Eat healthily today and enjoy its brain-boosting benefits later

( Natural News ) The food you’re putting in your body can influence your health today and even later in life. A study in Neurology revealed that adhering to a heart-healthy diet – one that’s rich in fruits and vegetables; moderate in nuts, fish, and alcohol; and low in meat and full-fat dairy – is associated with better cognitive performance , including thinking and memory skills, later in life. For the study, researchers from Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland examined 2,621 people who were 25 years old, on average, at the start of the study. They followed the participants for 30 years. They asked the participants about their diet at the beginning of the study, after seven years, and again after 20 years. They also examined the participants’ cognitive performance twice – when they were about 50 and 55 years old. The researchers also assessed the participants’ dietary patterns to see how closely they adhered to three heart-healthy diets : the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, the Mediterranean diet, and the A Priori Diet Quality Score (APDQS). The DASH diet emphasizes grains, fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, legumes , and nuts, and limits meat, fish, poultry, total fat, saturated fat, sodium, and sweets. The Mediterranean diet includes plenty of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, legumes, fish, and nuts , and limits full-fat dairy, red meat, and poultry. Lastly, the APDQS diet includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, fish, legumes, low-fat dairy, moderate alcohol, and restricts fried foods, high-fat dairy, salty snacks, sweets, and sugar-sweetened beverages. For every diet, the researchers divided the participants into one of three groups – low, medium, or high – based on their adherence to the diet. Discover how to prevent and reverse heart disease (and other cardio related events) with this free […]

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