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For more information on improving brain function, click on to sdbraincenter.com It has been a hundred years since a Nobel Prize winner discovered the thin barrier that surrounds and protects brain. Since then, we’ve learned this mesh of tightly joined cells, called the blood-brain barrier, is highly selective in a healthy person. It allows the transport of compounds back and forth through an intricate transport system while keeping out most everything else in the blood stream that can damage the brain. This includes heavy metals, toxic proteins, pathogens, and red and white blood cells. Accelerated aging + Inflammation = Leaky...

For more information on improving brain function, click on to sdbraincenter.com If you watch TV, read magazines, or surf the internet, you can’t escape the ads for drugs to treat depression and other mood disorders — antidepressants are touted as a magic bullet for the blues. True, these drugs help some of the one in ten people plagued by dark moods, but for others, taking the mood-lifter du jourdoes not bring relief. Or the relief comes with side effects so intolerable that 10-15 percent of people stop taking them. How antidepressants work The list of depression symptoms is a long...

Eating yourself sick: Insulin resistance and disease. For more information on improving brain function, click on to sdbraincenter.com The road to chronic disease — from arthritis to heart disease — is paved with sugar and refined carbohydrates. It’s a freeway that leads straight to insulin resistance syndrome, given the right conditions, most notably being overweight and inactive. The devastating chain of events that leads to chronic disease goes like this: Carbs and sugar break down in the digestive tract to glucose that the body uses for energy. Beta cells in the pancreas make and secrete insulin into the blood to...

You can eat fermented foods every day and take all the probiotic supplements you want, but if you aren’t also feeding those intestinal bacteria what they want, you could be throwing your money away. That’s because to thrive and multiply, healthy gut bacteria need to eat. And what your gut bacteria like best is fiber. Recently published research done at the University of Oveido in Spain found that obese people with low levels of a group of intestinal bacteria — Bacteroides, Prevotella, and Porphyromonas — also had a lower intake of fruit. Fruit is a good source of pectin, which...

Brain cells, or neurons, are similar to muscles in that they are subject to the same basic “use it or lose it” principle to stay healthy well into old age. Although genetics play a role in how well our brains age, the brain also responds profoundly to dietary and lifestyle influences. Although the brain loves healthy food and regular exercise, it also needs ongoing stimulation to stay vital. As we go through life we constantly lose neurons as a normal part of aging. Some people show this decline through loss of memory and slower mental speed. However, some stay sharp...