Did You Know?... Brain Health

Health Alert: Healthy Brain, Healthy Life

Powerful memory requires a healthy brain and the right nutrition. The brain uses tremendous amounts of energy and is the most metabolically active organ in the body-- it never completely rests. As a result, it has one of the highest rates of free radical production. These free radicals begin to destroy the structure of the brain, its connections and the cells. 

Unless you replace those damaged parts with nutrients, brain function starts to fall off more and more over time. For example, Omega-3 fatty acids are replaced extremely rapidly. If you are deficient in this nutrient, your brain begins to change its structure very quickly and soon (only 2 weeks) loses its ability to properly function because one of its vital components is missing. Americans consume an average of 129 pounds of sugar a year; 57% of it comes from processed foods.

For example, teenagers drink an equivalent of 54 teaspoons of sugar a day just from soda. Sugar consumption dramatically increases free radical generation in the brain. It produces cross-linking of the proteins in all cells which dramatically increases the damaging effect of these free radicals, making every cell in your body age much, much faster -- particularly brain cells. In some extreme cases, it can even result in permanent brain damage. 

Lack of Vitamin B-1 in the diet causes memory failure and depression. Consumption of a lot of carbohydrates depletes Vitamin B-1. Vitamins C, D, E, K, A, B and carotenoids are all associated with brain function. Animal fat impairs the ability to learn and remember, but healthy fats, such as Omega-3, improve depression, memory retention and thinking. 

This is because the brain uses an enormous amount of fatty acids for its membranes. Aspartame, MSG, pesticides, and herbicides in food; aluminum in deodorants; fluoride in the water; and mercury in vaccines may play a major role in brain toxicity and brain function decline. Excessive toxicity destroys brain cells.