Braaaiins!
That burger is going to do bad things to that brain. Thanks, Colbert ('s graphics team)!
Are there foods that can actually be detrimental to brain function? The slideshow "Brain Food: What To [maybe] Avoid" and article Culinary Culprits: Foods That May Harm the Brain offer a look at the current thinking. (see end of diary for free use of MEDSCAPE links.):
...emerging research is providing new insights to support the suggestion that food can have a profound influence on mental health and cognition. From sugar and carbohydrates to fats and even, according to one controversial theory, whole grains, the list of dietary choices having potentially negative effects on the brain is growing by leaps and bounds.
And although the big caveat for the bulk of evidence is that most studies show an association with but not necessarily causation of mental health and cognitive deficits, many clinicians report seeing first-hand improvement in patients' mental health outcomes with the tweaking of a diet to eliminate some of the most notorious culinary culprits...
That article is fairly long but very readable plain English, admits the controversies, includes research from around the world, discusses mood as well as cognition, and ends with "7 Dietary Principles to Reduce Alzheimer's Risk."
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The contradictory research findings about a possible role for specific nutrients in brain health really illustrate how all science is work in progress, e.g.,:
The sole agreement among medics, nutritional science, and genomics seems to be that junk foods pretty reliably trash body and brain. Then again, they keep listing pizza as junk food. And that's, you know...
But one study in particular really highlights the value of all the old advice about good health that we've been getting since, well, ancient Greece I suppose. In
"Novel Intervention May Reverse Alzheimer's Memory Loss" (!) we see that close attention to lifestyle parameters, like stress reduction and getting enough sleep, in addition to a carefully detailed nutritional regiment, really can correct the sort of imbalances that lead to health problems. (Here's the
abstract of the study.)
We also see this:
"The program is not easy to follow," Dr Bredesen acknowledged. (None of the patients in this pilot project were able to fully follow the program).
Reading about the program, it doesn't seem that hard. In a better world, one in which the rich diversity of our ancestral diet hadn't been reduced to a paltry few cash crops, one in which human labor wasn't such an overexploited commodity, it probably wouldn't be.
FURTHER READING: ■
More Data on Diet & Dementia ■
Cocoa Can Boost Cognitive Function ■
Salt & Inactivity: A Recipe for Cognitive Decline ■
Is Avoiding Grains a Mistake? ■
Green Tea and Blueberry Supplement May Improve Cognition ■
Any Level of Midlife Exercise May Keep Dementia at Bay ■
Computer Use Plus Exercise Cuts Risk of Cognitive Impairment ■
[Citicoline]Supplement May Boost Cognition in Healthy Women ■
Want a Cookie? Play Tetris Instead ■
Science-Based 'Cookbook for the Brain' Offers Food for Thought ■
High-Fat Diet Could Interrupt Amyloid Clearance ■
[Coffee effects on mood, cognition, etc.] ■
6 Types of Normal Memory Lapse ■
Does Gut Rule Brain on Food Choices? ■
Gluten May Cause Depression in Subjects With Non-Coeliac Gluten Sensitivity: An Exploratory Clinical Study ■
Do Beta-Blockers Cause Depression?) ■
Saturated Fatty Acids in Meat, Butter, Cheese Not Such Villains After All ■
Green-Plant Membranes Cut Urge for Tasty Foods ■
Mood and Food ■
Junk Food Linked to Depression ■
MEDSCAPE is a mostly-plain-English news & research report service geared for healthcare professionals but FREE to all who register - choose "Consumer" on the PROFESSIONS list in the registration process that starts when you first click on a Medscape link.
Picking multiple topics for email notification may flood your inbox, since a tremendous number of medical journals worldwide contribute articles to Medscape, so it's a good idea to start with few or just one notification topic, and see how it goes (or none, if you prefer access without emails).
Many Medscape articles are commentable - if you use a screen-name for privacy, it's worth devising one that won't undermine your own comments' impact.
Articles with videos of speakers provide a transcript below the vid window. Click sound off if you'd rather read than listen. Some articles are slideshows or quizes with accompanying text.
Keep in mind that the competitive nature of publishing can skew writing to suggest certainties not fully supported by findings, and there are always the basics to watch out for, such as, "Many Studies Have 'Elementary Statistical Errors'" and It Ain't Necessarily So: Why Much of the Medical Literature Is Wrong. Medical science, like every realm of human endeavor, is a work in progress. Read critically for best results.