Eat, Drink and Be Brainy

More and more studies continue to appear to fit the brain uses some food and drinks. The best part is that some of them are food and drink that many of us enjoy. We all know that fruits and vegetables help our general health, but what other goodies help brain function and may be part of our brain fitness?

A new study in the Journal of Nutrition evaluated the cognitive performance of over 2,000, seventy to seventy-four years of age who regularly eat chocolate, drink tea, drink wine. Scientists have compared the performance of adults on the battery of cognitive tests at the same age adults who did not participate in any or all of these culinary delights.

study found that eating chocolate, drinking tea or wine drinking was associated with improved performance on tests of learning, memory, word association and other intellectual functions. What's more is that eating and drinking all three was better than one or two. Now let's get to some nitty-gritty.

Chocolate - How many and what kind of

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eat the chocolate better than those without eating chocolate, but do not go out and stuff your face too. First of all, used mainly limited to dark chocolate and a higher concentration of cocoa, the better. This is where the most beneficial flavonoids comes from in this particular treat. Regarding the amount of about 10g per day did the trick, which is about one third ounce for you non-metric types. Just a little square after dinner will do.

Tea time

tea drinkers are better than those who did not drink tea at all cognitive tests, as well. Researchers in this study were not able to separate the green tea than black tea drinkers. Both types of tea have about the same concentration of flavonoids anyway, but green tea was more strongly associated with cognitive performance in the past. This May be due to the fact that there are more of the specific ingredient called, catechins. However, most tea drinkers in this particular study population probably had been drinking black tea - so pick your poison, or in this case, your antidote

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Wine and Dine

of wine had the strongest effect on cognitive performance in this study. However, it was a relatively modest amount that had the biggest influence on the order of about half a cup a day. After that, it was not really any added benefit. The study does not include heavy drinkers to assess how much is too much. However, recent studies have shown about one fifty-nine glasses a day may be fine. White and red wines are not separated for this study were many previous studies have implicated more red wine in overall health. However, several studies have also implicated alcohol in moderation to improve cardiovascular tone, which probably translates into a neurovascular health (blood flow to the brain ).

a great reminder for all of this is that these older people are probably eating dark chocolate and drink tea and wine for a long time. It is unclear how long it takes to see a beneficial effect for any of these, but like most things, it is likely that the earlier the better, but it's never too late to start. Of course, these studies are also associative, which means that we can not say with certainty that chocolate, tea and wine lead to better cognitive performance, but those who use them seem to do better.

So this holiday season, curl up by the fire with a nice glass of wine, a cup of tea, hot chocolate or dark, and thinking about thinking about things more clearly.

References:
Journal of Nutrition (2009) 139:120-127