Keep Sharp by Sanjay Gupta

Keep Sharp by Sanjay Gupta

Author:Sanjay Gupta
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2021-01-05T00:00:00+00:00


WHAT’S GOOD FOR THE HEART IS GOOD FOR THE BRAIN

Over the course of my career, I’ve witnessed a sea change in how we view the relationship between diet and brain health. Once the science spoke and doctors listened, the mantra became, “What’s good for the heart is good for the brain.” That statement doesn’t paint the whole picture, but it’s not a bad place to start. Common conditions influenced by diet such as elevated blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes harm both cardiovascular and cognitive health. Because you are reading this book, you probably already know that, especially if you suffer from any of these conditions. But separately, and more precisely, we can also say that a heart-healthy diet is a brain-healthy diet.

Recent studies evaluating the incidence of dementia among large groups of people over several decades have found decreases in dementia occurring simultaneously with improvement in cardiovascular health. The 2017 AARP Brain Health and Nutrition survey, released in early 2018, also found that significantly more adults age fifty and over without heart disease rated their brain health/mental sharpness as “excellent” or “very good” compared to those with heart disease.8 The connection between the heart and brain goes far beyond the fact that the brain receives blood from the heart. It is important to remember, however, that the brain functions uniquely, and often separately from the rest of the body. There is even a barrier—the blood-brain barrier—that acts like a gated door: only certain molecules crucial to neural function are allowed into the brain from the blood. This is what makes the brain independent to some degree.

My search for more insights into diet and brain health specifically took me to neurologist Dr. Richard Isaacson, the director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell—a groundbreaking prevention clinic that’s on the cutting edge of medicine in the field of brain health. He is also the coauthor of The Alzheimer’s Prevention and Treatment Diet.9 Initially, the dean of the medical school thought Isaacson was crazy to establish a “prevention” clinic because Alzheimer’s disease had always been considered unpreventable. But times—and the thinking—have changed. Clinical trials are cropping up around the world now to study lifestyle interventions that have protective effects in people who are at an increased risk for cognitive decline and dementia. One, the Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability, or FINGER Study, led by Dr. Miia Kivipelto, also a founding governance member of the Global Council on Brain Health, was completed in 2014 and reported that a two-year combination therapy that targeted things like a healthy diet and exercise found that these strategies can indeed help preserve cognition. In the United States, the Alzheimer’s Association is heading the U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk (U.S. POINTER), which also involves a two-year clinical trial. And in New York, Dr. Isaacson is making his own splash in these previously uncharted waters.

The Cornell dean took a gamble on Dr. Isaacson, impressed by his



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