Promoting Brain Health and Reducing the Risk of Dementia (Part 1)
by Dr. Louise Gagné

There are many risk factors for dementia. Quite a number of them are under our control. Here are practical steps you can take to improve your brain health and help protect yourself and your family.

Feed Your Brain in Healthy Ways

Choose a wonderfully varied, plant-based diet of unprocessed foods, with at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Use extra virgin olive oil, and include green tea and spices like rosemary, oregano, basil, and parsley that have powerful antioxidant properties. Make sure you are getting a good balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. One of the things I recommend is that people increase their intake of fatty ocean fish that is rich in omega- 3s and low in environmental contaminants. Good choices are salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, and herring.

Choose Lower Temperature Cooking Methods 

One of the causes of inflammation and oxidative stress in our bodies, that does not get enough attention in the general medical literature, is the presence of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) Many of the compounds of this kind that we end up with in our body are actually coming from our diet, and they tend to come in foods that have been cooked at high temperatures, such as grilling, frying, barbequing, and broiling. We know from a number of studies that higher levels of AGEs are significantly associated with greater brain shrinkage, and greater atrophy of the hippocampus, which is an area of our brain that is absolutely critical for learning and for memory.

How do you get less AGEs from food? Use lower temperature cooking methods and eat a plant-based, whole, unprocessed food diet. Avoid deep fried foods and barbequed meats. Moist heat cooking is much better than dry heat, so use cooking methods such as stewing, poaching, boiling, and steaming. Dry heat can increase the formation of AGEs by 10 to 100 times. Cook meat using acidic ingredients such as lemon juice, vinegar, or tomato juice. Add antioxidant rich foods such as turmeric, onions, garlic, and lemon juice, as these can help to counteract the formation of AGEs. 

Practice Intermittent Fasting

I recommend fasting for a minimum of 12 hours from the end of your evening meal to the beginning of your breakfast, having only water during that time. Why is this important for your brain? If we quit eating for a while, and stop the midnight snacks, then our body goes to work clearing house in the brain, and a lot of debris and deposits that can be harmful to our brain are cleared out while we are sleeping, and while we are in a fasting state. We can also grow new neurons and new mitochondria, which are our little power plants in our cells, and we can do repairs on our DNA.

Intermittent fasting also lowers two of the underlying causes of chronic illness, namely oxidative stress and inflammation.

Address High Blood Pressure

Hypertension is the most important modifiable risk factor for cognitive impairment and vascular dementia. Everyone in their midlife should be aiming for a systolic blood pressure no higher than 130. If your blood pressure is not under optimal control, work with your health care provider to improve your diet and lifestyle, or have your medication adjusted.

Get Regular Exercise  

To maintain and improve brain health, get regular exercise. Wonderful things happen when we exercise. First, we make more of a wonderful compound known as BDNF (Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor). BDNF helps us to protect our neurons and helps us grow new neurons in the brain. Higher levels of BDNF are also protective against the occurrence of dementia. Also, when we exercise, we get better blood flow to the brain. Our mood can improve, and of course, exercise can help the health of our heart, our lungs, our digestive system, and our bones.

It is really important to find forms of exercise you enjoy doing. I recommend a minimum of 150 minutes per week.

Practice Lifelong Learning

Education is very valuable for our brain. We can encourage our children and grandchildren to get more education.

Moreover, you want to keep your brain stimulated with new things throughout your life. For example, tackle learning a new language, learning a musical instrument, or playing various kinds of brain games.

Protect Your Hearing

Hearing loss is a very common problem in adults over 65 and we know it is associated with a decline in cognitive function. We also know it is a modifiable risk factor. It is really important for us to be teaching our young people to protect their hearing throughout life. 

If you have hearing loss, wear a good pair of hearing aids. This can help delay and slow down the progression of any dementia risk related to hearing loss. 

Address Other Factors

• Improve your dental hygiene (brush, floss, and use a water pic) and treat chronic infections
• Quit smoking and reduce alcohol consumption
• Stay away from processed carbohydrates
• Move away from fast food and prepackaged foods
• Reduce exposure to environmental toxins
• Treat depression
• Do your best to avoid traumatic brain injury
• Reduce chronic stress using mind–body medicine
• Get at least seven hours of sleep each night

The material in this article was prepared by Dr. Louise Gagné. It is the first in a two part series. Louise practiced medicine in Saskatoon for over 35 years and completed a Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona with Dr. Andrew Weil. She taught nutrition and integrative medicine at the University of Saskatchewan for 15 years. This article was sourced from both her spoken and written words in a presentation she made at the University of Saskatchewan. Dr. Gagné passed away in April of 2023.