Supplementation for a kick ass brain
I’m a happy supplementer … some would say a little too enthusiastic at times (or is that obsessive?) … So I don’t need much motivation other than it may be good for you, to try a supplement, however, many others feel a balanced diet should take care of any extra need.
In an ideal world a balanced diet would be easy to follow and would completely take care of everything our body and brain needs. Unfortunately most diets are extremely poor in the balance and span of nutrients. Environmentally we live in a more chronically stressed world which leads to a faster depletion of stored nutrients and our farming has changed, many of these vegetables and fruits don’t contain nearly as much of the good stuff as they used to early in the last century. Just bite an organic piece of fruit and compare with a store bought one…no comparison!
As always if you do decide to try any of the following supplements, please check with a doctor first, you never know how they will interact with your diet and current medications.
A fascinating study was done on 30 retired NFL players. NFL players are a great group to test cognition on as they have all been afflicted with head injuries in their playing life. Cognition later in life is very affected by any head trauma of the past, often even minor ones.
The ex players were encouraged to lose weight and take the following supplements for 6 months.
Vinpocetine 15 mg
Fish Oil - 1720 mg EPA and 1160 mg DHA
Ginkgo Extract 120mg
Alpha Lipoic acid 300mg
Acetyl -L Carnitine 1000mg
Huperzine A 150 mcg
N-actetyl-cysteine 600mg
High potency Multi Vitamin
After 6 months they were retested and significant increases were noted in attention, memory, reasoning, information process and accuracy. Scans showed increased cerebral blood flow throughout most of the brain!
Lets look further at each supplement and see what it is that made such an incredible difference
Fish Oil
“The human brain is nearly 60 percent fat. We’ve learned in recent years that fatty acids are among the most crucial molecules that determine your brain’s integrity and ability to perform. Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are required for maintenance of optimal health but they can not synthesized by the body and must be obtained from dietary sources.”
Fish oil is anti inflammatory, and we just don’t get nearly enough in our diet, unless you eat fresh salmon a few times a week. Not all fish oil is created equal its worth looking for a good quality one. You can easily check the one you have bought by either piercing one capsule, if the oil smells bad, then its rancid as it should be relatively odourless, OR store the fish oil in the fridge….if it looks cloudy, its likely to be poor quality. For a real anti-inflammatory synergistic effect, pair your fish oil with turmeric and a bit of black pepper (pipeline).
Vinpocetine
Vinopocetine is a man made chemical created from the periwinkle plant. It is thought to increase cerebral blood flow and is used to enhance memory and prevent alzheimers. Its sometimes used to prevent a stroke or at least prevent disability from one as it prevents blood clotting and that can help reduce the likely hood of clots stopping blood flow to the brain, therefore keeping oxygen and nutrients flowing through and reducing neuronal death.
Ginkgo Extract
Ginkgo biloba increases blood flow in the brain like vinpocetine.
Alpha lipoic acid
Alpha lipoid acid increases antioxidant activity which reduces the harmful effects of oxidation in the hippocampus. It is also helpful in reducing blood brain permeability, a leaky brain.
Acetyl L-carnitine
Acetyl-L-Carnitine might enhance NSC proliferation and adult hippocampal neurogenesis by regulating proneural genes and cell survival related signals
N-acetyl cysteine
N acetyl cysteine increases antioxidant activity, reducing oxidative effects by increasing glutathione levels (These levels are found to be much lower in a stressed brain environment)
Huperzine A
Huperzine A increases nutrients for neurotransmitters through acetyl choline and may support proliferation of hippocampal neural stem cells.
This is a big stack, and it worked.
These were sportsmen with acknowledged cognitive difficulties due to past head trauma and they all benefited. That makes this stack a very interesting one to consider.
For the Everyday person
Perhaps you have no or little concern for your cognitive health but would like something easy and simple to supplement with to protect and strengthen your brain and keep yourself from developing any issues later.
These other supplements are also recommended by experts in the field of brain health.
First, they all seemed to agree that a high potency multi/vitamin mineral and quality fish oil supplement is a staple. The following ones are also recommended.
Vitamin D3
Most of us are Vitamin D3 deficient. This is due to our diet and more particularly our lifestyle. Get your levels checked and make sure to have your supplement with a fatty meal or with the fishtail as this will help the body absorb it. Vitamin D may support the synthesis of neurotrophic factors and neurotrophin receptors, and thereby support NSC proliferation and differentiation, neuronal maturation and growth, neuronal survival, and synaptogenesis.
Magnesium
Consensus seems that we are all magnesium deficient. Magnesium is part of over 300 enzymatic reactions in our bodies, so is extremely important to keep topped up. The kind of magnesium is also important, most forms bought in stores are not very bio available to the body. Magnesium Threonate is hard to find, but has some interesting studies stating it can cross the blood brain barrier very well, so grab that one if possible. If not choose either a glycinate or citrate version. Dr Mark Hyman, an American GP and a loud voice in natural health and preventing brain decline, recommends 300-400mg of magnesium taken before bed to relax the brain, nervous system and muscles.
He also recommends Vit D 3, Omega 3, High quality, potent, bio available and broad spectrum Multivitamin / mineral and to make sure the magnesium is a citrate or glycinate form.
Creatine
Creatine is a wonderful supplement to increase your strength and power but did you know its also really helpful as a nootropic (substances that increase cognition). It can have a neural protective effect by slowing down neuronal cell death. It also can increase levels of glutamate (a neural transmitter), aid learning, memory, and even help with depression! This study found it worked to improve memory and cognition in older and stressed people.
Try 2 or more milligrams a day.
Probiotics
The brain and the gut are inextricably linked. If our gut isn’t happy, neither will the brain be. A whole food diet will do a lot to restore the integrity not the gut lining and bacteria. These beneficial bacteria can improve your digestion, reduce food allergies, and reduce gut inflammation. Gut health plays a powerful role in brain health. When you don’t have the right gut diversity, inflammation and things like leaky brain can occur, setting the stage for diverse problems ranging from brain fog to dementia.
Add a quality, broad spectrum pro and pre biotic to your diet to facilitate gut health. Pre biotics include fibre such as psyllium husk and glucomannan. These two make excellent thickners in soups and sauces. Fermented foods include apple cider, kefir, sauerkraut, kombucha etc.
Always try to get the best quality possible as there can be quite a difference in efficacy of these foods and probiotics. Its hard to find a high quality and brand spectrum probiotic…often these supplements contain very little live bacteria….an expensive exercise, so best to stick with fermented foods where possible.
Is that it?
NO!
There is a whole field of nootropics out there from the Racetams to Modafinil. Some freely available, some prescription only. This is another huge bag of interesting things but I won’t be covering that today, however, please send me a question if you are all curious. Its an interesting field.
Is supplementation worth it?
Obviously this is up to you. Unfortunately the food is not like it was 100 years ago. The fruits, meats grains and vegetables are less nutritious and even now inflammatory (in the cases of grain fed meat and modern grains). Our lifestyle is more prone to chronic low level stress, less activity, poorer posture, more estrogenic (poorly metabolised versions such as is found in cling wraps, plastic containers) and all this leads to our bodies and minds needing additional nutrition to make up the lack and further nutrition to counter those environmental antagonists we are all subject to as mentioned above.
Of course always check what supplements you want to take with a doctor or nutritionist before hand. Also do yourself a favour and get regular blood tests to check all levels and create a baseline for you to compare changes. This will provide a really useful history you can reflect back on in the years to come.
With all supplementation, cycling your intake is often recommended, and of course this keeps the costs down. Supplementation can be quite costly. Join the mailing lists of your favourite sites and shops and look out for their specials and buy up.
The following are some useful sites I have used in the past (I have no affiliation with any of them)
iherb.com.au
Good Australian sites:
Bulknutrition.com.au
Createyourownsupplement.com
If you have any good sites or supplements you would recommend, please write them in the comments section below as well as what country you are from.
Thanks again, and happy supplementing!