Good brain food

What is dementia?

The word ‘dementia’ refers to a collection of symptoms caused by disorders that affect the brain. It typically shows up as a decline in the patient’s ‘cognitive abilities’, which means their ability to think, remember, solve problems and use language, and often their behaviour will change, too. The symptoms disrupt normal life, making working or socialising difficult. Alzheimer’s disease is one form of dementia, but there are others, including Lewy body disease, frontotemporal dementia and vascular dementia.

We can easily feel anxious about developing dementia as we age, but it’s helpful to realise that the condition is not an inevitable part of growing older. An estimated 10% of Australians over 65 and 30% of those over 85 live with a dementia diagnosis, but that means that most people living into later age – 90% of over 65s and 70% of over 85s – do not develop it.

Why do some older people experience dementia while others don’t? Is there anything we can do to minimise our chances of getting the disease?

What factors contribute to dementia?

We don’t know yet whether living to older age without dementia results from fortunate genes, some sort of protective body makeup, or dietary and lifestyle choices. It’s likely to be a combination of all those factors.

Some of the changes that produced our modern lifestyles and food supply chains have not helped our bodies and brains to stay functioning at peak levels. Labour-saving devices and new technologies may make our lives pleasurable and less arduous, but they can also deprive us of the physical activity and engagement with the outside world that are necessary for optimal health. At the same time, many of the foods we eat today are a long way removed from their natural origins.

There is ample evidence that what we eat and how we live can help reduce our chances of experiencing cognitive decline and dementia. While there’s not a lot we can do about our genes or body makeup and we can’t un-invent those technologies and machines, we can do something about our diet and lifestyle.

A condition known as chronic inflammation is thought to cause some of the changes in brain cells that lead to Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. That’s why reducing chronic inflammation is a vital step in maintaining your brain throughout life. The 3 main ways to do that are:

• keeping up physical activity

• having quality rest time

• making good eating choices.

How to choose good brain food

When it comes to food decisions, there are 3 things to think about:

• minimal processing

• antioxidants

• ‘good’ oils.

Pick minimally processed foods

A myriad of diet and other plans claim to boost brain health, and working out the best food choices for a healthy brain can get confusing.

My advice is that any reputable plan will advocate choosing fresh, seasonal and – as much as possible – local foods. ‘Fresh’ foods are those that have been minimally processed. The more steps a food has taken to reach your plate, the more likely it is to be a contributor to chronic inflammation.

Scientific evidence is mounting that eating too many ‘ultra-processed’ foods can have negative impacts on brain health. These are generally commercially produced, packaged goods that bear little or no resemblance to the foods from which they originated. A long list of ingredients on the label of any packaged, canned or bottled food can indicate that we should eat that food only in small amounts, if at all.

I’m not saying we should never eat processed foods; many foods need to be processed to some extent so they can be transported and stored before eating. But I am saying, focus on getting as many fresh, minimally processed foods into your meals and snacks every day.

And that includes what you drink: stay away from highly sweetened, flavoured beverages, even artificially sweetened ones.

Eat lots of antioxidants

Our all-important and highly sensitive brain cells naturally produce oxidative wastes during their usual functioning. If these waste substances build up around the cells, they can cause damage. Antioxidants in food effectively ‘mop up’ those wastes or their by-products, reducing the chance of harm and making an irreplaceable contribution to protecting brain health.

Hundreds of antioxidants occur naturally in food, and the amounts and types in different foods vary. Cells need access to as many different antioxidants as possible for maximum benefit. You might hear about individual foods or drinks being ‘super foods’ because they contain high levels of some type of antioxidant. But for your brain, eating one or a few ‘super’ foods is not as important as getting the widest possible variety of different antioxidants.

How can we get lots of antioxidants? Conveniently, the different types all contribute to the colours of the various foods – so just make sure you put as many different colours on your plate as you possibly can at every meal! It doesn’t matter whether they’re white, brown, yellow, pink, cerise, purple or gold, they’ll all have something beneficial to offer.

Get the good oils

To top off your meals for the sake of your brain, make sure you also enjoy some ‘good’ oil each day. Good oils are basically those that contain beneficial amounts of fats known as Omega 3s, which are particularly good for the brain. Omega 3 fats help optimise fuel supply to brain cells and may also help reduce the impact of damaging substances like beta amyloid, the protein associated with dementia risk.

Oily fish and oils derived from marine sources are high in Omega 3s, as are oils from olives, nuts and seeds, other great sources that offer other vital benefits. Add any or all of these into your diet every day, and you’ll be helping to protect your brain health.

Your checklist for brain health

As with all aspects of ageing, we are more likely to live independent, satisfying later lives if we take steps now to make that happen. When we understand that dementia is not necessarily inevitable, we can see that it’s worth doing all we can to invest in our future health and wellbeing.

My overall recommendations for good brain health?

• Get good exercise every day.

• Eat foods as close to the way they started out as you can get them.

• Eat good quality protein foods to maintain muscle (read more about this in my article, ‘Eating well in your 60s, 70s and beyond).

• Surround those proteins with plenty of vegetables, fruits and herbs for that essential colour.

• Add some good oils, nuts and fish to your meal planning.

With all that in place, you can be confident you’re doing the best you can to help your brain!

Disclaimer: The information provided on this website is not a substitute for individual health advice from a doctor or dietitian.

by Ngaire Hobbins APD

Ngaire Hobbins is an Australian dietitian specialising in ageing and brain health. Ngaire’s cookbook, Better Brain Food, and other brain health books are available through her website or your favourite book retailer.