A new study finds that eating a serving of leafy greens a day could help protect against age-related memory loss and decline. What are the other things said to be able to prevent cognitive decline?
Leafy Greens For Memory
A new research found that a serving of leafy greens per day could help slow down the process of cognitive decline related to aging. What's more, the participants of the study who ate mostly leafy greens were found to have a memory age of about 11 years younger than those who ate the least.
Researchers broke the 960 participants to five quintiles from those who ate the lowest portion of leafy greens (0.07 portions) to those who are the most (1.14). Researchers found that eating approximately one serving of leafy greens a day indicates slower memory loss related to aging, perhaps due to the effects of beta-carotene, lutein, phylloquinone, and folate in the brain.
The study was published in the journal Neurology.
Preventing Cognitive Decline
Just last September, the American Heart Association released an advisory of the seven things that people can do to keep the brain healthy as people age. In it, they state that people should not wait for symptoms of dementia or heart disease to present themselves before taking action.
As such, they presented "Life's Simple 7," which are the things that people can do or take note of as they age in order to delay or avoid dementia. These are regular physical activity, healthy diet, non-smoking, keeping a healthy body mass index (BMI), and maintaining healthy levels of blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure.
These aren't exactly new messages, but the combination of activities could help people maintain healthy lifestyles and perhaps even keep dementia and cognitive decline at bay. In fact, even socializing and engaging in brain games have been seen to be beneficial to memory and cognitive health while cannabis use has been linked to the reversal of cognitive decline.
Does It Really Work?
The current research adds to the list of studies which point to healthy diet as an effective preventative measure for memory loss and cognitive decline. As it stands, with the mounting body of research that points to effective memory and cognition protectors in relation to age-related diseases such as dementia, there are also those that state otherwise.
For instance, just last Dec. 19, a research was published, stating that none of the currently known preventative measures can actually help prevent dementia. Still, perhaps there is no harm in keeping the body healthy as people age, especially since even researchers are continuous in their studies about age-related diseases.
