The toll exacted by the horsemen is vast. Mental illness is now costing considerably more than all cancer and heart disease combined. “The Children’s Society recently reported a tripling in NHS referrals for mental ill-health in the last three years.” says Professor Michael Crawford, at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Campus of Imperial College.
According to Crawford the damage begins in pregnancy. Lack of B12 and folate in the mother increases later behavioural problems in their children. Fewer than 5 per cent of children get the basic recommendation of seafood rich in omega-3 and many eat none at all. “Special schools are bursting at the seams,” says Dr Rona Tutt, former president of the National Association of Head Teachers.
“High sugar and ultra-processed foods is devastaing mental health and plays a major part in the increase in both ADHD, depression and dementia.” says Professor Robert Lustig from the University of California. Dr Georgia Ede, a psychiatrist from Harvard, reports low carb diets reversing mental illness.
According to the NHS one in five adults in England are on anti-depressants and last year one million teenagers were prescribed them. This year prescriptions are expected to exceed 100 million. Independent researchers have been warning about their lack of effectiveness and damaging side-effects.
But it is not just nutritional deficiencies that are threatening our brains. The way we live can contribute to the damage “The combination of poor diet, lack of exercise, less intellectual and social stimulation, stress and insomnia creates a ‘perfect storm’ for the brain,” says neuroscientist Dr Tommy Wood at the University of Washington.
Wood is leading research at the charity foodforthebrain.org, which has developed a defensive strategy to protect the brain with nutritional and lifestyle changes. It starts by finding out just how well your brain is doing via a free online Cognitive Function Test followed up by personalised advice on how to reduce your dementia risk,
The fourth horseman, high homocysteineHomocysteine is an amino acid found in the blood. Elevated levels of homocysteine have been associated with narrowing and hardening of the arteries, an increased… (a consequence of a lack of B vitamins) is linked to all of the mental problems that are on the rise because it damages nerves and brain cells as well as arteries, the supply chain for the brain. If your homocysteine is high, which it is in half of those over 65, your memory is declining. Lowering it reduces brain shrinkage in those with pre-dementia by two thirds according to Oxford University research. GP’s rarely test it.
Testing and lowering homocysteine is a key target of the charity’s prevention plan. Participants are sent a home test kit to measure blood levels of omega-3, homocysteine, HBA1c for sugar balance and vitamin DWhat it does: Helps maintain strong and healthy bones by retaining calcium. Deficiency Signs: Joint pain or stiffness, backache, tooth decay, muscle cramps, hair loss…., lack of which is another contributor to dementia and depression. The charity aims to reach a million people in the largest ever ‘citizen science’ project and have tested 420,000 so far.
The idea that Alzheimer’s can be prevented is gaining support. The US National Institutes of Health have attributed 22% of the risk of Alzheimer’s to raised blood homocysteine and 22% to a lack of seafood and omega-3 fats.
A recent study using UK Biobank data concluded that up to 72% of dementia cases could be prevented if all risk factors were targeted. “Even this is probably under-estimating the power of prevention.” says Professor David Smith from the University of Oxford, one of the study authors. “The number of preventable cases could be higher if a person’s omega-3 and B vitamin status, measured, by a blood test for homocysteine (not measured by the UK Biobank) were taken into account.” China’s leading prevention expert, Professor Jin-Tai Yu from Shanghai’s Fudan University, a co-author of this study, agrees. “Homocysteine-lowering treatment with vitamins, especially B12, is one of the most promising interventions for dementia prevention.”
What Next? Upgrade your Brain AND Become a Citizen Scientist
Thanks to already well over 400,000 ‘citizen scientists we have, with the sword of digital technology, opened the oyster to uncover the true causes – all under your control – that are driving this terrible and unnecessary brain shrinkage.
Those citizen scientists have taken the time, often initially for personal interest, to discover their actual cognitive function, and completed a comprehensive questionnaire.
We hope to reach a million people around the world within a year or so making this the biggest prevention-focussed study of its kind.
Change is not going to come from the Government or the NHS. It is going to have to come from us, the people.
We ask you to take control of upgrading your brain and in the process become Citizen Scientists for better brain health for future generations.
Follow these seven steps.
STEP 1: Take the Cognitive Function Test
What you’ll learn:
- Find out where you are on the cognitive function scale
- Learn the most important dietary and lifestyle actions you can take
- Take control of your mental wellbeing
- Contribute to the Food for the Brain research process
Take the Cognitive Function Test
STEP 2: Test for the Four Keystone Biochemical Processes
Get tested for the four keystone biochemical processes with the DRIfT Test.
It will calculate your Dementia Risk Index functional Test (DRIfT) score. Tracking this, along with your Cognitive Function (CFT) and Dementia Risk Index (DRI) is the most comprehensive way to protect your brain.
This 4-in-1 test measures:
- Vitamin D
- Omega-3
- Homocysteine
- HbA1C
More info – Drift Test from Food for the Brain and Other Tests.
STEP 3 – Get Educated
Read my book Upgrade Your Brain – Out Now!
More info & to order – Upgrade Your Brain Book
Join me on my UK or Ireland Seminar Tour – May/June
I’m visiting 30 cities in the UK and Ireland in May/June to kick start a nationwide ‘Upgrade Your Brain’ campaign.
“We need to engage with millions of people, get nutrition education happening in schools, and most of all get heath authorities and governments around the world to take the mental health meltdown seriously and put brain health at the top of the health agenda.”
Professor Crawford says “Today’s diet bears no resemblance to the wild foods we ate during our species’ evolution to which our genome is adapted. If we don’t prioritise brain health and nutrition the continued escalation of mental ill health, starting in the 1950s, can only end in disaster.”
Dates/locations: More tour info & how to book
Sign up to my E-News
Go to the home page of this website and sign up to my E-News for more blogs/reports/videos and podcasts on brain health. Follow on Facebook (PatrickHolford) and Instagram. (PatrickHolford.UK)
STEP 4: Start a Brain Healthy Diet
The Upgrade Your Brain cooking app with brain-friendly recipes will be launching soon. It will help you make the right food choices for your brain.
STEP 5: Ensure You Get Enough of the Right Nutrients
There are three essentials for building brain cells (neurons) – omega-3 fats, B vitamins and Phospholipids. Omega-3 is bound to phospholipids by methylationMethylation is what occurs when the body takes one substance and turns it into another, so that it can be detoxified and excreted from the… which is a process that is dependent on B vitamins – B6, B12 and folate.
There are some key supplements that have been identified to support brain health. In the Holford range these are:
- Connect: B vitamins and zincWhat it does: Component of over 200 enzymes in the body, essential for growth, important for healing, controls hormones, aids ability to cope with stress… to support healthy methylation
- High PC Lecithin – A Rich source of 63% phospholipid
- Omega-3 Support – 550mg of DHADHA is short for Docosahexaenoic Acid. It is an essential omega-3 fatty acid found in fish such as salmon, mackerel and herring, and is often… and 750mg of EPAEPA is short for Eicosapentaenoic Acid. It is an essential omega-3 fatty acid found in fish such as salmon, mackerel and herring, and is often…
All these are found in the Brain Food Upgrade pack.
STEP 6: Spread the Word & Promote Prevention
We urge everyone share the ‘prevention’ message with others.
You can do this by sharing social media posts and blogs/reports.
You can participate in Alzheimer’s Prevention Day on 15 May and encourage others to do the same. Take the free 3-minute online Alzheimer’s Prevention Check and get motivated to make the eight brain-friendly diet and lifestyle changes
“You are the architect of your own brain’s future health.” says neurologist Dr David Perlmutter.
Take the test for Alzheimer’s Prevention Day
Step 7: Support the ‘Prevention’ Work
‘Friends’ donate £50 a year and get so much in return. This is how we are funding our amazing research team (see foodforthebrain.org/researchteam/). We are a lean, keen, small but mighty team.
Every donation, big or small, goes right back into helping people prevent these preventable and terrible diseases such as dementia. Together, we can change the world. We need to, because time is running out. We will lose our humanity if we don’t stop this brain drain.”
All donations are put back into research, and the results of the research are shared back to people.
Give to Food for the Brain and support their work.
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