How To Keep Your Brain In Shape
03 May 2003
Are there some days you believe you need a brain transplant? You’re getting those senior moments even though you’re only 40 years age? Or starting to worry that at 70 you’re forgetting things you shouldn’t forget? These days with so much talk about Alzheimer’s Disease it’s easy to assume you may be losing it. Fortunately most people who worry about this disease don’t have it. But today there are ways to keep the brain in better shape?
Here’s a story that shows you don’t have to be a neurologist to understand what’s happening to the brain. Rather, Dr. Robert Russell a gastroenterologist and Director of the Human Research Center at Tuft’s University, cured this woman with a single pill.
The patient, 70 years of age, had reached the point where she could not remember anything from one moment to the next. Her family was frantic that she was suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.
Dr. Russell discovered her problem was due to a particularly severe case of vitamin B-12 deficiency due to atrophy of the lining of the stomach which was not producing gastric acid.
It’s well known that as we age that the stomach’s lining becomes thinner resulting in a decreased production of acid. We also know that vitamin B 12 is firmly attached to a protein and to pry it lose so it can be absorbed there must be sufficient amounts of hydrochloric acid.
Dr. Russell admits this was an extreme case. But once she was placed on tablets of B 12 that don’t have to be separated by stomach acid her memory was largely restored.
It may be an unusual situation, but it does dramatically show how nutrition is vital to a normally functioning brain.
For instance, studies show that when people have higher levels of B vitamin folate they can remember the details of short stories better than those with lower levels of this vitamin. And they were able to copy geometric drawing better.
Another study revealed that those with high levels of vitamin B 6 were more adept at listening to a series of numbers and then repeating them backwards.
But how do these vitamins help the brain? There’s good evidence that high levels of cholesterol is not the only factor in clogging arteries. Rather, a substance, called homocysteine, can also occult arteries reducing the amount of oxygen to the brain.
There’s no doubt that genetics also plays a major role. And the old saying that, "You can’t be too careful who your parents are!" still holds true.
But there is a clear message here. We know that one person in five over 60 and two in five over 80 can’t absorb B 12 from food. So if you’re over 60 it’s prudent to take vitamin pill that contains B 12, B 6 and folic acid.
Vitamins are not the entire answer. Some people set the stage for a rusty brain by not using it. The brain like your muscles is a "use it or lose it" piece of machinery.
A study at Western Reserves School of Medicine showed that those involved in intellectual pursuits such as playing an instrument or working on crafts or puzzles were four times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease.
What about the ones whose main activity was to watch television? You guessed it. A greater chance of suffering from Alzheimer’s later in life. I don’t think there’s been anything devised that has contributed more to the dumbing down of North Americans. It’s amazing fewer people expand their minds by reading a newspaper.
Exercise helps this problem. We can all remember being interrupted by a telephone call, then wondering what in the devil we were doing before it. Researchers at the University of Illinois showed that regular exercise decreases this tendency possibly by increasing blood supply to the brain.
Get enough sleep. It’s hard to think straight if you’re tired and older people still need adequate sleep.
I often tell patients to put all their prescription drugs in a brown bag and bring them to me. Often the bag contains sedatives, drugs to fight depression or to help bladder control. And they can have an effect on memory.
