Brain Foods To Boost Your Memory | Nutritionist Explains | Myprotein

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can the food you eat give you a brain
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boost let's talk about
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that how's it going guys my name's
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Richie Kerwin and today we're going to
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talk about protecting one of the most
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important organs in your body and before
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your imagination runs away with you
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we're talking about your brain we'll
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talk about why brain health matters if
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that wasn't already pretty obvious and
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we'll talk about some specific nutrients
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that might be really important for
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keeping your brain in top condition
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we'll also talk about one particular
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supplement that you might be surprised
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is a especially good for your brain
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health at the end of this video you
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should have a much better understanding
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of how the food you eat affects that
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supercomputer in your head so let's get
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started so this might come as a bit of
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surprise to many but dementia which is a
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term used to describe a group of
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symptoms affecting memory thinking and
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social abilities and Alzheimer's are the
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leading cause of death in the UK that's
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pretty amazing considering heart disease
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has been the leading cause of death for
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decades but dementia and heart disease
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may actually share a couple of traits
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that we'll get into later and just in
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case death isn't scary enough maybe the
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thought of not being able to remember
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who you or your family and friends are
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in later life is enough to make you
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realize how important brain health
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really is so that said what can you eat
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to keep that big wrinkly mass of gray
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matter in tip toop condition let's start
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off with probably one of the most
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well-known foods for brain health and
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that's longchain omega-3 fatty acids
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which are found in good old fish oils so
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your brain consists of over 60% fat with
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a massive proportion of that being made
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up of essential fatty acids and one
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fatty acid in particular doosa hexonic
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acid or DHA makes up the majority of
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those omega-3 fats now for a single
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fatty acid to form such a major
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proportion of our brain gives a hint
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that it might play a pretty important
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role in brain health and we now know
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that it plays a massive role in brain
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development
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especially when babies are growing in
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the womb now you may also have heard of
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another fatty acid called aosa pentanoic
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acid or EPA it's also found in fish oil
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and has been shown in some studies to
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help improve some symptoms of depression
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and low mood but as we're talking mostly
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about cognitive function here we leave
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that topic for another video now back to
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DHA and like I mentioned it's essential
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for proper brain development and
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function before we're even born we know
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from populations studies that people who
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get more DHA in their diet from fish
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have a lower risk of declining brain
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function as they age but if we want to
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know if supplements can help with brain
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function we need to look at intervention
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studies these are experiments where we
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give a specific group of people a
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specific supplement in order to see if
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it has a specific effect so in one such
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study in older people with mild
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cognitive decline high doses of DHA
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specifically and around 2 G per day
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helped to reduce the brain shrinkage
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that normally occurs with Advanced aging
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there's even some evidence to suggest
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that fish oil supplements in general
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might be able to help improve memory
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function in older adults too however as
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with a lot of research we don't have
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enough evidence to say that DHA will
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reduce brain shrinkage and improve
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cognitive function conclusively that's
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said because fish oils in general seem
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to have a number of other beneficial
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effects such as helping control
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inflammation improved recovery from
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exercise and lowering triglyceride
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levels
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it might not hurt to include them in
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your diet anyway so consider eating oily
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fish like salmon mackerel sardines or
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trout more regularly or take a high
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strength fish oil supplement and if
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you're vegan or vegetarian you can also
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get EPA and DHA from algal oil
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supplements now the next nutrient or
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group of nutrients I want to mention are
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polyphenols you've probably heard that
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word before without being sure what it
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is but polyphenols are a very diverse
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group of plant chemicals that seem to
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play a major role in human health
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phytonutrients can be found in a really
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wide variety of plant foods such as
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green leafy vegetables dark chocolate
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red wine berries coffee and tea one of
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the ways we think polyphenols work is by
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increasing the body's own antioxidant
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defense systems and controlling free
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radicals and inflammation that are
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produced as a part of our normal
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metabolism some polyphenols also help
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improve the endothelial function of our
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blood vessels which can improve blood
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flow in different parts of the body and
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considering blood flow is also essential
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in the brain that might be one way
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polyphenols improve cognitive function
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and we'll mention that a little more in
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a moment again just like most nutrition
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research the first indications that
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polyphenols might help with cognitive
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function came from population studies
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where we look at what people eat and how
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their health changes over the years
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people with higher polyphenol intakes
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from food seem to have slower rates of
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brain aging and cognitive decline now to
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back that up some intervention Studies
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have shown similar results remember when
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intervention studies studies and other
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mechanistic studies back up what's seen
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in population studies it's a good
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indication that a certain nutrient is
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beneficial or otherwise so for example
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in one experiment they gave a group of
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older adults a blueberry concentrate
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drink with 387 mg of anthocyan which are
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a type of polyphenol and they gave a
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control group a placebo with the same
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calorie content after 12 weeks the
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blueberry group showed improved memory
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recall and the researchers also used MRI
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or magnetic resonance imaging to to
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observe that the blueberry group had
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greater activation of certain brain
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areas and improved brain perfusion or
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blood flow so not only did it show a
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benefit in terms of an outcome memory in
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this case but it also gave some evidence
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as to how it might work too and that is
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by increasing blood flow to the brain
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another similar study using Wild's
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blueberry powder for 6 months in older
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adults with mil cognitive problems
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showed that the blueberry group had
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improved cognitive processing speed
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compared to the control group and even
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even restored their processing speed to
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a normal reference level but it's not
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just in older people high polyphenol
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foods have been shown to improve
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cognitive function in children and young
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adults too and while I've mentioned
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blueberries a lot here there is research
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showing improvements in cognition and
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brain function with other high
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polyphenol foods like green leafy
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vegetables strawberries dark chocolate
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orange juice green tea and good old
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coffee all in all there seems to be
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plenty of research indicating that
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cognitive Health can be improved by
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getting more fruit and veg into your
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diet and it's possibly due to all the
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polyphenols and the other nutrients that
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they contain generally the more deeply
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colored a fruit or vegetable is the
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higher it is likely to be in polyphenols
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and the more different colors you eat
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the wider the variety of polyphenols you
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get which is why you often hear people
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recommending to eat the rainbow oh and
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don't forget your tea and coffee which
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are the main sources of polyphenols for
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most people around the world now I
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mentioned earlier that heart disease and
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dementia actually share something in
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common so I want to talk about that
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interestingly there is quite a lot of
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evidence from population studies that
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shows a link between high levels of LDL
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cholesterol and total cholesterol with
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the development of certain brain
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conditions like cognitive decline
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dementia and Alzheimer's disease this
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link has even been confirmed by
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mandelian randomization studies which
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use data from population studies where
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we have genetic information on the
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participants to create the equivalent of
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a giant randomized control trial these
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have shown that low LDL cholesterol may
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actually help lower the risk of
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developing Alzheimer's disease also
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interestingly these studies tend to show
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that it's cholesterol levels in midlife
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and not old age that matter and this
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makes sense because we know high levels
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of cholesterol in the blood take many
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years or even decades to cause the
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buildup of plaques in our blood vessels
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and this can potentially happen in the
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brain that's why high levels of
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cholesterol throughout our life might
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gradually cause damage to our blood
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vessels leading to issues with brain
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function interestingly one of the most
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common groups of drugs used to treat
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high cholesterol statins have even been
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shown to reduce the risk of developing
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dementia when used early enough and for
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long enough so it's possible that
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lowering high cholesterol via diet might
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be useful to help take care of your
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brain health long term now I've done a
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video on cholesterol which we'll link to
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here so please check that out but in
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terms of diet some of the best things
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you can do to lower your total and LDL
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cholesterol are replace saturated fat
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from sources like fatty meat full fat
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Dairy and coconut or palm oil with
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unsaturated sources like nuts seeds
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avocados and Olive oil keeping total
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saturated fat below 10% of your total
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calories seems to be a good Target
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increase your fiber intake especially
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soluble fiber from foods like beans peas
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lentils whole grains like oats and
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barley and plenty of fruit and
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vegetables reduce excess body fat and
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maintain a healthy body weight by not
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eating excess calories especially excess
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calories from saturated fats and refined
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carbohydrates and sugars and remember
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you don't need to give up animal
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products like meat and Dairy entir
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just choose the lower fat versions to
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help keep your total saturated fat low
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as for eggs and other foods that contain
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high levels of cholesterol naturally in
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general the cholesterol we eat doesn't
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affect our blood cholesterol levels but
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approximately onethird of people are
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called cholesterol hyperresponders which
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means yes dietary cholesterol does
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increase their blood cholesterol so if
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you have trouble lowering your blood
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cholesterol and you eat a lot of eggs or
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prawns for example which are really high
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in cholesterol it might be worth
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eliminating them for a month and
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retesting to see if that helps bring
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your cholesterol levels down now besides
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specific foods and nutrients it's worth
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pointing out that entire dietary
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patterns may have a benefit on brain
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health too if you think about what we've
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mentioned here already lower saturated
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fat vascular function long chain
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Omega-3s and lots of polyphenols one
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dietary pattern that takes all of these
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boxes is the Mediterranean diet the
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Mediterranean diet is full of
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polyphenols loaded with fiber low and
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saturated fat high and unsaturated fat
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including longchain Omega 3s and has
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plenty of evidence showing it can reduce
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blood cholesterol levels and improve
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vascular function on top of that there
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is plenty of research that shows that
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Mediterranean style diets or diets like
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it such as the DASH diet which was
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designed to reduce blood pressure are
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associated with better cognitive
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function and a lower risk of dementia on
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top of that a recent trial in Finland
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called The Finnish geriatric
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intervention study to prevent cognitive
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impairment and disability or finger
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trial which use Nordic style diet
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recommendations which are very similar
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to a Mediterranean
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found that after 2 years cognitive
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performance in the intervention group
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was better and their risk of cognitive
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decline was lower in fact the difference
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between the groups was evident in all
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studied cognitive domains which were
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executive function processing speed and
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complex memory tasks the finger trial
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wasn't just diet though it also included
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exercise and cognitive training which
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goes to show that there is much more to
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brain health than just food getting
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plenty of exercise maintaining healthy
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blood pressure staying insulin sensitive
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staying mentally active by using your
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brain regularly and being socially
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active and getting sufficient sleep are
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all incredibly important for maintaining
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the health of your brain as you age but
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if you care about your health in general
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you should be taking care of those
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anyway right now just before we finish
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up I said I'd mention a surprising
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supplement for brain health some of you
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might already know this but many don't
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know that creatine can be very
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beneficial for your brain's function yes
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that supplement that is so good for your
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gym performance can also improve your
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brain performance you see your brain is
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a very metabolically active Orient just
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like your muscles and your brain can
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also use creatine just like your muscles
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to help Supply large amounts of energy
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when it's particularly active also as we
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age our brain creatine levels tend to
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get lower making supplementing with
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creatine even more important but it's
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not just in older adults it also seems
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to show improvements in things like
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short-term memory in young adults too
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and creatine may be especially
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beneficial for vegetarians and vegans
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who have lower levels of creatine in
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their brains than mediators as for the
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optimal dose for cognitive function we
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still don't have enough evidence for
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that but taking the recommended 5 gram a
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day which is the amount used for
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muscular power improvements is what has
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been used in a lot of the research to
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date I've also got a load of other
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videos answering some of the most common
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questions about creatine so be sure to
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go back and check those out too I really
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hope you've learned something about how
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the food you eat and the supplements you
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take can benefit your brain health in
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the long return as always if you have
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any questions let me know in the
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comments below and remember to like And
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subscribe to the my protein YouTube
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channel for more great evidence-based
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nutrition
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Brain Foods To Boost Your Memory | Nutritionist Explains | Myprotein

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