Few octogenarians are as sharp as Martha Stewart, and she attributes her mental acuity to daily brain games like crosswords. But “use it or lose it” can reinforce two false assumptions: that brain health is primarily about staying mentally sharp and that it’s an issue for older folks.
Pound-for-pound, the brain is the most metabolically demanding organ in the body. At 2% of body weight, it consumes 20% of calories. Glucose fuels the brain’s signaling that regulates and coordinates all other organs. It enables thinking, memory and emotions, but it also tells your heart how to beat, your lungs how to breathe and your stomach how to digest.
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Because the brain is so energy-hungry, good nutrition is key. Unhealthy foods — high in sugar, starch, sodium and additives, low in vitamins, minerals and fiber — undermine it. The brain’s cell membranes are built from fat, making high-quality fats, such as salmon, mackerel and walnuts, important.
To function optimally and avoid inflammation, the brain also requires adequate levels of nutrients such as B-vitamins, found in leafy greens and poultry, along with antioxidants like berries, broccoli and nuts, and choline, which is found in eggs and soybeans.
It’s also not just what we’re leaving out of the diet, but what we’re putting in. Sugary, starchy foods create blood-sugar fluctuations that cause inflammation, damaging neurons and disrupting signals. Glucose control is so central to brain function that Alzheimer’s disease is sometimes referred to as “ type 3 diabetes.” The gut microbiome — our “second brain” — also plays a role.
These are lifespan issues. Starting in utero, maternal diet impacts fetal brain structure and neuronal growth. This is why pregnant women are prescribed folate to prevent neural tube defects.
Kids’ brains continue developing into their mid-twenties. Proper nutrition supports focus, cognitive function and emotional regulation, while additives like artificial food dyes can exacerbate symptoms associated with conditions such as ADHD.
These patterns extend into adolescence, where teen mental health is at an all-time low. Nutrition is a contributing factor. Researchers are increasingly linking aspects of diet — including high intake of sugary beverages — with the severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms.
When well-fueled, the brain supports better moods, memory, thinking and decision-making. It makes no sense to delay these benefits until we’re 80.
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At the clinical frontier, the subspecialty of metabolic psychiatry has emerged. The ketogenic diet recalibrates brain metabolism by shifting the body’s fuel source from glucose to ketones; for some, this may reduce symptoms of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or treatment-resistant depression. By reducing hypertension and improving brain blood flow, the MIND diet, a hybrid of the Mediterranean and low-sodium DASH diets, helps mitigate inflammation and dementia risk.
But the brain needs more than just good food. Exercise enhances executive function, reduces inflammation and increases feel-good hormones like dopamine and serotonin. Sleep consolidates memory, shunts waste from the brain and allows for neuronal repairs.
Stress matters, too. Chronic stress at any age elevates cortisol levels in the brain, shrinking executive and memory centers while enlarging the amygdala. As neurologist and author of " The Invincible Brain," Majid Fotuhi has put it, “The magic is to do multiple things in low levels and stick with it over time. These benefits compound.”
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The brain’s physical needs are often overlooked because of its link to consciousness. This can give it an air of other-worldliness — as though it’s not quite part of the body like the stomach. But we neglect a key element of quality of life when we fail to treat the brain as the physical system that it is.
As Fotuhi put it: “You know, sometimes you're in the zone? Sometimes you feel right, your mind is calm, you feel sharp, you're just happy for no reason. That's a good state of mind. You can call it a state of flow. That's where you want to be.”
So, don’t stop doing daily mind games and puzzles; they help. But frame them as software upgrades running on hardware that diet, exercise, sleep and stress-reduction are necessary to power and maintain at every stage of life.
Kelly Rogers Victor, Ph.D., MPH, MPP is a writer and consultant on nutrition, health policy and public health. Her columns appear regularly in The Detroit News. Reach her at Kelly@upstreamhealthconsulting.com .
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Rogers Victor: Your brain needs more than crossword puzzles
