Studyveggies to sharper brains

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alternative_medicine_forum From: Frank Thu, 22 Jul 2004 04:17:39 -0700 (PDT) Study links veggies to sharper brainshttp://www.healthy.net/scr/news.asp?Id=9529Study links veggies to sharper brainsProvided by Evansville Courier & Press on 7/20/2004by MALCOLM RITTER AP science writerBack to Healthy NewsHere's another reason to eat your veggies: A new studysuggests certain vegetables like broccoli and spinachmay help older women keep their brains sharper.Researchers found that women in their 60s who ate morecruciferous and green leafy vegetables than otherwomen went on to show less overall decline over timeon a bundle of tests measuring memory, verbal abilityand attention.Such foods include broccoli, cauliflower,

romainelettuce and spinach.The federally funded study didn't include men, but theeffect would probably appear in them too, said Jae HeeKang, an instructor at Harvard's Brigham and Women'sHospital in Boston.She spoke in a telephone interview before presentingthe work Monday in Philadelphia at the InternationalConference on Alzheimer's Disease and RelatedDisorders.Other studies released Monday showed evidence thatobesity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure canraise the risk of developing Alzheimer's or otherdementia later on, and that leisure activities withmental, physical and social aspects may reduce therisk of later dementia.Kang's study and the other two "add to the growingunderstanding that we may be able to reduce our riskof Alzheimer's by changing our lifestyles - losingweight, changing our diets and staying mentally andsocially active," said Marilyn Albert, who chairs

theAlzheimer Association's Medical and ScientificAdvisory Council.Kang stressed that her findings need to be confirmedby further studies.She and colleagues looked at 13,388 nursesparticipating in a long-running health study. Theycompared the participants' questionnaires on long-termeating habits over a span of 10 years, when they werein their 60s, to their performance in two testsessions when they were in their 70s. Researchersnoted how much the scores declined in the two yearsbetween sessions.The tests included such tasks as remembering wordlists after 15 minutes, naming as many animals aspossible in one minute, and reciting a list of numbersbackward. A pronounced drop in performance on suchtests may foreshadow Alzheimer's.While most women in the study showed some decline,those who had habitually eaten the most of the greenleafy vegetables showed less decline than those whoate the

least, Kang said."It was almost like they were younger by one or twoyears in terms of their cognitive declining," Kangsaid.The contrasts appeared between those who ate abouteight servings versus three servings of green leafyvegetables a week, and those who ate about fiveservings versus two servings of cruciferous vegetablesa week.One of the other new studies found evidence thatobesity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure inmiddle age each added substantially to the risk ofdeveloping Alzheimer's or other dementia later on.Each problem roughly doubled the risk, and studyparticipants with all three traits ran six times therisk of somebody without any of them, said researcherDr. Miia Kivipelto of the Karolinska Institute inStockholm.©2003 The Evansville Courier Company