It’s not just our bodies that age — so do our brains.

And like our bodies, the aging of each individual’s brain doesn’t occur at the same pace.

Some people have brains that seem to stay younger, longer, while for others, the clock seems to speed by, leaving telltale signs of memory loss, cognitive decline and brain shrinkage in its wake.

I don’t know about you, but I know which of those groups I want to be in.

That’s why when I heard that researchers had identified a specific nutrient profile in the blood of ‘super-agers’ they say keeps their brains young, I had to know what it was and how to make it happen for my brain.

The secret to keeping a young brain

The research, from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, compared the brains of 100 cognitively healthy participants, aged 65-75.

Not only did the scientist assess their abilities using cognitive tests, but blood was collected to analyze nutritional biomarkers and MRI scans were performed.

When the data was analyzed, they were able to isolate two types of brain aging among the participants — accelerated and slower-than-expected.

And among those who exhibited signs of slower brain aging, the researchers saw a distinct nutrient profile in their blood work.

The beneficial nutrients were a combination of:

Not surprisingly, this nutritional profile is associated with one of the healthiest diets — especially in terms of brain aging: the Mediterranean diet!

“We investigated specific nutrient biomarkers, such as fatty acid profiles, known in nutritional science to potentially offer health benefits. This aligns with the extensive body of research in the field demonstrating the positive health effects of the Mediterranean Diet, which emphasizes foods rich in these beneficial nutrients,” said lead study author Aron Barbey, director of the Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior at the University of Nebraska.

A nutritional profile that stops the clock

Unlike many other studies on nutrition and brain aging that typically rely on food questionnaires and participant self-reporting, Barbey noted that theirs is one of the first and the largest to combine brain imaging, blood biomarkers and validated cognitive assessments.

According to Barbey, “We move beyond simply measuring cognitive performance with traditional neuropsychological tests. Instead, we simultaneously examine brain structure, function, and metabolism, demonstrating a direct link between these brain properties and cognitive abilities. Furthermore, we show that these brain properties are directly linked to diet and nutrition, as revealed by the patterns observed in nutrient biomarkers.”

If you’re convinced of the brain-saving potential of the Mediterranean diet, there are a few versions you can choose from that may also align with existing health goals:

• The basic diet includes eating healthy fats, whole grains, fish and eggs, nuts and seeds, and, most importantly, loads of fresh veggies and fruits.
• MedDairy – Upping the dairy on your Mediterranean diet has been shown to support healthy cognitive function, mood, blood pressure and more.
• Pesco-Mediterranean – Removing white and red meat from the diet and eating more fish and seafood is a great way to keep cardiovascular disease at bay. And we all know that the omega-3s found in fish are also great for our brains.
• Green Mediterranean – This diet sticks to its traditional roots but adds in green tea, walnuts and a shake made with duckweed (an aquatic green plant that is high in protein, iron, vitamin B12, and polyphenols) daily. It delivers the benefits of the normal Mediterranean diet but is twice as effective at burning visceral body fat.

In addition to doing as super-agers do, it’s just as important to avoid the the three factors that age your brain the fastest.

Sources:

Food for thought: Study links key nutrients with slower brain aging – EurekAlert!