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Five
Brain-
Drainers
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17th July 2023 – 28th Dhū Al-Hijjah 1444AH 0

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َ ْ َّ ْ
ِ ‫ب ِسِم ا'ِ الَّرحم ِٰن الَّر‬
‫حيِم‬

Five Brain-Drainers

Optimizing your brain function is not only

about getting the right nutrients. It's also
important to minimize the nutrients that
can pollute the brain and potentially
damage and age it.

Here are five 'anti-nutrients' for the memory that

you should avoid.

#1 Oxidants

The dry matter of the brain is made up of 60 per

cent fat, and therefore the kind of fat you eat alters
the kind of fat in your brain. The worst fats you
can eat are called 'trans' fats, which are damaged
fats found in deep fried food and foods containing
hydrogenated vegetable oils. Therefore avoid
these fats by limiting your intake of fried food, and
don't buy foods containing hydrogenated fats.

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Why are trans fats so bad for you?

Trans fats are one of the main factors that

introduce oxidants into the body, other factors
are smoking and pollution. These fats are taken
directly into the brain after being eaten, and cause
a chain reaction of damage to the essential fats
attached to phospholipids in nerve cell
membranes.

They also block the conversion of essential fats

into vital brain fats. As the brain is more than half
made up of fat, there is a danger of these fats
becoming oxidized or going rancid.

The good news is that Vitamin E can protect your

brain from these damaging effects. Vitamin E is a
fat-based antioxidant and many studies have
shown that it is consistently associated with
better memory performance. [1,2]

Vitamin E is properly called 'd-alpha tocopherol',

and is present in foods like seeds, cold-pressed
seed oils and fish.

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#2 Sugar

Eating lots of sugary foods and refined

carbohydrates makes it difficult to maintain even
blood sugar levels.

Another reason sugar is bad for you is that it uses

up your body's stores of vitamins and minerals
and provides next to none in return.

Conclusive evidence has shown that high sugar

consumption is linked to poor mental health.
Researchers have found that the higher the intake
of refined carbohydrates, the lower the IQ. [3]

Sugar has also been implicated in depression [4],

learning difficulties [5], aggressive behavior [6]
and anxiety [7].

So the message is clear, if you want to optimize

your mental performance, cut back on sugar and
refined carbohydrates.

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#3 Stimulants

Blood sugar problems can also be affected by

excessive intake of stimulants. When blood sugar
levels dips, one way to raise them is to eat more
glucose; the other is to raise your levels of the
stress hormones adrenalin and cortisol.
Consuming a stimulant like tea, coffee or
chocolate is one way to do this.

Studies have shown that coffee is not only

addictive, it also worsens mental performance.
One study showed that moderate and high
consumers of coffee (more than 1 cup a day) had
higher levels of depression, anxiety, and other
medical problems, as well as lower academic
performance, than abstainers. [8]

Caffeine blocks receptor to the brain whose job it

is to stop the release of the neurotransmitters
dopamine and adrenalin. This causes the levels of
these hormones to increase, as do alertness and
motivation. The more caffeine is consumed, the
more the body and brain become insensitive to
their own natural stimulants, dopamine and
adrenalin, and therefore need more of these to feel

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normal, pushing the body to produce more and

more, eventually causing adrenal exhaustion.

If you want to stay in top mental health, restrict

your intake of stimulants, including coffee, tea,
cola, energy drinks and chocolate. The occasional
cup of tea or coffee is unlikely to cause a problem
and may even be beneficial due to the high
polyphenol content, which acts as an antioxidant.

#4 Stress

Stress increases levels of the hormone cortisol,

and cortisol damages the brain. According to
research conducted at Stanford University, two
weeks of raised cortisol levels caused by stress
causes the connections between brain cells to
shrivel up. [9]

Numerous other studies have shown that

elevated cortisol levels are linked to impaired
memory function [10]. However, another study
found that that high levels of another stress
hormone, DHEA, contributed to improved
memory. [11]

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This adrenal hormone, dehydroepiandrosterone,

or DHEA, not only helps to control stress, it also
maintains proper mineral balance and builds lean
body mass while reducing fat tissue. Levels of this
hormone can be boosted with stress management
through diet, exercise and lifestyle changes, as
well as supplementation.

Prolonged stress also disturbs blood sugar

balance, which can affect memory and alertness,
as well as potentially damaging the brain, as
explained earlier.

#5 Toxic minerals

Potentially harmful chemicals are used

everywhere, from the food we eat, to in our
homes. Much of our fresh food is sprayed with
pesticides and herbicides, and chemicals have
made their way into our homes through
cookware, fumes, our water supply and many
other ways. These chemicals are sometimes
classified as anti-nutrients- substances that
interfere with either our ability to absorb essential
nutrients, or promote the loss of nutrients from
the body.

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The full effects of toxic minerals on our mental

health is not yet known, but studies have shown
that high intakes of lead, aluminium, mercury,
certain food colorings and other chemicals can
have a disastrous effect on intellectual
performance and behavior.

The good news is that certain substances, called

chelators, can latch onto these toxic minerals
when they have been absorbed by the body, and
try to take them out. Vitamin C is especially
effective at removing heavy metals in the blood.
[12] Other useful vitamins are zinc, calcium and
selenium. [13]

There are also some foods that can help to clear

the brain of toxicity. Sulfur-containing amino-
acids as found in garlic, onions and eggs can
protect against mercury, cadmium and lead
toxicity. The pectin from apples, carrots and
citrus fruits can also help chelate and remove
heavy metals.

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References

[1] A.J. Perkins et al., 'Association of antioxidants with memory in a

multiethnic elderly sample using the Third National health and
nutrition Examination Survey', Am J Epidemiol, Vol 150(1), 1999,
pp. 37-44
[2] J. Perrig et al., 'The relation between antioxidants and memory
performance in the old and very old', JAm Geriatr Soc, Vol 45(6),
1997, pp. 718-24

[3] A.G. Shauss, 'Nutrition and behavior', Journal of Applied nutrition, Vol
35(1), 198 pp. 30-35 and MIT Conference Proceedings on Research
Strategies for Assessing the Behavioural Effects of Foods and
Nutrients, 1982
[4] L. Christensen, 'Psychological distress and diet - effects of sucrose and
caffeine', J Appl Nutr, Vol 40(1), 1988, pp. 44-50
[5] M. Colgan and L. Colgan, 'Do nutrient supplements and dietary changes
affect lean and emotional reactions of children with learning
difficulties? A controlled series cases', Nutr health, Vol 3, 1984, pp.
69-77
[6] D. Benton et al., 'Mild hypoglycaemia and questionnaire measures of
aggression', Biol Psychol, Vol 14(1-2), 1982, pp. 129-35
[7] M. Bruce and M. Lader, 'Caffeine abstention and the management of
anxiety disorders', Psychol Med, Vol 19, 1989, pp. 211-14
[8] K. Gilliland and D. Andress, 'Ad lib caffeine consumption, symptoms of
caffeinism, and academic performance', American Journal of
Psychiatry, Vol 138(4), 1981, pp. 512-4
[9] R.M. Sapolsky, 'Why stress is bad for your brain', Science, Vol 273(5276),
1996, pp. 749-50
[10] C. Kirschbaum et al., 'Stress- and treatment-induced elevations of
cortisol levels associated with impaired declarative memory in
healthy adults', Life Sci, Vol 58(17), 1996, pp. 1475 83
[11] LE Carlson et al., 'Relationships between dehydroepiandrosterone
sulfate (DHEAS) and cortisol (CRT) plasma levels and everyday
memory in Alzheimer's disease patients compared to healthy
controls', Horm Behav 35(3), 1999, pp. 254-63
[12] R. Goyer and M.G. Cherian, 'Ascorbic acid and EDTA treatment of lead
toxicity in rats', Life Sci, Vol 24(5), 1979, pp. 433-8
[13] E.J. O'Flaherty, 'Modeling normal aging bone loss, with consideration of
bone loss in osteoporosis', Toxicol Sci, Vol 55(1), 2000, pp. 171-88

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