Last year I posted about the powerfully negative effects chronic stress has on your memory and brain. Now, a new study [Reference below] published in the June 12, 2007 journal of Neurology provides further evidence this is true by showing:

People who are chronically distressed are 40 percent more likely to develop Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) - a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia syndromes.

These findings are consistent with dozens of earlier studies showing stress damages the hippocampus- the memory engine of the brain.

A related post relates how stress is sticky, and where in the brain it settles.

[Reference]: Chronic distress and incidence of mild cognitive impairment. R. S. Wilson, J. A. Schneider, P. A. Boyle, S. E. Arnold, Y. Tang, and D. A. Bennett. Neurology 2007 68: 2085-2092

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Andre Waters was an NFL defensive back for 12 years. During his playing years, he sustained multiple concussions. He committed suicide November 2006 at the age of 44.

The results of his brain autopsy have just been announced, and the pathologist from the University of Pittsburgh concluded that his brain cells had the appearance of an 85-year-old man with Alzheimer’s disease. The pathologist also contends that the severe brain changes were caused by the multiple concussions Andre Walters had while playing football.

There is little doubt in my mind that multiple concussions (even as few as 2 or 3) can seriously damage your brain and lead to cognitive impairment, personality changes, and depression. I’ve seen this scenario present itself many times in clinic. Importantly, even one concussion can take a significant toll on your brain power.

Despite the fact there’s been a large number of studies published that support this view, the NFL is in denial.

Unfortunately, this denial trickles down to high school and college athletics. With well over 300,000 concussions happening per year in the U.S., parents need to really think twice about letting their kids play contact sports like football and hockey.

And what most people don’t realize, interestingly, is that a concussion doesn’t always involve losing consciousness or passing out. If you develop any confusion or disorientation whatsoever, you’ve met the American Academy of Neurology’s criteria for having one.

[For further reading, Michael Kaplen has some good posts up on his blog about concussions and the NFL, as well as traumatic brain injury.]

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I stopped regularly drinking milk years ago for health reasons, and- based on the sheer volume of milk propaganda going around- have always felt the dairy industry has had an unnatural grip on American dietary habits.

From the site www.milksucks.com:

Dairy products are a health hazard. They contain no fiber or complex carbohydrates and are laden with saturated fat and cholesterol. They are contaminated with cow’s blood and pus and are frequently contaminated with pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics. Dairy products are linked to allergies, constipation, obesity, heart disease, cancer, and other diseases.

The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, America’s leading authority on child care, spoke out against feeding cow’s milk to children, saying it can cause anemia, allergies, and insulin-dependent diabetes and in the long term, will set kids up for obesity and heart disease, America’s number one cause of death.

And dairy products may actually cause osteoporosis, not prevent it, since their high-protein content leaches calcium from the body. Population studies, backed up by a groundbreaking Harvard study of more than 75,000 nurses, suggest that drinking milk can actually cause osteoporosis

Came across a very recent study showing that the more milk you drink each day, the more likely you are to get Parkinson’s disease- a horrible degenerative disease of the brain that is surprisingly common in the elderly.

Men who consumed more than 16oz of milk a day were 2.3 times more likely to develop Parkinson’s than those who drank no milk at all.

The study, conducted by researchers at Korea University, was published in the journal Neurology.

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Out of the many different types of vegetables, green leafy vegetables appear to be most effective in protecting the brain from memory loss as we get older. At least according to a new study out of Rush University Medical center in Chicago and published in the journal Neurology.

The study’s author Martha Morris points to the high vitamin E content in vegetables as a possible explanation for the beneficial effect, but I doubt it. More likely are the multitude of phytochemicals.

Nonetheless, the magnitude of the effect is impressive. According to Morris,

Compared to people who consumed less than one serving of vegetables a day, people who ate at least 2.8 servings of vegetables a day saw their rate of cognitive change slow by roughly 40 percent

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Came across a study published in the September 2006 issue of the European Journal of Neurology that compares Ginkgo Biloba to Aricept in the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease.

Aricept is a cholinesterase inhibitor- it boosts the amount of acetylcholine available in the brain for nerve cell communication. Reminyl and Exelon are also used to treat Alzheimer’s disease, and work in a similar fashion

There aren’t many studies that compare the two head to head, but this one shows Ginkgo Biloba is clinically as effective as Aricept.

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