Body Health

(Nutritional Epidemiology and Food Sciences)

A meta-analysis looking across a number of longitudinal studies researching adult populations, hypothesises a prospective association between dietary factors (dietetic patterns, particular food and beverages, phytochemicals and nutrition) and incidence of neurodegenerative conditions, such as cognitive impairment and cognitive decline, Parkinson Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, and all-cause dementia. Below is an excerpt from the meta-analysis results summary. Overall the quality of evidence between the attended dietary factors and incidence of the studied neurodegenerative conditions warrants further well-conducted research. Meantime, providing us with food for thought!

“We found inverse associations between the Mediterranean diet and fish intake and Alzheimer disease, as well as for tea consumption and all-cause dementia and Parkinson disease, with moderate quality of evidence. We additionally identified several systematic reviews and meta-analyses for the intake of fruit and vegetables, dairy products, coffee, macronutrients and vitamins, but the quality of evidence was rated as low or very low for most associations, mainly due to the low number of primary studies included in the meta-analyses. Thus, further studies are likely to change the overall estimates.” 

Dietary Factors and Neurodegenerative Disorders

People’s Words and Actions Can Actually Shape Your Brain

(social psychology, psychophysiology and cognitive neuroscience)

“Part of being a social species, it turns out, is that we regulate one another’s body budgets — the ways in which our brains manage the bodily resources we use every day.”

• Humans adapting to live and collaborate in communities supports our very survival. Loneliness and neglect is associated with reduced life expectancy.
• Physical environment and social environment including verbal aggression and rejection can upset homeostasis or equilibrium of neurobiophysiological processes.
• Interoception and exteroception or perception of sensations inside and outside the body means we can affect what goes on inside each other’s bodies.
• Brains are attentive to the people around them, such as family, friends and even strangers, fine tuning and pruning our brain cells as we interact and collaborate, or not
• The power of words ‘rewires’ our brain. Raised voices and hateful words in anger can affect your and someone else’s physiology squandering hormonal & immune resources.

The above paraphrases Neuroscientists Dr Lisa Feldman Barrett findings. Click the link below to read her full hypothesis:

Neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett Explains How