DailyColors™ and Cognitive Health

Keeping Your Brain Sharp

The role of phyto-nutrients is cognitive health is getting significant attention from brain researchers. With good reason. Over 60% of the brain is fat11 and therefore especially vulnerable to oxidative - free radical – damage. 

Oxidative damage then creates inflammation which is known to be a further major risk factor for dementia, Alzheimer’s and even depression4.

A key 2019 article in Neurology, which studied 12,000 subjects, concluded: “Higher blood levels of inflammatory markers in midlife are associated with greater cognitive decline many years later1

Consequently, the dual ability of color phyto-nutrients to counteract free radicals and damp down inflammation makes them powerful allies in averting cognitive impairment. 

And the earlier you take action the better.

Here are just a few quotes from recent peer-reviewed papers by neuro-scientists showing why they believe phyto-nutrients can help hold cognitive decline at bay. 

Phyto-nutrients of course include flavonoids, polyphenols, anthocyanins, and carnosic acid – all of which are in DailyColors™. 

  1. Recent evidence has indicated that a group of plant-derived compounds known as flavonoids may exert particularly powerful actions on mammalian cognition and may reverse age-related declines in memory and learning2. British Journal of Nutrition
  2. Dietary intake of polyphenols is known to attenuate oxidative stress and reduce the risk for related neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), stroke, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and Huntington’s disease (HD)3 
    Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity
  3. Due to the growing population of people with cognitive impairment and the lack of effective pharmaco-therapeutics, it is prudent for those afflicted or their caregivers to find alternative treatments. Our narrative review shows that many of these nutrients and phytonutrients may be promising for treating some aspects of cognitive impairment, especially for people afflicted with AD5. Journal of Clinical Research
  4. Rosemary contains an ingredient called carnosic acid, which can fight off damage by free radicals in the brain. Rosemary appears to be protective against brain damage.
    Medical News Today 2017

BDNF and a healthy brain

BDNF, or Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, is a protein produced in your central nervous system. It is involved in the development of the neurons and synapses that form your brain’s communication network. 

So it’s key to keeping you mentally sharp10.

Unfortunately, BDNF levels naturally decline as you get older, and this is causally linked to a decline in memory and mental acuity.

Since BDNF is one of the few known compounds that can stimulate the production of new brain cells – the process called neuro-genesis9 - it plays a significant role in the prevention of neuro-degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

So increasing your BDNF levels helps optimize the function of your brain. Plant foods known to help increase BDNF include green coffee bean extract, blueberries, grapes, olive fruit, green tea – and Omega 3.

DailyColors™ doesn’t include Omega 3 – you need to eat oily fish like salmon or eat flaxseed for that. But it does include extracts from green coffee beans, blueberries, grapes, olive fruit, elderberries and rosemary – all know to support a healthy brain. 

References

  1. Systemic inflammation during midlife and cognitive change over 20 years | Neurology 
  2. The impact of fruit flavonoids on memory and cognition - PubMed (nih.gov)
  3. Polyphenols: Multipotent Therapeutic Agents in Neurodegenerative Diseases (hindawi.com)
  4. Neuroinflammation and cognitive aging - PubMed (nih.gov) 
  5. The effects of twenty-one nutrients and phytonutrients on cognitive function: A narrative review - PubMed (nih.gov) 
  6. Phytochemicals and cognitive health: Are flavonoids doing the trick? - PubMed (nih.gov) 
  7. Phytochemicals for Improving Aspects of Cognitive Function and Psychological State Potentially Relevant to Sports Performance | SpringerLink
  8. Frontiers | Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor: A Key Molecule for Memory in the Healthy and the Pathological Brain | Cellular Neuroscience (frontiersin.org)
  9. BDNF and 5-HT: a dynamic duo in age-related neuronal plasticity and neurodegenerative disorders - PubMed (nih.gov)
  10. 2711.full.pdf (pnas.org)
  11. Essential fatty acids and human brain - PubMed (nih.gov)
  12. Rosemary: Health benefits, precautions, and drug interactions (medicalnewstoday.com)