As spring arrives, you can dust off the bottles of vitamins cluttering up your kitchen shelf space. If you’re looking for a way to keep your mind sharp and young, you only need two popular supplements.
As for what those are? According to new research, some of the best supplements you can take for your brain are actually the ones feeding trillions of bacteria to your gut.
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Published in Nature Communications, the study found that taking protein and prebiotic supplements can help improve memory in people over 16 years old.
Considering how many studies have linked low income and financial strain to a greater likelihood of dementia, this is great information to have. Now we know that affordable, plant-based supplements provide an accessible solution to protecting against cognitive decline.
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Thousands of research studies have looked into what type of vitamin or supplement works best for brain health, but this study stands out because of its unique decision to enroll twins. Twins are an incredible asset to science because they allow researchers to eliminate any genetic factors, focusing solely on how the supplements influence cognitive decline.
The authors recruited 36 twin pairs over age 60 who were randomly selected to take a prebiotic in protein powder or a placebo in protein powder daily for 12 weeks. Prebiotics are plant fibers that are a food source for the gut microbiome.
The most common plant-based prebiotics are inulin and fructooligosaccharides (FOS). Inulin is a dietary fiber in foods such as chicory root, onion and garlic. FOS is also found in onions and garlic and is often used as a low-calorie sweetener. Plant-based prebiotic supplements are mostly available over the counter at a low price.
Related: Taking These Two Supplements May Reduce Cancer Risk by 61%
After three months, the twins took a cognitive test and those who took the plant-based prebiotic had higher scores than their twin who had the placebo. The same visual memory and learning tests used in the study are used to detect early Alzheimer’s.
“We are excited to see these changes in just 12 weeks. This holds huge promise for enhancing brain health and memory in our ageing population,” said Dr. Mary Ni Lochlainn, a lecturer at King’s College London and the lead study author.
When looking at stool samples of twins, the researchers saw that people who took the prebiotic supplement had more growth of good gut bacteria. For example, they noticed high populations of Bifidobacterium, which help with preventing infections and cancers.
“Unlocking the secrets of the gut-brain axis could offer new approaches for living more healthily for longer,” Lochlainn concluded.
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Sources
"Socioeconomic disparities in six-year incident dementia in a nationally representative cohort of U.S. older adults: an examination of financial resources." BMC Geriatrics."Effect of gut microbiome modulation on muscle function and cognition: the PROMOTe randomised controlled trial." Nature Communications.Mary Ni Lochlainn, lecturer at King’s College London and first study author"Recent Development of Probiotic Bifidobacteria for Treating Human Diseases." Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. Read More Details
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