Already, one in five people older


than 65 suffer from “mild cognitive impairment” (persistent memory problems severe enough to be noticeable by others). According to the Alzheimer’s Association, if we live to age 90, as many as half of us could ultimately be diagnosed with that disease.


The good news: Such fates are far from inevitable.


“People seem to expect that as soon as we start to need reading glasses, we should also expect some of these cognitive issues to arise, but it does not need to be that way,” says Naples, Florida-based Neurology Doctor David Perlmutter, co-author of Power up Your Brain. “You can absolutely do things early on in life and throughout your lifetime that work to maintain the bulk and function of the brain.”


Here’s how: S t ay l e a n .


A Brain-Building Blueprint How to Keep the Mind Young


and Memory Sharp by Lisa Marshall


“Have you seen my keys?” “Now, why did I come in here?” “Her name is on the tip of my tongue.” If you catch yourself uttering such phrases, listen up:


“M 12


emory generally starts to decline in our 30s, as the brain shrinks with age.


One of the first and most prominent signs is that ‘tip of the tongue’ phenomenon,” advises neuroscientist Sandra Aamodt, Ph.D., co-author of Welcome to Your Brain.


Studies show that the adult brain


can shrink as much as one-half to 1 percent annually in midlife, as


NANashville Edition


neurons in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus wither and the branches between them thin. Add hormonal changes, which can starve gray matter of nourishing estrogen and progesterone; less-than-stellar cardiovascular health, which tends to limit blood flow to the brain; and a gummy protein called amyloid plaque, which can hamper neuronal function; and cognitive decline may be exacerbated.


I t may s e em


counterintuitive, but mounting evidence suggests that in order to grow a bigger brain, many of us should be eating less. “The key to the brain maintaining and even regenerating itself is the activation of a set of genes that code for a protein called brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF),” explains Perlmutter. “BDNF is significantly enhanced in people that simply cut down their calorie consumption.” Several animal and human studies


support this conclusion. One 2009 study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, divided 50 men and women age 50 and older into three groups that slashed calorie intake by 20 percent, 30 percent and not at all. After three months, the groups that restricted their calories saw their verbal memory scores jump by more than 20 percent. Perlmutter notes that just being


overweight in the prime of life can promote excess inflammation and free radical production—two enemies of a healthy brain. A 2005 study of 10,000 men and women conducted by researchers at Kaiser Permanente found that people that were obese in their early 40s had a 74 percent increased risk of developing dementia later in


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