In the quest to remain young, many have turned to supplements, such as fish oil and vitamin B12, to stave off dementia or to simply remember where we put the car keys. And with population projections indicating an increase in Alzheimer's disease across the world, researchers are looking for ways to prevent cognitive decline and a possible health crisis. The Alzheimer's Association estimates that 16 million people could have the disease by 2050.
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Nutritional epidemiologist Martha Clare Morris and her team at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center found that people who ate one to two servings of leafy green vegetables each day experienced fewer memory problems and cognitive decline, compared with people who rarely ate spinach. In fact, Morris estimates that veggie lovers who ate about 1.3 servings a day had brains that were roughly 11 years younger, compared with those who consumed few greens, like spinach or kale.
The study involved 960 people, all between 58 and 99 and without dementia. Everyone enrolled in the study was part of the Memory and Aging Project, which has been ongoing since 1979 at the Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Washington University. As part of their involvement in that project, participants completed questionnaires about their dietary habits over nearly five years. Questions included assessments of how often people consumed salad, spinach, kale, collards or other greens. Participants also took yearly thinking and memory skills tests to gauge cognitive ability.
Then researchers divided the subjects into groups depending on their consumption. Those who ate the most leafy greens averaged about 1.3 servings per day, while those who consumed the fewest greens averaged 0.1 servings a day. Scientists followed up with participants for 10 years and discovered that the rate of decline for those who ate the most greens was the equivalent to being 11 years younger in terms of brain age.
Of course, people who eat a lot of salad are likely to have other healthy behaviors that could influence memory, but these findings took into account other factors associated with cognition, like education, physical activity, alcohol consumption, obesity and depression
The study was published Wednesday in the journal Neurology.
But it’s not just leafy greens that could keep our memories alive. According to co-author Martha Morris, the nutrients found in these vegetables that may be responsible for the brain-boosting benefits are found in other food sources too.
“Some of the nutrients already have excellent scientific evidence, such as vitamin E, a potent antioxidant which has been demonstrated in carefully controlled animal models to protect against neuron loss, oxidative stress and inflammation, and the accumulation of amyloid plaques,” she told Newsweek in an email. “Other [qualities] of the nutrients are newly identified.”
Morris cites nitrate, vitamin K and kaempferol as potential contributors to brain health that warrant further examination.
Because this study was observational, the data provide no concrete evidence of a causal relationship between spinach and brain health. For now, the connection is only a correlation and does not extend to younger, nonwhite or Hispanic people. But adding a serving of spinach into your diet is never a bad idea.
“Daily consumption of leafy greens may be a simple and effective way to protect against loss in memory and other cognitive abilities,” Morris said.
Her research used half a cup of cooked spinach as a single serving, which would have about 3.35 milligrams of vitamin E, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. Other good sources of the nutrient are almonds and some oils, like sunflower and safflower.
http://www.newsweek.com/eating-salad-every-day-keeps-brains-11-years-younger-and-prevents-dementia-754256
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Also:
A salad a day keeps brains 11 YEARS younger, boosts memory and could help prevent dementia, new study suggests
There was a difference of more than a decade of mental aging between those who ate salad and those that did not
The findings suggest that balanced diets are critical in preventing dementia in older people
Eating greens or salad every day boosts our memory, according to new research.
The findings suggest that eating about one serving per day of green, leafy vegetables may be linked to a slower rate of brain aging - the equivalent of keeping our brain 11 years younger.
The Rush University study found that people who ate at least one serving of green, leafy vegetables a day had a slower rate of decline on tests of memory and thinking skills than people who never or rarely ate such vegetables.
Salad eaters' brains functioned as though they were more than a decade younger than those of people who did not eat their greens, according to the research team.
For older people, eating one salad a day was linked to slower mental decline in a new study
Study author Professor Martha Clare Morris, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, said: 'Adding a daily serving of green, leafy vegetables to your diet may be a simple way to foster your brain health.
'Projections show sharp increases in the percentage of people with dementia as the oldest age groups continue to grow in number, so effective strategies to prevent dementia are critical,' she said.
The study, published online by the journal Neurology, involved 960 people with an average age of 81 who did not have dementia and were followed for an average of 4.7 years.
The participants completed a questionnaire about how often they ate certain foods and had their thinking and memory skills tested yearly during that time.
The survey asked how often and how many servings they ate of three green, leafy vegetables: spinach, with a serving being a half cup of cooked spinach; kale, collards or greens, half cup cooked; and lettuce salad, with a serving of one cup raw.
The participants were divided into five equal groups based on how often they ate green, leafy vegetables.
The people in the top serving group ate an average of about 1.3 servings of greens per day. Those in the lowest serving group ate on average 0.1 servings per day.
Overall, the participants' scores on the thinking and memory tests declined over time at a rate of 0.08 standardized units per year.
Over 10 years of follow-up, the rate of decline for those who ate the most leafy greens was slower by 0.05 standardized units per year than the rate for those who ate the least leafy greens.
That is the difference of about 11 years worth of change, according to the study authors.
They said the results remained valid after accounting for other factors that could affect brain health such as smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, education level and amount of physical and cognitive activities.
But Professor Morris noted that the study doesn't prove that eating green, leafy vegetables slows brain aging, it only shows an association.
She also warned that the study cannot rule out other possible reasons for the link.
Professor Morris added that because the study focused on older adults and the majority of participants were white, the results may not apply to younger adults and people of other races.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5199613/Eating-salad-day-brain-years-younger.html
