Category: Nutrition

Cognitive performance is improved by taking these antioxidant vitamins regularly over the years.

Antioxidants vitamin C and E may help to protect against some forms of dementia and improve cognitive performance over the lifespan, a study finds.

The research on over 3,000 Japanese-American men found that those taking vitamin C and E supplements regularly — at least once per week — were 88 percent less likely to have vascular dementia four years later.

Vascular dementia is the second most common from of dementia in the US, after Alzheimer’s disease.

The study also found that the men were 69 percent less likely to have other forms of dementia, apart from Alzheimer’s.

Dr Kamal Masaki, the study’s first author, said:

“We believe antioxidants like vitamin E and C may protect against vascular dementia by limiting the amount of brain damage that persists after a stroke.

The supplements may also play a role in providing protection against brain cell and membrane injury involved in many aging-related diseases, thus resulting in significantly higher scores on mental performance tests in later life.”

The Honolulu-based study also found that men taking the supplements had a 75 percent better chance of improved cognitive performance in later life.

However, the beneficial effect was not through the reduction in risk of stroke, Dr Masaki explained:

“We originally thought that the beneficial impact antioxidant vitamin supplements had against vascular dementia was the prevention of stroke.

However, to our surprise we found there was not a significant association between vitamin supplement use and clinically recognized stroke.”

Researchers did not find a protective effect of vitamin C and E supplementation on Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr Masaki said:

“It is critically important for patients to practice preventive efforts shown to lower stroke risk and to have broad ranging beneficial effects.

More effective strategies for prevention also must be found.

Therefore, a prevention trial of both vitamin E and C to further examine the potential protective effects on both vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease is needed.”

The study was published in the journal Neurology (Masaki et al., 2000).

The foods that help you live longer and protect you from cancer and heart disease.

Drinking tea and eating apples, or any flavonoid-rich foods, can shield people from cancer and heart disease, research finds.

People who have a daily consumption of 500 mg of flavonoids are more likely to live longer and more healthily.

If you eat one orange, one apple, 100 g of broccoli and 100 g of blueberries and have a cup of tea per day, you are guaranteed to obtain 500 mg of flavonoids.

Flavonoids are antioxidants and part of the polyphenol class found in plants and known to have several health benefits and help prevent various diseases.

Apples, cherries, dark chocolate, pears, tea, red wine (due to grapes), cabbage, and berries, including blueberries and strawberries, are good sources of flavonoids.

The discovery of flavonoids’ protective effect on lowering risk of some diseases comes from a new study that looked into the diets of 53,048 Danes over 23 years.

Dr Nicola Bondonno, the study’s lead author, said:

“It’s important to consume a variety of different flavonoid compounds found in different plant based food and drink.

This is easily achievable through the diet: one cup of tea, one apple, one orange, 100g of blueberries, and 100g of broccoli would provide a wide range of flavonoid compounds and over 500mg of total flavonoids”.

They found that those who ate flavonoid-rich foods were protected against cardiovascular and cancer-related diseases.

They also found that daily intake of flavonoid-rich foods had the most protective effect for heavy drinkers and smokers.

These smokers or those who had two standard alcoholic drinks per day were at higher risk of chronic diseases.

The reason is that smoking and alcohol intake can harm blood vessels and cause inflammation to the cells, leading to greater risk of serious diseases.

The potential health benefits of flavonoids are related to their antioxidants having anti-inflammatory effects and their ability to improve blood vessel function.

This may explain why the smokers and drinkers benefited strongly from foods rich in flavonoids.

Dr Bondonno said:

“It’s also important to note that flavonoid consumption does not counteract all of the increased risk of death caused by smoking and high alcohol consumption.

By far the best thing to do for your health is to quit smoking and cut down on alcohol.

We know these kind of lifestyle changes can be very challenging, so encouraging flavonoid consumption might be a novel way to alleviate the increased risk, while also encouraging people to quit smoking and reduce their alcohol intake.”

The study was published in Nature Communications (Bondonnoet al., 2019).

Eat up! They preserve your memory and thinking skills.

One daily serving of leafy green vegetables could preserve memory and thinking skills, research shows.

Older adults who ate at least one serving of these veggies were the equivalent of 11 years younger cognitively.

This was compared to those that ate few leafy green vegetables.

Dr Martha Clare Morris, the nutritional epidemiologist who led the study, said:

“Adding a daily serving of green leafy vegetables to your diet may be a simple way to help promote brain health.

There continues to be sharp increases in the percentage of people with dementia as the oldest age groups continue to grow in number.

Effective strategies to prevent dementia are critically needed.”

The study followed 960 people with an average age of 81, none of whom had dementia.

Their memory and thinking skills were tested once a year for around 5 years.

Each person reported how often they ate greens, including salad and lettuce.

When they were followed up, the results showed that the more leafy greens they ate, the better their cognitive health.

Dr Morris said:

“The study results do not prove that eating green, leafy vegetables slows brain aging, but it does show an association

The study cannot rule out other possible reasons for the link.

Because the study focused on older adults with the majority of participants being white, the results may not apply to younger adults and to people of color.

The results need to be confirmed by other investigators in different populations and through randomized trials to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the eating leafy greens and reductions in the incidence of cognitive decline.”

The study was published in the journal Neurology (Morris et al., 2017).

Around one-in-four people may have a vitamin B12 deficiency.

Pale skin or skin with a slight yellow tinge can be a sign of vitamin B12 deficiency.

The body uses vitamin B12 to make red blood cells and to keep the nervous system healthy.

Without enough B12 the blood cells produced are too large and cannot move into the bloodstream, leading to pale skin.

Around one-quarter of people may have a vitamin B12 deficiency.

Other, more common signs of vitamin B12 deficiency include feeling tired, experiencing muscle weakness and being constipated.

People experiencing a mood disorder, like depression, can also be deficient in vitamin B12.

People who may have difficulty getting enough vitamin B12 include vegetarians, older people and those with some digestive disorders, such as Crohn’s disease.

Some medications, such as those to treat ulcers and excessive stomach acid, are also linked to vitamin B12 deficiency.

One study of 25,956 patients diagnosed with a vitamin B12 deficiency found that the condition was linked to taking anti-acid medications.

The study’s authors write:

“Vitamin B12 deficiency is relatively common, especially among older adults; it has potentially serious medical complications if undiagnosed.

Left untreated, vitamin B12 deficiency can lead to dementia, neurologic damage, anemia, and other complications, which may be irreversible.”

Vitamin B12 deficiency is easy to rectify with supplements or by dietary changes.

Vitamin B12 levels can be boosted through supplementation or by eating foods such as dairy, liver, salmon and eggs.

Other good sources of vitamin B12 include poultry and low-fat milk.

Fortified breakfast cereals also contain vitamin B12.

The study was published in JAMA (Lam et al., 2013).

How do people rate the quality of their diet and are they accurate?

Most people overrate their diet quality and sometimes they believe what they eat is very healthy, despite the reverse being true.

When American adults were asked about how healthy their diet was, three-quarters were too optimistic, a study reveals.

Dr Jessica Thomson, the study’s first author, said:

“We found that only a small percentage of U.S. adults can accurately assess the healthfulness of their diet, and interestingly, it’s mostly those who perceive their diet as poor who are able to accurately assess their diet.

Additionally, most adults overrate the quality of their diet, sometimes to a substantial degree.”

The research team wanted to know if a simple but effective question could be introduced as an assessment tool to complement or replace the food frequency questionnaires in nutritional studies.

Self-rated health is a single question like “how would you rate your general health? Excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor?”.

It is well known that self-rated health is a good predictor of diseases, illnesses and death.

But it is not clear if self-rated diet could foresee how good people’s diet is.

85% were incorrect

The team analysed data from 9,700 American adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

They found that 85 percent of participants scored their diet quality incorrectly.

About 75 percent considered their diet healthier than it was and 63 percent rated their diet quality as “very good”.

Only 15 percent of adults were accurate — surprisingly it was those who had rated their diet quality as “poor”.

Women, adults with lower income, and those with lower education were more likely to value their diet quality correctly.

Dr Thomson said:

“It’s difficult for us to say whether U.S. adults lack an accurate understanding of the components of a healthful versus unhealthful diet or whether adults perceive the healthfulness of their diet as they wish it to be — that is, higher in quality than it actually is.

Until we have a better understanding of what individuals consider when assessing the healthfulness of their diet, it will be difficult to determine what knowledge and skills are necessary to improve self-assessment or perception of one’s diet quality.”

Related

• What you eat has a bigger impact on your health than any powerful drug.
• The Green Med diet leads to more weight loss and improves heart health.
• People fed a healthier diet from an early age have a higher IQ.
• Women’s mental health is more sensitive to what they eat than men’s.

The study was published in the American Journal of Health Promotion (Thomson et al., 2022).

Live a decade longer and be free from chronic illnesses by following 8 heart healthy metrics.

Paying attention to 8 cardiovascular health factors will considerably increase life expectancy, research suggests.

In this study, adults with higher scores for 8 cardiovascular health metrics lived nearly a decade longer than those who scored poorly.

The metric is known as Life’s Essential 8 and has been developed by the American Heart Association.

It is based on a scoring system which measures a set of health factors and lifestyle behaviours.

To estimate people’s life expectancy, the research team assessed cardiovascular health levels based on the Life’s Essential 8 score, which consists of:

1. a healthy diet,
2. physical activity,
3. not smoking,
4. correct sleep duration,
5. maintaining a healthy weight,
6. controlling cholesterol,
7. healthy blood glucose,
8. and healthy blood pressure.

Another study previously suggested that people who committed to these metrics lived longer and were more healthy.

According to the study’s senior author, Professor Lu Qi, the findings indicate:

“That you can modify your lifestyle to live longer.”

More than 23,000 adults participated in this study with an eight-year follow up.

The scoring system ranged from zero to 100 points, from low as below 50, moderate as 50 to 79, and high as 80 or higher.

Compared to adults who scored lowest, those who scored 80 or higher, at age 50 had a life expectancy of nine more years.

Smoking, sleep, blood glucose levels, and physical activity appeared to be the most important life expectancy factors.

Non-smokers lived 7.4 years longer than those who were heavy smokers.

Participants who slept between seven to nine hours a night lived five more years compared to those with either not enough or too much sleep.

Higher score for maintaining blood glucose levels showed a life expectancy of 4.9 more years.

A life expectancy of 4.6 more years was seen in people with higher physical activity than those with the least.

Professor Nathan Wong, a cardiovascular epidemiologist, commenting on this study, said:

“Information on psychosocial factors such as stress and depression, as well as on social determinants of health such as access to health care, may also play an important role and modify the impact that the key cardiovascular health metrics have on cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular outcomes.

As the study looked exclusively at mortality, effects on non-fatal cardiovascular outcomes should also be examined, given their substantial impact on health care utilization.”

Related

• People who share more of their resources with others enjoy higher life expectancy.
• Foods rich in Alpha linolenic acid (ALA) have been found to improve life expectancy.
• Walking 5.6 km or 3 miles a day lowers the risk of death by about two-thirds in adults.
• Avoiding sugar-rich diets will increase human lifespan by many years.

The study was published in the journal Circulation (Ma et al., 2023).

Around half the world’s population is deficient in vitamin D.

Weak muscles and general tiredness can be signs of vitamin D deficiency, studies find.

For muscles to work effectively, vitamin D is essential.

When these levels are low, it can lead to tiredness and low levels of energy.

Other signs of vitamin D deficiency include poor sleep, symptoms of depression and headaches.

The vitamin is thought to play a role in regulating serotonin, a neurotransmitter important for mood.

One study that included 12 people with severe vitamin D deficiency scanned their muscles for their response to exercise.

Taking vitamin D supplements for around 12 weeks led to participants feeling much less tired.

Dr Akash Sinha, the study’s first author, explained the results:

“The scans provided a unique window into what is really going on in the muscle as it works.

Examining this small group of patients with vitamin D deficiency who experienced symptoms of muscle fatigue, we found that those with very low vitamin D levels improved their muscle efficiency significantly when their vitamin D levels were improved.”

The tiredness people experience is probably caused by problems with the mitochondria, the ‘power stations’ within each cell in our bodies.

After supplementation, participants’ mitochondria recovered more quickly from exertion.

Dr Sinha said:

“We have proved for the first time a link between vitamin D and mitochondria function.

Of the patients I see, around 60% are vitamin D deficient and most people living north of Manchester will struggle to process enough vitamin D from sunlight alone, particularly during winter and spring.

So a simple vitamin D tablet could help boost your energy levels – from within the cells.”

Foods that are rich in vitamin D include oily fish and eggs, but most people get their vitamin D from the action of sunlight on the skin.

That is why levels are typically lower in the body through the winter months in more northern climes.

Studies have also linked vitamin D deficiency to dementia.

The study was published in the Journal of Endocrinology (Sinha et al., 2013).

Up to 25 percent of people may have a vitamin B12 deficiency.

Difficulties with thinking and memory can be symptomatic of a deficiency in vitamin B12, research suggests.

People low in vitamin B12 can report having a worse memory for both ideas and events.

Low levels of vitamin B12 may also contribute to brain shrinkage and has even been linked to depression.

Vitamin B12 is critical for the body’s production of red blood cells and for keeping the nervous system healthy.

Other, common signs of vitamin B12 deficiency include experiencing muscle weakness, feeling tired,  and being constipated.

Vitamin B12 deficiency is easy to rectify with supplements or by dietary changes.

Vitamin B12 levels can be boosted through supplementation or by eating foods such as dairy, liver, salmon and eggs.

A study of 3,156 children in Columbia has found that those who are deficient in vitamin B12 were twice as likely to repeat a grade.

They were also at double the risk of being absent from school.

The children, aged 5-12, were all tested for various nutritional markers, including B12, folate, zinc and vitamin A.

Fully 15 percent were marginally deficient in vitamin B12 and it was the only deficiency linked to repeating a grade at school.

Dr Eduardo Villamor, who led the study, said:

“Vitamin B12 is necessary for adequate brain development.

Deficiency very early in life or in old age has been linked to cognitive and behavioral problems, but it was not known whether it could be related to academic difficulties during school age.

Grade repetition and school absenteeism are important outcomes because they predict school dropout and impair children’s options for educational advancement and development.”

People who may have difficulty getting enough vitamin B12 include vegetarians, older people and those with some digestive disorders, such as Crohn’s disease.

The study was published in The Journal of Nutrition (Duong et al., 2015).

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential as our body cannot make them.

Feeling depressed can be a sign of a poor diet, research suggests.

Indeed, healthy diets are often overlooked as a major factor in recovering from depression.

An important component of a healthy diet is omega-3 fatty acids.

Studies have found that omega-3 supplements can be beneficial for people with depression.

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential as our body cannot make them.

Omega-3 can be obtained from the diet or through supplementation.

Foods high in omega-3 fatty acids include walnuts, chia seeds, soybean, hemp seed, salmon, trout, sardines, and mackerel.

While the standard treatment for depression is antidepressants, many people discontinue them for fear over the side-effects and start using alternative treatments.

Dr. François Lespérance, who has studied the effects of omega-3 on depression, said:

“Despite significant progress in neuroscience over the past two decades, depression is difficult to treat.

Many of these treatments have not been adequately evaluated.

That is why it was important to assess the efficacy of Omega-3, one of the most popular alternative approaches.”

The study included 432 people with depression.

Half took 1050mg of EPA each day for eight weeks.

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) is one of the three main omega-3 fatty acids.

The other group took a placebo that was flavoured with fish oil so they would not know the difference.

The results showed that for people who were depressed, but not anxious, the omega-3 fatty acid was effective at reducing depression.

The study’s authors conclude:

“In this heterogeneous sample of patients with MDE, there was only a trend toward superiority of omega-3 supplementation over placebo in reducing depressive symptoms.

However, there was a clear benefit of omega-3 supplementation among patients with MDE without comorbid anxiety disorders.”

The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (Lespérance et al., 2011).