Caffeine and a healthy diet may boost memory, thinking skills; alcohol’s effect uncertain

From : http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/caffeine-healthy-diet-may-boost-memory-thinking-skills-alcohols-effect-uncertain-201406187219

 

Posted June 18, 2014, 2:54 pm

Stephanie Watson, Executive Editor, Harvard Women's Health Watch

I’m not much use behind the keyboard until I’ve had my morning cup of coffee. And I’m far from the only American who needs a little java jolt to get their day going.

If a study published in this month’s Journal of Nutrition is any indication, the caffeine in coffee might offer not just a momentary mental boost but also longer-term effects on thinking skills. Having an alcoholic drink a day might also benefit our mental performance, but the line between just right and too much is uncertain. An even better strategy for maintaining memory and thinking skills with age may be to eat a healthy diet.

In the study, researchers from the National Institute on Aging compared scores on various tests of thinking skills and memory with caffeine, alcohol, and nutrient intake in 727 men and women taking part in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Over all, participants who ranked high on the healthy diet scale did better on 10 tests of memory than those with lower diet scores. The same held true for those who took in more caffeine. The effects for moderate alcohol drinking were mixed.

The caffeine-brain connection

The reason you get a quick wakeup call after chugging a mug of coffee has to do with the way caffeine tricks your brain. Not only is caffeine a brain stimulant, but it also blocks receptors for a chemical called adenosine, which normally prevents the release of excitatory brain chemicals. With adenosine out of the way, these brain-sparking chemicals can flow more freely—giving you a surge of energy and potentially improving mental performance and slowing age-related mental decline.

The Journal of Nutrition study isn’t the last word on the subject of caffeine and memory. It showed that people—particularly those who were ages 70 and over—who took in more caffeine scored better on tests of mental function, but not on memory tests or other measures of mental ability.

Some previous studies have shown improved long-term memory performance and thinking ability in regular caffeine consumers; others haven’t shown any connection.

Drink to your cognitive health?

When it comes to alcohol, its effects on memory and thinking skills may depend on how they are measured and how much you’re drinking. In this study, moderate alcohol use appeared to improve working memory and attention—especially in women and in those ages 70 and over. But those benefits could come at the expense of declines in skills like executive function and global thinking.

Excessive drinking, defined as more than two drinks a day for men or more than one a day for women, is known to harm the brain. Over time, excessive drinking can cause everything from short-term memory lapses to more permanent problems. Any benefits from alcohol seen in the Journal of Nutrition study came from moderate drinking.

Better memory through diet

The study also looked at the connection between diet and mental performance. People who ate foods with plenty of healthful nutrients had better attention and memory than participant with poorer diets. A healthy diet was also linked to good thinking skills in women and participants under age 70. In particular, foods that are part of the Mediterranean diet—fruits, vegetables, nuts, fish, olive oil, and whole grains—show promise for preserving memory and preventing Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

A recipe for maintaining memory

This study is just one of many linking healthy eating habits with maintaining memory and thinking skills into old age. Continuing a healthy diet, or switching to one, makes sense on many levels. It probably is good for your brain, and it’s definitely good for your heart, bones, muscles, and overall health.

As for caffeine? There’s no evidence yet that you need to start drinking coffee or tea to protect your brain. If you like drinking caffeinated beverages, enjoy them. But keep in mind that adding lots of sugar or cream, or getting caffeine via sugar-sweetened soda, may counter any benefits.

What about alcohol? If you enjoy drinking alcohol, keep it moderate—or less. As the researchers write, “alcohol has potentially deleterious effects over time with lower intake being a better choice than moderate intake.”

Better nutrition – better lives

Better nutrition – better lives

 

 

Notwithstanding significant efforts and achievements made by many countries and the positive steps forward made by new initiatives, such as the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement, the last 20 years have seen modest and uneven progress in reducing malnutrition as measured by the targets set by the 1992 International Conference on Nutrition, the World Food Summits of 1996, 2002 and 2009 and the Millennium Development Goals.

FAO’s most recent estimate indicates 842 million people – 12 percent of the world’s population, or one in eight people – are undernourished, unable to meet their dietary energy requirements. An estimated 162 million children under five-years-old are stunted or chronically malnourished, 51 million wasted or acutely malnourished, and 2 billion people suffer one or more micronutrient deficiencies. At the same time, 500 million people are obese.

As a global community, we must collectively strive for nothing less than the end of hunger and the eradication of malnutrition and food and nutrition insecurity.

The various forms of malnutrition often overlap and can coexist within the same country and within the same household. For example, the Commonwealth countries of the Solomon Islands, South Africa, Swaziland and Vanuatu all have the three forms of malnutrition as a problem of public health significance. Significant levels of undernutrition together with multiple micronutrient deficiencies may be found in Bangladesh, Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Guyana, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Maldives, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia. For a number of countries, obesity levels are rising while undernutrition remains a problem (Dominica, Jamaica, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, and Tuvalu), and in the more developed countries of Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Malta, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, rising obesity levels are a major concern.

Exposure to food and nutritional risk factors occurs in all countries and in all socioeconomic groups. However, for those suffering undernutrition, largely due to poverty, year round availability of, and physical and economic access to food, in terms of both calories and adequate variety, nutritional content and safety, remain key determinants. In addition, for such groups, undernutrition is often aggravated, in a vicious cycle, by health related factors such as non-potable water, poor sanitation, and food borne and parasitic infections, and by social and economic factors that result in social exclusion and economic marginalization, poor education, and a lack of appropriate social welfare mechanisms, all of which need to be addressed thoroughly if malnutrition is to be eradicated.

As nutrition is an outcome of multiple factors, comprehensive solutions are needed. Thus, appropriate policy packages across sectors are needed to adequately tackle the multiple burdens of malnutrition in different situations; and food and nutrition security objectives need to be considered across all relevant sectors, with attention to gender being a critical consideration. Improving diets and raising levels of nutrition should be an explicit goal of national development policies, including policies to combat poverty.

It is clear that to promote more balanced and diverse dietary patterns, food systems not only need to make more food available, but to make more nutritious and affordable food items, such as animal sourced foods, legumes, and certain vegetables and fruits, more accessible, while avoiding excessive intakes of sugar, fat and salt. Food systems need to provide year-round access to a variety of such nutrient-rich foods that are also safe and culturally acceptable, and can be sustainably made available as part of a healthy and balanced diet.

National nutrition strategies need to involve all relevant ministries and competent authorities in complementary measures and interventions, supported by the necessary financial, human and other resources as appropriate.

Governments have the ultimate responsibility for the nutritional welfare of their citizens, but leadership on nutrition is often partial and fragmented. Government responsibility for and leadership on nutrition issues and for identifying sustainable national solutions to improve food systems needs to be supported, and coordination and monitoring mechanisms strengthened at community, national and international levels.

Governments’ investment plans should target food systems with the aim of improving the adequacy, availability, accessibility, acceptability and consumption of foods that make up a healthy diet, with research focused on identifying the most efficient local interventions for malnutrition prevention. For this, institutional capacity needs to be built, and effective coordination and monitoring across sectors implemented.

The successful eradication of malnutrition also depends on the active engagement of citizens working with committed, responsible and proactive government, civil society and the private sector through interaction among stakeholders on a common agenda. Collaborative partnerships and engagement by all relevant stakeholders in developing solutions to malnutrition, including responsible investment and research, is important to deliver sustainable improvements.

Investing in nutrition is not only a moral imperative, but it improves productivity and economic growth and reduces healthcare costs, as well as promoting education, intellectual capacity and social development. While the cost of dealing with the effects of malnutrition – whether in fiscal, economic or human terms – is high, the cost of prevention is much less.

One of the main challenges identified for improving food and nutrition security is governance, characterized by a low political commitment, weak institutional arrangements and lack of appropriate coordination/involvement of multiple stakeholders. Volatile international food prices aggravated by increased dependence on world markets and on food imports, low agricultural productivity accentuated by climate change, and post-harvest losses and food waste have also been identified as key challenges.

High-level political commitment as well as improved governance and accountability for more effective and coordinated action by various key stakeholders across sectors and better international and inter-governmental cooperation are essential to sustainably improve nutrition.

The expected outcome of the high-level event will be a political declaration endorsed by countries and a technical Framework for Action that will guide the implementation of the Declaration.
content quoted from
*José Graziano da Silva Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

June/14/2014

PARENTING: How to make sure your child get maintains a healthy diet

from: http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/PARENTING-make-sure-child-maintains-healthy-diet/story-21212547-detail/story.html

 

PARENTING: How to make sure your child get maintains a healthy diet

By The Citizen  |  Posted: June 10, 2014

Fruit and veg

 Comments (4)

LESS than half of parents in the UK are happy with the amount of fruit and veg that their child consumes, according to new research.

The survey of more than 1,000 parents, carried out by drinks company Vegesentials, also found parents spend the equivalent of three days a year coaxing their kids to eat fruit and veg.

Popular techniques among parents to try and encourage little ones to eat their greens include hiding the fruit and vegetables within other dishes, offering rewards and making up stories about the benefits of eating healthily.

Patience Arinaitwe-Mugadu, co-founder and managing director of Vegesentials, said: “We totally understand the struggles parents go through to get fruit and vegetables into their children, it’s a daily battle which any Mum and Dad is familiar with.”

Tesco are also trying to help children and customers to make healthier choices by stopping sweets and chocolates from being sold at checkouts at it’s smaller UK stores.

Julie Rudd, mother of two from Gloucester, said: “I used to make food fun when the kids were younger and they love fresh fruit and veggie. Given a choice of take away fast food they would prefer my healthier home made version.”

NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has eight pieces of advice to start a healthy diet.

Firstly, meals should be based on starchy foods such as cereals, pasta, rice and bread to help children to feel full for longer, and they should be getting their five portions on fruit and veg every day.

Fish is a good source of protein and contains vitamins and minerals, and the CCG says we should aim to have at least two portions a week.

Children aged between 7 to 10 years should eat no more than 5g of salt per day, and younger kids should eat even less. A healthy diet should also cut down on saturated fat and sugar found in cakes and biscuits.

Pip Levett, director of Play Gloucestershire which aims to help children become more active and eat healthily, said: “With the current financial pressures meaning that both parents have to go to work, it is tough for parents to provide a healthier diet.

“But if children have a poor diet it gives them a poor start in life and increases the likelihood that they develop more serious health problems, even before they reach adulthood.

“Copying behaviour is important so if parents eat healthily around their children they would be more encouraged to do the same."

It is important to keep children active so they maintain a healthy weight, so playing outside as much as possible can ensure they remain healthy.

A healthy breakfast is an important part of a balanced diet and can stop children from getting hungry earlier in the day. As the summer approaches, children will be taking on more fluids to stop them from becoming dehydrated. Try to avoid sugary and fizzy drinks which are high in sugars.

Read more: http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/PARENTING-make-sure-child-maintains-healthy-diet/story-21212547-detail/story.html#ixzz36aoNk6e9
Read more at http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/PARENTING-make-sure-child-maintains-healthy-diet/story-21212547-detail/story.html#XE2q1ziK5kPH6yvh.99

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