Brain Health and Nutrition

An April 2024 study by the Gerontological Society of America said,

• “Broaching the topic of diet and nutrition can be challenging. I start by asking patients what their goals are,”

• “These goals could include physical goals such as maintaining muscle mass, cognitive goals such as preserving memory, as well as functional goals such as being able to travel or play with grandchildren. Linking information about nutrition to helping adults achieve their goals is an effective strategy for stimulating motivation to implement healthy changes.”

• “I would love for everybody to get all of their micronutrients from food … Unfortunately, for most older adults, it’s really challenging to do that due to physiological changes that occur with aging and certain disease states that affect absorption, so we often recommend a multivitamin.”

Protein, Breakfasts and Saeity

A February 2024 study by Aarhus University said,

• "We found that a protein-rich breakfast with skyr (a sour-milk product) and oats increased satiety and concentration in the participants, but it did not reduce the overall energy intake compared to skipping breakfast or eating a carbohydrate-rich breakfast,"

• "The results confirm that protein-rich meals increase a sense of satiety, which is positive with regard to preventing weight gain. However, the results also suggest that for this nutritional strategy to be effective, it’s not enough to just eat a protein-rich breakfast."

• "It’s intriguing that there can be such a big difference in the satiety effect of two different meals with the same calorie content. Had the women in the project been allowed to choose the size of the meal themselves, it’s likely that they’d have consumed more food and thereby more calories on the day they were served bread and jam than on the day they were given skyr and oats,"

• "We already have new data incoming from a trial where participants received either a high-protein breakfast or a low-protein breakfast. The objective was to study how the different types of breakfast affect body composition and other parameters such as microbiota and cholesterol levels,"

Nudged towards Healthier Deits

A February 2024 study by the University of Göttingen said,

• “Understanding public support – and its drivers – is important for designing politically viable, ethical, and effective nudges,”

• “We were surprised to find that the personal circumstances of our participants and whether their own behaviour would be affected by the nudge had little effect on their support. We found that the perception of upholding free choice and of effectiveness were key to public support.”

Nuts and Metabolic Syndrome

A December 2023 study published in the journal Nutrients said,

• “We know that snacking contributes almost 25% of total daily calories in young adults in the U.S.,”

• “Substituting typical high carbohydrate snacks with tree nuts (almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts) would likely have a positive impact in reducing the risk of metabolic syndrome and its consequences in this age group.”

• “We need to encourage people—especially those Millennials at risk for MetSx—to get their handful of nuts every day.”

PTSD, diet, and the gut microbiome

An October 2023 study at Brigham and Women’s Hospital said,

• “There is a very intriguing relationship between the human gut microbiome and the brain,”

• “Through our study, we examined how factors, like diet, are associated with PTSD symptoms. While further research is needed, we are closer to being able to provide dietary recommendations for PTSD prevention or amelioration.”

• “Examining the gut-brain axis can provide insights on the interdependence of mental and physical health,”

• “Our findings suggest the PTSD and human gut microbiome relationship is a promising area of research that may lead to recommendations for alleviating the down-stream negative health consequences of PTSD.”

• “It’s exciting that our results imply that the Mediterranean diet may provide potential relief to individuals experiencing PTSD symptoms … We are eager to learn more about the relationship between PTSD, diet, and the gut microbiome. In a future study, we will attempt to validate the efficacy of probiotics as a method to prevent PTSD.”

Heavy Lifting, Protein, Sleep

“Heavy lifting … instructs your body to direct the raw materials for building muscle, bone, and joint material to the limbs you just exercised. And your body needs sleep to carry out this instruction.”

Catherine Shanahan “Deep Nutrition”

Potatoes and a healthy diet

An August 2022 study by Pennington Biomedical Research Center said, 

• “We demonstrated that contrary to common belief, potatoes do not negatively impact blood glucose levels. In fact, the individuals who participated in our study lost weight.”

• “People tend to eat the same weight of food regardless of calorie content in order to feel full,” 

• “By eating foods with a heavier weight that are low in calories, you can easily reduce the number of calories you consume. The key aspect of our study is that we did not reduce the portion size of meals but lowered their caloric content by including potatoes. Each participant’s meal was tailored to their personalized caloric needs, yet by replacing some meat content with potato, participants found themselves fuller, quicker, and often did not even finish their meal. In effect, you can lose weight with little effort.”

• “We prepared the potatoes in a way that would maximize their fiber content. When we compared a diet with potatoes to a diet with beans and peas, we found them to be equal in terms of health benefits,” 

• “People typically do not stick with a diet they don’t like or isn’t varied enough. The meal plans provided a variety of dishes, and we showed that a healthy eating plan can have varied options for individuals striving to eat healthy. In addition, potatoes are a fairly inexpensive vegetable to incorporate into a diet.”

• “Obesity is an incredibly complex disease that Pennington Biomedical is tackling on three different fronts: research that looks at how and why our bodies react the way they do, research that looks at individual responses to diet and physical activity, and policy-level discussions and community programs that bring our research into strategies our local and global communities can use to live healthier lives. These new data on the impact of potatoes on our metabolism is an exciting addition to the arsenal of evidence we have to do just that.”

Poor diet, blood vessels

An August 2022 study by Leipzig University said,

• “As vascular dysfunction drives all major pathologies, from heart failure to atherosclerosis and neurodegeneration, our research shows how bad eating habits molecularly promote the development of diverse diseases,” 

• “We want to elucidate molecular mechanisms of obesity in order to be able to offer patients tailor-made therapies in the future,” 

Peanuts, herbs, spices and the gut microbiome

A December 2022 study by Penn State said, 

“Research has shown that people who have a lot of different microbes have better health, and a better diet, than those who don’t have much bacterial diversity,”

“It’s such a simple thing that people can do,” 

“The average American diet is far from ideal, so I think everyone could benefit by adding herbs and spices. It’s also a way of decreasing sodium in your diet but flavoring foods in a way that makes them palatable and, in fact, delicious! Taste is really a top criterion for why people choose the foods they do.”

“We need a lot more research on the microbiome to see what its proper place is in terms of overall health.”

Potatoes

A December 2022 study by Edith Cowan University said, 

• “In previous studies, potatoes have been positively linked to incidence of diabetes, regardless of how they’re prepared — but we found that’s not true,” 

• “In Denmark, people consume potatoes prepared in many different ways; in our study, we could distinguish between the different preparation methods.

•  “When we separated boiled potatoes from mashed potatoes, fries or crisps, boiled potatoes were no longer associated with a higher risk of diabetes: they had a null effect.”

•   “In our study, people who ate the most potatoes also consumed more butter, red meat and soft drink — foods known to increase your risk of Type 2 diabetes,”

• “When you account for that, boiled potatoes are no longer associated with diabetes. It’s only fries and mashed potatoes, the latter likely because it is usually made with butter, cream and the like.”

•  “The finding that vegetables lower diabetes risk is crucial for public health recommendations, and we shouldn’t ignore it,”

•  “Regarding potatoes, we can’t say they have a benefit in terms of type 2 diabetes, but they also aren’t bad if prepared in a healthy way.”

• “We should separate potatoes and other vegetables in regard to messaging about disease prevention but replacing refined grains such as white rice and pasta with potatoes can improve your diet quality because of fibre and other nutrients found in potatoes.”

•  “Potatoes have fibre and nutrients, which are good for you,”

•  “People talk about carbs being bad, but it’s more about the type of carbs you’re having; compared to something like white rice, boiled potatoes are a good quality of carbohydrate.

•  “But just take care how you prepare them: don’t eat fries, or mash with extras in it all the time.”

•  “Just boil them and eat them like other greens or other foods — and you don’t need to have it with red meat all the time.”

Walnuts

A September 2022 study by the University of Minnesota School of Public Health said,

• “Walnut eaters seem to have a unique body phenotype that carries with it other positive impacts on health like better diet quality, especially when they start eating walnuts from young into middle adulthood – as risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, obesity, and diabetes elevates.”

• “There was a good degree of diversity in terms of the research field locations geographically speaking and the population studied,”

• “Following these black and white women and men for 30 years provides an unparalleled window of study into how lifestyle decisions made in free-living environments in young adulthood can affect health in middle-age,”

• “Nut consumers showed an advantage in relation to diet quality, but walnut consumers appear to have a better heart disease risk factor profile than the other groups, even after accounting for overall diet quality,” 

• “The surprising, healthy shifts in overall dietary pattern of walnut consumers suggests walnuts may act as a bridge or ‘carrier food’ for helping people form healthy nutrition and lifestyle habits throughout life.”

Choice of grains, heart disease

An October 2022 study by the Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center and Cardiovascular Research Institute at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Isfahan, Iran, said,

• “There are many factors involved in why people may be consuming more refined grains as opposed to whole grains and these cases differ between people, but some of the most important factors to consider include the economy and income, job, education, culture, age and other similar factors,” 

• “A diet that includes consuming a high amount of unhealthy and refined grains can be considered similar to consuming a diet containing a lot of unhealthy sugars and oils.”

• “As more studies demonstrate an increase in refined grains consumption globally, as well as the impact on overall health, it is important that we find ways to encourage and educate people on the benefits of whole grain consumption,” 

• “Tactics to consider include teaching improved dietary choices in schools and other public places in simple language the general population can understand, as well as on television programs and by continuing to do high level research that is presented at medical conferences and published in medical journals. Clinicians must also be having these conversations with each other and their patients.”

Egg powder

A September 2022 study by Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich (LSB) said, 

• "Studies show that adding one egg a day to complementary food can help reduce the incidence of underweight in older infants by 74 percent, as well as counteract the so-called 'stunting' effect,"

• "As our analyses showed, the drying process did not lead to an accumulation of the heavy metals cadmium, lead, arsenic and mercury," 

• "Despite the small loss of retinol, egg powder is a valuable source of vitamin A. Sub-Saharan African regions in particular could benefit from this. This is because vitamin A deficiency is widespread there and leads to a high prevalence of vision problems," 

Avocado and leukemia treatments

An April 2021 study University of Guelph looked at an avocado compound that may indicate better ways to treat leukaemia said, 

"This is the first time VLCAD [an enzyme] has been identified as a target in any cancer."

Looking for a compound that would inhibit the enzyme they found, "the best one was derived from avocado,"

Probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus and inflammatory bowel disease

An April 2021 study by Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey Medical Center said,

"Our data indicate that [Lactobacillus acidophilus] is able to prevent colonic inflammation formation and promote colitis healing,”

"The implications of the present findings are that this bacterial strain can be used in a wide variety of intestinal permeability disorders, including IBD [inflammatory bowel disease], coeliac disease, alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and necrotizing enterocolitis, to treat inflammation associated with the leaky gut.”

Omega-3 supplementation and Stress

An April 2021 study by The Ohio State University said,

"The findings suggest that omega-3 supplementation is one relatively simple change people could make that could have a positive effect at breaking the chain between stress and negative health effects,”

"You could consider an increase in cortisol and inflammation potential factors that would erode telomere length," 

"The assumption based on past work is that telomerase can help rebuild telomere length, and you want to have enough telomerase present to compensate for any stress-related damage.”

"The fact that our results were dose-dependent, and we're seeing more impact with the higher omega-3 dose, would suggest that this supports a causal relationship."

"Not everyone who is depressed has heightened inflammation - about a third do. This helps explain why omega-3 supplementation doesn't always result in reduced depressive symptoms," 

"If you don't have heightened inflammation, then omega-3s may not be particularly helpful. But for people with depression who do, our results suggest omega-3s would be more useful."

Some dietary sources of Omega-3

Fish, especially salmon, tuna, herring, sardines and mackerel

Seeds especially walnuts, chia seeds, flaxseed

Nuts

Cocoa and Weight Control

An April 2021 study by Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences said,

"While it is typically considered an indulgence food because of its high sugar and fat content, epidemiological and human-intervention studies have suggested that chocolate consumption is associated with reduced risk of cardio-metabolic diseases including stroke, coronary heart disease and Type 2 diabetes,”

"So, it made sense to investigate whether cocoa consumption had an effect on non-alcohol-related fatty liver disease, which is commonly associated with human obesity.”

"Given the high proportion of people in the United States and other parts of the world with obesity, there is a need to develop potentially effective dietary interventions rather than just preventive agents,”

“This exchange is potentially beneficial, especially in combination with a healthy overall diet and increased physical activity,”

"If you go to the gym and work out, and your reward is you go home and have a cup of cocoa, that may be something that helps get you off the couch and moving around."

Beetroot Juice and Healthy Ageing

A March 2021 study by the University of Exeter said, 

"We are really excited about these findings, which have important implications for healthy ageing,”

"Previous studies have compared the oral bacteria of young and older people, and healthy people compared to those with diseases, but ours is the first to test nitrate-rich diet in this way.

"Our findings suggest that adding nitrate-rich foods to the diet - in this case via beetroot juice - for just ten days can substantially alter the oral microbiome (mix of bacteria) for the better.”

"Maintaining this healthy oral microbiome in the long term might slow down the negative vascular and cognitive changes associated with ageing."

"Our participants were healthy, active older people with generally good blood pressure,”

"Dietary nitrate reduced their blood pressure on average, and we are keen to find out whether the same would happen in other age groups and among people in poorer health.

"We are working with colleagues in the University of Exeter Medical School to investigate interactions between the oral bacteria and cognition to better understand the how diet could be used to delay cognitive decline in older age."

Some Nitrate Rich Foods

• Betroot

• Garlic

• Meat

• Dark Chocolate

• Leafy Greens

• Citrus Fruit

• Pomegranate

• Nuts & Seeds

• Watermelon

Sugar and Brain Development

A March 2021 study by University of Georgia said, 

"Early life sugar increased Parabacteroides [a bacteria] levels, and the higher the levels of Parabacteroides, the worse the animals did in the task," 

"We found that the bacteria alone was sufficient to impair memory in the same way as sugar, but it also impaired other types of memory functions as well."

"We found that rats that consumed sugar in early life had an impaired capacity to discriminate that an object was novel to a specific context, a task the rats that were not given sugar were able to do," 

"Early life sugar consumption seems to selectively impair their hippocampal learning and memory,"

Eat and Train for Better Senior Year Health

A March 2021 study using data from the Framingham Heart Study said,

"Health care professionals could use these findings to further promote and emphasize to their patients the benefits of a healthy diet and a regular exercise schedule to avoid the development of numerous chronic health conditions in the present and in later life," 

"The earlier people make these lifestyle changes, the more likely they will be to lower their risk of cardiovascular-associated diseases later in life."

"It is noteworthy that we observed a dose-response association of adherence to diet and physical activity guidelines with risk of cardiometabolic disease later in life,”

"Participants who met the physical activity guidelines had progressively lower risk of cardiometabolic disease as they increased adherence to the dietary guidelines."