Food’s Effects on Brain Chemicals

Geek Alert

The brain’s communication chemicals, neurotransmitters, are effected by just about everything we do – what we eat, what we think, and what outside chemicals we introduce. The following is a pretty technical summary of what is happening to 4 very specific chemicals in your brain and how that brain chemistry can be influenced by diet. It is important to know that your actions have chemical consequences in your brain. Some of you might be interested in more details than that so take what you need from this piece.

There are 4 neurochemicals that directly affect how we think and how we feel and, in varying degrees, can be regulated through diet: serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and acetylcholine. Let’s take a closer look.

Acetylcholine plays a critical role in memory and learning and deficits have been linked to cognitive decline. Studies have shown that higher choline intake (the precursor for acetylcholine) can be associated with better cognitive functioning and reduced markers for dementia. Deficits in acetylcholine have been related to Alzheimer’s and other forms of progressive dementia. Some of the best sources for choline are egg yolks, liver, and wheat germ.

Dopamine and norepinephrine both help regulate information flow in the brain. How well you concentrate, how alert you are, how quickly you react to potentially dangerous situations, and overall processing pleasure and pain are all tied directly to levels of these 2 neurotransmitters. It is possible to boost how much your dopamine and norepinephrine your body produces through foods containing tyrosine (the building block for both neurotransmitters). Poultry, soy protein, avocados, bananas, low-fat dairy, lima bean, seaweed, and many seeds like sesame, chia, hemp, and pumpkin seeds all contain tyrosine. Even though the jury is still out on what diet alone can do, we do know that exercise in conjunction while avoiding certain foods that are heavy in refined, simple carbohydrates and fats can make a measureable difference.

Serotonin helps regulate things like learning, mood, sleep, and constriction of blood vessels. Deficiencies in serotonin can create problems in every day functioning and it is important to understand the role of food, not just prescription drugs and supplements, in regulating serotonin levels. Tryptophan, omega-3 fatty acids, complex carbohydrates and vitamin B6 all play vital roles in developing serotonin and keep healthy levels of this neurotransmitter. The key is getting the right balance of amino acids along with tryptophan. – tryptophan alone from raw foods does not seem to have a great enough impact on serotonin levels so make sure to focus on accompanying those foods with healthy amounts of complex carbohydrates found in grains and some fruits. There is no study or formula that outlines that “right” amount or ratio however you will find foods high in tryptophan, omega-3s, and vitamin B6 all over lists of brain healthy foods. It is that interaction that is important. According to the Livestrong Foundation (a great source for dietary information) the following foods contain tryptophan: red meat, milk, cottage cheese, string cheese, provolone cheese, Swiss cheese, yogurt, seeds, bananas, soybeans, tofu, soy products, tuna, clams, oysters, crabs, turkey, egg whites, spirulina, cheddar cheese, pork chops, lamb and potatoes.

Brain Food: Brain Health Through Diet

“In a perfect world, food should provide all the necessary nutrients to support optimal brain health.”  Turner, J. 2011, “Your Brain on Food:  A Nutrient-Rich Diet Can Protect Cognitive Health”, Journal of American Society on Aging, 35 (2), 99-106.

 In our not so perfect world, that statement presents a three pronged problem:

• How do we know what we need?
• How do we know what to eat to get what we need?
• What happens if we can’t get enough of what we need through food?

For the next few months, once a week we will look at food and the brain, addressing each of those issues.

PART I:   We Are All “Fat Heads”

The brain is made up of 60% fat…  and the coating that protects our nerve fibers (axons) that are a crucial part of the brain’s communication system,  is 70% fat!    Adequate intake of certain essential fatty acids for adults boosts memory and concentration, and is crucial for infants to support brain development.

So…. We need essential fatty acids — omega 3 DHA and EPA, and omega 6 — to maintain optimal brain health. The body does not make anywhere near the required amount on its own and we must get these essential fatty acids to think well.

Some common good sources of essential fatty acids are cold water fish (salmon, herring, tuna, and sardines).  Eggs are also a great source of DHA/EPA.   Vegetarians can incorporate plant-based DHA sources such as walnuts, flax seeds and cauliflower into their diets.  Omega 3 DHA/EPA, can also be found in seaweed and algae while omega 6 comes from chia, hemp, and flax seeds (and their oils) and walnuts.   You can also get omega 3s from fortified foods like milk, yogurt, and bread.

How about a nontraditional suggestion?   Let’s talk seaweed.   You can check out the types of seaweed and some uses on Oprah Winfrey’s site.   

Here is a recipe taken, word for word, photographs and all, from the George Mateljan Foundation for the World’s Healthiest Foods’ website.  This recipe uses dulse seaweed, commonly found in Asian grocery stores.   Check out this incredible site for more intensely healthy recipes!

Shiitake Mushroom Seaweed Soup

Try this delicious combination of seaweed and shiitake mushrooms to add an extra boost of minerals to your Healthiest Way of Eating. Enjoy!

Prep and Cook Time: 30 minutesIngredients: 6 whole dried medium shiitake mushrooms 6 cups warm water 4 medium-sized pieces wakame seaweed 1 medium onion, quartered and sliced thin 3 medium cloves garlic, chopped 2 TBS minced fresh ginger 2 TBS dry vegetable stock powder 2 TBS chopped dulse seaweed 2 TBS soy sauce 1 TBS rice vinegar 3 TBS minced scallion greens for garnish salt and white pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Rinse mushrooms and wakame and soak in 2 cups of warm water for about 10 minutes, or until soft. Save water.
2. Heat 1 TBS mushroom-seaweed water in medium-sized soup pot. Add onion andHealthy Sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes stirring frequently. Add garlic and ginger and continue to sauté for another minute.
3. When mushrooms and wakame are soft, slice the mushrooms thin and chop the seaweed. Cut out stems when slicing mushrooms and discard. Add to soup pot along with soaking water, and 4 more cups of water and dry vegetable stock. Bring to a boil on high heat.
4. Add dulse.
5. Once it returns to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes. Season with soy sauce, rice vinegar, salt, and pepper. Add minced scallion and serve.

Do you have any recipes that are high omega 3s or 6s?   Please share them here or on our Facebook page!

If you can’t get your omega fatty acids in food, it is really important to take a high quality supplement.   There tons of fish oil supplements on the market and for those who don’t or can’t eat fish, find a good algae concentrated supplement.  Ask at your local health food store or a health and wellness practitioner.

Next week, we will look at the B family of vitamins and how they contribute to both better cognitive functioning and greater brain volume.

Signs of Brain Injury: A Practical Look

Looking Beyond the Clinical – What You Might See With a Brain Injury

We often see brain injury, especially in cases where there are other related physical elements, referred to as a “silent” condition. Stroke, accidents, and combat are prime examples of those cases where brain events are not the first things detected nor are they the primary focus after the incident.

I read a piece this week in the Alzheimer’s Reading Room (an excellent practical blog that serves as a wonderful resource for caregivers, family members, and others living with someone with AD) that listed not just clinical symptoms of AD but also practical things to watch for – signs that someone around you might have some kind of cognitive disturbance. In other words, how to “see” a behavior as a signal or a warning sign!

Let’s look, this week, at some of the clinically stated symptoms of brain injury and put them in real life perspective. The following clinical symptoms are the ones that are not so easy to detect and are bits and pieces borrowed from the Mayo Clinic’s Traumatic Brain Injury page.

SYMPTOM: Sensory problems, such as blurred vision, ringing in the ears or a bad taste in the mouth
EXAMPLE:
• “What is that smell?” when there is nothing unusual.
• Favorite foods don’t taste good or are no quite right. You might hear “Did you try a different recipe?”.
• Children might have “crawly” feeling (skin sensations) or hear mosquitoes or bees.
• Limbs “fall asleep” more than usual and for not identifiable reason.
• Repeatedly cleaning glasses, moving closer to the TV, changing the position (closer and farther away) of reading material.
• Does not turn on the lights or sits in silence.

SYMPTOM: Change in ability to pay attention
EXAMPLE: The key word here is “CHANGE”.
• You have to repeat instructions more than usual and maybe things still don’t get done.
• Everything gets started (projects, tasks, chores, thoughts, games, puzzles, books, preparing dinner, laundry, etc.) but nothing is finished when that is normally not the case or at least to a lesser extent.
• Can’t sit still for personal normal periods of time.

SYMPTOM: Mood changes or mood swings
EXAMPLES:
• Unusual emotional outbursts or periods of long silence.
• A lack of patience (resulting in agitation) in situations that would not normally be a source of anxiety as seen in little things like waiting for toast to finish or clothes to finish drying.
• Not interested in favorite things or routine things. In children, this could be things like not interested in favorite toys or activities.
• Does not want to be around people.

The key to all of this is look for CHANGE! Keep a list and report all of this to the person or group managing care. They may be breadcrumbs that will help form better treatment but at the very least all of these things are indicators that help build the best plan for recovery.

What other practical, everyday signs and symptoms have you seen?

Mental Illness and Cognitive Functioning

Walking The Fine Line: Mental Illness and Cognitive Function

The country is talking about mental health these days and what needs to be done to support those with mental health conditions and their families.   This is a huge, national issue that reaches from the top of the food chain in the Federal government to schools to communities and deeply into families.

There are so many elements to this conversation.   There is, in the grand scheme of things, a very fine line separating mental status, cognitive functioning, disease, and mental illness.   The challenge is to figure out where we draw that line and not have any of the pieces of this heart wrenching puzzle lose meaning.   Many conditions associated with “disease” have elements that border on how the world sees mental illnesses, especially those that involve changes in the neurochemicals in the brain, have cognitive dysfunction components.

These days, aging and age related conditions are not necessarily considered mental illnesses. Think about it, not that long ago, people with dementia were simply considered crazy.  Mercifully, dementia of all kinds including those related to stroke, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and severe brain injury are now considered brain disease, not mental illness.  We have come a long way from the asylums of old on the brain disease front but not so far with how the medical community looks at mental illness.

In some severe mental illnesses, cognitive impairments are actual diagnostic criteria.  For example, cognitive impairments are now considered a core feature in schizophrenia and bi-polar – it is a given that people suffering from these conditions will have issues with working and episodic memory unrelated to their mental status.  Actually, on average those who suffer from schizophrenia drop 10 IQ points after the onset of the condition – that is a long term effect of the illness but a significant one.

Here is where it all gets sticky.   Look at some of the recognized symptoms of severe, clinical depression.   We know that sleep deprivation, not eating well, not exercising enough, and lack of motivation effect huge changes on thinking – especially problem solving and memory.   Clinicians need to not only treat the whole person but also need to look at how symptoms might create other problems.

The best line of defense in all cases is knowledge and access to good resources/professionals.  With that in mind we created a section on our website, www.craniumcrunches.com, that is packed with links to organizations, research, blogs, and professionals.   Please visit our Resources page to find out more.   If you see anything at all that we missed, please comment here or drop a note ruth@craniumcrunches.com.   We will find what you need!

Dementia is a Family Disease

Spotlight on Brain Related Diseases

I read a powerful article the other day about the real impact of brain diseases.   One statement made me absolutely rethink my approach to this series on conditions that change how people think in general, and those diseases that have dementia as an element in particular.    Dementia is family disease….

The point was, these conditions create a ripple effect through families, communities, and support groups.   Dementia is a family and a community disease and needs to be treated as such.   Supporting someone with dementia really means supporting his or her support system.    Explaining what is happening, what is going to happen, and how to cope needs to be a broader conversation and the ones who really need to “get it”, are not necessarily the ones with the diseases.   Everyone is affected and everyone feels the impact so everyone in the support system should have good information and a place to go to learn more.

As our population gets older, brain diseases that involve dementia are more and more common these days so it is all our responsibilities to educate ourselves and serve as a community of support.

The following are some links to places to start – stepping stones for information gathering.   We ask you to share your resources and together we can be the best, most educated and prepared support system we can for our families, our friends, and our communities.

HelpingGuide.org  – nonprofit resource center

Elderlink – a free referral service for dementia care

Alzheimer’s Society – an organization in the UK but there is some great caregiver information listed here

FamilyDoctor.org – resource for the whole family

Vascular Dementia: Spotlight on Brain Related Diseases

Dementia comes in several forms but one of the most common non-Alzheimer’s type is vascular dementia (VaD).    VaD is a progressive disease and is, in essence, a decline in intellectual abilities after a stroke.   Brain tissue is damaged as a result of reduced blood flow from either a blockage or a ruptured blood vessel during the event.   This cell death cuts off neural pathways that allow normal functioning.

This type of dementia is marked by confusion, impaired judgment, speech problems, balance, and decreased attention span, in addition to problems with activities of daily living.  Nearly 30% of all stroke victims suffer from some degree of vascular dementia – about 25% will have long lasting symptoms.

There is no cure for VaD but there are so many things to that can be done to maintain quality of life for those suffering.   The most important issues to address are safety and consistency.   By nature of the disease and its symptoms, VaD sufferers are often frightened and confused.   Providing a safe and stable environment lessons those stresses and makes life a bit better.   There is a good research in process right now looking at the effect of things like providing meaningful activities, music, hands-on projects, and even cognitive rehabilitation through games.  The bottom line is  none of the things will ever hurt and might just make a quality of life difference through enjoyment and mental stimulation.

The following lead to some great sources for up-to-date information.

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Center for Dementia Research

National Stroke Association

UCSF Aging and Memory Center