EatingWell Eating for Brain Health

It weighs just three pounds or so, but your brain is a mighty control center of everything you do and everything you are. It oversees all your body’s functions and movements, and as a central part of your central and peripheral nervous systems, it receives and interprets information from the environment, including from your five senses (touch, hearing, sight, smell and taste). And, of course, your brain governs your intelligence, emotions and memories. You might say your brain is the essence of your self—and maybe even of your soul. That’s why protecting this organ is so vitally important, and why so many of us fear losing healthy brain function. Foremost among our fears is developing Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia, a progressive decline in cognitive and behavioral functioning that affects…

Anyone who has lost a loved one to severe cognitive deterioration can attest to the emotional toll the disease takes. With dementia—the term for the group of brain disorders that lead to cognitive decline—and Alzheimer’s disease, the best known of these conditions, the loss of recall and memory can be devastating. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, in 2021, more people died of dementia than of breast and prostate cancers combined. More than 6 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s today. While a cure has yet to be found, the MIND diet (short for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) has shown promise in recent years as a way to help prevent and delay the onset of dementia. MIND is a blend of the Mediterranean and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (or DASH) diets.…

What to eat to keep your thinker in tip-top shape is a bit of a no-brainer: What’s good for the rest of your body is also good for your brain. Filling your plate with whole foods (more plants than animal) and lots of colorful produce goes a long way. In fact, overall dietary patterns that prioritize plant-based foods and contain less meat and fewer processed foods are linked to both better brain function and reduced risk of brain-related diseases. Plant-based foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds are full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and (in some cases) healthy fats that will support your brain throughout your life. While your overall diet matters most, some foods can give your brain an extra boost. Beets “Beets are high in nitrates that…

Who doesn’t want to be smarter, sharper, and more focused and creative? Nootropics (pronounced new-traw-picks) promise all of this and more. These “smart pills”—a group of natural and synthetic compounds, often found in supplement or prescription form—might sound new, but nootropics have been around since the early 1970s, when Romanian psychologist and chemist Corneliu Giurgea created a synthetic substance called piracetam to improve learning and memory and coined the term. Nootropics get their name from the Greek words nous (mind) and trepein (bend or turn). There are more than 130 over-the-counter nootropics, including ginseng, ginkgo, guarana, creatine, caffeine and Bacopa monnieri as well as piracetam, plus prescription versions, such as the ADHD medications Adderall and Ritalin and the Alzheimer’s treatment Aricept. Today, nootropics and other brain-health supplements are a billion-dollar industry in…

True, your body is made up of many different systems, such as the circulatory system and the nervous system. But there’s not a hard line separating each. The more we learn about the body, the more we realize that all of our cells are remarkably connected, working in tandem. Gut health relates to stress and anxiety levels, what we eat can impact our hair hue, chronic conditions can impact long-term cognition, and so much more. Two systems that are very much in sync—for good or bad—are the head and the heart. As we’ve mentioned before, all of the major risk factors for heart disease overlap with Alzheimer’s disease risk factors; just tack on a few more cognition and social factors for the latter. So it makes sense that new research published…

Most of us have heard that healthy lifestyle habits can help prevent or lower our risk of developing issues such as diabetes and heart disease as we age. But did you know that the habits we forge now can also reduce our risk of cognitive decline as we get older? Growing research shows that people who have high blood pressure, high fasting blood sugars and heavier body weight in their 20s and 30s are more likely to experience cognitive decline as they get older. For this healthy Mediterranean-inspired diet plan, we chose a week of brain-boosting meals and foods to protect your head and improve your overall health. Because weight loss can play a role in protecting your brain if you’re overweight, we set this plan at 1,500 calories per day,…