Good and Bad Food for the Brain

Foods that Destroy the Brain

Omega-6 fatty acids: This includes soy oil, corn oil, canola oil, and cottonseed oil, which are known to “create inflammation in your nervous system.”

Sugar: When your nervous system receives excessive sugar, it causes issues with insulin, which controls glucose absorption. This insulin can increase, and then you potentially develop the protective mechanism called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance means “there is less connection between that fuel to the neuron,” whereby you end up depriving the neurons of fuel. This has been known to be one of the causes of dementia.

It’s been made apparent from my research that omega-6 fatty acids, sugar, and refined carbs all contribute to and create insulin resistance. Insulin resistance “starves the nerve cells of their fuel, which results in the death of the neuron.” This is important to comprehend to ensure we are keeping our cognitive function in immaculate condition (02/2023, Dr. Berg, “11 Bad Habits That Damage Your Brain”).

Best Food for Brain

Wild-Caught Salmon

Salmon is the best option for omega-3 fatty acids, though sardines and mackerel are also great. The brain is “60% fat, and 20% of it is made up of DHA, the omega-3 acid, which builds the structure of your brain.” Salmon is very rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which means it provides you with the “building blocks” for your brain due to how it needs this fat.

Cholesterol is vital for the membranes of your brain. “Wild-caught salmon is very fatty, it’s rich in cholesterol, rich in omega 3, helps inflammation, as well as correcting insulin resistance.” Furthermore, it can improve your mood, which is why fish oils are often taken as a supplement for mood enhancement (29/08/2023, Dr. Berg, “The №1 Best Food for Your Brain”).

With regard to the pigment: If it’s wild-caught, there are excellent health benefits associated with the pigments from salmon. However, if it’s not wild-caught, it’s farm-raised, and they have to use certain dyes to turn it from grey to pink. This is why you need to ensure you are only consuming salmon that is wild-caught and not classified as farmed fish, which is a topic for another discussion and is not a healthy type of salmon to consume. The pink pigment is astaxanthin, which acts as an antioxidant against “free radicals” and is known to “treat cancer.” Further, it helps to “smooth wrinkles” and to “maintain the skin’s moisture,” making it excellent for your skin (2018, Healthline, “7 Potential Benefits of Astaxanthin”).

To dive deeper into the reasoning behind the prominence of these fatty acids, the neurons in our brain and other cells come from fat. This is because nerve cells and other cells in the brain have a “double-layered membrane,” which is, fundamentally, “two thin layers that serve as a boundary between those cells,” and that boundary is paramount because the way things pass across that boundary regulates the electrical activity of neurons.

“Fats are what make up these membranes, known as structural fat, which must be maintained,” meaning the health of those neurons is going to come significantly from what we eat.

Many people fail to receive sufficient omega-3s in their diet to support healthy brain function. Hence, there is monumental value in raising the omega-3s in one’s diet in order to offset depression and enhance mood.

You can supplement EPA through fish oils, though eating fish is the most effective option, like mackerel, salmon, sardines, and anchovies. They can also be found in plant-based foods such as soybeans and chia seeds. Essentially, “consuming above 1.5g ideally 2 or even 3 grams of EPA” is what one needs to aim for optimal cognitive function (2022, A. Huberman, “Nutrients For Brain Health & Performance,” Huberman Lab Podcast #42).

Types of Food that Can Affect Our Brain

Low-fat, low-cholesterol diet: “60% of your brain is fat. It makes up 2% of your weight yet utilises 20% of your energy, making it the fattiest organ in our bodies.” Fat is hence necessary to facilitate our cognition. It’s important to note while we are on this subject that there are things that can lower our fats or cholesterol, including “statin drugs can greatly put us at risk of dementia and depression.” Hence, medications in modern society are causing issues, which is why eating healthily alongside avoiding poisons such as alcohol from an early stage is paramount to avoid the need to take medications at all later on in life. Moreover, bile salts are created using cholesterol which allows for the absorption of “vitamins A, D, E and K” to benefit your brain.

High-sugar foods: Will eventually create insulin resistance which will cause starvation of the neurons. You have high glucose and high insulin, but the resistance “does not allow the insulin or glucose to feed the neurons.” They starve and can start having neural degenerative problems which can bring about Alzheimer’s (02/2023, Dr. Berg, “11 Bad Habits That Damage Your Brain”).

High Insulin Resistance: Under normal circumstances, insulin functions by first having your body break down the food you eat into glucose, which is your body’s main source of energy. Glucose enters your bloodstream, which signals your pancreas to release insulin. “Insulin helps glucose in your blood enter your muscle, fat, and liver cells so they can use it for energy or store it for later use.” When glucose enters your cells and the levels in your bloodstream decrease, it tells your pancreas to “stop the production of insulin.”

Insulin resistance is when your muscle, fat, and liver cells respond in the “wrong way to insulin,” which means they “can’t efficiently take up glucose from your blood or store it.” Subsequently, your pancreas “makes more insulin to try to overcome your increasing blood glucose levels.”

If your pancreas can produce sufficient insulin to overcome your cells’ weak response to insulin, your blood sugar levels will remain at an adequate level. If your cells become too resistant to insulin, however, it leads to raised blood glucose levels. This is known to “turn into prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes” (Cleveland Clinic, “Insulin Resistance”).

Consuming Grain-Fed Animal Products Instead of Grass-Fed Animal Products

The omega-6 fatty acids in grain-fed animal products are greatly higher than in grass-fed. “Eight times the omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids are found in grain-fed,” hence people who are heavy consumers of these types of poor-quality meats are negatively affecting their cognition without realizing it, based on the previous knowledge we have obtained concerning omega-3s and omega-6s.

It’s important to take the ratios into account when we are trying to get more omega-3 fatty acids into the brain. It’s important to note that we are competing with omega-3 and omega-6, which means even if consuming sufficient omega-3, if omega-6 is too high, it’s not going to leave a positive impact as well (02/2023, Dr. Berg, “11 Bad Habits That Damage Your Brain”).

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Published by maxm7878

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