Junk Food and Dementia

 

There are all sorts of very good reasons for you to limit or, better yet, eliminate fast foods and highly processed foods from your diet. These include weight gain, increased risk for cancer, diabetes and heart disease, high blood pressure and many more benefits. Now a new study is adding yet another reason to the list. Ohio State University scientists report ultra processed foods actively harm memory function within older brains. 

The study is preliminary and more research is needed, but it raises a concern over the possible relationship between a diet high in processed foods and dementia. In the study, researchers fed a group of older rats a diet of highly processed food for four weeks and observed a strong inflammatory response and behavioral signs of memory loss. Importantly, younger rats fed the same highly processed diet did not experience similar memory declines.

The study used a specially crafted diet to re-create ready-to-eat human foods like potato chips, frozen foods, and deli meats containing preservatives. “The fact we’re seeing these effects so quickly is a little bit alarming,” says senior study author Ruth Barrientos, an investigator in Ohio State’s Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral health. “These findings indicate that consumption of a processed diet can produce significant and abrupt memory deficits and rapid memory decline has a greater likelihood of progressing into neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. By being aware of this, maybe we can limit processed foods in our diets and increase consumption of foods that are rich in the omega-3 fatty acid DHA to either prevent or slow that progression.”

If you need that last part decoded, it means eat more fish. If you can remember.

 

Four Fad Foods

 

A fad is defined as "a practice or interest followed for a time with exaggerated zeal." Nowhere is this more prevalent than at the grocery store. Once the Marketing Department gets hold of some new nutrition news, no matter how speculative or flimsily supported, you can bet a new superfood will shortly follow. Some of these die a mercifully quick death like gelato or frappucino. They are both still around but have lost their fad status. Others seem like they will never go away. Every year it seems there's a new "it" food. Suddenly, every restaurant is serving up the latest craze -- foams, sundried tomatos , kiwi cocktails. But soon the fad fades, and the "flavor of the week" settles into obscurity, or at the very least, the below-eye-level grocery shelves.

Some of these foods have promising research behind them - in fact the promising research is why they are heavily promoted. Others have little behind them other than skilled marketing. Here are four recent fad foods and the reality behind them from nutrition expert Janet Bond Brill, PhD (http://DrJanet.com).

Sriracha. Sriracha is a southeast Asian chili sauce made from chili peppers, vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt. It tends to be pretty high on the hotness scale. There is some evidence that the capsaisin in the chilis (in any chilis for that matter) has a small but positive effect on metabolism and may help with weight loss. On the downside, the high sugar and sodium content disqualify it as a healthy food. Use it sparingly as a condiment.

Oat milk. The popularity of oat milk is due largely to the clever marketing of a Swedish company named Oatly. Because it has a thick, creamy consistency it will froth up better than any other plant-based milk product. By marketing it to coffee shops, Oatly created a loyal following for what is otherwise a ho-hum product. It has much less protein than, say, soy milk, and most commercial oat milks are heavy laden with sugar and poor quality oils. If you like it, read the label and choose the one with the fewest additives.

Bone broth. This is a broth made by brewing the connective tissue and bones of animals such as cattle or poultry. It is low in calories and fairly high in protein. There is some evidence that bone broth can help with joint issues and digestive problems and it is a good source of collagen. There are recipes for it all over the internet, so make your own to avoid the additives.

Acai berries. These berries are a rich source of antioxidants and definitely a healthy fruit. Whether they do a better job of fighting disease and helping with weight control than other berries, as their proponents claim, has not been proven. But they are well marketed, and so very expensive.

 

Losing Weight is the Easy Part

 

On any given day about 45 million Americans are "on a diet", mostly in order to lose weight. And each year they spend almost $80 Billion on diets, diet plans, programs and memberships. And most of them end up either being diet nomads - wandering from one diet to the next - or just giving up. Do diets really work? Yes. And no.

“People can lose weight on a diet, but usually that weight loss is not sustained,” says Megan Baumler, director of the didactic program in dietetics at St. Catherine University. On average, people regain more than half their lost weight within two years. Within 5 years almost 95% of dieters regain all their lost weight and often more.

But when people say "Diets don't work" they are not technically correct. A more accurate judgement would be to say that 95% of "diets" are ones that people can't or won't stick with. There are hundreds of diet plans –- ketogenic, Atkins, Whole 30, Weight Watchers, low-carb, just to name a few –- and studies have shown they can help people lose weight and lower blood pressure in the short-term. It’s the long-term where people have a hard time keeping the weight off. Keeping the lost weight off requires long term changes to a persons lifestyle and eating behavior and most diets do not succeed in the long term.

Dr. Iesha Galloway-Gilliam, co-director of Hennepin Healthcare’s Comprehensive Weight Management Center says that managing weight is a lifelong process. She points to four categories to think about when it comes to sustainable weight loss:

Nutrition. People should minimize eating ultra-refined processed foods and reduce sugar their intake.

Exercise. While exercise is helpful, it’s not the most potent factor. She says people should exercise because of the health benefits, but have an expectation that is appropriate for their age, health and life situation..

Sleep. Adults need seven to eight hours of restorative sleep. Getting less will make overeating easier.

Stress. Managing stress can better help people change their behaviors like emotional eating.

What this means is that you should think of a "diet" as a noun, not a verb. Your diet is simply the way you eat. Permanently. So the first step towards permanent healthy weight loss is to lose the diet and the diet mindset. Instead think about a Healthy Eating Plan that you can live with and enjoy for the rest of your life. The best answer to permanent weight loss is a lifelong program of everyday healthy, pleasurable eating coupled with regular exercise. To lose weight, eat less and exercise more. How boring. How annoying. How true.

 

The Basic Weight Loss Basics

 

Americans alone spent over $78 Billion in 2019 on diets, supplements, programs and plans claiming to help them lose weight. And yet the average weight of Americans keeps going up. In fact there is no magical, one-size-fits-all solution to the problem of getting rid of excess weight. Losing weight can be challenging for many people, but there is nothing complicated about it.

There are three basic biological realities we must consider if we wish to lose weight.

1. You have to consume fewer calories than you burn through metabolism and activity. That is, you need to eat less, move more or, ideally, both.

2. Foods that take a longer time and consume more energy to digest will make you feel fuller after eating them, hopefully making the "eating less" part easier.

3. Caloric availability refers to the percentage of usable calories that our body obtains by digesting a food.

Foods that take longer to digest and have a lower caloric availability are therefor your allies in the weight loss war. The two types of food that take the longest to digest and have the lowest caloric availability? Fiber and protein.

Fiber is a type of plant-based carbohydrate that is difficult or even impossible for humans to digest. Consuming fiber slows down the rate of digestion and reduces the number of calories actually absorbed.

Protein is, chemically, the most complex of all macronutrients. It requires a lot of time to break down and digest and has a caloric availability of around 70% - meaning that for every 100 calories of protein you consume, you have only 70 for energy. By way of comparison, the caloric availability of fats and carbohydrates is 98% and 90% - 95%, respectively.

So keep it simple. When trying to lose weight make protein about 20% of your total daily calories and try to include as much fiber as possible from fruits, vegetables and whole grains. That is the simple foundation for effective weight loss. If the structure and support that a particular diet or program provides is helpful to you fine, go for it. Just make sure it is something you can sustain over the long term. Otherwise any weight you do lose will surely find you again.

Managing Chronic Inflammation

 

Cellular inflammation comes in two versions - acute and chronic. Inflammation is an important aspect of your immune system. The inflammation response that attends an injury, infection or virus is your immune system's first line of defense. This sort of inflammation is called acute and is short-lived and temporary. Common signs of acute inflammation include fever, pain, redness and swelling.

Chronic inflammation is much more severe and can last for months, or even years. With chronic inflammation, the body’s immune response is overcompensating for  stress, illness or lifestyle factors like smoking or obesity. Over time, chronic inflammation can damage healthy tissue, organs and cells and lead to a number of serious chronic diseases including Alzheimer's, cancer and heart disease. If you suffer from a condition with a name ending in -itis (arthritis, tendonitis, gingivitis, colitis, etc.) then chronic inflammation is likely at the root of it. Because chronic inflammation initially produces few noticeable symptoms, it often goes undiagnosed until it reaches a more severe stage.

"The only way to detect chronic inflammation is to have an evaluation by your doctor. He or she will review your symptoms, perform a physical exam, and perhaps check your blood for signs of inflammation," says Dr. Robert H. Shmerling, medical editor of Understanding Inflammation from Harvard Health Publishing and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "Otherwise, the best approach is to prevent the conditions related to chronic inflammation. It goes back to the basics: maintaining a healthy weight, choosing a good diet, getting plenty of sleep, and exercising regularly."

Fortunately, there is a great deal you can do to prevent, control or even reverse chronic inflammation and much of it will sound familiar. Diet and exercise have an especially strong impact on managing chronic inflammation since they both also can help control weight and improve sleep. The evidence for a specific type of diet to prevent chronic inflammation is unclear.

However, certain foods are associated with either promoting or inhibiting the inflammatory response. For instance, cut back or eliminate foods high in simple sugars like soda, fruit juices with added sugars, sports drinks, processed meat, and refined carbs like white bread and pasta. Eat more foods high in the antioxidants, which can lower inflammation. Examples include all types of berries, cherries, plums, red grapes, onions, turmeric, green tea, and dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale.

Regular exercise can help protect against conditions linked with chronic inflammation, especially heart disease and obesity. A 2017 study in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity found that just 20 minutes of moderate-intensity walking  each day can have an anti-inflammatory effect.

Finally, make sure that you are getting 7 - 8 hours of restful sleep every night and that you are actively managing the inevitable stress in your life. 

If all this sounds amazingly similar to the advice you get for many other health issues, that's because it is. Managing chronic inflammation is just one more good reason to take it.

 

Sweet Surprise

 

Most of us realize that added sugar is not good for us. Besides providing lots of nutrition-free calories, it supports the cellular inflammation that is at the root of many serious health problems like diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancers. But avoiding it is anything but simple. Until recently, the amount of sugar added to our food did not even have to be disclosed to us on food labels.

First, we must distinguish between sugar that occurs naturally in food and sugar that is added to it.  Fruits and dairy contain fructose and lactose, natural sugars that are digested much slower than added sugar and keep your metabolism stable over time. Natural sugars are processed more slowly, meaning your blood glucose level stays elevated for a longer period.

Added sugars are typically sucrose or highly processed and concentrated fructose. You body processes them quickly, either immediately used for energy or sent directly to the liver for fat storage. Your blood glucose level drops quickly after eating added sugars, known as a sugar crash, that leaves you hungry, irritable, and usually craving another pickup. When this happens, you may not be able to make smart choices about what and how much to eat which could contribute to weight gain.

We all know that sodas, deserts, snack foods and candy are loaded with added sugar. But many foods that we typically think of as healthy and good for us are sugar bombs as well. Here are a dozen such foods to get you thinking.

Food                                  Serving Size                             Added Sugar (tsp)

Orange Juice                                8 oz                                                    10
Bottled Tea                                 16 oz                                                   9.5
Fruit-flavored Yogurt                   5 oz                                                   7.25
Sports/Energy Drinks                16 oz                                                     7
Baked Beans                               1 cup                                                 3.75
Salad Dressing                           2 tbsp                                                 3.5
Tomato/Spaghetti Sauce           1/2 cup                                                  3
Instant Oatmeal                       1 packet                                                 3
Raisin Bran Cereal                     1 cup                                                  2.25
Non-dairy Milks                         1 cup                                                  2.25
Ketchup                                     2 tbsp                                                    2
Whole Wheat Bread                  1 slice                                                    1

To put this in some perspective, the Recommended Daily Allowance for added sugar is 9 tsp for men and 6 tsp for woman. Your only defense it to become a label reader and packaging claim ignorer.

Seniors Need More (Protein)

 

A 2019 study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded that nearly half of older adults are consuming less protein than the National Academy of Medicine recommends. And that recommendation may be too low for them to begin with. The Recommended Daily Allowance for protein is 0.36g per pound of body weight. That would be about 65g for a person who weighs 180 pounds. But older adults consuming that much may still be falling short of what they need, and most are not getting that much anyway. There are a number of reasons for this.

As we age, our bodies simply process protein less efficiently, so we may need more to get the same benefit. Another factor is chronic cellular inflammation, which many older people suffer from, or chronic diseases, which raise protein requirements. Some medications can also increase your protein needs. Nearly 90% of adults over age 65 are taking at least one prescription medication, and more than half are taking at least four. Finally, many seniors simply do not eat as much as they used to, or as well.

Due to all of these factors, current research supports increasing the RDA of protein for seniors from 0.36 to 0.50 grams per pound of body weight. If you exercise regularly (and you should be) 0.55g per pound would be better. That means our 180 pound senior who is meeting the current guideline is falling 25g to 35g short each day. If you suffer from chronic illness such as diabetes, coronary disease or autoimmune diseases the RDA increases to 0.68 grams per pound - nearly 90% more than the current RDA.

Meat, poultry, seafood and dairy are all excellent sources of protein, and plant sources such as beans, nuts and whole grains also contain significant amounts. Animal sources are "complete" proteins - meaning that they supply all nine of the essential amino acids that the body must obtain through food. With a few exceptions (soy, quinoa) plant sources are not complete so you need to consume a variety of different foods to get all nine.

What about supplementing your protein intake with protein-based drinks and powders? It is always best to meet your dietary needs by eating whole foods but these supplements can be very helpful in closing the gap between what you get from your diet and what your body requires. These come from plant sources however so they are usually not "complete". They may also contain additives for flavor and preservation as well as a lot of added sugar. So read the ingredient list and choose wisely.