Monday, January 24, 2011

Memory Loss and Aging

Is memory loss, senility, dementia, and Alzheimer’s Disease just the norms of getting old?  Is the best we can do to keep our brains functioning to do crossword puzzles, read, maybe learn a foreign language?  Perhaps not.  Recent studies show that diet and lifestyle play a much bigger role in memory retention than ever thought possible.  In fact, it could well be that our total lifestyle determines how our brain functions and what cognitive abilities we retain as we age past our “prime.”  Point of fact: Americans have one of the highest rates of brain-toxifying diets in the world–highest in saturated fats, trans fat, chemical additives, and refined sugar.  As science has shown, sugar can lead to glucose spikes and crashes, causing wildly fluctuating brain energy levels.  Fatty meats, cream and whole milk, lard, shortening, and butter contain artery-clogging saturated fats that restrict blood flow to the brain and lead to poor cardiovascular health related to cognitive decline.  Read more . . .