Memory, learning issues, and a decrease in cognitive abilities are all common these days especially among aged people since aging makes the brain loses more neurons than at young ages.
Need some boost in your brain health? Polyphenols antioxidant properties got your back!
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How To Boost Your Brain Health With a Healthy Diet?
There is a lot of evidence that supports the relationship between brain health and a healthy diet. And one of this evidence is the results from this recent study from University of Balearic Island in Spain last month shows that polyphenols rich foods based on their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties a few days a week, gives good long-term results in terms of brain health, including boost neurotransmitters that help improving memory, learning, and overall brain functions.
The test was done on a group of aged rats and they were compared to young rats during the treatment period.
As the author mentioned in the article:
At the end of the treatment, the diet group significantly reduced the time needed to complete the test and committed fewer errors.
But to achieve these results you have to include more fruits and vegetables in your diet
what are Polyphenols?
Polyphenols including flavonoids and phenolic acid are micronutrients that are found mostly in fruits, vegetables, and cereals. They’re famous for their antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. So they’re important for our bodies and as I mentioned earlier in this post they can boost your brain health too.
Polyphenol rich foods:
One of the most famous Polyphenol rich food and my favorite one is coffee, with 214mg in just 100ml! So yes coffee is loaded with antioxidants that are beneficial for your brain health. But of course, there are a lot of other polyphenol-rich foods that you need to make sure you add to your plate such as:
What else do polyphenols do for the body?
Besides brain’s health polyphenols play a major role in your body’s health as well, as I already said polyphenols have antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. This means polyphenols help your body get rid of toxins and harmful radicals that can lead to serious inflammation and damage the body’s organs.
They can lower the risk of heart disease and also prevent type 2 diabetes.
Polyphenols benefits for the skin and hair:
Polyphenols with their cell repair and their photo-protective effects can help protect the skin from aging.
Polyphenols also help with hair loss and promote scalp health
Potential risk from taking polyphenols supplements:
Polyphenols from food are safe to take, but when taking supplements you should pay attention to the daily dose recommended to avoid side effects. Although there are limited studies on polyphenols side effects or overdose risk but as with any other micronutrients when taking a large quantity it can interact with other micronutrients absorption some of the polyphenols may interfere with thyroid hormones. So always pay attention when taking micronutrients supplements.
If you’re allergic to certain polyphenols food or even types you must avoid taking them, so always talk to your doctor before taking any other supplements.
Conclusion:
According to this recent study Polyphenols with their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory abilities can boost your memory, learning ability, and overall brain health, they’re also good for your body, skin, and hair. They’re safe to take from food but if you’re thinking about taking supplements you should pay attention to your daily dose recommendation.
This is such an insightful post. I had never heard of polyphenols before and I guess eating lots of fruits and veggies everyday is the mantra to good health.
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Love the emphasis on healthy foods and how they can help. More and more research seems to bear out what plants can do for us. Great info!
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