Building a Better Brain

I once asked my good friend, nutritionist Robert Crayhon, what he would do if he could wave a magic wand and make one single change in the American diet. He didn't miss a beat. "I'd put every pregnant woman in the country on fish oil" he said.

The human brain is about 60% fat by weight, most of it a particular kind of omega-3 fat called DHA (docahexanoic acid). Virtually every study that's looked at behavioral or cognition problems from ADHD to delinquency to aggression has found extremely low levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the population studied. (There was even a study of murderers in prison that found the same thing.) This does not mean- let me underline- that taking omega-3's is a cure for ADHD, nor that taking them will prevent homicide. But it's a curious connection that seems to hold up in study after study. Your baby's brain- and yours- thrives on omega-3's. They're incorporated into the cell membrane, making it easier for information (like neurotransmitters) to get in and out- one reason why they're being studied at Harvard (by Andrew Stoll, MD, among others) for their potential to improve mood and lift depression.


Fernando Gomez-Pinialla, "a fish-loving professor of neurosurgery and physiological science at the University of California, Los Angeles" believes strongly that changes in our diet can enhance our cognitive abilities. He just completed a review published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience that looked at over 160 studies on food and the brain. He believes- as do many of us- that some foods are so potent in their effects that the mental health of entire countries may be linked to them.

Dr. Gomez-Pinilla reviewed studies that showed the benefits of omega-3's (fish oil) included improved learning, memory, resistance to depression and bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dementia, ADHD and dyslexia.

But, as the Economist points out in a recent article, omega-3 is just the tip of the nutritional iceberg.

Take folic acid. Last year, the prestigious medical journal Lancet published research showing that folic-acid supplements can help those between 50-70 years old ward off cognitive decline. The research found that people taking folic acid supplements did better on measures of memory and verbal fluency, and processed information faster. There's also evidence that folate deficiency is associated with clinical depression.

Then there are the category of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals known as antioxidants. Despite a pretty regular thumping in the anti-supplement mainstream press, these compounds protect against all sorts of damage to your cells and DNA. Dr. Gomez-Pinilla points out that the brain in particular is highly susceptible to "oxidative damage" (the kind that anti-oxidants protect against), largely because the brain consumes a ton of energy and the metabolic reactions that release this energy also generate oxidating chemicals.

One reason that gingko biloba is such a good supplement is that it is a powerful antioxidant that seems to work preferentially in the brain.

Then there's the brain building properties of foods like blueberries. I've put blueberries on every list of "superfoods" that I've ever written about. Like many foods, blueberries contain a huge number of plant compounds, not all of which have been evaluated. But one group of these compounds that has been identified is the polyphenols which have been shown to reduce oxidative damage in animals. Substances in blueberries boost the ability to learn and retain memories, something demonstrated in the lab of James Joseph, who likened the effect of blueberries on rats to finding "the rat fountain of youth".

There's also super-nutrients like acetyl-l-carnitine, GPC (glyceroPhosphoCholine) and Phosphatidyl Serine, not to mention alpha-lipoic-acid. I take these on a daily basis and my reading of the research has led me to the conclusion that it's a prudent strategy for increasing the odds that my brain won't turn to mush as I turn 60. Oh wait a minute- that already happened. A couple of years ago. OK, how about 70? Or 100?

You may not be able to prevent natural disasters, catastrophes, unforeseen head traumas, or even the effect of a really, really bad hand of the genetic cards- but eating the foods that continue to show up in the diets of the longest lived people with all their marbles intact- and taking the supplements that have the most brain-protecting promise- seems like an awfully smart strategy to me.

After all, I can't prevent some idiot with a blood alcohol level off the charts from driving on the freeway next to me- but that doesn't stop me from wearing my seatbelt.

As my grandmother used to say: "Couldn't hurt!"