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Wisdom Wednesdays: The effects of three different diets on brain atrophy · Hardiness with Dr Paul Taylor

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  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays. Now,
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  Speaker 1: you've probably heard me talk about cognitive decline and Alzheimer's
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  Speaker 1: quite a lot. And we know that dementia in general,
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  Speaker 1: and particularly Alzheimer's disease is the fastest growing chronic disease
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  Speaker 1: in terms of the number of people it kills, and
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  Speaker 1: is now dementia overall is the second biggest killer in Australia,
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  Speaker 1: where it wasn't even in the top ten about ten
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  Speaker 1: years ago. And so there's a study that I just
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  Speaker 1: read that's really interesting but has a little bit of
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  Speaker 1: a twist at the end. So it was published in
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  Speaker 1: the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and the name of
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  Speaker 1: the study is the effects of a high polyphenoal Mediterranean
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  Speaker 1: diet combined with physical activity on age related brain atrophy.
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  Speaker 1: The datary interventionion, randomized control trial, polyphenols on process study
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  Speaker 1: and summarized as direct plus. So the Mediterranean diet has
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  Speaker 1: long been celebrated for its health benefits, including heart health
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  Speaker 1: and longevity, and in this study, the research is wanted
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  Speaker 1: to test, particularly if the diet could slow down brian atrophy,
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  Speaker 1: which is a major hallmark of aging and a precursor
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  Speaker 1: to both cognitive client and cognitive decline SORRY and all
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  Speaker 1: forms of dementia. So this direct study was an eighteen
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  Speaker 1: month clinical trial that examined the effects of three dietary
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  Speaker 1: patterns on Brian health. So the first one was a
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  Speaker 1: healthy dietary guidelines group, so they followed standard advised balance
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  Speaker 1: but without a specific emphasis on Mediterranean principles and just
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  Speaker 1: told a healthy diet. Then the second group, they were
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  Speaker 1: fed or told a traditional Mediterranean diet, so it was
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  Speaker 1: colorie restricted and rich in vegetables, nuts, especially walnuts.
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  Speaker 2: They had heaps of walnuts and.
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  Speaker 1: Olive oil and took out red meat or some red
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  Speaker 1: meat and replaced it with fish and poultry. And then
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  Speaker 1: they had a third diet, which is the Green Mediterranean
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  Speaker 1: diet as they called it. And this was a souped
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  Speaker 1: up version of the med diet with an even higher
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  Speaker 1: polyphenol content. So the participants consumed extra green tea and
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  Speaker 1: a daily green shake made from Manci and that's a
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  Speaker 1: protein pact aquatic plant that's rich in polyphenols, and it
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  Speaker 1: also limited red and processed meats and limited calories. Now,
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  Speaker 1: both MAD groups incorporated twenty eight grounds of walnuts daily
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  Speaker 1: because we've seen in other studies that had notts. Some
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  Speaker 1: particularly walnuts seemed to be good for Brian health and
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  Speaker 1: that contributed to a significant polyphenol boost. But as I said,
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  Speaker 1: the green mad group they had extra polyphenols through the
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  Speaker 1: green tea and the mancai and making it a bit
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  Speaker 1: of a polyphenial powerhouse. So brian atrophy or brain shrinkage
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  Speaker 1: is a natural part of aging, but we know that
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  Speaker 1: that too much briinatrophy is linked to dementia all different
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  Speaker 1: forms of dimension including Alzheimer's disease. And so what they
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  Speaker 1: did in this study was they were looking at key
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  Speaker 1: markers of brianatrophy, including reductions in hippocampal occupancy score and
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  Speaker 1: that's linked to your hippocampus is linked to memory and cognitions,
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  Speaker 1: and also expansions in lateral ventricle volumes, So the ventricle
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  Speaker 1: and they're kind of like think of them as like
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  Speaker 1: holds in the brain, right, and so as that volume increases,
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  Speaker 1: that is more brian atrophy. And these changes can indicate
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  Speaker 1: early neurodegeneration, which underlines conditions like Alzheimer's disease and other
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  Speaker 1: forms of dementia. And the direct plus study that we're
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  Speaker 1: talking about here. It had older adults, so there were
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  Speaker 1: aged fifty in a and the ones who followed the
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  Speaker 1: Green Mad diet experienced slower declines in this hippocampal occupancy
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  Speaker 1: score and reduced expansion of the ventricles, so the spaces
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  Speaker 1: in the brain compared to those on the healthy diet
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  Speaker 1: group and even those.
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  Speaker 2: On the traditional Mediterranean diet.
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  Speaker 1: And one of the standout findings in this was the
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  Speaker 1: strong link between improved insulin sensitivity and reduced brian atrophy,
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  Speaker 1: and that suggested that controlling blood sugar levels, which was
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  Speaker 1: a hallmark of both the med diet and the Green
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  Speaker 1: Mad diet, could be a key mechanism for protecting the brain.
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  Speaker 1: And they talked a lot in the research paper about
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  Speaker 1: the benefits of polyphenols, and as I said, they saw
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  Speaker 1: a slightly better result in the ones that had the
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  Speaker 1: Green Maare diet. They increased polyphenols because these are complant
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  Speaker 1: compounds that have antioxidant anti inflammatory properties and they can
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  Speaker 1: cross the blood brain barrier, therefore reducing neuroinflammation and promoting
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  Speaker 1: the growth of new brain cells. And in the Green
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  Speaker 1: Mead diet, as I said, the higher polyphenol intake from
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  Speaker 1: the green tea and manichae was significantly associated with lower
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  Speaker 1: rates of that reduction hypocampal volume, and the participants who
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  Speaker 1: consumed those foods also showed elevated levels of certainly certain
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  Speaker 1: polyphenols in urine such as tarisol and urythral a, and
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  Speaker 1: they're both linked to better brain health. So this really
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  Speaker 1: does underscore the benefits of a polyphenol heavy diet for
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  Speaker 1: combating age related cognitive decline. So the kind of takeaways
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  Speaker 1: that they talked about was that the green med diet
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  Speaker 1: was the best of all and if you're looking to
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  Speaker 1: maximize brain health, consider adding green tea, walnuts.
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  Speaker 2: And manechid to your routine.
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  Speaker 1: And they also talk about cutting the red meat and
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  Speaker 1: particularly the process meat, as they've been associated with inflammation
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  Speaker 1: and metabolic risks. Now, the other thing that was important
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  Speaker 1: in this study was that all of the participants got
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  Speaker 1: gym memberships and were encouraged to engage in regular physical
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  Speaker 1: activity and reinforcing the diet works best with movement. And
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  Speaker 1: then really it's about monitoring your big blood sugar because
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  Speaker 1: the biggest link was about improved insulin sensitivity.
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  Speaker 2: That was a key factor. Right now, I am.
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  Speaker 1: The issue that I have picked up in reading this
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  Speaker 1: paper was they didn't really talk about as a limitation
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  Speaker 1: was that both of the Mediterranean diets were calorie restricted,
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  Speaker 1: and the Healthy Eating Guidelines wasn't calorie restricted. And for me,
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  Speaker 1: this just really reduces the strength of the findings because
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  Speaker 1: they lost with it. The people in the med diet
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  Speaker 1: and the greed med diet lost more weight because they
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  Speaker 1: were both on a calorie restricted diet and compared to
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  Speaker 1: the other guys, and they had improvements in insolence sensitivity.
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  Speaker 1: And we know that when you lose weight, you improve
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  Speaker 1: your insolent sensitivity, and these were groups of people who
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  Speaker 1: were in their fifties who tended to be overweight to
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  Speaker 1: start with. And so another way of positioning this would
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  Speaker 1: be that a low calorie diet actually reduces brian atrophy.
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  Speaker 1: And they could have said a low calorie diet reduces brianatrophy,
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  Speaker 1: and if you add in extra polyphenols that would seem
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  Speaker 1: to have another positive effect. But the Mediterranean component really
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  Speaker 1: has to be questioned when they didn't have those diets
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  Speaker 1: and calorie matched. I mean, one of the key things
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  Speaker 1: when you're doing a datary intervention is you've got to
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  Speaker 1: match the calories because if you don't and another group
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  Speaker 1: loses weight, that changes a whole host of metabolic markers,
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  Speaker 1: and we don't know how that interacted with the polyphenols.
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  Speaker 1: So it's a little bit disappointing the design of it,
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  Speaker 1: but it is for me. The takeouts here are really
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  Speaker 1: keep your weight and check to physical activity, and then
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  Speaker 1: have lots of polyphenols and flavonoids in your diet because
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  Speaker 1: we know that they are.
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  Speaker 2: Good for overhaul brain health.
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  Speaker 1: But it is a little bit disappointing that they actually
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  Speaker 1: didn't do a proper either. They didn't have a control
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  Speaker 1: group who didn't have any diet or exercise, and that's
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  Speaker 1: the first thing, and they recognize that as a limitation.
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  Speaker 1: But having three different diets that you're comparing head to
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  Speaker 1: head and two of them calorie restricted is just completely bonkers.
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  Speaker 1: If I was to submit that to my PHITST supervisors,
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  Speaker 1: they would throw it back at me. So take from
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  Speaker 1: this what you will, but for me, the big takeouts
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  Speaker 1: are manager a manager Inchlin and leads lots of polyphenols
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  Speaker 1: and that will be good for brain health. That's it
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  Speaker 1: for this week. Catch you next time, folks.