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Home » Diet » Brain food: How your diet can longer your life – Express.co.uk

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If someone promised you could live to 100, would you want to? Most of us would probably say yes but only if they could guarantee wed be in a fit state to enjoy those extra years. Geneticist Dr Preston Estep isnt exactly promising this, but he does think he has discovered the key to a longer life and a healthier brain in old age by studying cultures in the world where its not that unusual to reach 100.

Hes spent 25 years examining the diets of this mindspan elite and thinks we can all extend our lives, and most crucially our brains health in old age, by following some simple rules.

The longest-lived people in the world are in Okinawa, Japan, and the Mediterranean regions of France and Italy, plus communities of Seventh-Day Adventist Christians in California (teetotal vegetarians). In all three places, rates of dementia and old-age mental decline are also low. Globally, deaths from dementia have risen threefold on average in 20 years.

So how have they managed to keep their rates low while also living longer? Estep, author of The Mindspan Diet and director of gerontology at the Harvard Personal Genome Project in the US, believes its mainly to do with their diet.

At the moment, its impossible to prove which influence cognition more genetic or dietary factors but I believe diet has a substantial and possibly greater capacity to either increase or decrease mindspan, he says After all, we eat 40 tonnes of food in a lifetime.

And guess what? When Okinawans adopt a Western diet, their rates of Alzheimers disease increase and lifespan shortens.

Diet has a substantial and possibly greater capacity to either increase or decrease mindspan

Too many of us wrongly believe longevity and dementia are in our genes (which were born with and cant change). In fact, research has shown that only 20-35 per cent of extreme longevity is genetic, and the rest is due to environmental factors such as diet, sleep, mood, mental stimulation and exercise.

Your genes are not your fate, Dr Estep says. They have the equivalent of volume-control knobs, controlled by nutrients in our food, which can turn them up to full blast and therefore increase our risk of Alzheimers or keep them turned down.

The difference isnt a few years, he argues, but 15 to 20 years of good-quality life. There are no guarantees: some people will get dementia whatever they eat or do, but we can all give ourselves the best possible chance.

Of course, the Japanese and the Mediterraneans have very different diets but its what they have in common that provides the key, he argues. And it isnt what youd expect.

These are his eating recommendations for a healthy brain in midlife and old age

Dont eat too much iron

Adolescents and pre-menopausal women need 14.8 milligrams a day, but men and older women need far less (8.7mg, says the NHS). Yet the recommended daily amount youll see on food labels gives the higher amount. Because governments after the Second World War worried about lack of iron, it was added to flour and breakfast cereals (and still is). But between the 1950s and now, meat consumption has rocketed, so many older adults get too much iron.

Excess consumption can lead to iron deposits in the brain, says Estep, who points out that the top five genes associated with dementia are the ones also involved in trafficking iron. Studies in animals show that high iron diets shorten lifespan, and in 2015 a study of those who ate a Mediterranean diet (less meat, more fish) had larger brains and less neural atrophy than frequent meat eaters. The difference was equivalent to five years of brain ageing.

Estep, 55, now eats red meat only twice a month and no fortified breakfast cereals.

He makes his own bread using non-fortified flour. (In Britain, all flour is fortified except some wholemeal flour and imported French bread flour). Drinking tea and coffee with meals or a small glass of red wine (which the Japanese and Mediterraneans do) stops the body absorbing so much iron, as does eating a small amount of cheese with a meal.

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Eat good carbs and not too much protein

Weve come to think of refined carbohydrates such as white bread, pasta and rice as the enemy. So its surprising to discover that the world leaders in longevity Japan and Mediterranean Italy have traditionally high white-carb diets.

Estep says pasta and white rice have had an unfairly bad rap over the years: they are fairly low on the glycaemic index (how fast they hit your bloodstream after eating), which is good. Converted rice, which has been parboiled as part of the processing, is the best, followed by basmati. Look out for rice with a high amylose content, as it slows digestion. When buying pasta, look for Italian-made that isnt fortified with iron.

The Western fashion is for high-protein, lower-carb diets but this is the opposite of long-lived cultures, where protein intake is low, particularly animal protein. More of their protein comes from fish (Japan), and grain/beans and legumes (Mediterranean). His mindspan elite cultures eat about a third less protein than the mindspan risk populations.

Try to get at least half your proteins from plant sources such as grains, rice, beans and veg. Eggs and cheese are better than meat.

Slow down and start with soup

Both Japanese and Mediterranean cultures eat slowly and meals are a social experience. That means you eat less, and digestion is spread over a longer time. The Japanese have a traditional saying, hara hachi bun me, which translates as eat until you are 80 per cent full. Both cultures also tend to start a meal with soup, which Estep believes prepares the body gently for the rise in blood sugar to come, and the resulting sugar spike isnt as high.

Get a good balance of fats

Ideally we should be getting about equal amounts of the two fats omega 6 (in sunflower oil, meat) and omega 3 (in nuts, oily fish, green leafy veg). But in Western diets, its more like 10:1 in favour of omega 6. This imbalance is linked to inflammation, heart disease and shorter lifespans.

Avoid vegetable oils such as corn and sunflower and opt for rapeseed/canola, which has a better balance of omega 3 to 6 fats, plus olive oil. Look for cold-pressed oils the darker the oil, the better. Snack on nuts: walnuts, pecans, macadamia, hazel, almonds (keep them in airtight container to prevent oxidisation). And go for free-range eggs, with more omega 3 and less omega 6.

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Eat fish (but not too much)

Fish (especially oily fish such as sardines, fresh tuna, wild salmon and anchovies) is wonderful brain food because of the omega 3 it contains, which builds up brain membranes. But its important not to overdo it:

95 per cent of Japanese people eat it once a day or less and dont eat large quantities in a single meal. Go for small portions a few times a week: for example, a bite-sized piece of pickled herring several times a week plus one dish with sardines or anchovies once a week. These kinds of small fish tend to have lower levels of mercury and they are favourites of the mindspan elite, says Estep.

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Eat fermented foods

Mindspan elite diets are rich in fermented foods (pickled vegetables, vinegar, yoghurt, soft cheeses and alcohol in moderation) or foods that the body is able to ferment such as greens, leeks, garlic, onions, beans and chickpeas. The French and Italians lead the world in the consumption of vinegar and wine, and in Japan miso, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sake and fermented vegetables are staple foods.

Why are they so good? They feed our microbiome the millions of microbes that make up our gut, and which is vital for brain health (the gut produces two thirds of the bodys neurotransmitters) and the immune system. Fermented foods also slow digestion of starches and sugars, softening the sugar spikes, and can keep weight low. Estep pickles his own vegetables and starts every day with a cup of miso soup with a teaspoon of vinegar.

The Mindspan Diet (Oneworld, 14.99) is out now. See Express Bookshop atexpressbookshop.co.uk.

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Brain food: How your diet can longer your life - Express.co.uk

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Home » Diet » Brain food: How your diet can longer your life – Express.co.uk