February 2, 2012 | Filed under: Brain Health,General Interest,Heart Health,Kids,Nutrition,Video
This is an must watch video on sugar.
Robert H. Lustig, MD, UC San Francisco Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin.
January 25, 2012 | Filed under: Brain Health,General Interest,Kids,Nutrition
“Today, a patient asked me why his teenager is making the questionable decisions he is making. The quick answer is that teens have a undeveloped brain, particularly in the frontal cortex,” says Dr. Cohen of ProActive Chiropractic.
Among the helpful resources for parents and teachers with the same question is http://teenagebrain.blogspot.com which compiles interviews with many specialists on the topic.
Some quotations from these interviews sum up the current knowledge:
“We once thought that the brain was fully formed by the end of childhood, but research has shown that adolescence is a time of profound brain growth and change. We now know:
Between childhood and adulthood the brain’s “wiring diagram” becomes more complex and more efficient, especially in the brain’s prefrontal cortex.
The greatest changes to the parts of the brain that are responsible for impulse-control, judgement, decision-making, planning, organization, and involved in other functions like emotion, occur in adolescence. This area of the brain (prefrontal cortex) does not reach full maturity until around age 25!
Adult response to stimuli tends to be more intellectual, while teens’ is often more ‘from the gut.’”
Dr. Cohen’s summary: Don’t explain things to teenagers the same way you would an adult. Make sure their diet is as balanced as possible. If they are not getting healthy fats (particularly omega 3 fish oils) to help with brain development and and healthy proteins (crucial for neurotransmitter formation) their brains are not going to function as well as they could.
Other good websites:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2006/oct/17/prisonsandprobation.ukcrime I know your teenager isn’t a criminal; this points out how important fish oil is for mood stabilization and how omega 3′s have been shown to help with depression and bipolar disorder.
December 2, 2011 | Filed under: Brain Health,Sports
Everyone knows that exercise has major health benefits. Now, new research suggests that exercise improves work performance, with specific benefit to memory and the ability to multitask. So if you needed another reason to hop on a bike, now you have it.
Granted, health experts have known for quite some time about the positive impact exercise has on the brain. But until recently, they knew very little about how this happens. Now they think they do: Exercise increases the production of a specific protein that improves recall and overall brain function.
And you don’t need to run a marathon or bike 50 miles to reap its rewards. A recent New York Times article cites a study which found that just five minutes of exercise several days per week, over the course of five weeks, markedly improved rats’ memory function.
But is strenuous exercise more beneficial than light exercise? Not necessarily. In fact, Charles Hillman, a kinesiology professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, says studies have shown that the lightest and heaviest doses of physical activity have the least impact. He also points to research which suggests that, for cognitive functioning, moderate doses of walking can have significant benefits over time.
If you walk or bike to work, take on your most challenging tasks right when you get to the office, since the benefits of exercise on brain function start to wear off after about an hour (sorry, procrastinators).
And if walking or biking to work isn’t an option, consider taking a brisk walk at lunchtime. You’ll get fresh air and the exercise which’ll allow you to crank up your afternoon productivity.
written by Green Life/Sierra Club
August 22, 2011 | Filed under: Brain Health,General Interest,Heart Health,Nutrition
In previous blog posts, I have mentioned resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red grapes and red wine. A recent study suggests that resveratrol also can reverse damage to a small part of the brain stem from excess estrogen and oxidative stress, as well as lower blood pressure:
A small part of the brain stem called the Rostral Ventrolateral Medulla is responsible for controlling heart and blood pressure. This region of the brain can be adversely affected by excessive oxidative stress, which is sometimes caused by excess estrogen. Blood pressure can increase when the RVLM is under oxidative stress.
Resveratrol was shown to not only counteract the damage in the RVLM area of the brainstem caused by the excess superoxide production, but also lower blood pressure.
May 6, 2011 | Filed under: Brain Health
Harvard Business Review recently published a great article “How (and Why) to Stop Multitasking”. The author maintains that multi-tasking is not only stressful, it is inefficient and just plain stupid. Something to think about next time you have 4 screens open on your work computer and are on the phone as well.
Interesting paragraph from the article…
“A study showed that people distracted by incoming email and phone calls saw a 10-point fall in their IQs. What’s the impact of a 10-point drop? The same as losing a night of sleep. More than twice the effect of smoking marijuana.”
March 31, 2011 | Filed under: Brain Health,Kids
ADHD (by the way ADD is not a proper term anymore) has had some news coverage lately addressing potential causes and nutritional ways to help the symptoms.
NPR:
March 30, 2011
The Food and Drug Administration is meeting Wednesday and Thursday to examine whether artificial food dyes cause hyperactivity in children. Artificial food dyes are made from petroleum and approved for use by the FDA to enhance the color of processed foods.
They’ve been around for decades and are found in everything from pudding to potato chips to soft drinks.
But recent studies linking food coloring to hyperactivity in kids is causing some experts to call on the FDA to ban foods containing them — or at least require a warning label.
And this article from two weeks ago addresses how diet can help with ADHD symptoms:
Hyperactivity. Fidgeting. Inattention. Impulsivity. If your child has one or more of these qualities on a regular basis, you may be told that he or she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. If so, they’d be among about 10 percent of children in the United States.
Kids with ADHD can be restless and difficult to handle. Many of them are treated with drugs, but a new study says food may be the key. Published in The Lancet journal, the study suggests that with a very restrictive diet, kids with ADHD could experience a significant reduction in symptoms.
The study’s lead author, Dr. Lidy Pelsser of the ADHD Research Centre in the Netherlands, writes in The Lancet that the disorder is triggered in many cases by external factors — and those can be treated through changes to one’s environment.
“ADHD, it’s just a couple of symptoms — it’s not a disease,” the Dutch researcher tells All Things Considered weekend host Guy Raz.
The way we think about — and treat — these behaviors is wrong, Pelsser says. “There is a paradigm shift needed. If a child is diagnosed ADHD, we should say, ‘OK, we have got those symptoms, now let’s start looking for a cause.’ “
Read more...
Talk to Dr. Cohen in San Francisco about the 5 week elimination diet for your kid today. He has seen some remarkable changes with this simple change.
November 22, 2010 | Filed under: Brain Health,General Interest
In a study of elderly individuals over a span of nine years, it was found that those who were active and walked daily maintained more brain mass than those who did not. With the brain, according to the article from CBS News, size does matter. The brain shrinks with age, and shrinkage can lead to dementia later in life — but the brains of those with active lifestyles did not shrink at the same rate as those with more sedentary lifestyles.
Other things that help protect the brain besides exercise: eating leafy greens and fruits, exercising your brain (especially during middle age) with crossword puzzles and other things that stimulate the creation of new connections in the brain, remaining socially engaged, and having a pet.
September 2, 2010 | Filed under: Brain Health,General Interest
Your head weighs 14-18lbs. So it makes sense that when your head is more forward than midline there will be problems. Unfortunately, these problems are much bigger than you may have expected:
Fast Facts: The Consequences of Forward Head Posture
http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=54612
February 19, 2010 | Filed under: Brain Health,Dr Cohen,General Interest
Dr. Datis Kharrazian, author of Why Do I still Have Thyroid Symptoms, lectured on the complexities of the “Neuroendocrine – Immune Axis of Andropause.” This is a more complete (although more complex way) of looking at Andropause as it relates to the nervous system, the hormonal system and the immune system, rather than just as a side affect of aging.
Someone you know has Andropause.
Some common symptoms are:
Many people write these symptoms off but they are clear signs there is something wrong. Sometimes testosterone replacement may be fitting, but oftentimes it just provides a brief honeymoon of improvements, and then the benefits vanish or even worsen because they aren’t addressing the cause of why testosterone has dropped (and no, it’s not just because the person is getting old).
There is another holistic approach that works, which uses laboratory testing, research-based supplementation, and lifestyle modifications.
Contact Dr. Andrew Cohen, DC if you know someone who might benefit from feeling rejuvenated again. It’s important to note that typically these people don’t make the move themselves, although they are on a slippery slope to Alzheimer’s. If someone you love may be suffering from Andropause, make sure it is addressed quickly.
January 22, 2010 | Filed under: Brain Health,General Interest,Nutrition
Study:We also compared the memory performances of the blueberry subjects with a demographically matched sample who consumed a berry placebo beverage in a companion trial of identical design and observed comparable results for paired associate learning. The findings of this preliminary study suggest that moderate-term blueberry supplementation can confer neurocognitive benefit and establish a basis for more comprehensive human trials to study preventive potential and neuronal mechanisms.
Translation: Our research, although it’s a small study, shows daily consumption of wild blueberry juice improves memory in elderly patients who have early signs of memory problems after 12 weeks.
That’s easy enough to put into my morning shake. But it also points out, from my perspective, how important it is to have 5 fruits and veggies a day and I support variety. The more we study the natural properties we learn how great they are. The CDC does a good job pushing variety with their calendar.
Find more articles by browsing the different health-related topics or looking through the chronological archives.