You’ve probably heard that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, right? Well a recent study suggests that a couple of apples a day might keep the neurologist away.
“Apples have just the right dose of antioxidants to raise levels of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that’s essential to memory and tends to decline with age,” says Tom Shea, PhD, director of the University of Massachusetts Lowell Center for Cellular Neurobiology and Neurodegeneration Research.
Antioxidants help preserve memory by protecting brain cells against damage from free radicals. A study on mice at Cornell University found that the quercetin in apples may protect brain cells from the kind of free radical damage that may lead to Alzheimer’s disease.
A study Shea coauthored with Amy Chan, PhD, published last year in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, found that mice suffering from the equivalent of normal human age-related memory loss or early Alzheimer’s disease got a memory boost when they consumed a daily dose of apple juice. After just 1 month, those mice did a far superior job on a maze, which tests short-term memory, than the animals that didn’t get the drink.
Besides helping your memory and protecting your brain, apples have also been shown to lower your risk for many cancers.
Shea recommends consuming two-to-three apples or one-to-two 8 ounce glasses of apple juice each day.
References:
New Thinking on Memory
10 Health Benefits of Apples
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What puts you at risk for Alzheimer’s disease? How can you prevent this killer? Based on the results of a four-year study of the medical research literature on Alzheimer s prevention, this video shows the key strategies of prevention. Simple, inexpensive, and easy, they work to prevent Alzheimer’s and more!
Duration : 0:3:53
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Let’s face it, we’re all growing older every day. If you’re over 30, Scientists say the number of brain cells you have are starting to decline. But, they also say that based on a physical behavior called neuroplasticity, our brain can grow new brain cells throughout our lives, regardless of age. The key, they say, is to continually be challenging our brains. It’s this challenge that causes the growth. Therefore, it is possible to reverse the mental decline normally brought on as we age.
Now, lets take the neuroplasticity concept one step further..
If we were to be regularly challenging our brain, our brain would respond in turn by growing new brain cells and new brain connections. By continuing this habit over time, we not only could reverse the brain-age decline normally associated with growing old, but we could actually be building what’s called a “cognitive reserve”.
This so called cognitive reserve, or brain-buffer, can help protect us against Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. In fact, studies such as the Nun Study have shown that even if we do contract the markers of Alzheimer’s, our cognitive reserve can help us compensate.
Nun Study Video:
So how do we go about building our brain-buffer? Well, Alvaro Fernandez tells us how via the four pillars of brain health. To learn more about these four pillars, click here.
How big is your brain-buffer? Why not increase it’s size by playing some free online brain games? Check out our list of free online brain games by clicking here.
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Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of dementia. Today, 4.5 million adults over the age of 65 have the disease and by the year 2050 it is estimated that number will grow 4X to more that 18 million. Currently there is no known cure for the disease but there are some things you can do to help slow it’s onset. With this many people who either already have the disease or will develop it later in life, it’s important that we become more aware of it and what we can do about it.
HealthiNation put together 4 videos which cover the following topics related to Alzheimer’s disease:
- What is Alzheimer’s Disease?
- Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer’s
- Slowing the Onset of Alzheimer’s
- Treating and Caring for Alzheimer’s
These videos can be accessed online by clicking here.
Online brain games play an important role in keeping our brains fit. Such games can be accessed by clicking here.
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alzheimers, brain, brain fitness, brain health, fitness, online brain games
