Is Your Brain Getting Better With Age?

Contrary to popular myth and also what some of my younger friends have opined, most of us don’t lose a lot of brain cells as we get older.

There isn't that much difference between a healthy 75-year old brain and a 25-year old one. Severe mental decline is usually caused by disease, whereas most age-related losses in memory simply result from physical and mental inactivity and poor nutrition. Unfortunately most of us give more attention to maintaining our automobile than we do our brains.

New research indicates that neural connections continue to grow throughout life if properly exercised and given the right lubrication. The fats and oils we consume can enhance or slow down the efficiency of our brains.

The brain is made up of tree-shaped cells, each with "branches" on one end of a trunk and "roots" at the other. When the branches receive a message from another cell they send it along the trunk to the roots, which then relay it on to another cell.

But to move from one cell to another it must cross a "bridge"—-the synapse—-which is basically a fatty membrane that lies between the two boundaries of water.

When the type of fat (oil) in the diet is changed, the consistency of this membrane is altered—anywhere from a sludge-like texture to a thin, super slippery machine oil.

In his book "The Perricone Prescription", Dr Nicholas Perricone explains the process. "Brain function is intimately tied to our essential fatty acid intake. Essential fatty acids make up the phospholipid bilayer of the cell membrane which is critical in the proper functioning of the nerve cells of our brains."

Also known as omega 3 oils, essential fatty acids (EFAs) are called essential for a very good reason...they are necessary for brain and heart health.

Fish oil and flax seed oil have the highest levels of Omega 3 oils and are truly superhero nutrients. In addition to lubricating our brain they help keep cholesterol levels low, lower blood pressure and reduce the "stickiness" of blood cells (called platelet aggregation). Stickiness of the blood is what leads to clots which can end up as a stroke or heart attack.

The worst fats that you can consume are trans fats. If the food package label shows "partially hydrogenated" there are trans fats in the product. Trans fats are formed by pumping hydrogen into an oil to increase the "shelf life" of food products.

This process changes the molecular structure of a perfectly good oil into a toxic substance that your body cannot process properly. The altered fat acts like the sludge in your neglected oil pan.

In the ongoing Nurses Health Study each 2% increase in trans fat consumption converted to a whopping 93 percent increase in coronary heart disease.

If you’ve had trouble remembering to change the oil in your automobile maybe it’s time to oil up those connections in your brain that have been showing signs of neglect.

As for me, I want my brain oiled up like Jeff Gordon's NASCAR racer. I need all the help I can get.