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.

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:

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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.”

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.

Read more…

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.

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.

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

• Long-term forward neck posture leads to “long-term muscle strain, disc herniations and pinched nerves.” (Mayo Clinic Health Letter, March 2000)
• In regard to respiratory dysfunction in chronic neck pain patients, a recent study “demonstrated a strong association between an increased forward head posture and decreased respiratory muscle strength in neck patients.” (Cephalgia, February 2009)
• “For every inch of forward head posture, it can increase the weight of the head on the spine by an additional 10 pounds.” (Kapandji, Physiology of the Joints, Volume 3)
• “Loss of the cervical curve stretches the spinal cord 5-7 cm and causes disease.” (Dr. Alf Breig, neurosurgeon and Nobel Prize recipient)
• “90% of the stimulation and nutrition to the brain is generated by the movement of the spine,” says Dr. Roger Sperry, Nobel Prize recipient for brain research. Dr. Sperry demonstrated that 90 percent of the energy output of the brain is used in relating the physical body to gravity. Only 10 percent has to do with thinking, metabolism, and healing, so when you have forward head posture, your brain will rob energy from your thinking, metabolism, and immune function to deal with abnormal gravity/posture relationships and processing.
• According to Rene Cailliet, MD, director of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Southern California, forward head posture can add up to 30 pounds of abnormal leverage on the cervical spine. This can pull the entire spine out of alignment. FHP results in loss of vital capacity of the lungs by as much as 30 percent. This shortness of breath can lead to heart and blood vascular disease. The entire gastrointestinal system is affected; particularly the large intestine. Loss of good bowel peristaltic function and evacuation is a common effect of FHP. It causes an increase in discomfort and pain because proprioceptive signals from the first four cervical vertebrae are a major source of the stimuli which create the body’s pain controlling chemicals (endorphins). With inadequate endorphin production, many otherwise non-painful sensations are experienced as pain. FHP dramatically reduces endorphin production.
• FHP has been shown to flatten the normal neck curve, resulting in disc compression, damage and early arthritis. (Roentgenographic findings of the cervical spine in asymptomatic people. (Spine, 1986;6:591-694)

http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=54612

Someone you know has Andropause.

Some common symptoms are:

• Lack of motivation
• Overweight
• They get tired quickly
• Lacks follow through
• Low libido
• Decreased enjoyment with activities that used to be fun
• Falls asleep after dinner
• Experiences brain fog
• Forgets where they park their car or where they put their keys

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.

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.