The seven worst foods for your brain

Proven content

If we want to work effectively, we must remember that we have a Hummer in our head. Our brain, which accounts for 2 percent. body weight, burns up to 20 percent. energy! He likes vegetables, whole grains and nuts. Unfortunately, we feed our “luxury organ” much more often with something completely different …

1. Sweetened drinks, refined carbohydrates, alcohol – our brain doesn’t like being fed with just anything
2. Scientists: Children who eat fast food during breaks cope by an average of 20 percent. worse with reading, math and other science
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4. You can find more up-to-date information on the TvoiLokony home page

Sweetened drinks

Cola, lemonade, flavored water, i.e. lumps of liquid sugar, increase the risk of obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Why then are they dangerous to our brain? Firstly, it has been proven that compared to healthy people, diabetics have 65 percent higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Second, an American study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia in 2017 showed that there is a link between excessive consumption of sugary drinks, reduction in brain volume (atrophy) and the size responsible for memory – the hippocampus. Fans of “liquid calories” had more problems with learning and were able to recall from memory by an average of 6 percent. less content that scientists gave them.

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Refined carbohydrates

Your brain needs energy from sugars to function properly. However, the best results are achieved by an uninterrupted stream of complex carbohydrates, rather than dropping the “sugar bomb” in the form of bun or honey-drenched corn flakes.

After this “supercharging”, blood sugar rises sharply and then drops, resulting in fatigue, lack of concentration and cognitive decline. In practice, you learn slower and remember less. If you want your brain to be razor-sharp, pay attention to the glycemic index (GI), and for breakfast, reach for a slice of wholemeal avocado, an omelette with spinach or fashionable shakshouka.

Junk food

Hot dog, casserole, French croissant? This is more or less the recipe for your child’s lower academic achievement. This is indicated by the results of a research project of scientists from Ohio State University published in the pages of “Clinical Pediatrics” in 2014. Children who eat fast food during breaks cope with an average of 20%. worse with reading, math and other science.

According to the researchers, this is the effect of foods that contain trans fats, salt and sugar and are devoid of nutritional value. Considering that you think what you eat … without B vitamins (especially B4, B3), essential fatty acids (EFAs), iron, zinc, magnesium and phosphorus, your neurons will conduct nerve impulses poorly, the secretion of neurotransmitters will be slower, and the learning speed will drop.

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Trans fats

Hardened vegetable oils are not only harmful to our heart, but also to our brain. Firstly, they negatively affect our mood and increase the risk of depression, and secondly, they worsen concentration and memory.

Research by Dr. Beatrice A. Golomb from the University of California in San Diego showed that men who follow the “student diet” of fast food, powdered soups and crackers perform worse on memory tests. For every extra gram of trans fat per day, that recalled about 0,76 words less. Compared to adults who consume the least trans fat, it is over 10 percent. decrease.

aspartame

The ubiquitous favorite of people on a diet, found in 9000 products around the world. It sweetens not only Zero Cola, but also chewing gums, sugar-free candies, throat pills and energy. In our body, it is broken down into aspartic acid, phenylalanine and toxic methanol. Although it is one of the best-studied substances, it raises a lot of controversy.

He has long been suspected of causing the “Chinese restaurant syndrome” of headaches, numbness, muscle spasms and nausea. Research suggests that consuming aspartame, both in lower and higher doses, increases levels of oxidative stress and inflammation in brain cells. It is most harmful to children, pregnant women and the elderly. When taken during pregnancy, it accumulates in very high concentrations in the placenta and brain of an unborn baby and may increase the risk of mental disorders.

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Alcohol

Difficulty walking, blurry vision, slurred speech, slower reaction time, broken movie? This is just the beginning. Alcohol not only interferes with the work of neurotransmitters that play a large role in controlling mood, perception and behavior, but it also affects our brain in the long term. Previous studies have shown that drinking reduces the volume of the brain, negatively affects memory and, contrary to what we think, it shortens and worsens the quality of sleep.

Worse, as the researchers in The Lancet Public Health argue, it is the most important, modifiable, factor influencing the development of dementia, especially with an early onset. The percentages more than tripled the risk of its development in women and men. The most important effects of drinking alcohol in pregnancy are miscarriage or premature birth, low birth weight, brain damage (in each trimester), ADHD syndrome, growth retardation, heart defects, kidney defects, vision and hearing problems, and alcohol syndrome fetal tissue (FAS).

Fish contaminated with mercury

You must have heard more than once that tuna should not be eaten … However, not only it accumulates heavy metals, but also shark, swordfish, pike, monkfish and eel are risky. The rule is simple: the larger the fish, the longer it lives and the higher it is in the food chain, the more methylmercury, a highly toxic compound, accumulates in it.

Methylmercury readily crosses the blood-brain and blood-placenta barrier, and also passes into breast milk, exposing the newborn to hypoxia, which can damage the nervous system. In adults, methylmercury causes cell loss in specific areas, most often in the cerebellum and visual cortex of the brain. Long-term poisoning leads to loss of coordination, visual field narrowing, hearing loss and speech disorders. In turn, the symptoms in infants are similar to those found in cerebral palsy.

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