Episode 32: Lifestyle & Brain Health with guest Dr. Mylea Charvat (Part 3)

This episode concludes our three-part series on the impact of sleep, exercise, staying socially engaged and your diet on the development of dementia and the health of your brain. Our guest, Dr. Mylea Charvat, is the founder and CEO of Savonix - a digital cognitive assessment company. This episode covers part 3 (conclusion) where Dr. Charvat discusses how food and nutrition affect your brain and shares more about her company Savonix and the interesting work they are doing.

Food & Nutrition

You already know that eating a nutritious and well-balanced diet is extremely important for maintaining both your physical health and your brain health. It is also core to the prevention of disease. When talking about food and brain health, the Mediterranean diet is often mentioned. So, let’s talk more about the Mediterranean diet and some of the benefits associated with it.

Mediterranean diet

A Mediterranean diet is really focused on limiting saturated fat (i.e., animal-based fat) and sugar. For example, red meat is very high in saturated fat, as compared to fish, poultry, peanut butter or olive oil, which are low in saturated fat. You also want to prioritize eating fruits, vegetables (e.g., beans), grains, and whole grains (e.g., buckwheat, brown rice).

The Mediterranean diet doesn't restrict carbohydrates. You are eating carbohydrates that are found naturally in vegetables and whole grains (as compared to highly processed foods).

Read food labels! If your grandmother would not recognize the ingredients, then put it back on the shelf.

If you're worried or concerned about different diseases or medications that you have and how they interact with certain foods, there is a fantastic app called “Shop Well.” You can download it and put in the medications or any relevant health condition (e.g., celiac disease or hypertension). Then when you are at the grocery store you can scan a product’s barcode and it will tell you whether or not it is a healthy food for you to eat.

The benefits of eating a Mediterranean diet

There's been a ton of information on this over the last few decades. A Mediterranean diet is associated with:

Cognitive benefits
Improved memory
Better language skills
Greater visual spatial perception
Global cognitive health benefits

One study (6000 participants) showed 30-35% reduced risk for memory impairment when following a Mediterranean diet. There was also less apparent beta-amyloid presence in the brain of people who adhere to a Mediterranean diet.

In individuals that do eventually develop dementia, they experience a slower progression or a slower rate of cognitive decline as the disease progresses.

If you're on certain medications, it is important to talk to a professional about what you should and should not be consuming. For example, people on blood thinners need to limit the amount of leafy greens they eat and be very mindful when considering a Mediterranean diet. For example, less Brussel sprouts and spinach and maybe more carrots and cauliflower.

The reason it is believed that a Mediterranean diet is so healthy is because of the high prevalence of vitamins and nutrients:

Antioxidants (reduce inflammation): New research is starting to illustrate a direct link between inflammation and the development of Alzheimer's disease, which provides even more support for the antioxidant theory.
Omega-3s: Fatty acids help maintain neuron (brain cell) health, structure and function. Omega-3 fatty acids support neuron membrane function and structure and help how neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) send communication between brain cells.
Carotene: Acts as an antioxidant by removing free radicals in the brain tissue and supports healthy brain function.
Vitamin B: e.g., riboflavin, folate and B12. If you are deficient in folate and B12, you can even develop psychosis. So, these B vitamins are really important to brain health.
Vitamin D: If you are vitamin D deficient you are more likely to have additional amyloid plaques in your brain. Of note, vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, so you need fat in your diet to absorb vitamin D. Trade non-fat milk in for a 1% or 2% version - the little bit of fat helps support the absorption of vitamin D from the milk. Humans were meant to be running around outside getting their vitamin D from the sun. But, this is no longer common in modern society (and you also need to be careful of skin cancer risk). So, you need to be very thoughtful and careful about how you get Vitamin D into your body. Supplements are a great way to do it. Dr. Charvat takes food-based vitamin D supplement, because that's more readily absorbed by the body.

If you're looking at your diet and you realize you’re not getting enough of these vitamins, consider taking a multivitamin or supplement to help boost the vitamins and minerals in the body.

About Dr. Mylea Charvat & Savonix

To read more about Dr. Mylea Charvat’s work, you can read her regular column in Psychology Today (click here for more information).

Savonix just launched a brand new website where they include contributions about lifestyle and cognition. You can also go to their website and take a free cognitive assessment. It's just a short brief set of tests that Dr. Charvat and Savonix are making available for free to people who are interested in knowing more about their cognitive health (click here for additional instructions).

Savonix & Research

Dr. Charvat and Savonix are going to be launching the largest ever population study of cognitive health. They are specifically focused on understanding cognition at different ages and how Alzheimer’s develop. Research, for example, shows us that diabetes and hypertension are both risk factors for dementia. Dr. Mylea Charvat wants to make use of all of the new digital technology available and look at how health status cluster to impact cognition at different ages (e.g., in your 20s 30s 50s 60s 70s).

Dr. Charvat and Savonix are launching a study aimed at recruiting 400,000 participants. All you need to participate is a smartphone or tablet (smart device) and about 30-minutes of your time. They have an incredible group of scientists from multiple universities around the world that have joined forces to work on this study. The idea is to lay a foundation for understanding how risk factors cluster to produce Alzheimer's disease, because the scientific community does not have a clear picture of that yet. Dr. Charvat and Savonix believe that this is the next vital step in understanding how Alzheimer's develops in the brain.