Good belly bugs boost brainpower

Imagine forgetting your way home… the names and faces of those you know… and even some of your cherished life experiences. When you’ve got Alzheimer’s disease, the changes that happen in your brain can devastate your memory. And once it takes hold, there’s no pill you can swallow to get your memories back. But according to a new study, there’s something natural that can guard against the brain changes of Alzheimer’s and sharpen your memory — and you can find it in foods as common as your morning yogurt. I’m talking about probiotics! As I’ve shared with you before, probiotics are “good” bacteria that take up residence in your gut… but their beneficial effects can be felt all the way up to your BRAIN! In the study, Iranian researchers induced Alzheimer’s disease in rats and then fed some of them probiotics for two months. By the end of the study, the rats that received the probiotics performed BETTER on memory tests than the rats that didn’t. What’s more, researchers found that the mice that ate probiotics showed LESS oxidative stress in the hippocampus (part of the brain crucial for learning and memory) than the mice who hadn’t. And that’s important — because we know that oxidative stress can lead to chronic inflammation and the buildup of beta amyloid, which are both risk factors for Alzheimer’s. Now, we don’t know exactly how upping the beneficial critters in your gut can change your brain. But the evidence is mounting that brain health begins with gut health — which is why your gut has earned the reputation as your “second brain.” The two are connected by something called the “gut-brain axis,” and previous studies have shown that your good gut bugs can trigger an immune response that discards damaged brain cells and […]

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