Increase Brain Power with these 6 Powerful Foods
_Featured_, Mind-Body Connection, Nutrition Saturday, June 23rd, 2012
Elizabeth Renter
Natural Society
Smarter people tend to eat healthier than others; it’s true, and it begs the question: which came first? Is it because of your intelligence that you choose healthier foods or are the foods helping to increase brain power? Interestingly, evidence shows eating natural foods early in life leads to higher intelligence in adulthood. While eating a plate of blueberries before a test might not boost your scores, your diet can help prevent degenerative brain conditions, improve memory, and increase attention span.
6 Foods to Increase Brain Power and Help Make You Smarter
The following six foods are great to increase brain power and help you to think more clearly.
1. Kale and Spinach: Dark green, leafy vegetables like these are an excellent source of iron. Iron deficiency has been linked to irreversible, altered brain development in infancy and childhood, and attention problems in adolescents and adults. It’s also said to be one of the most common nutritional deficiencies in the world.
2. Chocolate: Is chocolate good for you? Dark chocolate is a great source of Vitamin E, associated with less cognitive decline with age.
3. Salmon: Salmon and other fatty fish (as well as flax seeds and walnuts) are a great source of Omega 3 fats. A lack of these essential fats has been associated with cases of ADHD. Also, sufficient Omega 3 intake is linked to a decreased incidence of Alzheimer’s disease later in life.
4. Avocados: Avocados are a rich source of monounsaturated fats, known for improving blood flow. Increased blood flow keeps all organs and body systems running smoothly, including the brain. The health benefits of avocados also include the reduction in the risk of plaque build-up in blood vessels.
Read the full article:
http://naturalsociety.com/increase-brain-power-6-powerful-foods/
Photo: j_silla
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This article omits an important point about chocolate, the nootropic (cognitive enhancing) benefits of which are derived from its constituents theobromine (toxic to dogs, but great for people), as well as naturally-occurring caffeine.
Cacao (chocolate) contains little caffeine but much theobromine, a vasodilator which increases blood flow in the brain. Cacao is also high in focus&mood-boosting phenylethylamine, an endogenous chemical which also reaches the brain from exogenous sources such as protein* but is particularly concentrated in cacao and blue-green algae. Cacao is similarly an exogenous source of the endogenous endorphinergic cannabinoid anandamide, but much more potent than its tiny dose of anandamide (the rate of endogenous production of anandamide is much higher than the rate at which anandamide is absorbed from eaten cacao) are chemicals in it that make anandamide stick around longer.** While there is little research on the effects of these individual chemicals, studies show that eating chocolate increases performance on standardized cognitive tests.***