A prebiotic-rich diet can improve cognitive function, delay decline

A prebiotic-rich diet can improve cognitive function, delay decline

( Natural News ) According to the World Health Organization , around 50 million people worldwide are affected by dementia. In the United States alone, for example, 5.8 million people are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease. However, while only a small percentage of people are diagnosed with full-blown dementia, every single person on the planet will eventually be affected to some extent by age-related cognitive decline. The organization Brain Renewal explains that the processes that facilitate reasoning and thinking ability start to decline as early as the mid-20s. As we age, and particularly from middle age, we become increasingly forgetful, struggle to focus and have trouble solving problems. This does not mean, however, that we have to accept cognitive decline as an inevitable part of the aging process. At the very least, we can take steps to slow this process down. A new study, published in the journal Nature’s Molecular Psychiatry , has concluded that the secret to doing so may lie in maintaining the delicate balance of the gut microbiome by increasing consumption of prebiotic-rich foods . Why we lose cognitive function as we age Brain Renewal explains that there are multiple reasons why we start to lose brain function as we get older: [A]geing causes damage of the very cells that we use in our brains, neurons. Even their length diminishes with age. Also, the substances they use to transmit signals, called neurotransmitters, are less in quantity but are also less effective. In a broader sense, the physical assembly of the brain as a whole also deteriorates with age. Shrinkage and death of neurons, and reductions in the amount of synaptic spines and functional synapses contribute to annual decline of as much as 0.5% to 1.0% in cortical thickness. This essentially means the brain is smaller! Discover […]

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