Category: Diet
A study in the March 6 issue of the journal BMJ finds that men who increase their level of physical activity after age 40 had lower risk of death after 35 years. The study was completed in Sweden by researchers at Uppsala University and the Karolinska Institute. The change in mortality still held true in statistical models that included things that might be related to someone exercising, such as smoking, weight, self-reported health, and alcohol use. Those who had the lowest level of physical activity had greater risk of dying over the 35-year follow-up.
The authors studied a group of 2,841 men (yes, men only) who were born between 1920 and 1924 in the area around Uppsala, Sweden. They were followed up on several occasions, the most recent in 2006. At the end of the study, 20% more of the men in the most active group were still alive compared to men in the least active group. Again, this was after controlling for a number of variables that might have also been different in the two groups.
Most interesting to me was how activity levels were defined. The researchers asked participants only four questions. The first asked whether the man spent most of his time reading, watching TV, or engaged in sedentary activities. Persons who answered yes were placed in the lowest activity group. The second question asked whether the man walked or bicycled freqently for pleasure. Persons answering yes to this question were in the middle group. The last two questions asked whether the men participated regularly in sports or other active recreational sport, and whether they engaged regularly in hard physical training. People who answered yes to either of these questions were placed in the high activity group.
People in the lowest activity had the highest chances of dying in the followup period, while those in the middle activity group had an intermediate risk of death. Those in the highest activity level group had the lowest risk of death.
Based on this study, almost any increase in physical activity is probably beneficial. Many other studies have shown that increasing physical activity helps you lose weight, makes it more likely that you’ll quit smoking, and means that you’ll feel better about your health. This study is new in showing that the health benefits of exercise may have effects that last a lifetime.
This article is freely available on the Web at the BMJ site: Click here to view the abstract. You can read the entire article by clicking on the words “Full Text” at the upper left of the page.
A recent study provides a clue into the exercise-brain fitness relation. A paper reported in the December 2008 issue of the journal Neurology shows that high levels of blood glucose (the kind that can happen in people with diabetes) may directly affect the hippocampus. Since the hippocampus is a part of the brain that is essential for memory, this study helps us understand one way in which physical fitness can affect brain function. What’s the link? We know that physical fitness improves the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar levels, so being physically fit may decrease the damage that high blood sugar levels can cause to the hippocampus.
The story is a little more complicated, though (isn’t it always)? Blood sugar is regulated by a hormone called insulin. People who have type II diabetes (the kind that people usually get later in life) have a condition called insulin resistance. This means that the body makes enough, and sometimes too much, insulin. The problem is that the insulin doesn’t have a strong enough effect. This means that the body keeps making higher levels of insulin. Exposing the body to high levels of insulin can cause problems.
In the case of the brain, insulin is very important for its function. Insulin has to cross into the brain from the blood by way of a special mechanism called a transporter protein. When insulin levels are high all the time, the body decreases the number of these transporter proteins, and the brain may not get enough insulin. Some studies have shown that insulin is important in memory function, so a decrease in the number of these transporter proteins may be yet another way that high blood sugar levels can affect memory. While all of these studies are preliminary, they add to what we know about high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and mental functioning.
There are two effective ways of keeping your blood sugar under control: diet and exercise. Following the Mediterranean diet can help, because it emphasizes the kinds of food that will help keep your blood sugar stable. Exercise has been shown to help your body be more sensitive to the effects of insulin. When your body is more sensitive to insulin’s effects, blood sugar levels will be lower and more stable. We know that following the Mediterranean diet and regular exercise can help your memory – their link to blood sugar and blood sugar’s effects on the brain may be why.
The Mediterranean diet is an important part of any brain health program. A number of studies have shown that people who follow the Mediterranean diet have less chance of having a heart attack, and that changing to the diet can reduce risk for another heart attack. Consistent with our increasing appreciation of the relation of heart and brain risk factors, at least one study has shown that people who follow the Mediterranean diet more closely have a lower risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Just that may be enough to have you ready to try the diet, but you might wonder what it is and what you’re supposed to eat. That’s where Dr. Michael Ozner’s book comes in. Dr. Ozner is a cardiologist in Miami, Florida, and says that he has been using the diet to treat his patients for more than 25 years. The book includes clinical vignettes in which patients describe their experiences with the diet and how it has helped them. Although Dr. Ozner recommends the often-unpopular practice of counting calories, people who follow the diet may find that they can eat more and still lose weight because of the diet’s emphasis on low-glycemic index foods, fresh fruit and vegetables, and whole-grain breads and pastas.
In clear language Dr. Ozner lays out the reasons why you should be interested in the diet. He gives you an overview of the studies that have shown that people who follow the diet have lower risk for heart disease, and explains why. You may note that many of the elements of the Mediterranean diet have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects, making it similar in this respect to Dr. Andrew Weil’s anti-inflammatory diet.
But the book has lots more than just a description of the why the diet is important. It also has a complete 14-day diet plan and a wide selection of recipes that any cook can use to make the diet not just healthy but delicious. My favorite section of recipes is the one for pizzas. There is also a section with a number of recipes for desserts that are high in flavor and low in fat.
Overall, this is a very useful book that will help you understand the importance of the Mediterranean diet and will help you get started in following it.
The Miami Mediterranean Diet: Lose Weight and Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease with 300 Delicious Recipes
Hardcover, 432 pages, ISBN 978-1933771502, $25.95.
Click here to order the book from Amazon.
The Mediterranean diet is an important part of any brain health program. A number of studies have shown that people who follow the Mediterranean diet have less chance of having a heart attack, and that changing to the diet can reduce risk for another heart attack. Consistent with our increasing appreciation of the relation of heart and brain risk factors, at least one study has shown that people who follow the Mediterranean diet more closely have a lower risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Just that may be enough to have you ready to try the diet, but you might wonder what it is and what you’re supposed to eat. That’s where Dr. Michael Ozner’s book comes in. Dr. Ozner is a cardiologist in Miami, Florida, and says that he has been using the diet to treat his patients for more than 25 years. The book includes clinical vignettes in which patients describe their experiences with the diet and how it has helped them. Although Dr. Ozner recommends the often-unpopular practice of counting calories, people who follow the diet may find that they can eat more and still lose weight because of the diet’s emphasis on low-glycemic index foods, fresh fruit and vegetables, and whole-grain breads and pastas.
In clear language Dr. Ozner lays out the reasons why you should be interested in the diet. He gives you an overview of the studies that have shown that people who follow the diet have lower risk for heart disease, and explains why. You may note that many of the elements of the Mediterranean diet have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects, making it similar in this respect to Dr. Andrew Weil’s anti-inflammatory diet.
But the book has lots more than just a description of the why the diet is important. It also has a complete 14-day diet plan and a wide selection of recipes that any cook can use to make the diet not just healthy but delicious. My favorite section of recipes is the one for pizzas. There is also a section with a number of recipes for desserts that are high in flavor and low in fat.
Overall, this is a very useful book that will help you understand the importance of the Mediterranean diet and will help you get started in following it.
The Miami Mediterranean Diet: Lose Weight and Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease with 300 Delicious Recipes
Hardcover, 432 pages, ISBN 978-1933771502, $25.95.
Click here to order the book from Amazon.
Back in 2006, a group us that included Drs. Amarilis Acevedo, Elizabeth Crocco, David Loewenstein, Vineeth John, and myself published an article that presented results of a type of study called a meta-analysis. In that kind of study, researchers try to find all available studies on a subject and then combine the data from them. The advantage of this kind of study is that helps us understand results from conflicting studies and may allow us to correct for how well or poorly studies were done.
The subject of our study was whether there is a relation between having a history of depression and getting Alzheimer’s disease later in life. We looked at data from more than 100,00 people who had had depression. Our study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, 2006, 63, 530-538, showed that the odds of getting Alzheimer’s were about two times greater in people who had depression as much long as 10-15 years before. A study in the April 8th edition of the journal Neurology confirms this relation (Geerlings et al., Neurology, 70, 1258-1264).
A lingering controversy is whether depression is a risk for Alzheimer’s or whether it is simply an early symptom of it. In a well-known study, one group of researchers reported that people whose memory got better after being treated for depression still got Alzheimer’s later. Some people have argued that being depressed was one of the first sign that they were getting Alzheimer’s.
Other people have suggested that depression, even much earlier in life, may be part of the same process that results in Alzheimer’s disease.
Many researchers today speculate that the process in the brain that results in developing Alzheimer’s disease begins years and even decades before someone has the disease. Researchers are also interested in the connection between cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease. It turns out that some of the same risks that are related to cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease are also related to depression. For example, when some people have magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the brain, something called “white matter changes” are sometimes seen. Many people believe these are caused by vascular disease in the brain, and they are related to having depression.
What does this mean for your brain fitness? I think it shows the importance of keeping cardiovascular risks low, not just to keep your heart healthy but also to keep your brain healthy. If you don’t know about your blood cholesterol level (and associated lipids such as HDL, LDL, and triglycerides), find out. A simple blood test will let your doctor find out more about how your body is taking care of certain substances in your blood. You may want to ask your doctor about another simple blood test for a substance called C-reactive protein. C-reactive protein is a separate marker for cardiovascular risk. If your cholesterol or one of the other lipids needs treatment, your doctor may prescribe diet changes, increased exercise, and a medication from a group of drugs called statins. These medications can improve your lipid profile. People who take statins have reduced risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
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- Meditation as Brain Training
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Mindfulness meditation as practiced over a long period by experts makes clear changes in someone’s brain function. But what about those of us who don’t have a few years to sit in a monastery in the Himalayas? A new study shows that even brief meditation practice can improve attention.
I saw an interesting blog post yesterday evening on the site of the Huffington Post about the potential benefits of meditation – or at least about what one woman thinks might be the benefits. (more…)
Although many people are excited about the potential for using computers to train their brains, we shouldn’t forget that other techniques have been used to the train the brain for many centuries. I’m thinking about the large number of techniques for meditation. While free computer software still requires an investment in a computer, meditation only asks you to sit or lie quietly and focus your mind.
A recently-published study shows parts of the brain in long-term meditators are larger than the same parts of the brain in people who don’t meditate. The article by Eileen Luders and her colleagues appeared in a recent issue of the journal Neuroimage (Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 672-678, April 15, 2009). The study showed that portions of the orbitofrontal cortex and the hippocampus were larger in persons who had been regular meditators for 5 or more years. The study is interesting because the parts of the brain that were larger are often thought to be important in helping people keep themselves emotionally balanced.
A number of strategies are likely to be helpful for meditators. There has been a great deal of interest over the last several years in mindfulness meditation. Researchers have studied how it can be used in reducing anxiety and depression. Mindfulness is based on Buddhist meditation (for a brief article, click here) but you don’t have to be a Buddhist to practice meditation. In fact, one of the most important persons who has promoted mindfulness is Jon Kabat-Zinn, a researcher at the University of Massachusetts. You can see a video presentation by him on YouTube by clicking here.