Antioxidants
And Brain Health
Author: ©Dr. Paul Gross
Your
brain is your greatest asset but it is also your body’s
most vulnerable organ. It requires constant support from
other major organs and is your most susceptible organ to
oxidative stress during aging.
Here
are some brain facts:
1.
Your brain makes up only 2% of your total body weight but
requires 20% of your heart’s output of blood to sustain
the amount of oxygen that it needs.
2.
Your brain is the most oxygen-demanding organ in your body.
3.
Your brain uses chemicals (neurotransmitters) to relay important
messages to other parts of your body. These same chemicals
are also involved in chemical reactions that produce damaging
free radicals.
4.
If your brain cells become weak or die they cannot repair
themselves. Their functions then can be permanently lost
if cell death or damage occurs.
Given
these susceptibilities, your brain is especially vulnerable
to conditions that threaten oxygen supply, such as in head
injury, stroke, lung diseases and heart failure. Under these
conditions, brain activity will continue even without enough
oxygen. This can cause problems that lead to extreme levels
of oxidative stress and the over-production of damaging
free radicals.
In
diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, other
damaging factors are at work. In Alzheimer’s disease,
a toxic protein called beta-amyloid, forms in your brain
tissue. This protein acts as an irritant and causes inflammation
in your brain. This inflammation then causes the production
of free radicals that can destroy any membranes and cells
in their path.
Parkinson’s
disease results from unregulated production of the brain
chemical dopamine which, with the help of free radicals,
becomes toxic to the brain cells that control your motor
functions.
Even
in a healthy brain, oxygen radicals are produced every moment
during normal high-oxygen demand of neuronal activity. In
a healthy brain, enzymes and nutritional antioxidants neutralize
these radicals.
Benefits
of Dietary Antioxidants
What
safeguards can healthy people take to reduce risk of diseases
and especially to protect their brains from oxidative stress
over a lifetime?
The
simplest answer is to follow a diet that includes abundant
sources of antioxidant chemicals derived from plant foods.
Evidence for the benefits of such a dietary regimen has
only been demonstrated in experiments with animals up until
now, but the results are convincing. Over the past eight
years, the research activities of Dr. Jim Joseph of the
US Department of Agriculture, Boston, have focused on how
to protect the brain from oxidative stress with dietary
use of antioxidant-rich plants such as strawberries, cranberries,
elderberries, blueberries and spinach.
Dr.
Joseph’s research findings—a message closely pertinent
to this essay—can best be represented by a quote from
one of his research reports in 1998: “increased antioxidant
protection through diets comprised of fruits and vegetables
identified as being high in total antioxidant activity might
prevent or reverse the deleterious effects of oxidative
stress on neurons.”
Summary:
Oxidative stress is a major factor in brain aging. This
stress can be combated or balanced by including dietary
antioxidants into your daily life. The best way to do this
is by eating lots of colorful fruits and vegetables each
day.
Reading
*
Lau FC, Shukitt-Hale B, Joseph JA. The beneficial effects
of fruit polyphenols on brain aging. Neurobiol Aging. 2005
Dec;26 Suppl 1:128-32.
*
Joseph JA, Shukitt-Hale B, Denisova NA, Prior RL, Cao G,
Martin A, Taglialatela G, Bickford PC. Long-term dietary
strawberry, spinach, or vitamin E supplementation retards
the onset of age-related neuronal signal-transduction and
cognitive behavioral deficits.
J
Neurosci. 1998 Oct 1;18(19):8047-55.
*
Joseph JA, Nadeau DA, Underwood A. The Color Code. Hyperion,
New York, 2002.
Copyright
2006 Berry Health Inc.
| About
the Author: A scientist, author and expert on cardiovascular
and brain physiology, Dr. Paul Gross has done extensive
research on the brain, bones and antioxidants. Gross
is also founder of Berry Health Inc, a developer of
nutritional, berry-based supplements. For more information,
visit http://www.berrywiseonline.com |
