By Patrick Holford. This is part one, read part two here. Few people realise the catastrophic decline in mental health that has occurred over the past 50 years. -- ‘Brain health conditions have become a global health emergency,’ according to the Federation of European...
Whether your goal is to protect your memory from getting worse, or enhance and optimise your mental acuity, you need three things. The first is having the best ‘structure’ – that is building brain cells and their connections; then it's about the best ‘function’ as in fuel supply; and...
--- Back in the decade that gave us neon shell suits, the first space shuttle, and the birth of the pop video (the unforgettable 1980s) we also believed that glucose (the sugar used by our bodies) gave us extra energy. Lucozade, a liquid form of glucose with a good dose of preservatives,...
Vitamin C is a keystone nutrient for swinging the antioxidant equation in your favour for your brain. It’s made in all living things, from animals to plants, including yeasts and fungi. It’s probably been the essential ‘exhaust recycler’ of all oxygen-based life forms. Production is...
Vitamin D is an all-rounder as far as your brain and mental health are concerned. It helps neurotransmission and has anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects on the brain by reducing both inflammation and the oxidative stress. Generally speaking, the lower your vitamin D, the worse your...
The Cognitive Function Test (CFT) is a validated online test, followed by a ‘Dementia Risk Index’ (DRI) questionnaire. The CFT measures a person’s actual cognitive function at that point in time, while the DRI allows a calculation of future risk to be calculated, based only on 8 key aspects...
Everyone knows that vitamin D is vital for healthy bones and a stronger immune system but could low levels also be a major driver of Alzheimer’s and age-related cognitive decline? --- What new research is saying New research suggests they could, and that levels of vitamin D...
By Patrick Holford Did you know the length of your shadow can tell you if you’re able to generate vitamin D from sunlight? If your shadow is longer than your body - you can’t produce vitamin D from sunlight. If you are in winter and live in a country of higher latitude (like the UK),...
By Patrick Holford What does any animal, perhaps your dog, do after exercising or going for a walk? Sleep. Sleep is how the brain recovers. There is now overwhelming evidence that sleep is a ‘brain essential’ and just like Goldilocks, it seems we need just the right amount....
Developing dementia is the second biggest health fear, after cancer. But what can you do about it? The conventional view is that genes play a big part and that factors under our control, including diet, lifestyle and health status, account for up to 40% of risk and therefore up to 40% of...
