Protect your memory with something you enjoy eating

The reviewed research first mapped out the precise brain location for age-related dysfunction using functional MRI.

The researchers then had 50-69 year old participants either consume a high or a low cocoa flavanol diet for 3 months(Brickman AM,et al. 2014).

The results showed that a high flavanol diet was found to enhance dentate gurus function, that is the function related to memory dysfunction, when measured with functional MRI and cognitive testing.

To increase your cocoa flavanol intake you can either eat some dark chocolate with a high flavanol content or drink some cocoa. Dark chocolate and cocoa are bitter; for that reason sugar is added of course, so be sure to watch your sugar levels with chocolate. The more bitter you can handle the better.

Brickman AM, Khan UA, Provenzano FA, Yeung LK, Suzuki W, Schroeter H, Wall M, Sloan RP, Small SA.
Enhancing dentate gyrus function with dietary flavanols improves cognition in older adults. Nat Neurosci. 2014 Dec;17(12):1798-803. doi: 10.1038/nn.3850. Epub 2014 Oct 26.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

See what pistachio nuts can do for you

If you want a quick healthy snack, then pistachio nuts would be a good choice.

The reviewed research had diabetic patients either assigned to a group receiving 25 g of pistachio nuts twice a day as a snack or a control meal without nuts(Parham M, et al. 2014).

After 12 weeks the participants had a washout period of 8 weeks before the groups were switched.

The results showed that eating pistachios decreased HbA1c (a long-term measure of glucose control) as well as fasting blood glucose. Eating the nuts also reduced systolic blood pressure, body mass index and CRP an inflammatory marker.

Nuts are a much better choice than so called nutrition bars if you want a snack.

Parham M¹, Heidari S², Khorramirad A², Hozoori M³, Hosseinzadeh F¹, Bakhtyari L⁴, Vafaeimanesh J¹.Effects of pistachio nut supplementation on blood glucose in patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomized crossover trial. Rev Diabet Stud. 2014 Summer;11(2):190-6. doi: 10.1900/RDS.2014.11.190. Epub 2014 Aug 10.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Easy way to reduce your risk for Alzheimer's disease

The reviewed research followed 1,658 adults who were free from dementia, cardiovascular disease and stroke for an average of 5.6 years (Littlejohns TJ, et al. 2014).

Vitamin D levels (25-hydroxy vitamin D) were measured from blood samples.

It was found that vitamin D deficiency is associated with a substantially increased risk for both dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

For most people 2000 IU daily of vitamin D 3 is enough to maintain a good level of vitamin D. That should be easy to manage, and if you also get out in the sun a little bit without sunscreen, you should be even better off.

Littlejohns TJ, Henley WE, Lang IA, Annweiler C, Beauchet O, Chaves PH, Fried L, Kestenbaum BR, Kuller LH, Langa KM, Lopez OL, Kos K, Soni M, Llewellyn DJ. Vitamin D and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer disease. Neurology. 2014 Sep 2;83(10):920-8. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000000755. Epub 2014 Aug 6.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Elevated levels of common lab test associated with increased risk for Alzheimer's

There is no single test available at the time to specifically diagnose Alzheimer's disease or to only show the risk for it. New research, however, indicates that a common test like fasting glucose may tell us something about the risk (Burns CM, et al. 2014).

When regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose in brain regions usually affected by Alzheimer disease was measured, a correlation with fasting glucose levels was found. Higher fasting glucose levels in cognitively normal, non diabetic adults were correlated with lower regional cerebral metabolic rate.

This means that higher fasting glucose levels may be associated with the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease and increase the risk for this disease.

What is the solution? A diet consisting of high nutrient, low glycemic index food, exercise and meditation for better handling of stress.

This type of lifestyle will also reduce the risk for all other chronic conditions as well.

Burns CM¹, Chen K, Kaszniak AW, Lee W, Alexander GE, Bandy D, Fleisher AS, Caselli RJ, Reiman EM.Higher serum glucose levels are associated with cerebral hypometabolism in Alzheimer regions. Neurology. 2013 Apr 23;80(17):1557-64. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e31828f17de. Epub 2013 Mar 27.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

An easy habit to reduce your risk for depression

This research was convincing because it involved 11,000 people who were followed for 50 years (Pinto Pereira SM, et al, 2014).

A sample of persons born in England, Scotland and Wales in a single week in March, 1958 were followed up to the age of 50 years. Depressive symptoms were measured and frequency of physical activity (times per week) were recorded at the age of 23, 33, 42 and 50 years.

It was concluded that physical activity may alleviate depressive symptoms.

Physical activity needs to be included in your lifestyle. It will make you feel better both physically and psychologically.

For those who don't like to exercise, the good news is that numerous studies has documented that you don't have to spend a lot of time exercising to receive a lot of benefits as long as you exercise at a high intensity.

Pinto Pereira SM¹, Geoffroy MC², Power C¹. Depressive Symptoms and Physical Activity During 3 Decades in Adult Life: Bidirectional Associations in a Prospective Cohort Study. JAMA Psychiatry. 2014 Oct 15. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2014.1240. [Epub ahead of print]

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

This is how you can quickly improve your memory performance

Did you know that exercise can improve your memory?

Maybe you have heard that before, but how long do you think it takes? Not very long depending on how you exercise.

You may not think of exercise as stress, but exercise is putting stress on your body, that's why it works. The body responds to the stress, and you will for example get stronger or improve your endurance depending on how you exercise.

Because exercise is stressful, you will also release stress hormones.

The reviewed research measured participants noradrenaline one of the hormones released when under stress, and showed the participants pictures they should try to remember (Weinberg L et al, 2014).

One group did resistance exercise with one leg after they were shown the pictures, while the control group sat and had the machine move their leg for them.

2 days later they were tested for recall of the pictures. The group that exercised remembered more of the pictures. Also interesting was that the ones that had the strongest response to the exercise, nor-epinephrine increased the most, also performed better on the memory test.

The researchers also found that emotional pictures were remembered better than neutral ones. This has also been documented in other studies.

This is even another example of the importance of the intensity you exercise with. The more intense it is, the less time you have to spend exercising. You will also stimulate more muscle growth, and more release of beneficial hormones, and it will even improve your memory.

Weinberg L, Hasni A, Shinohara M, Duarte A. A single bout of resistance exercise can enhance episodic memory performance. Acta Psychol (Amst). 2014 Sep 25;153C:13-19. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2014.06.011. [Epub ahead of print]

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

How dangerous is sitting?

It is important that the endothelium is healthy, which is the inner lining of the blood vessel wall, and it is also important to have good circulation through those blood vessels.

If these factors are compromised the risk for atherosclerosis (clogging of the arteries) will also increase, and you don't want that.

The reviewed research is interesting because it investigated a common reason for decline in circulation and what you can do to prevent it(Thosar SS et al. 2014).

The researchers measured flow mediated dilation (FMD) for the superficial femoral artery. When blood flows through a blood vessel, the vessel will dilate and FMD measures this.

FMD was measured after the participants had been sitting for 1 hour, 2 hours and 3 hours without getting up. The participants then walked on a treadmill for 5 minutes after they had been sitting for 30 minutes, 1.5 hour and 2.5 hours and the same FMD measurements were performed.

The FMD significantly declined after sitting for 1, 2 and 3 hours, but walking for 5 minutes every hour prevented the decline in FMD.

Just a simple thing like this can make a difference, and depending on the activity, you may not even have to be active for 5 minutes.

Thosar SS, Bielko SL, Mather KJ, Johnston JD, Wallace JP. Effect of Prolonged Sitting and Breaks in Sitting Time on Endothelial Function. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2014 Aug 18. [Epub ahead of print]

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.