As we age, it gets harder and harder to learn new tricks. Our ability to pickup and remember new informatlon starts slowing down as early as our twenties and continues to gradually decline over our lifetimes. "The slowing in memory tied to the biological deterioration of the nervous system." says Michael Pressley, PhD., professor of educational psychology and statistics at the State University of New York at Albany. "You function more slowly as you get older"
But your choice of foods and the nutrients they provide can make you feel years younger, intellectually speaking. Here are some foods researchers think just might help keep our brains in fine form well into old age.
Our brains contain a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine (it helps us remember stuff) which is made from choline (a B vitamin). Symptoms of a number of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy are caused by neurotransmitter unbalances involving a shortage of acetylcholine or the chemicals that work with it. Attempting to increase the acetylcholine in the brain of those with these diseases is a good idea. AddiNG choline to the diet as we grow older may also help to prevent these diseases.
Choline is available in various food sources, as a supplement by itself or as a part of a complete Vitamin B supplement. It is also a major component of lecithin which is easily available in a number of forms.
The top lecithin food sources are liver, egg yolks, and peanuts. Unfortunately, all of those foods also are high in fat and cholesterol, and they're the first foods that people cut out as they become more health-conscious. Lecithin also is plentiful in soybean products. By adding additional supplemental lecithin to the diet you can provide the body with more choline than it would normally receive naturally or in a supplementary B-complex pill or capsule.
In one study, 41 people ages 50 to 80 who ate 2 tablespoons (13.5 grams) of lecithin granules a day forgot fewer names and misplaced fewer things.
You can buy lecithin in granulated form and sprinkle it on cereal, suggests Steven Zeisel, M.D., Ph.D., chairman of the nutrition department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Boron, found in fruits, nuts, and vegetables, is not considered an essential nutrient, but researchers have found that it may help boost brainpower. One study found that people who ate 3.25 milligrams of the micronutrient a day—roughly 3/4 cup of peanuts—scored better on manual dexterity, eye-hand coordination, attention, memory, and perception tests than those who didn't.
It's true: Alcohol kills brain cells. Researchers studying corpses have found that brains of alcohol abusers weigh less than brains of nonalcoholics. Years of excessive drinking leaves brains with less white matter and cerebral cells. Only a couple of drinks a day over a period of years can reduce your intelligence and memory.
Brains need fuel to think. You might be able to skip breakfast and cruise through the morning, but you're in for a huge crash in the afternoon, `says Elizabeth Somer, R.D., author of Nutrition for Women and Food and Mood.
A study conducted at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, found that eating in midafternoon - whether its yogurt or a chocolate candy bar — increased students' memory and attention skills. Before you reach for that candy bar; though, you should know that students who ate the yogurt did even better than those who had the sugar snack.
Sugar gives you a quick boost, but it also dumps directly into your bloodstream. The sudden increase in blood sugar causes your body to produce insulin, which makes your blood sugar drop. The result: You get tired.
Instead of candy bars, eat fruit. It contains fructose, but that's a different kind of sugar. The body has to first break down fructose before it can burn it for energy. The sugar is released into the blood slowly, more evenly, and over a longer time, says James M. Rippe, M.D., associate professor of medicine and director of the Center for Clinical and Lifestyle Research at Tufts University Medical School in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.
Caffeine can be a mind-accelerating mood booster when taken in moderation at the right time, says Judith Wurtman, Ph.D., nutrition research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, in her book, Managing Your Mind and Mood through Food. "There is this tremendous genetic variability among people about how sensitive they are to caffeine," Dr. Rippe says. "They have to find out what amount of coffee fits with who they are genetically."
Hold your intake to no more than two 5-ounce cups of java a day. If you drink more, it's likely the coffee will actually make you more tired than alert in the long run, Somer says. And space it out. Your body is most sensitive to caffeine after it hasn't had it in a while, says Dr. Wurtman. To start your day in top mental form, she recommends drinking a cup of calfeinated coffee soon after getting up in the morning. A cup in midafternoon will also reawaken your brain and help power your mind for another 6 hours or so.
You might have heard that fish is brain food. And that's somewhat true. Some fish have nutrients that are good for your brain. Tuna has important B vitamins, which can help improve your cognitive skills and memory. And oysters and herring are packed with zinc, which also can help prevent memory loss.