Braiiiiiiiiiiins!
No, this blog hasn’t been taken over by zombies (at least not yet). But I thought I’d call attention to two articles on recent studies, that hint at potential effects of diet and exercise on developing/aging brains.
The first concerns the effects that a diet high in junk/convenience foods may have on the cognitive development of very young children.
Diets high in fat, sugar and processed foods are lowering children’s IQ, a new study suggests. The report says that eating habits among three year olds shapes brain performance as they get older.
A predominantly processed-food diet at the age of three is directly associated with a lower IQ at the age of eight and a half, according to a Bristol-based study of thousands of British children.
The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children is tracking the long-term health and wellbeing of around 14,000 children.
…During the study, parents completed questionnaires detailing the types and frequency of the food and drink their children consumed when they were three, four, seven and eight-and-a-half years old.
Every one-point increase in the study’s dietary pattern score – a record of processed fat intake – was associated with a 1.67-point fall in IQ.
The brain grows at its fastest rate during the first three years of life.
“It is possible that good nutrition during this period may encourage optimal brain growth,” the report added.
And then there’s this report, concerning our “golden years”…
In healthy adults, the hippocampus — a part of the brain important to the formation of memories — begins to atrophy around 55 or 60. Now psychologists are suggesting that the hippocampus can be modestly expanded, and memory improved, by nothing more than regular walking.
In a study published on Jan. 31 in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers randomly assigned 120 healthy but sedentary men and women (average age mid-60s) to one of two exercise groups. One group walked around a track three times a week, building up to 40 minutes at a stretch; the other did a variety of less aerobic exercises, including yoga and resistance training with bands.
After a year, brain scans showed that among the walkers, the hippocampus had increased in volume by about 2 percent on average; in the others, it had declined by about 1.4 percent. Since such a decline is normal in older adults, “a 2 percent increase is fairly significant,” said the lead author, Kirk Erickson, a psychologist at the University of Pittsburgh.
Good habits at the beginning and end of life may make a difference to more than just waistlines.
Think I’ll go for a walk, now… 😉
February 8, 2011
Braiiiiiiiiiiins! – http://blog.ultimatefatburner.com/2011/0…
February 9, 2011
I didn’t realize that the brain was affected by sugars at such an early age. Just shows that diet is very important at any age.
I will surely agree that the effect of exercise on older people is significant. My parents, both in their 70’s, exercize 4 times a week. Not heavy but active. It seems to be keeping them both mentally sound.