The
ultimate reason we eat is to achieve good health and retain it. Good health
also suggests being in good mental state; because, as psychiatrists argue,
there is no good health without mental health.
When
we eat good foods, our bodies get nourished from the head down. Eating wrong
foods — such as sugary foods — can affect the way our brain works.
Scientists
say our brains need sugar every day to function. “Brain cells require two times
the energy needed by all the other cells in the body — roughly 10 per cent of
our total daily energy requirements. This energy is derived from glucose (blood
sugar), the gasoline of our brains,” scientists say. In other words, sugar is
not the brain’s enemy; rather, added sugar in foods is.
Research
indicates that a diet high in added sugar reduces the production of a brain
chemical known as Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor. Without BDNF, they note,
our brains can’t form new memories and we can’t learn (or remember) much of
anything. Levels of BDNF are particularly low in people with an impaired
glucose metabolism — diabetics and pre-diabetics —and as the amount of BDNF
decreases, sugar metabolism worsens.
What
are these foods? Here are some of them:
Sugary products
The
list is endless, and they include biscuits, canned and bottled drinks, canned
fruits in syrups, sweetened ‘fruit’ juices, dissolvable powdered drinks,
candies (sweets), cakes, dried fruits, jams and other sweetened spreads, so
called energy bars, milk shakes, etc.
Experts
say it isn’t that you don’t eat any of these foods at all; what they are
concerned about is their percentage to the content of your entire daily meal
intake, and also if your entire meal chain revolves around these foods — as is
the case with some people.
A
group of researchers, led by the University of California Los Angeles biology
professor, Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, discovered that bingeing on soft drinks,
sweets and sugary snacks for as little as six weeks may impair brain function.
The
study, which was conducted on rats, is the first to show that a diet high in
fructose (sugar) slows down the brain, and thus hampers memory and learning.
Gomez-Pinilla
says, “Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think. Eating
a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain’s ability to learn
and remember information.”
Before
now, scientists had proved beyond reasonable doubts that sugar harms the body
through its role in diabetes, obesity and liver problems. Another study published
in Psychology Today states that overeating, poor memory formation, learning
disorders and depression have all been linked to the over-consumption of sugar.
So,
instead of feasting on sugary snacks, try wholesome fruits.
Junk foods
As
far as some people are concerned, patronising fast food joints is status symbol
and therefore a sign of “arrival.” Well, that’s very contrary to commonsense,
as scientists claim that the bad fats in junk foods can actually clog up the
brain and interfere with the way it sends messages. The effects are even worse
in growing children, they warn.
According
to a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the
IQs of children who ate fatty, sugary, processed foods appeared to suffer years
later, while the IQs of those who ate healthy foods increased.
Again,
researcher, Dr. Alex Richardson, of the University Laboratory of Physiology in
Oxford and co-director of the Food and Behaviour Research Charity, said trans
fats displace healthy fats in the brain.
She
warns, “Every time children eat crisps, biscuits or cakes, they are filling
themselves with what are essentially toxic fats. There are no health benefits
to these hydrogenated fats, yet they are all that some children and adults are
eating.
“They
are replacing the essential fats that would make their brain and body work
properly with ones that are clogging up the machinery. In layman’s terms, the
brain gets thicker,” Richardson says.
Fried foods
Besides
the fact that regularly eating fried foods can give men aggressive prostate
cancer, scientists warn that their effects on brain function are as terrible.
A
study by researchers at the University of the Basque in Spain, published in the
journal Food Chemistry, revealed that compounds released from common cooking
oils significantly increase the risk of neurologic degenerative diseases and a
variety of different cancers. They conclude that toxic compounds from fried
foods cause cancer and deteriorate brain health.
Diets
rich in French fries, crispy fried shrimp and classic fried chicken, among
numerous others, could only land you in hot water, even if metaphorically.
In
the United States, for instance, many schools have cut out fried foods in the
café, all in a bid to help kiddies’ brain power. Instead, they serve baked
chicken, baked chicken wraps, strawberries, peaches, sweet potatoes, carrots
and kale.
Experts
also recommend alternate food preparation methods such as roasting, steaming
and broiling.
Salty foods
Before
now, scientists had made us know that too much salt and too little exercise are
hard on the heart. However, new research suggests that they can be hard on the
brain, too.
A
three-year study of more than 1,200 people, led by Carol Greenwood, a nutrition
scientist and interim director of the Baycrest Kunin-Lunenfeld Applied and
Evaluative Research in Toronto, has linked a salty diet and sedentary lifestyle
to cognitive decline in old age.
In
fact, scientists say salt affects your brain the same way hard drugs do!
Of
course, we don’t cut off salt from our diets totally; rather, what we need is a
balance between things. A physician, Dr. Louise Chang, notes that the iodine in
iodised salt helps the body make thyroid hormone, which is critical to an
infant’s brain development.
So,
a little salt is essential to good health. “Healthy adults should consume salt
and water to replace the amount lost daily through sweat and to achieve a diet
that provides sufficient amounts of other essential nutrients,” Chang counsels.
Others
Other
brain-killer foods to avoid include processed protein such as found in hot
dogs, salami, sausages and processed meats; nicotine, as found in cigarette;
alcohol, processed foods and artificial sweeteners.
You
are advised to eat your foods as naturally as possible.
Culled
from:
www.punchng.com
