayed Recall Test, And How Is It Used To Diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease? — abc NEWS

Immediate Recall (IR) and Delayed Recall (DR) each provide information on different aspects of memory. — Multicontext

The post The brain-boosting benefits of surfing the internet appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

That’s why if you have any kind of cardiovascular or metabolic health issues, you’ve probably heard all the recommendations for keeping your diet as healthy as possible.

The effects of diet on brain health is also something we hear much about.

But according to researchers at Columbia University, much of the attention on nutrition within the scope of dementia research has focused on how specific nutrients affect the brain. Take omega-3s for example, or vitamin D.

That’s why they decided to test a hypothesis about another way diet may protect against dementia… by slowing down the body’s overall pace of biological aging.

And now we have the results that have been decades in the making.

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Diet, aging and dementia

Considering that previous research has suggested both diet (especially one high in ultra-processed foods) and dementia risk are linked with accelerated biological aging, it would certainly stack the evidence that the right diet is an integral strategy for avoiding dementia.

So with that in mind, research began…

It included analyzing data gathered from 1,644 participants in the second generation of the Framingham Heart Study, the Offspring Cohort. At study start, most of the participants averaged 60 years of age and were dementia-free.

Data collected from the group over several years and during 7 to 9 follow-up visits, included:

• Their long-term adherence to the Mediterranean-Dash Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay diet (MIND), which was assessed from 1991-2008.
• Their pace of biological aging was measured via blood DNA methylation data collected from 2005-2008, using the DunedinPACE epigenetic clock — which estimates the difference between a person’s chronological age and cellular aging as biological processes of aging occur.
• Physical examination, lifestyle-related questionnaires, blood sampling and (most importantly) neurocognitive testing.

Over 14 years of follow-up, 140 of the participants developed dementia. And valuable information was learned…

• They found that folks who most closely adhered to the MIND diet experienced slower aging — as measured by DunedinPACE.
• It also showed an association between slower aging and lower odds for dementia.

Specifically, they calculated that about 27% of the association between the diet and lowered dementia risk was probably due to slowed aging.

“Our findings suggest that slower pace of aging mediates part of the relationship of healthy diet with reduced dementia risk, and therefore, monitoring pace of aging may inform dementia prevention,” says first author Dr. Aline Thomas, a Columbia postdoc.

“However, a portion of the diet-dementia association remains unexplained,” Thomas says, adding that continued investigation of the brain-specific mechanisms is warranted.

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Keeping up with the MIND diet

So, what exactly is the MIND diet? MIND stands for Mediterranean-Dash Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay. And like its name suggests, it’s basically a combination of elements of the Mediterranean and DASH diets.

In the MIND diet, the focus is on these brain-healthy food groups:

• At least 3 servings a day of whole grains
• At least 6 servings a week of green leafy vegetables
• At least 1 serving a day of other vegetables
• At least 5 servings a week of nuts
• At least 4 meals a week of beans
• At least 2 servings of berries a week
• At least 2 meals a week of poultry
• At least 1 meal a week of fish
• Mainly olive oil if using added fat

The MIND diet also suggests avoiding or limiting foods that accelerate aging. The majority of them are ultra-processed foods, plentiful in the Western diet and previous research indicates they shorten telomers causing the cells in the body to age faster.

Now, you don’t have to eliminate all of them if you can’t, but for optimal health, eat as little of these as possible:

• Red meats
• Butter and margarine
• Cheese
• Pastries and sweets
• Fried or fast foods
• Less than 1 tablespoon a day of butter or stick margarine
• Less than 5 servings a week of sweets and pastries
• Less than 4 servings a week of red meat
• Less than 1 serving a week of whole-fat cheese and fried or fast foods.

Sources:

Study Shows a Healthy Diet is Linked with a Slower Pace of Aging, Reduced Dementia Risk — Columbia Mailman School of Public Health

Diet, Pace of Biological Aging, and Risk of Dementia in the Framingham Heart Study — Annals of Neurology

Diet Review: MIND Diet — Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

The post The diet that slowed aging and reduced dementia risk appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Translation: moderate exercise on a regular basis can help a person stay healthy as they age. We’re talking about fast walking, running, swimming, cycling, dancing, hiking and squats — things that increase your heart and breathing rate.

Hippocrates also warned that if all parts of the body “are unused and left idle, they become liable to disease, defective growth and age quickly.”

Jump forward to the modern age and there is no shortage of research proving the incredibly far-reaching effects of exercise on our health.

In fact, in a review of the Health Benefits of Exercise, the authors state, “Overwhelming evidence exists that lifelong exercise is associated with a longer health span, delaying the onset of 40 chronic conditions/diseases.”

If you’re not taking exercise seriously, here’s what you could be in for…

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Major health concerns tied to lack of exercise

I’d like to highlight three areas in particular where the researchers find the lack of physical activity to have a significant impact. These won’t surprise you, but the full list we’ll get to later might.

Cardiovascular respiratory fitness, or CRF, is commonly measured by maximal oxygen uptake, VO2max. Research has reported that men who transitioned from having low to high CRF decreased their mortality risk by 50% over an 8-year period, whereas men who transitioned from having high to low CRF increased their mortality risk by 50%. Low CRF is also well established as an independent risk factor for type 2 diabetes. In fact, experts would argue that CRF may be the most significant factor for health, and exercise or lack of it has a major impact on increasing or decreasing CRF.

Mental health. It’s not hard to believe that getting your heart pumping can be an antidote to depression and anxiety while having a powerful impact on cognition. Exercise affects the formation of new blood vessels in the brain; the expression of growth factors in the hippocampus, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), necessary for connections and communications in the brain; as well as brain transmitters and “mood hormones” including dopamine, glutamate, norepinephrine and serotonin.

Type 2 Diabetes (T2D). In 2000, the Framingham Offspring study found a strong genetic predisposition for T2D, but lifestyle heavily influences the disease. As you may have guessed, exercise is the lifestyle factor with the most substantial impact on T2D.

In the last 25 years, three major studies have found that exercise or a combination of exercise and diet reduced the onset of T2D from 46% to as high as 58%. One study was on a Chinese population, another on a Finnish population and lastly, a U.S. population. According to researchers, if genetic differences in the different study populations are not a factor, combined exercise and diet remain more effective in T2D prevention than the drug metformin two decades ago.

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40 conditions strongly impacted by the power of exercise

The authors of the Health Benefits of Exercise, Gregory N. Ruegsegger and Frank W. Booth, put together a list of “Worsening of 40 conditions caused by the lack of physical activity with growth, maturation, and aging throughout life span.”

Here is their complete list:

1. Accelerated biological aging/premature death

2. Aerobic (cardiorespiratory) fitness

3. Arterial dyslipidemia (High cholesterol is one component of dyslipidemia, while dyslipidemia can refer to an imbalance in one or more of the three lipids: triglycerides, HDL and LDL.)

4. Balance

5. Bone fracture/falls

6. Breast cancer

7. Cognitive dysfunction

8. Colon cancer

9. Congestive heart failure

10. Constipation

11. Coronary (ischemic) heart disease

12. Deep vein thrombosis

13. Depression and anxiety

14. Diverticulitis

15. Endometrial cancer

16. Endothelial dysfunction

17. Erectile dysfunction

18. Gallbladder diseases

19. Gestational diabetes

20. Hemostasis

21. Hypertension

22. Immunity

23. Insulin resistance

24. Large arteries lose more compliance with aging

25. Metabolic syndrome

26. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

27. Obesity

28. Osteoarthritis

29. Osteoporosis

30. Ovarian cancer

31. Pain

32. Peripheral artery disease

33. Preeclampsia

34. Polycystic ovary syndrome

35. Prediabetes

36. Rheumatoid arthritis

37. Sarcopenia

38. Stroke

39. Tendons being less stiff

40. Type 2 diabetes

All in all, I hope I’ve given you a wake-up call to get off that couch and start a regular exercise program that will see you through to your golden years!

Sources:

Health Benefits of Exercise — Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine

4 ways exercise helps fight aging — Time

The post 40 things that go wrong with your body when you don’t exercise appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Poor dental hygiene can upset the balance of the oral microbiome and can lead to diabetes and kidney disease, heart disease and stroke risk.

There’s also a link between poor oral health and the health of the brain. One study found people who were genetically predisposed to cavities, missing teeth or needing dentures had 24 percent more white matter hyperintensities — or lesions — on their brains, which raises the risk for impaired memory, balance and mobility, and silent cerebrovascular disease.

Now, investigators have discovered a connection between dental health and a second marker of poor brain health…

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Gum health and the hippocampus

A team of Japanese researchers sought to investigate whether there was a link between poor oral health and dementia.

“Tooth loss and gum disease, which is inflammation of the tissue around the teeth that can cause shrinkage of the gums and loosening of the teeth, are very common, so evaluating a potential link with dementia is incredibly important,” says study author Dr. Satoshi Yamaguchi of Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan.

Their study involved 172 people with an average age of 67 who had no memory problems at the start of the study. They gave participants dental exams and memory tests at the beginning of the study. They also underwent brain scans that measured hippocampus volume since shrinking in this part of the brain has been linked to cognitive decline. The brain scans were repeated four years later.

In the dental exam, researchers counted the number of teeth and identified the level of gum disease among participants.

Sure enough, the researchers found a link between the number of teeth and level of gum disease and changes in the left hippocampus of the brain — but the results were a little unexpected…

For participants with mild gum disease, having fewer teeth was associated with a faster rate of brain shrinkage in the left hippocampus. However, for people with severe gum disease, having more teeth was found to be connected to a more rapid rate of shrinkage in the same area of the brain.

Once they adjusted for age, the researchers calculated that the increase in the rate of brain shrinkage due to one less tooth in people with mild gum disease was equal to nearly one year of brain aging. For people with severe gum disease, the increase in brain shrinkage due to one more tooth was equivalent to 1.3 years of brain aging.

Yamaguchi notes the results highlight the importance of not only retaining teeth but preserving their health.

“The findings suggest that retaining teeth with severe gum disease is associated with brain atrophy,” he says. “Controlling the progression of gum disease through regular dental visits is crucial, and teeth with severe gum disease may need to be extracted and replaced with appropriate prosthetic devices.”

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Prevention is key for healthy gums and brain

Finding the exact cause of Alzheimer’s disease is still elusive. However, studies like this and others that find an association with certain conditions or practices provide starting points for prevention.

The more we learn about what causes brain shrinkage, the more we can adopt habits, like napping, eating blueberries, losing weight, and getting good oral/dental care, to keep a healthy, plump brain as long as possible.

My colleague Joyce Hollman put together tips for healthy gums, and I’m sharing them here so you can get started today caring for your gums and your brain…

1. Brush the right way. Hold your toothbrush at a 45-degree angle to your teeth so your teeth and gums get cleaned.
2. Toothbrush care: Store your brush upright, in open air. If you alternate between two brushes (a good idea), don’t let them touch and contaminate each other. Get new brushes every three months.
3. Use a gum stimulator. A rubber-tipped stimulator cleans between teeth and massages the gums.
4. Floss regularly. Leaving food between your teeth is a sure way to invite bacteria into your gums.
5. Get your vitamins. Vitamin C can help curb bleeding gums, while vitamin D has been shown to reduce signs of early gum disease by as much as 20 percent. More importantly, vitamin D deficiency is associated with accelerated brain aging — and smaller brain volume. So start taking a high-quality D supplement today for double the protection!
6. Drink tea. Both black and green tea contain antioxidants that prevent plaque buildup.
7. Use mouthwash. Just make sure you’re using the healthy kind. Alternatively, swish and rinse with peroxide and water, half of each. Just don’t swallow it. Three times a week will help inhibit bacteria.
8. Don’t smoke and consume alcohol rarely. Both habits rob your body of vitamins and minerals that keep your mouth healthy.
9. Scrape your tongue. Bacteria and toxins love the warm, moist environment of your tongue. Scrape with a toothbrush, popsicle stick, tongue depressor or small spoon.
10. Eat a raw vegetable a day. Hard, crunchy foods stimulate teeth and gums to prevent disease.

Sources:

Taking good care of your teeth may be good for your brain — ScienceDaily

Associations of Dental Health With the Progression of Hippocampal Atrophy in Community-Dwelling Individuals: The Ohasama Study — Neurology

The post What receding gums signal about this shrinking organ appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

If you are, you may be aware that the metabolic condition can impact other areas of your health, increasing risks for heart attacks, strokes and aneurysms.

But fewer people know that having T2D can set you on the road to cognitive decline by kickstarting mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a transitional phase from cognitive changes in normal aging to those typically found in dementia.

Here’s how and why it happens…

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It’s all about the white matter

Your brain is made of grey matter and white matter.

Grey matter is where the processing of sensation, perception, voluntary movement, learning, speech and cognition occurs. It’s where information is gathered.

White matter’s role is to facilitate communication between grey matter and the rest of your body, allowing you to use that information to function in the world.

So, where does diabetes come in?

White matter deteriorates faster with diabetes

In a long-term study led by scientists at Johns Hopkins University, 185 participants were followed for up to 27 years. All had unimpaired cognition at the start.

By the end of the trial, 60 people had progressed to MCI. Eight of those went on to develop dementia.

And T2D was among the factors associated with higher rates of deterioration in white matter over time, as well as MCI…

• Brain scans throughout the study revealed that participants with the most significant declines in white matter had an 86 percent greater risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
• There was also a 48% higher risk for MCI if spinal fluid revealed an imbalance between two forms of amyloid beta proteins linked to the formation of Alzheimer’s signature plaques.
• And in participants who had both T2D and an imbalance in amyloid beta proteins, the risk for progressing to MCI increased by 55%!

“These findings highlight that white matter volume changes are closely associated with cognitive function in aging, suggesting that white matter degeneration may play a crucial role in cognitive decline,” write the authors of the study, led by neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.

“As insulin resistance plays a critical role in the formation of amyloid plaques, diabetes may promote Alzheimer’s disease pathology, resulting in an earlier progression from normal cognition to MCI.”

While more research is needed, these results aren’t totally surprising, given the fact that some drugs that treat T2D have been linked to a 35 percent lower risk of dementia in patients.

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The importance of controlling insulin

Insulin resistance can lead to a condition known as hyperinsulinemia, which is when your pancreas creates too much insulin.

On its own, hyperinsulinemia is not diabetes. But it is the beginning of the path. If you have insulin resistance, there are steps you can take to change your disease trajectory.

If you have T2D, it’s still possible to save your brain. Manage the condition well, and with your doctor’s guidance and lifestyle changes, studies have shown that, with the right diet, it’s possible to send T2D into remission.

A few more helpful suggestions:

• Ditch soda at all costs. It causes your gut to produce chemicals directly connected to the onset of T2D.
• Nutrition. Make sure you get adequate levels of these micronutrients missing in most with T2D.
• Swap unhealthy snacks for fruits that beat back insulin resistance.
• Exercise. Not only will it help with T2D, but it can reduce Alzheimer’s plaques by 76%.

Sources:

Indicators of an aging brain: A 20-year study — Medical Xpress

Type 2 diabetes linked to accelerated brain shrinkage, study reveals — Science Alert

Acceleration of brain atrophy and progression from normal cognition to mild cognitive impairment — JAMA Network

Type 2 diabetes drug linked to 35% lower dementia risk in patients — Science Alert

The post The common condition accelerating Alzheimer’s appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In fact, research proves that the earlier you develop diabetes, the more likely you are to suffer from dementia and that as your weight and blood pressure go up, so do your chances of cognitive decline.

And while smoking is bad for your heart as well as your lungs, it could be just as deadly to your brain. One study found that male smokers lose their cognitive abilities quicker than nonsmokers. And a second study found that even secondhand smoke significantly increases dementia risk.

However, while we all must be careful of these risk factors to keep our brains healthy and our memories intact, scientists say that men need to start paying attention to their hearts an entire decade earlier than women.

Here’s why…

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Heart risk factors and brain volume loss

The findings come from a long-term study published online in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

The research, which followed 34,425 participants of the UK Biobank, used the Framingham Risk Score to assess heart disease risk and cardiovascular risk factors, including obesity, diabetes and more. They then compared these to changes in brain structure and volume, which signal the development of dementia and cognitive decline.

The results showed a clear link between cardiovascular risk factors and dangerous brain changes…

For example, the researchers found that higher levels of abdominal fat and visceral adipose tissue (deep belly fat that wraps around your organs) were associated with lower brain grey matter volume in both men and women. 

The regions of the brain most vulnerable are the ones involved in aural, visual, and emotional information processing, as well as memory — the same regions that are affected early on in the development of dementia.

According to the researchers, these associations held true whether or not a person carried the Alzheimer’s (APOE4) gene or not.

However, what the researchers didn’t expect to find was that the strongest influence of cardiovascular risk factors, including obesity, on brain neurodegeneration occurred a decade earlier in men than in women…

And that the effect of these risk factors on dementia risk was also stronger in men than women.

The researchers say that while women are most susceptible between the ages of 65 and 74, the danger for men starts at age 55, going all the way to 74 years old.

In other words, men’s vulnerability is greater, begins sooner, and lasts longer.

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Reducing heart risk to reduce dementia risk

With these results, the researchers concluded, “Targeting cardiovascular risk and obesity a decade earlier in males than females may be imperative for potential candidates to achieve a therapeutic benefit in preventing neurodegeneration and cognitive decline.”

In other words, men should focus on managing their weight and reducing other heart disease risk factors at a younger age to start staving off dementia.

This means giving up smoking, eating healthy and getting plenty of exercise to lose weight.

The good news is that those last two also reduce your chances of diabetes, another cardiovascular risk factor.

In fact, researchers have found that simply getting enough steps in daily can reduce your risk of diabetes by a whopping 44%!

An easy way to take down three risk factors at once — blood pressure, blood sugar and weight — is to increase your intake of flavonoids such as anthocyanins, fisetin, quercetin and isoflavones.

Sources:

Men at high risk of cardiovascular disease face brain health decline 10 years earlier than women — EurekAlert!

10 scientifically proven ways to lower your dementia risk — Easy Health Options

Tight blood pressure control may be key to closing door on dementia — Easy Health Options

Is your weight putting you at risk for Alzheimer’s? — Easy Health Options

How age, diabetes and dementia intersect — Easy Health Options

The post The warning men get 10 years before their brain shrinks appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

However, once you have Alzheimer’s, there’s precious little you can do to stop the damage it does to your brain.

Researchers are working feverishly to change that dynamic…

One such team of California-based researchers has hit upon a natural compound found in two common herbs that could transform the Alzheimer’s treatment field…

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Rosemary, sage and Alzheimer’s relief

Past research has linked rosemary and sage oils with improved memory. In one study, researchers put subjects in a room with an essential oil diffuser containing rosemary oil. These participants were better able to remember events and more likely to remember to complete future tasks.

These herbs both contain antioxidants with anti-inflammatory effects, but it hasn’t been clear exactly which properties in the herbs were responsible for impacting memory — until now.

A team from the Scripps Research Institute analyzed rosemary and sage and isolated a compound known as carnosic acid found in both.

Then, they used that compound to create a drug, diAcCA, that they administered to mice bred to develop Alzheimer’s-like symptoms, including memory loss and brain damage, by the time they’re about five months old.

Once the mice reached the five-month-old mark, the researchers gave them either diAcCA or plain olive oil three times a week for three months. They tried 10-, 20- or 50-milligram doses to see which worked best.

After three months, the scientists ran cognitive tests on the mice. One test involved a water maze where the mice swam in a pool to find a hidden platform they could stand on. Healthy mice improved their ability to locate the platform over time, but the Alzheimer’s mice struggled with this task.

Another memory test involved inducing fear so that mice learn to freeze when they hear a sound linked to a mild shock.

To say the results were astounding is putting it mildly…

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In the water maze test, mice given diAcCA, especially at higher doses, swam to the platform faster and spent more time where it used to be, showing they remembered its location better than the untreated Alzheimer’s mice. They also froze more often in the fear test, proving their memory was better.

Their brains looked healthier as well and exhibited more brain connections…

“By combating inflammation and oxidative stress with this diAcCA compound, we actually increased the number of synapses in the brain,” says senior author and professor Stuart Lipton, MD, PhD, the Step Family Foundation Endowed Chair at Scripps Research and a clinical neurologist in La Jolla, California.

“We also took down other misfolded or aggregated proteins such as phosphorylated-tau and amyloid-β [plaques], which are thought to trigger Alzheimer’s disease and serve as biomarkers of the disease process.”

Towards reversing Alzheimer’s

Even better? Lipton said, “…it didn’t just slow down the decline; it improved virtually back to normal.”

Until now, it’s been tough to use carnosic acid as a drug or supplement in its pure form. But the Scripps team’s derivative of carnosic acid proved capable of reaching the gut before breaking down, so it could be absorbed into the bloodstream.

In fact, the mice in the study absorbed 20 percent more carnosic acid through diAcCA than they would have from ingesting pure carnosic acid. This allowed more of the compound to pass through the blood-brain barrier.

Another interesting property of diAcCA is that it’s only activated by the inflammation it’s trying to fight. This means its activity will be limited only to those areas of the brain suffering from inflammation, limiting any possible side effects involving damage to healthy tissue.

The researchers believe not only will diAcCA potentially save lives, it shouldn’t cause any major side effects. Moreover, since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration already considers carnosic acid a “safe” substance, it likely will fast-track any new treatment based on the compound, getting it to Alzheimer’s patients more quickly.

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In addition, diAcCA could help existing Alzheimer’s treatments work better by eliminating the additional brain inflammation that usually blunts their effectiveness.

It could be years before any treatments come out of this research, given that the drug still needs to be tested in humans. In the meantime, adding more rosemary and sage to your cooking certainly couldn’t hurt if you’re looking to slash your Alzheimer’s odds.

You can even get both herbs in the form of tea to increase the amount you ingest. Given how strong the scent of rosemary tends to be, you would think the tea would be just as pungent. But I found it to be quite gentle on both my taste buds and my stomach. Look for it in the tea aisle at your local grocery store or online.

Some people do need to practice caution in regard to increasing consumption of rosemary, according to Web MD, for the following reasons:

Aspirin allergy. Rosemary contains a chemical that is very similar to aspirin, which could cause a reaction in people who are allergic to aspirin.

Bleeding disorders: Rosemary might increase the risk of bleeding and bruising in people with bleeding disorders. Caution is advised.

Seizure disorders: Rosemary might make seizure disorders worse. Don’t use more than amounts found in foods.

Sources:

Compound found in common herbs inspires potential anti-inflammatory drug for Alzheimer’s disease — Scripps Research

Ingredient hidden in your spice rack could reverse Alzheimer’s disease — Daily Mail

diAcCA, a Pro-Drug for Carnosic Acid That Activates the Nrf2 Transcriptional Pathway, Shows Efficacy in the 5xFAD Transgenic Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease — Antioxidants

Preventing or Slowing Down Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia — HelpGuide.org

What are the Causes and Risk Factors of Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias? — Alzheimer’s Association

The post The herbal compound that could reverse Alzheimer’s appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It exposes our bodies to hormone-disrupting heavy metals, including arsenic and lead. It can raise the risk of certain cancers, like non-Hodgkin lymphoma — by 41 percent. Its harm can even be passed down to future generations, including our kids and grandkids.

But it seems those worries were just the tip of the iceberg…

Research is now revealing that not only can the poison cross the blood-brain barrier, but glyphosate exposure can lead to neuroinflammation, anxiety, accelerated Alzheimer’s disease-like pathology, and even premature death.

Even worse, the study warns that the presence and impact of glyphosate’s byproducts in the brain last long after exposure ends, posing harm to the brain.

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Three serious glyphosate warnings

In a groundbreaking study, Arizona State University researcher Ramon Velazquez and his colleagues at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), part of City of Hope, revealed for the first time that even brief contact with glyphosate can cause persistent and lasting damage.

Their experiments exposed mice to glyphosate for over 13 weeks, followed by a six-month recovery period, to determine whether or not a brain can heal from exposure to the so-called “safe” herbicide.

The researchers even tried to make the test as fair as possible, trying out two levels of glyphosate exposure. The first was a high dose used in earlier research that concluded glyphosate was dangerous, and the second was a low dose similar to the limit the EPA says is acceptable in humans.

So, how did the glyphosate rate on the safety scale?

Here’s what the scientists say happened:

#1 – Lasting brain inflammation

Exposure to the poison increased inflammatory markers in the brain and blood that remained even after six months with no further contact with glyphosate. This is especially concerning since the scientists say that this brain inflammation could drive the progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

#2 – Byproduct accumulation

The results also showed that the main byproduct of glyphosate in the body, aminomethylphosphonic acid, built up in the brain tissue of the mice exposed to the herbicide. This occurred in mice with previously healthy brains and mice with a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s.

#3 – Anxiety and death

Finally, the scientists say that glyphosate exposure in mice even resulted in premature death and anxiety-like behaviors. Seems like it’s the gift no one ever wanted that just keeps on giving.

Tests of randomly selected foods have found that about 96 percent of domestic food samples and 90 percent of imported samples have pesticide residues below the levels the E.P.A. considers safe.

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Dangers persist at low levels of exposure

What may be even more concerning is that it didn’t take a high level of exposure for these dangers to take effect.

The research determined that even the lower, ‘safer’ dose resulted in harmful effects in the brains of mice, even after exposure ceased for months.

“Our work contributes to the growing literature highlighting the brain’s vulnerability to glyphosate,” says researcher Ramon Velazquez. “Given the increasing incidence of cognitive decline in the aging population, particularly in rural communities where exposure to glyphosate is more common due to large-scale farming, there is an urgent need for more basic research on the effects of this herbicide.”

So, just say no to using glyphosate on your yard and ask your friends and neighbors to do the same. If you frequent parks and golf courses, be aware that those are places of exposure, too.

Tests of randomly selected foods have found that about 96 percent of domestic food samples and 90 percent of imported samples have pesticide residues below the levels the E.P.A. considers safe.

I highly recommend buying only organic fruits, vegetables and grains. One study found that opting for organic foods could lower glyphosate levels by 70% in as little as a week and significantly lower the levels of a handful of other pesticides.

Certain supplements can also help with detox. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) helps remove heavy metals and herbicides and supports the liver, your body’s primary detox organ.

Sources:

Glyphosate triggers generational toxicology that could harm your family line — Easy Health Options

Alarming: Common Herbicide Linked to Lasting Brain Damage — SciTechDaily

Is Glyphosate in the Food Supply Harming Your Health? — The New York Times

The post The longlasting harm of brief glyphosate exposure appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It’s a sleep issue that affects close to 30 million Americans and carries serious risks, including obesity, diabetes, anxiety, depression and even heart disease.

That’s not even counting the research that poor sleep nearly doubles dementia risk.

Study after study has shown that processes that deep clean the brain occur during sleep. Sleep disruptions hinder these processes and may allow plaques to spread throughout your brain.

And if you’re a woman, the brain dangers of sleep apnea are even greater…

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Females face a higher dementia risk at every age

Michigan Medicine researchers uncovered an alarming link between sleep apnea and dementia while examining cognitive screening data from more than 18,500 adults.

They found that all adults 50 and older with known obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) or its symptoms have a higher chance of developing symptoms of or receiving a diagnosis of dementia in the coming years.

But for women, the risk was more pronounced…

They saw that at every age level, women with known or suspected OSA were more likely than men to be diagnosed with dementia. 

In fact, the rate of dementia diagnoses decreased among men while growing in numbers for women as they aged.

Considering that about two-thirds of those currently living with dementia are women, these results are not surprising. They only add to a growing list of reasons women are particularly affected, including…

The menopause link to sleep apnea

“Estrogen starts to decline as women transition to menopause, which can impact their brains,” reminds study co-author Galit Levi Dunietz, Ph.D., M.P.H.

“During that time, they are more prone to memory, sleep and mood changes that may lead to cognitive decline. Sleep apnea increases significantly post-menopause yet remains underdiagnosed.”

The researchers point out that OSA heightens the risk of both heart disease and insomnia, which have powerfully adverse effects on cognitive function.

Of course, OSA also deprives the brain of normal oxygen levels. Combine that with menopause, and you get a sleep apnea/menopause double threat for women, shortchanging the brain of oxygen and sleep.

See, estrogen is more than a female hormone. It affects factors that regulate vascular wall elasticity, mainly the production of nitric oxide (NO). NO is a compound that helps blood vessels dilate so more oxygen-rich blood can flow through your body — including to the brain and the heart.

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Better sleep for a better brain

Experts estimate that 90% of women living with sleep apnea are undiagnosed.

This makes paying attention to sleep apnea symptoms vital for your brain health. Factors to look for include:

• Waking up frequently during the night (often with shortness of breath)
• Loud snoring
• A dry mouth or sore throat in the morning
• Feeling sleepy or irritable
• Having a difficult time concentrating
• Insomnia
• Episodes where you stop breathing during sleep
• Heartburn

If you have any of these signs of OSA, talk to your doctor about whether you need a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine. A CPAP is designed to keep your airways open while you sleep by blowing compressed air into them.

Dentists can also help by recognizing signs of sleep apnea in the mouth. Along with a patient’s medical history and other screening tools, dentists may be able to spot up to 80 percent of patients at risk for sleep disorders, including sleep apnea. They can also recommend oral appliances that can help.

Sources:

Sleep apnea contributes to dementia in older adults, especially women — EurekAlert!

Sleep apnea — Mayo Clinic

Sleep Apnea Statistics for 2024 — Sleep Advisor

Better sleep provides better odds against mind-stealing plaques — Easy Health Options

The post Sleep apnea’s dementia double threat for women appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

There’s no single genetic cause for dementia, but being aware of a family history of Alzheimer’s disease and the possibility of genes that raise your risk for it can put you in control of your health journey.

There are rare, hereditary causes of stroke as well. They include blood vessel disorders like Fabry’s disease and vasculitis, hematological disorders like sickle cell anemia and miscellaneous disorders like migrainous stroke and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis.

As for depression, researchers have not been able to definitively say whether it has a genetic component, though some believe heritability is between 40 and 50 percent and might be higher for severe depression.

Having a genetic predisposition for a brain disease may make you feel like there’s a ticking time bomb inside your brain — and there’s nothing you can do to disarm it. Luckily, new research indicates this may not be the case…

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What your brain care score says about genetic risk

Lots of research has revealed that certain habits can strongly impact the health of the brain. And now, that impact can be measured.

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a tool that calculates a person’s “brain care score” (BSC) by measuring healthy lifestyle choices. The calculated score (which can range from 0 to 21) then reflects the combined risk for the most common causes of age-related brain health conditions.

But the real question is this: If you’re genetically predisposed to a brain disease, will a high brain score make any difference?

To find out, researchers analyzed data from 368,340 participants in the UK Biobank with an average age of 58 to determine whether their BCS affects their genetic predisposition to three brain diseases: stroke, late-life depression (LLD) and dementia.

The analysis found that individuals with a higher BCS, which reflects healthier habits, had a significant decrease in their risk of stroke, LLD and dementia even when they had a higher genetic predisposition to these conditions. In other words, the protective effect of their healthier lifestyle was strong enough to offset the increased risk from genetics.

“Our findings suggest that individuals who adopt healthy lifestyle choices can protect their brain health, regardless of their genetic risk,” the researchers say.

The research team found that even a modest five-point increase in the BCS through steps such as quitting smoking or controlling blood pressure is strongly linked to a lower risk of brain diseases.

The researchers say their work “emphasizes how powerful healthy lifestyle choices can be, even for those of us who, because of our genes, are at higher risk of deterioration in our brain health as we age.

“For all of us, including those with higher genetic risk, the BCS offers a simple and direct guide to what we can do to protect our brains as we age,” they note. “Patients can feel empowered to continue to modify behaviors to improve their health outcomes, regardless of their genetic risk.”

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Calculating your brain care score

The researchers are working to update the BCS to make it even more user-friendly. Right now, computing your BCS requires you to enter detailed information about your health. The researchers want the BCS tool to identify areas where users can improve their brain care without providing detailed information about their medical history.

“We are also studying how best to engage communities around the world with brain care tools that can enable them to take good care of their brains, prevent dementia, stroke and depression, and thereby help themselves and their loved ones to flourish,” the researchers say.

You can access the BCS calculator here. The BCS consists of three categories: physical, lifestyle, and social emotional. It measures activities you’re already engaged in that protect and prolong your brain health, including exercise, sleep, social interactions and lowering blood pressure.

The BCS is designed to be shared with your doctor so that they can help you improve your score and ensure you’re taking the best care of your brain possible.

When you access the BCS tool, it asks you for your blood pressure, blood sugar, total cholesterol and body mass index (BMI), all of which are typically recorded by your doctor. They can show you many different ways to improve these numbers over time.

The lifestyle measures requested by the BCS tool are all things you can track yourself: smoking, diet, alcohol consumption, exercise and sleep. Making even small adjustments in one or more of these areas over time can have a big impact on your BCS.

Science has proven that social emotional measures like stress and relationships can influence our physical health. When answering these questions, be as honest as you can so you get a correct BCS reading. And know that these are areas that can be easily improved simply by calling a friend or taking a few minutes to meditate.

Sources:

Research Spotlight: Higher brain care score found to improve brain health regardless of genetic risk — EurekAlert!

Brain Care Score — Massachusetts General Hospital

Health-Related Behaviors and Risk of Common Age-Related Brain Diseases Across Severities of Genetic Risk — Neurology

This Simple Online Tool Can Reveal Your Risk of Dementia and Depression — Everyday Health

Is Alzheimer’s Genetic? — Alzheimer’s Association

Is dementia hereditary? — Alzheimer’s Society

Rare and Hereditary Causes of Stroke — Cedars Sinai

Major Depression and Genetics — Stanford Medicine

The post Is your brain care score enough to beat dementia and stroke? appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In fact, research has already shown that regular exercise can beat back everything from heart disease and stroke to diabetes and cancer.

And we’ve revealed that exercise can even help you slow brain aging and reverse age-related brain shrinkage.

But it seems that when it comes to the power of staying active, the good news just keeps stacking up.

That’s because, thanks to researchers at the University of Bristol, we now know that exercise could be your most powerful ally in the fight against Alzheimer’s.

Here’s why…

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The benefits of exercise for your brain

The research, published in the journal Brain Research, focused on the hippocampus to determine just how much of an impact aerobic exercise can have on the key markers of Alzheimer’s.

The hippocampus is vital because it’s the region of your brain responsible for memory and learning.

Specifically, the scientists looked at whether or not exercise could reduce amyloid plaques, tau tangles and iron accumulation in myelin-producing cells known as oligodendrocytes.

These are considered hallmarks of Alzheimer’s pathology.

Using mice, the researchers were able to determine that aerobic exercise resulted in:

• Significant reductions in tau tangles (around 63% with exercise)
• Less amyloid plaque (about 76% reduction in the exercise group)
• Lower iron accumulation (reduced by about 58% in the brains of exercising rodents)
• Improved brain cell health, including increased numbers of protective oligodendrocytes
• Reduced brain inflammation in the exercise group (between 55% and 68%)
• Decreased brain cell death
• Better communication between brain cells (a factor the scientists say restores critical balance in the brain’s function as it ages)

If those benefits aren’t enough to get us all up and moving, I don’t know what would!

In fact, when asked about the incredibly encouraging results of the research, Dr. Augusto Coppi, one of the study’s senior authors, had this to say:

“Alzheimer’s is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with no known cure, impacting millions worldwide. While physical exercise is known to reduce cognitive decline, the cellular mechanisms behind its neuroprotective effects have remained elusive — until now. This research highlights the potential for aerobic exercise to serve as a cornerstone in preventive strategies for Alzheimer’s.”

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How to get started with an exercise program

So, if you’re ready to make exercise a cornerstone in your own Alzheimer’s prevention, here’s how:

Because better heart health equates to better brain health, I recommend following the activity recommendations researchers have found, which is the exact prescription for better heart health in middle age (even if you’ve been a couch potato most of your life).

First, remember that it’s best to start slow. You can begin with three 30-minute moderate-intensity exercise sessions weekly for three months.

Your eventual goal should be four to five weekly exercise sessions as you build up. Be sure to do a warm-up and cool-down with each session.

 In addition to those 30 minutes of exercise, you should do a warm-up and cool-down every time. Here are some guidelines to follow as you’re creating the exercise regimen that could save your heart and your life:

Check out these specific recommendations for formulating your exercise program to save your heart and your brain.

Of course, if you have heart disease or are over 45 and have two or more risk factors, including a family history, consult your doctor before starting an exercise program.

Sources:

Aerobic exercise: a powerful ally in the fight against Alzheimer’s — EurekAlert!

15 minutes of yoga and your ‘stroke’ number could drop 10 points — Easy Health Options

The amazing benefits of just 12 minutes of exercise — Easy Health Options

They did the math: Here’s how much to exercise to slow brain aging — Easy Health Options

The post This one thing reduces Alzheimer’s plaques by 76% appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

A lack of B12 is generally associated with anemia. That can significantly impact older adults because our bodies don’t absorb B12 as well, but also people who follow a vegan or vegetarian diet.

The danger for older adults who don’t get enough B12 includes a higher risk of cognitive decline, as well as brain lesions that may lead to dementia or stroke.

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Maybe your doctor advises you to take a B12 vitamin supplement. That’s a good idea.

However, there is strong evidence that the current recommendations for how much B12 you should be getting fall far short of levels preventing this neurological decline.

Here’s what the research says…

Normal range B12 linked to cognitive decline, dementia and stroke

A new study led by UC San Francisco researchers found that older, healthy adults with lower concentrations of B12 showed signs of neurological and cognitive deficiency.

Importantly, this was true even when their B12 levels fell within the “normal” range.

The study subjects were 231 healthy adults without dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Their average age was 71. Their blood B12 amounts averaged 414.8 pmol/L, far above the minimum requirement of 148 pmol/L.

Cognitive testing revealed that people with lower active B12 levels had slower processing speed, indicating subtle cognitive decline. And the older the person, the worse the impact on processing speed.

People with low B12 also had slower visual processing speeds and slower brain connectivity, as indicated by their delayed responses to visual stimuli.

MRIs of these same adults revealed a higher volume of lesions in their white matter — the nerve fibers that enable communication between areas of the brain — which is often associated with cognitive decline as well as risk for dementia and stroke.

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It’s time to reconsider how much B12 we need

The researchers have made one thing clear: it’s time to update the current recommendations for B12.

“Previous studies that defined healthy amounts of B12 may have missed subtle functional manifestations of high or low levels that can affect people without causing overt symptoms,” says senior author Dr. Ari Green of the UCSF Departments of Neurology and Ophthalmology.

“Revisiting the definition of B12 deficiency to incorporate functional biomarkers could lead to earlier intervention and prevention of cognitive decline.” This potential for early intervention empowers us to take control of our health and prevent potential issues.

Hopefully, the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) at the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) — the institution responsible for setting Recommended Dietary Allowances for vitamins and determining what constitutes deficiency — will take note.

But if you’re an older adult like me, you probably find this as concerning as I do and might like to do something sooner rather than later.

Talk to your doctor for recommendations. They may want to test your blood levels before advising you on vitamin B12. Some doctors will prescribe vitamin B12 injections.

Otherwise, it’s generally a good idea to follow the recommendations made on the bottle of your supplement brand.

According to the Fact Sheet on vitamin B12, it has a low potential for toxicity. In fact, the FNB did not bother establishing a “tolerable upper limit” (UL) for B12. The UL is an amount not to be exceeded because of the heightened risk for toxicity. ULs vary per vitamin.

As a water-soluble vitamin (like Vitamin C), vitamin B12 is generally considered safe even at large doses because the body does not store excess amounts.

Remember to include foods rich in B12 in your diet, such as:

• Fish
• Red meat
• Poultry
• Eggs
• Milk and milk products
• Fortified breakfast cereals

Sources:

Low-Normal B12 Levels Linked to Slower Brain Processing — Neuroscience News

Vitamin B12 Levels Association with Functional and Structural Biomarkers of Central Nervous System Injury in Older Adults — Annals of Neurology

Are You Getting Enough Vitamin B12? What You Need to Know — Yale Medicine

The post ‘Normal’ B12 levels linked to cognitive decline and stroke appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In fact, quality sleep has been found to reduce your risk of cognitive decline and dementia as you age.

However, sleep problems can creep up with age, stealing those hours that allow your brain to reset.

Because of this, many of us turn to sleep medications for help.

Unfortunately, new research is revealing that one of the most common of these sleep drugs could exert a negative influence on a little-known brain system that prevents the organ from clearing out toxic waste.

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The brain’s plumbing system works while you sleep

The glymphatic system is a network of plumbing in your brain that drains waste out of your brain as you sleep. This system is vital because, unlike the rest of your body, your brain doesn’t have a lymph system to get rid of accumulated dead cells, bacteria and other toxins.

“Instead, the brain uses cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), a brain fluid that is produced inside the brain, to flush the brain tissue and wash away unwanted molecules,” explains Maiken Nedergaard, MD, PhD, of the Universities of Rochester and Copenhagen.

This system also differs in that it only works to clean out the toxic waste buildup linked to neurodegenerative diseases through slow synchronized oscillations of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine.

Those oscillations that power the glymphatic system produce a combined action with CSF only during non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep, as norepinephrine is released in slow cycles every 50 seconds.

This “drives a slow fluctuation in the diameter of the arteries and the blood volume in the brain,” creating a pump to flush out the brain waste that accumulates throughout your day.

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A hitch in the system

But what happens to that pump if you use sleep aids?

That’s exactly what Dr. Nedergaard’s team set out to study, keying in on one of the most common medications used — zolpidem, also known as Ambien.

What they discovered is something to give anyone who has used sleep aids a reason to worry…

The results showed that taking zolpidem seemed to halt norepinephrine oscillations, blocking the glymphatic system’s ability to remove brain waste during sleep.

According to the researchers, this means that despite the fact that sleep medications might help you actually get to sleep, the rest you get could lack the beneficial effects of natural, restorative sleep.

As Natalie Hauglund, PhD, explains, “Sleep is crucial as it gives the brain time to perform homeostatic housekeeping tasks such as waste removal. On the contrary, sleep aids block the neuromodulators that drive the waste removal system and prevent the brain [from] properly preparing for a new day.”

The researchers’ conclusion?

Sleep aids should only be used for short periods of time and then only as a last resort.

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Natural support for glymphatic system health

So, how can you support your glymphatic system and your cognition to help reduce the damage caused by sleep aid use?

The number one way is through exercise.

In fact, exercise improves glycemic health in a number of ways.

Studies have shown that physical activity:

• Enhances glymphatic transport and accelerates glymphatic clearance
• Reduces amyloid β-protein accumulation (a hallmark in Alzheimer’s disease)
• Blocks neuroinflammation
• Protects against synaptic dysfunction and decline in cognition

The research results have been so clear that experts conclude it’s been “convincingly demonstrated that exercise has the potential to enhance the glymphatic activity in the brain.”

In addition to exercise, to best support your glymphatic system, try sleeping on your side.

It’s been shown that your glymphatic system works best when you sleep on your side.

Finally, be sure to get enough of these essential fatty acids that work as garbage men for your brain to help take out the trash.

Sources:

Common sleep medication may prevent brain from clearing ‘waste’ — MedicalNewsToday

The newly discovered glymphatic system: the missing link between physical exercise and brain health? — frontiers

Sleep on your side to diminish Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s — Easy Health Options

The post What happens when sleep aids clog the brain’s waste drain appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Now, that data has been combined with a second study, and the results have been confirmed.

If you’re over 60 and not taking a daily vitamin, this should convince you to start.

Because if you don’t, the price your brain could pay is faster cognitive aging.

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The COSMOS study

The COSMOS study (Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study) was a series of double-blind, randomized control trials where participants received either a cocoa extract supplement, a multivitamin supplement, or a placebo.

“Double-blind” means that neither the researchers nor the participants knew who received which pill. This type of trial is considered the “gold standard” for determining the effectiveness of a particular intervention.

Participants completed a battery of cognitive tests yearly for three years.

Overall, the researchers estimate that taking a multivitamin improved memory performance by the equivalent of 3.1 years compared to the placebo group.

“The findings that a daily multivitamin improved memory and slowed cognitive decline in two separate studies in the COSMOS randomized trial is remarkable, suggesting that multivitamin supplementation holds promise as a safe, accessible and affordable approach to protecting cognitive health in older adults,” says Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of the Brigham’s Division of Preventive Medicine and co-author of the study.

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New study, same findings

Last year, another group of highly respected researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (where the COSMOS study was done) followed up with their own research.

Their findings, in combination with a meta-analysis within the COSMOS study, provide strong confirmation that a multivitamin could be a simple and effective way to guard against memory loss as we age.

In this study, researchers gave cognitive tests to 573 participants over the age of 60 over the course of two years. The volunteers were split into four groups and given different combinations of cocoa extract supplements, multivitamin supplements, and placebos.

Taking a multivitamin supplement was linked to a statistically significant improvement in cognitive skills over the two years, with a robust improvement in episodic memory (remembering everyday events).

But when statistically combined with results of the COSMOS trials, multivitamins were still linked to a two-year slowdown of cognitive aging.

Different cognitive ability tests were used in each of these studies. However, they still came to the same conclusion — that vitamin supplements could slow down brain decline.

Why you should take a multivitamin

After reading all this research, you might be thinking, “Isn’t it obvious?”

But you may hear otherwise from your doctor.

Many medical professionals brush off the need for supplementing vitamins. “Just eat a balanced diet,” they’ll tell you.

But the fact is that many of us don’t.

Besides, the vitamins you eat go first to maintaining basic “survivor” functions of the body. This is known as the triage theory.

So, if you want those vitamins to lend extra brain support, take a multivitamin.

According to Dr. Bruce Ames, who developed the triage theory, there’s a handful of vitamins and minerals you should be sure are part of any multivitamin you’re taking:

• Vitamin D
• Omega 3 fatty acids
• magnesium
• choline
• carotenoids

Sources:

‘Strong And Consistent Evidence’ Links Multivitamins to Memory And Cognitive Benefits — Science Alert

Effect of multivitamin-mineral supplementation versus placebo on cognitive function: results from the clinic subcohort of the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS) randomized clinical trial and meta-analysis of 3 cognitive studies within COSMOS — American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

The post The price your brain pays for not taking vitamins appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

So it’s not at all surprising to hear that ginkgo could help people who’ve suffered a stroke recover their cognitive abilities.

In fact, research is stacking up that this ancient herb could be the difference between stroke sufferers keeping their cognitive abilities or losing them permanently…

Ischemic stroke and brain damage

Almost 800,000 people in the United States have a stroke every year. Most of these are ischemic strokes caused by a blocked artery in the brain.

Preventing brain damage from these strokes has always been a challenge.

Some damage occurs as soon as blood stops reaching brain cells. But even when a clot is cleared and blood supply returns, free radicals can continue to cause brain cell damage.

According to a preliminary study presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2024, ginkgo may hold hope for patients recovering from ischemic stroke, particularly when it comes to recovering their cognitive ability.

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Using ginkgo in the hopes of reversing cognitive damage

Researchers assessed the cognitive recovery of 3,163 survivors of mild to moderate ischemic stroke, using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale, or MoCA, a screening test of cognitive performance often used with stroke survivors.

Most patients’ cognitive status was moderately impaired — an average score of 17 out of 30 items.

Then, within just 48 hours of their stroke, about half the patients were randomly chosen to receive daily intravenous injections of ginkgo diterpene lactone meglumine (GDLM), a combination of the biologically active components of ginkgo biloba. The other half of the group received placebo injections.

The intravenous treatment was repeated at 14 and 90 days post-stroke.

By day 14, patients who had received the ginkgo injections had improved their cognitive scores by an average of 3.93 points. Those who received a placebo improved by only 3.62 points.

And by day 90, the difference was even greater. Those who had received the ginkgo biloba injections showed an average of 5.51 point improvement in cognitive scores, compared with 5.04 points for those on the placebo.

Anxin Wang, Ph.D., an associate professor of clinical epidemiology at the Beijing Tiantan Hospital of the Capital Medical University in Beijing, explained that GDLM’s neuroprotective effects can be attributed to multiple mechanisms, including:

• Expanding brain blood vessels and improving brain cells tolerance to hypoxia (inadequate oxygen);
• Increasing cerebral blood flow;
• Neuroprotective antioxidation;
• Anti-inflammation and anti-apoptosis (cell death) properties.

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Ginkgo’s long history and modern use

What makes this research especially exciting is that it is not the first to show ginkgo’s potential for brain recovery after stroke…

Back in 2012, laboratory tests at Johns Hopkins demonstrated that daily doses of a standardized extract from the leaves of the ginkgo tree can prevent or reduce brain damage after a stroke.

The scientists involved in that study claimed their observations indicated that the antioxidants in ginkgo get the credit for protecting brain cells.

Ginkgo biloba is one of the most commonly used herbal supplements in the world and has been a staple of Traditional Chinese medicine for centuries, used for circulatory problems and senility.

So it’s not at all surprising that IV preparations of ginkgo biloba’s active ingredients are widely used in China as a complementary treatment for ischemic stroke.

However, it may be quite a while before the FDA is ready to greenlight similar treatment options in the U.S.

Ginkgo is thought to be safe in moderate amounts, but side effects can include an upset stomach, headaches, skin reactions, and dizziness.

But blood thinners, NSAIDs (Ibuprofen) and SSRIs (antidepressants like Zoloft and Prozac) may interact badly with ginkgo. See your doctor before using ginkgo with any of these medications.

Sources:

Active components of ginkgo biloba may improve early cognitive recovery after stroke  — Eureka Alert

Stroke facts — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Ginkgo biloba may aid in treating type 2 diabetes — Medical Express

The post The ancient herb that could reverse brain stroke damage appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Red and processed meat consumption has been linked to everything from diabetes to heart disease to colon and breast cancer.

So, it shouldn’t surprise you to hear that it’s also been linked to the risk of dementia and cognitive decline.

Here’s what researchers have found, including how much your daily intake can negatively impact your brain health and what you can eat to take those odds back down…

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43 years of data on eating meat

“Dietary guidelines tend to focus on reducing risks of chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes, while cognitive health is less frequently discussed, despite being linked to these diseases,” says Dr. Daniel Wang of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, corresponding author of the study.

Dr. Wang is the corresponding author of a study from MIT and Harvard that looked at how eating red meat, including processed meat, affects cognitive function.

Data for this study was taken from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, which together studied 43 years of data on thousands of subjects’ health and lifestyles to see the impact on the risk of chronic diseases and dementia.

Dr. Wang and his colleagues found that subjects who ate a daily average of ¼ or more of a serving of processed red meats (about two slices of bacon, 1½ slices of bologna or a hot dog) had a 13 percent higher risk of developing dementia.

The study also looked at self-reported signs of subjective cognitive decline, such as forgetting things more often and having trouble navigating familiar places. The risk of mild cognitive impairment increased 14 percent for those eating ¼ or more servings of processed meat daily and 16 percent for those eating one or more daily servings of unprocessed meat more than one serving daily.

Eat food that supports your brain

Increased odds for dementia of 13 to 16 percent may not seem like a lot, but many other things, including genetic risk, could add up to an overall risk that is higher than you know.

Dr. Wang’s study emphasized that replacing processed red meat with other sources of protein like nuts, legumes, or fish may decrease dementia risk by about 20 percent.

Mind you, you don’t need to do this all at once. Here are a couple of tips if you want to reduce your red meat intake, allowing you to make changes at your own pace and comfort level:

• Consider meatless Mondays. Substitute chicken or fish for red meat.
• Think less about what you’re giving up and more about what you should add. For instance, multiple studies have shown berries have a phenomenal effect on brain health.

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Specifically, blueberries and strawberries are associated with slowing the rate of cognitive decline with age and lowering the development of late-life dementia. Adding these foods to your diet can be a delicious and beneficial change!

Of course, if you’d like to follow a more specific eating plan, you can’t do better than the Mediterranean diet, which has shown promising results in reducing the risk of cognitive decline…

In one study, the spinal fluid of adults at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s showed reductions in amyloid plaque and tau protein when they followed a Mediterranean diet.

Here are some basics that will help you “go Mediterranean”:

• Eat lots of vegetables and fruit. Shoot for five to ten servings of fruits and veggies per day. A serving is about a half-cup cooked or a whole cup raw.
• Pick your animal protein carefully. The Mediterranean diet focuses on lean protein, like fish and poultry. Eggs are okay, too.  
• Get plenty of plant-based protein. Nuts, seeds, and legumes are all an important part of a Mediterranean diet.
• Only go for whole grains. You’ll have to ditch refined grains in favor of whole grains to reap the benefits of a Mediterranean diet.
• Seek healthy fats from sources like extra-virgin olive oil, avocado, walnuts, and almonds which play a huge part in the diet’s health benefits.
• Do dairy in moderation. Some dairy is allowed on the Mediterranean diet. Include health-promoting options like probiotic-rich yogurt, cottage cheese or kefir.

Editor’s Note: You’re invited to join a tiny handful of Americans who enjoy rare, fresh-pressed olive oil all year long. Take my word for it, there’s a difference in taste, quality and benefit! Click here to learn more…

Sources:

Red meat consumption increases risk of dementia and cognitive decline — Eureka Alert

Long-Term Intake of Red Meat in Relation to Dementia Risk and Cognitive Function in US Adults — Neurology

Does Eating A Mediterranean Diet Protect Against Memory Loss and Dementia? — American Academy of Neurology

The post How 43 years of eating meat affects your brain appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

This is a shame, because exercise is the one activity that has been proven time and again to make a difference. Daily exercise has been found to reduce the risk of a host of age-related chronic diseases, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and numerous cancers.

Now, another study has added to the pile of research supporting the benefits of exercise…

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The more activity, the less disease

Researchers from the University of Iowa examined responses to a questionnaire from more than 7,000 patients at the University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center. The Exercise Vital Sign survey asked patients two questions that they answered on a tablet:

• “On average, how many days per week do you engage in moderate to vigorous exercise (like a brisk walk)?” (0-7 days) 
• “On average, how many minutes do you engage in exercise at this level?”

The responses confirmed what many other studies have revealed: Those who reported the highest level of physical activity, meaning they exercised moderately to vigorously at least 150 minutes a week, were at lower risk of having 19 chronic conditions — including cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease and diabetes.

By contrast, the findings suggest the least active patients — reporting little to no exercise per week — faced elevated disease risks!

Based on the results, the researchers recommend all patients be surveyed about their physical activity levels, and that healthcare systems provide information on health and wellness services for physically inactive patients who are most at risk.

“In our healthcare environment, there’s no easy pathway for a doctor to be reimbursed for helping patients become more physically active,” says Lucas Carr, a professor at the University of Iowa and the study’s corresponding author. “And so, for these patients, many of whom report insufficient activity, we need options to easily connect them with supportive services like exercise prescriptions and/or community health specialists.”

“This two-question survey typically takes fewer than 30 seconds for a patient to complete, so it doesn’t interfere with their visit,” he says. “But it can tell us a whole lot about that patient’s overall health.”

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When comparing the results from patients completing the survey with more than 33,000 patients who weren’t offered the survey, the researchers found patients who took the survey were younger and in better health than the patient population who weren’t given the questionnaire.

“We believe this finding is a result of those patients who take the time to come in for annual wellness exams also are taking more time to engage in healthy behaviors, such as being physically active,” Carr says.

Ways to fit in exercise

One of the biggest stumbling blocks to keeping a regular exercise schedule is lack of time. A good way to overcome this obstacle is to build physical activity into your usual daily routine.

For instance, when you go to work or go shopping, try parking the car as far away from the door as possible so you’ll have a built-in walking opportunity. Or take the stairs instead of the elevator whenever you have the chance.

Another great way to get started is with “activity snacks.” You can easily fit these into your daily schedule, and you don’t need special equipment or access to a gym. And it’s easy to increase the intensity of the exercises as you go along.

But remember, you get out of it what you put into it. Those who saw the biggest disease risk reduction in the study put in a minimum of 150 minutes a week. Getting physical 6 days a week for 25 minutes, and having one rest day, sounds like a great way to commit to that.

Source:

Study finds physical activity reduces chronic disease risk — EurekAlert!

The post 19 disease risks that disappear with one habit appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And you don’t need to be a bodybuilder, either. Research shows that just five 10-minute sessions of moderate to vigorous exercise per week can lower your Alzheimer’s risk by over 30 percent!

But what if you are a bodybuilder? What if your exercise goals center around building muscle and upping your exercise performance?

Well, you may just have an edge over the rest of us…

There’s a perfectly safe bodybuilding supplement that seems to have an unexpected side effect: it may keep Alzheimer’s disease at bay — but not only that, it may keep it from progressing…

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HMB builds a better brain

Researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago have discovered that a muscle-building supplement called beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate or HMB, may be a safe and effective way to protect memory, reduce plaques and ultimately help prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

In the body, HMB is produced as a byproduct of the metabolism of leucine. Leucine is an amino acid, one of the building blocks of protein and therefore muscle mass — making it a necessity for not only optimizing athletic performance but the daily functions of your body as well.

In supplement form, HMB is an over-the-counter supplement sold at sports and fitness stores. If you’re a bodybuilder, you may already know that it’s used to increase gains in muscle strength and size gained from exercise.

Because it is not a steroid, supplementing HMB is considered safe, even after long-term use, with no known side effects.

How HMB supports brain health

Previous studies indicate that a family of proteins known as brain-derived neurotrophic factors is drastically decreased in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.

According to Dr. Kalipada Pahan, professor of neurological sciences at Rush University, “Our study found that after oral consumption, HMB enters into the brain to increase these beneficial proteins, restore neuronal connections and improve memory and learning in mice with Alzheimer’s-like pathology, such as plaques and tangles.”

He added (and this may be the best part), “This may be one of the safest and the easiest approaches to halt disease progression and protect memory in Alzheimer’s disease patients.”

In other words, when HMB was given to mice with plaques and tangles like those seen in Alzheimer’s, it increased brain-derived neurotrophic proteins and reconnected neurons, resulting in improved memory and learning abilities.

Considering the concerns about lecanemab — the newest Alzheimer’s drug to hit the market — this research is reassuring.

Per Dr. Pahan, “If mouse results with HMB are replicated in Alzheimer’s disease patients, it would open up a promising avenue of treatment of this devastating neurodegenerative disease.”

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How to produce your own anti-Alzheimer’s factors

While taking HMB has been shown to boost brain-derived neurotrophic factors, if you’re not interested in taking the bodybuilding supplement that’s ok…

As I mentioned at the beginning of my article, exercise has been shown (in many studies) to lower the risk of cognitive decline and even Alzheimer’s. That’s because exercise alone can increase BDNF and produce measurable effects on the brain. You may have to work a little harder at it, though.

There is also a hormone called irisin that’s triggered by exercise — and in research, people and mice with Alzheimer’s have lower irisin levels than those without the disease. Human, rat and mouse brain cells with less irisin have more toxic amyloid beta proteins, the kind tied to Alzheimer’s disease.

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that older adults do some form of resistance exercise at least twice a week. This can mean pushups, pullups, squats, planks or using resistance bands.

A tool called the Rate of Perceived Exertion will help you find an exercise intensity that is appropriate for you.

To determine your RPE, rate how intense an exercise or activity feels to you on a scale from one to ten, with one being the lowest and ten the highest.

For example, an activity like sitting on the sofa and watching TV might get an RPE of 1. Sprinting as fast as you possibly might get an RPE of 10. Most exercise activities will fall somewhere in between these two extremes.

Being mindful of where your RPE is during exercise will help you adjust your intensity to a level that’s appropriate for you — strenuous, but not too strenuous.

You’re in control. Find the level of intensity that you can maintain, so you’ll continue your exercise routine and reap the benefits of a larger brain and better cognitive abilities.

Sources:

Bodybuilding supplement may help stave off Alzheimer’s

 — Science Daily

Muscle-building supplement β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate binds to PPARα to improve hippocampal functions in mice — Cell Reports

What is Beta-Hydroxy-Beta-Methylbutyrate? — news-medical.net

The Best Exercises for Brain Health, According to a Neuroscientist — Eating Well

The post A bodybuilding supplement may halt Alzheimer’s progression appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In fact, studies have linked green tea to improving everything from blood pressure to eyesight. Green tea supports gut health and may even enhance weight loss.

And because a single cup of green tea is chock full of caffeine and antioxidants known as catechins, as well as vitamins with proven neuroprotective effects, time after time, scientists have set out to see whether or not green tea may also be the holy grail of cognitive health….

However, it’s been a connection that’s been difficult to unravel.

So is green tea the answer to brain and memory support and avoiding the conditions that can rob it all?

Here’s why that’s a hard question to answer…

On the plus side: fewer white matter lesions

Recent research, published in the journal Nature, investigated the association between green tea consumption and cerebral white matter lesions and hippocampal and total brain volumes among almost 9,000 older adults.

MRI results determined that people who drank more green tea were significantly less likely to suffer from white matter lesions.

These lesions are thought to result from small-vessel disease and are considered to be a risk factor for dementia.

Drinking green tea is the way to go then, right?

Not so fast…

The negative: reduced grey matter volume

While the Nature study showed that green tea can have a positive effect on the brain, a different study says it could be risky…

And, because the number of study participants was far larger (the scientists examined the data from over 500,000 people), these results could be even more significant.

The results of this study found an extra cup of tea consumed per day was significantly associated with the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The scientists determined that the number of cups of tea consumed daily was inversely related to gray matter volume and right hippocampal volume.

This is important since gray matter volume reduction is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s, indicating neuron loss and subsequent cognitive decline.

Decreased brain volume of gray matter in the right hippocampus is known to lead to declines in language and memory functions.

Cognitive support without the guesswork

When it comes to drinking green tea for brain health, on the one hand, it seems great — but on the other, not so great.

That’s why to support my brain, I feed it phosphatidylserine (PS for short) — one of the most tested nootropics for brain and memory support.

In one multi-university study, subjects who took PS showed improvement in cognition, including reasoning, learning, memory, and recalling numbers, names and faces.

Another study performed in Italy found that phosphatidylserine helped support the ability to remember.

Lastly, a third study at a world-famous memory clinic found that PS works to support comprehension and attention.

When you realize PS is a key building block of the brain, found in high concentrations in brain cells called neurons, it’s no wonder.

I still enjoy my green tea in moderation. But I’m a lot more confident about what PS is doing for my brain.

Sources:

Green tea consumption and cerebral white matter lesions in community-dwelling older adults without dementia – Nature

Extra cup of tea intake associated with increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease: Genetic insights from Mendelian randomization – Frontiers

Green tea extracts may turn superfood’s benefits harmful – Easy Health Options

The post Is green tea the holy grail for brain health? appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It is populated by trillions of microbes that, when balanced, keep the gut healthy and influence the health of other parts of the body as well.

In fact, some scientists call the gut the body’s “second brain” because the gut is so closely tied to the brain through what is known as the gut-brain axis.

That’s why it’s so important to nurture it. One way to do that is by feeding it healthy flora in the form of probiotics, and by making sure those friendly bacteria have something to eat so they thrive.

This is where some particularly important — and cheap — prebiotics come in that could protect our brains as they age…

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The magic of inulin

Prebiotics like the soluble fiber inulin break down into short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that provide nourishment to friendly bacteria in the gut. In fact, the amount of SFCAs produced in the gut is often used as an indicator of the gut’s health status.

Inulin can make you feel fuller, reduce cravings and help you lose weight. It can also reduce diabetes risk, slow the growth of melanoma and colon cancer and help with stroke recovery. It’s also been associated with lowering dementia risk.

So it’s not surprising that researchers at King’s College London (KCL) were particularly interested in the effect of inulin and another soluble fiber supplement, fructooligosaccharides (FOS), on the aging brain. FOS is a carbohydrate found in plants sometimes used as a low-calorie sweetener.

Experts say nearly two-thirds of the 5 million  Americans living with Alzheimer’s are women. For that reason, 36 pairs of female twins over the age of 60 were enrolled in the study.

One twin in each pair was randomly chosen to receive one of the prebiotics in a daily protein powder and the other to receive a placebo.

Just 12 weeks later, the twins were given cognitive tests similar to those used to detect early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. The twins taking inulin or FOS every day generally scored higher on the visual memory and learning test than the twins taking the placebo.

What’s more, there were slight differences in the gut microbiome between twins. For example, the twins taking inulin or FOS had more of the beneficial bacteria Bifidobacterium, a probiotic bacteria found to reduce cognitive deficits in mice by regulating gut-brain connections.

“This holds huge promise for enhancing brain health and memory in our aging population,” says Mary Ni Lochlainn, a geriatric medicine researcher at King’s College London. “Unlocking the secrets of the gut-brain axis could offer new approaches for living more healthily for longer.”

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Getting FOS and inulin in your diet

Past studies of high-fiber supplements like inulin and FOS suggest they can feed the gut’s microbiome and its “good” bacteria, some linked to improved cognitive function in both mice and humans.

The researchers emphasize that both inulin and FOS supplements are inexpensive and available over the counter. You can also get inulin and FOS from these foods:

• Chicory root
• Jerusalem artichokes
• Onions
• Garlic
• Asparagus
• Bananas

FOS is also found in cereal grains (avoid refined grains, though) like barley, wheat and oats, as well as blue agave.

If you want to really supercharge your gut health, pair these prebiotics with probiotics. You can take a probiotic supplement, or you can eat fermented foods that contain live probiotic cultures, like yogurt, sauerkraut, kefir, kimchi, tempeh and miso to name a few.

Sources:

Cheap Daily Supplement Seems to Boost Brain Function in Older Adults — Science Alert

Effect of gut microbiome modulation on muscle function and cognition: the PROMOTe randomised controlled trial — Nature Communications

Plant Prebiotics and Their Role in the Amelioration of Diseases — Biomolecules

Dietary fructooligosaccharides and potential benefits on health — Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry

The post Cheap supplements that payout big for an aging brain appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Vitamin K is generally associated with coagulation, but over the last decade or so key differences have been revealed about the roles the subtypes play in our health.

In fact, vitamin K is considered an emerging group of vitamins required for human health.

At least that’s the conclusion of one group of researchers who say these vitamins, one in particular, may be useful for several chronic conditions featuring a common denominator afflicting North America’s aging population.

Mainly, K1 is important for helping blood clot to prevent hemorrhaging — but K2 has been found to have very important roles in bone, vascular, joint and cognitive health.

If you aren’t already supplementing K2, as researchers suggest, especially for bone and heart health, let me share more on the importance of this valuable nutrient and how K2 can impact what scientists now say is a key contributor to aging…

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Healthier aging

Many experts believe calcification should be viewed as a contributor to the pathological aging process. That’s because calcification decreases the function of various tissues or organs, leading to the functional decline of organs, the systems affected and ultimately health in general.

For example…

• The pineal gland copiously secretes melatonin in childhood to direct our circadian rhythm. But it begins to decline in function during puberty, already due to significant calcification.

• Pineal calcification is seen in nearly all adults leading to reduced melatonin secretion which has also been suggested to be associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

• Arterial blood vessels are lifelong active tissues, and arterial calcification has been observed in conditions with high atherogenic levels, such as diabetes, oxidative stress, and chronic kidney disease (CKD). It’s commonly seen in the aging population, with 96 percent of observed aortic and coronary artery calcification seen in people over the age of 70.

Emerging evidence from animal and clinical studies has associated low K2 levels with calcification and an elevated risk of heart problems.

Bone health and calcium wrangling

Evidence supports K2 in the maintenance of bone health, including:

• increasing bone strength and density
• increasing bone mineral content
• inhibiting bone resorption
• decreasing fracture risk
• reducing urinary calcium loss
• lowering serum alkaline phosphatase levels

This would suggest that vitamin K2 reduces bone calcium mobilization (calcium loss from bones), increases bone calcium deposition, and strengthens bone construction.

At the same time, vitamin K2 limits the occurrence of calcification in other organs due to reduced bone calcium loss.

Per a review of vitamin K in the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, the United States and Canada do not have recommendations for the use of vitamin K2 for osteoporosis. However, K2 is recommended as the standard of care in Japan where many studies on its effects on bone health as well as its efficiency in managing calcium in the body have taken place.

The Japanese diet is rich in the particularly powerful form of K2 known as MK-7, where it is found in fermented soy products and traditional dishes, like natto.

Vascular health

Ninety‐nine percent of bodily calcium is stored in bone, largely regulated by vitamin K2, with the remaining 1 percent circulating in the blood, muscle and other tissues.

But if vitamin K2 levels are low, it can disrupt the binding between calcium and osteocalcin (OC), a protein that helps with bone mineralization. This not only leads to the loss of calcium from bones, but it allows more rogue calcium to circulate to places where it can cause calcification.

Research has shown vitamin K2 can effectively stabilize mobile calcium, reduce artery calcium levels, inhibit calcium deposition in the blood vessel walls and more…

In a study of 4807 subjects free from myocardial infarction at baseline and followed for 7 years, those with the highest tertile intake of menaquinone (vitamin K2) compared to the lowest, resulted in a significant risk reduction in coronary heart disease.

Energy metabolism

Mitochondria are found in our cells and are considered mini power plants that regulate cellular energy metabolism. Vitamin K2 is an important player in the mitochondrial quality-control loop and repair of mitochondrial dysfunction.

Accumulating evidence suggests that vitamin K2 inhibits inflammatory responses and repairs mitochondrial damage induced by oxidative stress.

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Brain health

Because oxidative and neuroinflammatory mechanisms of cellular damage are associated with many neurological disorders, including neurodegenerative conditions, vitamin K2 can also afford some support here.

An increasing body of evidence suggests the possible role of K2 supplementation as a neuroprotective strategy in the maintenance of nerve integrity and normal brain function, including cognition.

It’s already well known in the scientific field that vitamin K2 is a necessary factor for the biosynthesis and metabolism of sphingolipids, an important class of lipids, which exist in high concentrations in brain cell membranes and function in brain cell events, including signaling between neurotransmitters.

Sources of vitamin K2

The vitamin K group has been associated with green leafy vegetables. But that’s where you will only find vitamin K1.

Vitamin K2 is found in butter, egg yolks, lard and animal products. The MK-7 subtype is found in fermented foods and some cheeses, like gouda and Jarlsberg. But any web search will reveal that natto is the highest source.

It’s important to know where to find it because current recommendations lump vitamin K into one group. Researchers, as recently as 2020, in the journal Nutrients, have called for a separate recommended daily intake for vitamin K2.

In their argument they state, “Almost 1000 years of northern Japanese cuisine has included ‘natto’, the world’s richest food source of VK2. A VK2-rich diet has existed for approximately 30 generations without any adverse side effects.”

But considering that the FDA tries to steer us towards pharmaceuticals and away from nutrition, it’s not all that surprising that they haven’t addressed that request.

Sources:

The biological responses of vitamin K2: A comprehensive review — Food Science & Nutrition

Vitamin K2 Modulates Mitochondrial Dysfunction Induced by 6-Hydroxydopamine in SH-SY5Y Cells via Mitochondrial Quality-Control Loop — Journal Nutrients

Vitamins K1 and K2: The Emerging Group of Vitamins Required for Human Health — Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism

Growing Evidence of a Proven Mechanism Shows Vitamin K2 Can Impact Health Conditions Beyond Bone and Cardiovascular — Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal

The post The vitamin that fights a common contributor of unhealthy aging appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And it’s easy to see why…

Statistics show that one in nine of us will end up with Alzheimer’s and that of all of the diseases out there, heart disease takes more and more lives every year.

However, statistics don’t paint the full picture…

That’s because there are things within our power to keep these organs functioning at their best, like exercise which helps keep them both in tip-top shape.

And if you want something you can do that takes even less time and is super tasty, why not reach for a handful of blueberries?

Not only has past research demonstrated that blueberries pack some clout to dementia-proof the brain in middle age and ward off heart disease, but the results of a multi-study controlled investigation show this holds true even if you’re already well into your senior years…

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The ROAB study: improved executive functioning

With aging, dips in executive function, including attention and episodic memory can become more common. This can happen even more frequently in the afternoon following lunch.

However, there is evidence that eating anthocyanin-rich foods such as berries could help reduce this cognitive decline.

Additionally, high blood pressure has been associated with poor cognitive function.

So researchers set out to test the effects of wild blueberry extract on both executive function and blood pressure.

Participants between the ages of 68 and 75 were given either a placebo or a single dose capsule of powdered wild blueberry extract over five weeks in varying dosages (111 mg, 222 mg, 444 mg, 888 mg), with researchers checking outcomes for six hours after taking the doses.

The results showed that while participants who took the placebo experienced drops in executive functioning just four hours post-lunch, those who took the blueberry capsule did not.

Investigators also observed benefits in episodic memory with the 444 mg dosage.

But at only 222 mg, participants experienced reductions in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure compared with placebo.

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The BEAT study: dosage mattered

Then in the next study, known as BEAT, researchers tested the 222 mg dose after lunch once again for five weeks.

The team recruited 45 participants, aged 68 to 75, to take either the wild blueberry capsule or placebo, and once again checked their cognition in the afternoon when a post-lunch dip was anticipated.

Executive functioning reaction time was found to be significantly faster for the blueberry capsule group compared to those taking the placebo.

But at only 222 mg, the researchers didn’t see significant cognitive benefits or cardiovascular outcomes.

Based on the ROAB results, the higher dose of 444 mg was the winner and is probably what you would want to shoot for, both for better brain and heart health.

The researchers also added that “Investigators may have observed greater benefit in the ROAB and BEAT studies if participants took the supplement over a longer period of time.”

Never too late to reap the benefits of blueberries

If you haven’t enjoyed blueberries regularly, no worries. These studies show that even in our senior years, the benefits can be substantial.

Get started by eating a handful of berries every day (try this trick to get up to 10 times their anthocyanin benefits). Or drink a couple of tablespoons of blueberry juice. You may also want to seek out a blueberry powder drink mix which may be closer to the capsules used in the studies.

My favorite way to get my berry fix is a daily smoothie. I used a berry powder drink mix or fresh blueberries, just depending on what I have on hand:

• 1 cup frozen blueberries or a scoop of berry powder
• ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 ½ cups water
• 2 tablespoons flax seed
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ cup fresh spinach

Simply place all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth and enjoy!

Sources:

Wild Blueberry Extract May Improve Cognition and Cardiovascular Health in the Elderly — Natural Medicine Journal

Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures — Alzheimer’s Association

The top 10 causes of death — World Health Organization

The post The berry boost for a better brain and blood pressure over 65 appeared first on Easy Health Options®.