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How lifestyle and diet reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s
Stephanie Guzowski (Psychology Today Online)

The elderly are a treasure trove of wise and witty anecdotes. Their lifetime’s worth of memories link us to the past and serve as a bridge to the future. Vivid recollections may even keep a person “young at heart.” So when dementia deprives older people of memory, language, and ultimately, personality, it’s not just devastating for them, it’s a horrible loss for their family and friends as well.

Alzheimer’s disease, caused by a steady accumulation of amyloid plaque proteins in the brain, is the most common source of dementia. About 4.5 million Americans have the disorder, and it is estimated that by the year 2050, that number could approach 20 million. There is no known cure. But recent research has uncovered a new gene—SORL1—that, when functioning normally, protects against and reduces the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s. The finding is bound to help unravel some of dementia’s causes.

A family history of Alzheimer’s and increasing age are primary risk factors. But there is growing evidence that improving your lifestyle and diet can preserve your mental faculties and cut your risk of developing mind-robbing disorders.

• Stretch Your Mind. Don’t let your thinking gears get rusty. Mental activity strengthens brain cells and neural connections, and may even give rise to new nerve cells. Engaging in stimulating leisure activities throughout your life can reduce the risk of dementia by about half, according to Australian researchers. Reading, writing, completing crossword puzzles, or even visiting a museum produces positive changes in the hippocampus, part of the brain affected by dementia. Mastering a new language is also beneficial: Among bilinguals, the onset of dementia begins some four years later than it does for monolinguals.
  The brain’s malleability allows for neural connections to continue to form late in life. Researchers at UC Irvine discovered that short, repeated learning sessions slowed the buildup of a protein in the brain known to lead to plaques and tangles—symptoms of Alzheimer’s. The take-away for humans is that it’s never too late to begin exercising your mind. Even ordinary activities done in a novel way, such as brushing your teeth with the opposite hand or taking a different route to work can enrich brain cell connections.
• Keep in Touch. A strong network of family and friends can also lower your risk of dementia. Social activity lessens depression and reduces stress levels, which helps maintain connections among brain cells. Volunteering, joining a club, or traveling can add four years to one’s life, according to Harvard researchers. It’s no surprise then that lonely individuals, in their later years, may be twice as likely to develop the type of dementia linked to Alzheimer’s.
• Hit That Treadmill. One of the best ways to care for your mind is to keep your heart healthy. Aerobic exercise improves oxygen consumption, which benefits brain functioning. A brisk half hour walk, bicycling, swimming, or dancing each day promotes good blood flow to the brain and stimulates new brain-cell growth. Such activity lowers the risk of dementia and slows cognitive decline in those who already have dementia. Because of the connection between the brain and cardiovascular system, reducing risks of heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes also protects against Alzheimer’s disease.
• Brain Food. Eating an apple a day could keep Alzheimer’s away. Apples and apple juice, along with a balanced diet, can protect against cell damage linked to age-related memory loss, according to research from Cornell University and the University of Massachusetts. Fresh apples contain high levels of the antioxidant quercetin; eating at least one a day can help protect brain cells against oxidative stress, a tissue-damaging process associated with Alzheimer’s.

Fresh veggies and fish are just as good for your brain as they are for your body. Eating foods rich in folate, along with the use of supplements, may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s, suggests a report in Archives of Neurology. Folate can be found in spinach, dry beans, peas, fortified cereals, grain products, and some fruits and vegetables. And those who eat fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, trout, and albacore tuna) have higher levels of the fatty acid DHA in their blood, which significantly lowers the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s.

And as we grow older, each of us becomes more likely to experience intermittent bouts of forgetfulness. But taking action now could help ensure that you’ll remain sharp for years to come—with plenty of tales to tell.

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The foods that give you an anti-aging boost
Katie Gilbert  (Psyched for Success)

Next time you’re ambling down the produce aisle, keep an eye out for some of the smallest and little—known food superheroes—dark berries.

A study finds that adding boysenberries and black currants to your diet can give you an anti-aging boost that can protect all parts of your body and even postpone the development of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Berries and other colorful fruits and veggies are chock full of polyphenols, a type of antioxidant that buffers against disease by protecting even the tiniest of bodily cells from the natural stresses of the environment and aging. These helpful chemicals—also found in green tea, olive oil, dark chocolate and pomegranates—keep your cells (and you) vibrant and active.

How can you reap the benefits of these mighty little age-fighters? One author of the study, which will appear in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, offers some refreshingly simple advice: Eat your colors.

Since polyphenols are largely responsible for providing plants their hues, choosing a varied color palate translates into treating your body to a vast array of the antioxidants. Include blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, purple grape juice, pomegranates on your plate. The more closely your diet resembles a rainbow, the better.

People may not realize a colorful diet is actually a heart-healthy diet, says James Joseph, a neuroscientist and director of the Neuroscience Lab at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. Antioxidants protect arteries by keeping them supple and strong. Healthy arteries not only mean a healthy cardiovascular system but healthy gray matter as well. Says Joseph: “What’s good for your heart is also good for your brain.”

It’s possible that someday we’ll use berry extracts in supplements or processed foods, says Joseph, but he believes that the eating fresh berries provides the most bang for your buck. Important compounds can easily be lost in processing berries, he says. Indeed, there may be chemicals in fruits and veggies that we haven’t even been identified.

Still, adding color to your diet isn’t a quick fix. If you’re serious about heart and brain health, “you want to make this a lifestyle,” Joseph says. Healthy living means the triad of behavior: diet, physical and mental exercise.

Exercise affects brain in a way that’s similar to polyphenols. Researchers from the McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida find that rats with exercise wheels in their cages show fewer signs of aging in their brains than their sedentary peers, and the same conclusions have been drawn by comparing elderly humans who exercise with those who do not.

That leaves mental exercise as the last leg in the triad. Reading books, tackling crossword puzzles and other kinds of brain workouts may be as powerful in Alzheimer’s prevention as black currants and boysenberries.

Knowing is half the battle. Now that we know food and exercise are potent weapons in the battle against disease, we have one less excuse not to put up a superhero-worthy fight

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Avoiding Cell Damage

As the building blocks of life, healthy cells are imperative to living well. Yet over time, our cells age and degenerate. When your cells metabolize food, toxic and damaging by-products known as free radicals are released. When free radicals damage your cells, this produces levels of what’s known as oxidative stress, a root cause of cellular aging and degeneration.

If your body cannot call upon enough antioxidants to combat free radicals, more and more oxidative stress, or deterioration of your cells, occurs. Therefore, low oxidative stress is an important health goal. Low oxidative stress is associated with heart health, and with general health and wellness.

At Protandim, we know your health and wellness depend on minimizing the level of oxidative stress in your body.

Cells and Aging

Aging is just one effect oxidative stress inflicts on our cells over time.

As we age, enough free radicals appear in increasing quantities to negatively impact your body’s cells on a massive level. Cellular damage increases as we age because our body’s production of beneficial antioxidant enzymes cannot keep up with increasing levels of free radicals. But by naturally boosting your body’s own enzymes, Protandim helps strengthen your cells’ ability to fight damage caused by free radicals.

The Solution

The good news is every cell in your body has a build-in defense system against free radical damage. This built-in defense system includes two antioxidant enzymes called Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and Catalase (CAT), which work in tandem to neutralize free radicals and protect the cell. Protandim helps increase your body’s production of these two key enzymes to effectively fight cellular damage caused by free radicals.

Is there a safe and effective way to decrease our oxidative stress on a daily basis?

The simple answer is one Protandim daily. With Protandim, you boost the production of your own body’s antioxidant enzymes to help protect your cells from free radical damage, promoting healthier cells and a healthier immune function.

Start taking Protandim today, and choose to live healthy as you age.