Here is another reason to keep your weight under control.  Those extra pounds are not worth losing brain cell function! See what you think about this new study.

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Healthy women who put on weight between the premenopausal and postmenopausal years risk losing nerve cells in the brain, research suggests.

Gaining weight is a “highly modifiable” risk factor that may be targeted to prevent or slow the progression of potentially harmful age-related changes in the brain, the University of Pittsburgh-based study team suggests in the June issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.

Dr. Isabella Soreca and colleagues analyzed brain imaging data obtained from 48 healthy older women who were tracked over a 20-year period as part of the longitudinal epidemiological Pittsburgh Healthy Women Study.

They report in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine that an increase in body weight during the transition to menopause and beyond was “uniquely associated” with a lower volume of gray matter (the portion of the brain containing nerve cell bodies).

Soreca and colleagues say this finding is “particularly noteworthy” given that these were healthy older women who entered menopause naturally and had no history of cardiovascular disease or psychiatric disease and none were obese in mid-life or later on.

“Women may be particularly motivated to maintain a healthy weight in the postmenopausal years, should it be confirmed that weight gain causes alteration in brain function that is important to quality of life,” Soreca and colleagues conclude.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE56F5I820090716

New research on vegetables and aging gives mothers another reason to say “I told you so.” It found that eating vegetables appears to help keep the brain young and may slow the mental decline sometimes associated with growing old.

On measures of mental sharpness, older people who ate more than two servings of vegetables daily appeared about five years younger at the end of the six-year study than those who ate few or no vegetables.

Study: Vegetables may keep brains young

We all the that the Mediterranean Diet tastes good. And many of us know that it’s been shown to reduce ones risk of cardiovascular events. And now, it looks like the Mediterranean Diet may help reduce our risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease.

The Mediterranean Diet & Alzheimer’s Disease

You know all the reasons to quit smoking, yet you still do it. That is the power of that Nicotine Demon that lives in your head. I tell my patients that their little demon is akin to a toddle having a major temper tantrum in the middle of the cereal aisle at your favorite upscale grocer.

Becoming a smoke free individual is not easy, but there are lots of resources available to help you quit. In WA State we have Quit Line – a service where you can actually call and talk with a Quit counselor 7 days a week. Your state health department may have a similiar program.

Other online resources to check out include:

Tobacco Free Nurses – the first national program focused on helping nurses and student nurses to stop smoking
www.tobaccofreenurses.org/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Tobacco Information and Prevention Source
www.cdc.gov/tobacco/

Surgeon General – ‘You Can Quit Smoking’ Consumer Guide
www.surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco/default.htm

American Lung Association – Tobacco Control
www.lungusa.org/tobacco/

American Cancer Society – Guide to Quitting Smoking
www.cancer.org

Quitnet.com – Savings Calculator
www.quitnet.com

Smokefree.gov – Dictionary
www.smokefree.gov/dictionary.html

Quitnet.com – ‘Quitticisms’ (Quitting terms & phrases)
www.quitnet.com/library/quitticisms.jtml

Smoking is an issue that seems to penetrate all aspects of an individuals life. It’s not just an individual health issue anymore…it’s a quality of life issue, a societal issue, a financial issue, and a public health issue. It affects you, your children, your grandchildren, your partners, your friends.

It’s time to stop…for good.

How might this help you?

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Dr. Julian Bailes, a neurosurgeon at the West Virginia University School of Medicine, says that omega-3 fatty acids played a major role in healing the brain of coal miner Randal McCloy Jr., the sole survivor of the Jan. 2nd Sago Mine disaster. Based on recommendations from Barry Sears, of Zone Diet fame, Dr. Bailes administered extraordinarily high doses of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosapexaenoic acid (DHA), the 2 most important omega-3 fatty acids –each dose totaling 18 grams. After being in a coma for weeks and in rehab for months, McCloy is stiff and thin, but walking on his own, and exercising his right arm.

This latest study does not surprise me at all. We’ve known for years that keeping one’s blood pressure normal can reduce the risk of dementia related to vasular causes (vascular dementia).

It seems the more we learn about the effects that high blood pressure has on us, the better off we really are at keeping it low (not just normal).

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Blood-Pressure Drugs May Lower Alzheimer’s Risk
03.13.06, 12:00 AM ET

MONDAY, Mar. 13 (HealthDay News) — Taking medications to lower blood pressure, particularly diuretics, may help reduce risks for Alzheimer’s disease, a new study suggests.