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This is of interest to the aging public. Dementia, Alzheimer’s, etc. etc. You hear about it often.
So, “Brain Boosting” foods should be of interest.
We posted it as part of our Aging and Anti-Aging article.
Check it out. It’s really good information.
Medical science has recently discovered that a root cause of particular health issues involves the gut and the Gut-Brain Axis.
The Gut-Brain Axis is the communication system between the brain and the trillions of bacteria and enzymes living within our intestines – our gut microbiome.
The gut microbiome weighs about 2 kg and is bigger than the average human brain. It’s an active community of trillions of bacteria and microbes.
The gut microbiome is a crucial part of this gut-brain connection. It develops simultaneously with the central nervous system and has a powerful influence over many different mental processes.
Multiple studies have shown that the composition of our gut bacteria has a profound impact on mental health and the functioning of our nervous system.
Gut microbes make a number of chemicals that affect how our brains function. Gut microbes play a crucial role in brain development and the flow of signaling information across the central nervous system.
As neurotransmitters synthesized by the brain are involved in regulating mental health, emotions, behaviors, and mood, a disrupted gut microbiome can play a significant role in neurological conditions.
“The gut microbiome is the most important scientific discovery for human healthcare in recent decades,” says James Kinross, a microbiome scientist and surgeon at Imperial College London. “We discovered it – or rediscovered it – in the age of genetic sequencing less than 15 years ago. The only organ that is bigger is the liver.”
Professor Jack Gilbert, an award-winning microbiome scientist at the University of California San Diego and author, has stated, “Over the last 80 years and since the dawn of antibiotics, there has been a multi-generational loss of microbes that appear to be important for human health. They are passed from mother to child (during birth, via breast milk and skin contact) throughout the generations, but at some point, in the last three or four generations, we lost some. We’re not entirely sure if the cause was our lifestyle, our diet, cleanliness in our homes or the use of antibiotics. We’re missing certain immune stimulants that people in the developing world have plenty of.”
The gut’s microbiome is critical for short-term and long-term health. Given all the new data about the importance of the gut microbiome and the gut-brain axis, there are steps you can take to ensure you maintain a healthy gut microbiome.
Studies suggest having a diverse population of gut microbes is directly associated with better health.
The Canadian Digestive Health Foundation suggests the following:
“Make sure to eat your vegetables!
“Especially the leafy green ones. Vegetables are loaded with fibers which cannot be digested by people but are consumed by the good bacteria in your gut. It has been observed that people who follow a diet rich with fruits and vegetables are less likely to grow disease-causing bacteria. Some great examples of vegetables that feed your microbes are:
• Leeks
• Onions
• Asparagus
• Broccoli
• Spinach.
“Stock up on dietary sources of prebiotics
“Prebiotics are food for your microbiome! It’s important to feed these little guys to give them the energy they need to complete their very important task of managing your enteric (relating to the intestines) nervous system.
Here is a list of dietary prebiotics that should be staples in your home kitchen:
• Apples
• Leeks
• Onions
• Cocoa Extracts
• Garlic
• Bananas
• Asparagus
• Nuts
• Seeds
• Red Wine Extracts
• Root Vegetables
• Beans
• Lentils
• Chickpeas
• Green Tea Extracts.
“Fermented foods are gut-friendly
“Fermented foods are another great source of probiotics.
The crowd favorite is yogurt, however, if you’re going to be eating a lot of yogurt, make sure that it is sugar-free! There are several other options that are a great source of good bacteria. Kombucha is becoming a very popular source of probiotics. You can also eat things like pickles, kimchee, and kefir to ensure that you’re getting enough live cultures to keep your gut healthy and happy.”
Supplements Can Help, Too
Taking supplements that contain probiotics to support an optimum microbiome can help, too.
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Diabetes
Diabetes deaths surged during the pandemic, rising 17% in 2020
Even diabetics who didn’t get this flu suffered, often falling victim to isolation, social distancing, lack of medical care and fear
Diabetes deaths and diabetes-caused amputations and intensive care admissions have plagued diabetes patients who delayed medical care during the pandemic; ‘The diagnosis was uncontrolled diabetes, but it was caused by pandemic fear’
Among 8- to 20-year-olds, Type 2 diabetes diagnoses tripled in 2020 at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C.; school closures and reduced physical activity triggered by the pandemic were likely factors in the sudden rise
Among U.S. adults who responded to the American Psychological Association’s 2021 Stress in America poll, 42% said they had gained more weight than they intended since the pandemic started
Eliminating ultraprocessed foods is an essential part of tackling both obesity and Type 2 diabetes, in part because it lowers your intake of toxic seed oils that are driving both conditions.
Going to a medical doctor and being prescribed a drug comes with directions on how to take it. But this isn’t always true when you buy a supplement or a herb.
Here is an article by Dr. Mercola that we wanted to pass on. He has some great data on the cause of depression due to diet.
Here is his article:
See the entire article
Real Food Is a Potent Ally Against Depression (with Dr. Mercola, you have to go to his website and search, he doesn’t allow links) go to mercola.com and search.
There are a lot of remedies on the market that includes herbs. Of course, the first thing you should check is the quality of any supplement whether herb or vitamin. Cheaper brands are not necessarily going to give you quality ingredients that will give you results. Here is an article on this Buying Less Expensive Supplements – Is it Worth It?
But on the subject of herbs especially regarding neuropathy, one needs to know the following.
Herbs cannot be taken in some cases with certain medications. You need to check with your pharmacist to see if the herbs and your medications are compatible. Pharmacists have a database that they can check.
As an example: There are no clinical trials showing that any herb can help repair the nerve damage that is neuropathy. Nor can it build healthy nerves. They do have some value in increasing blood flow, or calming the body, but not in the actual repair of the nerve which is what causes the neuropathy symptoms.
There are many products being advertised as helping neuropathy with 4 or 5 different herbs extracts in them. It is questionable whether they have been tested together, and since there are no trials regarding neuropathy, questionable as to whether they will help or not.
A number of herbs taken together often causes stomach problems, such as heart burn. They can create more problems.
Check out all the herbs in a formula. Remember, this is not like a herb tea, made by boiling the herb leaves, or sprinkled in your salad. These are herb extracts in much more potent amounts then found in nature.
See a Pharmacists Video on How to take Supplements Safely
Most people throw it away or stick it somewhere and don’t ever read it. Well, your doctor told you how to take it and the instructions on when to take it is on the bottle, so……..?
The literature that comes with each prescription is not only good to read because it gives you a better idea of what you are taking, BUT it also lists the possible side effects of what you are daily. putting into your body.
Why is it important? What if the side effect felt like something else? what if you thought it just something that happened to your all the time and you took your normal OTC medication to help it. You had a headache and so you took your pain killer. And then it got worse and you don’t know what to do. You never thought that the headache had anything to do with the drug you are taking. Did you read the possible side effects?
Okay, here is the worst case scenario that I know of. (I’m sure there are plenty more). I was working with a mother to help her teenage son to work on getting healthy. He had been put on psychiatric medications. It was hard to get off of them and the doctors were trying different medications to see if they could help him. In order to help him, the added a drug Abilify. He seemed to be okay. His mother called me often to just talk about what she could do to help him build health, like getting him off of sugar, etc. He had been on the new drug for a week or so. She started to tell me some of the things that were happening at that time and felt it was just more “mental problems”. However, I knew the possible side effects of Abilify. He had them all and from what I read this could be very dangerous. She called his doctor right away who immediately took him off of it.
Fortunately, i had read the various side effects and recognized what was actually happening to her son. If she had diligently read the literature for the side effects of the drugs he was taking, she would have recognized it earlier.
So, it is important to read the literature. And if you threw the literature away, you could always go to drugs.com. They post the literature.