Soda can make you stupid, or worse.
Sometimes we find research reports on brain health that are
sobering. There was a rather spooky one we just read. But we also discovered one
that is positive. Here’s the tough medicine first.
Artificial Sweeteners May Be Bad For You
Here’s the punch line: “Daily diet soda drinkers three times
more likely to develop stroke and dementia compared to those who don’t”. You
might have seen that headline before. It drew a lot of publicity. Now, remember
your statistics class: correlation doesn’t mean causation. Just because the
years that skirt hemlines go up are also years that the stock market goes up
doesn’t mean short skirts cause the stock prices to increase. It could be that
other things diet soda drinkers do – or don’t do- is the reason they are more
likely to have a stroke or get dementia.
Here’s a
link to a summary of the research if you want to read more. The
research was done by a team from Boston University, led by a professor of
neurology. They used data from the famous Framingham heart study; therefore
it is solid research.
While it could be that diet drinks aren’t causing anything and
is just a coincidence, after reading that research, I’ve cut out diet drinks. I’ve
seen strokes in my immediate family and they are devastating and awful. You don’t
want one. And no one, absolutely no one, wants dementia.
I went back to my old Southern favorite- sweet iced tea.
Then I found this:
Sugary Drinks Are Bad For You.
“People who drank sugary beverages frequently are more likely to
have poorer memory, smaller overall brain volume, and a significantly smaller
hippocampus”. Yikes! The hippocampus is critical to memory formation and
learning. In other words, sugary beverages can make you stupid.
So much for my sweet iced tea.
And this finding is from the same study – but didn’t seem to get
nearly as much media coverage.
Where does that leave us? One of the study’s authors pointed out
that water is good. As if we didn’t know that. There is also tea – tea
has many health benefits, and coffee, which also has excellent health benefits.
There are also fermented beverages such as kefir that seem to be
healthy. Did you know that we sell our own, locally roasted, small-batch gourmet coffee? Now
might be a good time to try some.
Where’s the Good News?
A
large study in Australia determined that one hour of exercise a
week is sufficient to reduce the odds of developing depression. (This research
was performed at the Black Dog Institute, which is the best name for a medical
research institution we've found.) Unchecked depression physically alters the
brain. Not in a good way. While we’ve written before on how good exercise is
for brain health, this is the first time we’ve seen as little as an hour a week
as beneficial.
PS: Our freshly roasted coffee isn't ground; we think grinding
it just before brewing delivers the best flavor. And everyone benefits on
shipping cost if you buy two or three bags each time.
Excerpted from our upcoming book on building a bigger better
brain.
www.BigBrain.Place offers fun products
that are good for your brain.
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