Bad Food for Your Brain: Watch Out for These 5 Culprits
There are foods that have been proven to affect a particular mood. Mood food exists. For example, the Mediterranean diet has been shown to reduce the risk of depression, while eating ultra-processed food actually increases the risk of depression. There are also foods that are bad for your brain. We’re sharing 5 culprits that can slow down your brain – and even make you dumber.
Green tea, blueberries and whole grains give your brain a health boost. On the other hand, research also identifies culprits that have the opposite effect:
1. Sugar
An obvious one. Besides the fact that sugar makes you gain weight, it’s also bad for your brain. Six weeks of going all out on soft drinks (and shockingly, this is how much sugar soft drinks contain!), candy and snacks high in sugar is enough to impair your brain capacity, let alone if you do this for a longer period. If you need a boost but don’t want to use sugar, have some omega-3, which is found in, among other things, salmon and walnuts.
2. Artificial sweeteners
Do you think you’re better off with light products? Think again… Artificial sweeteners – the name says it all: artificial – are bad for you. And these culprits are found in so many products. Ketchup, breakfast cereals and even vitamin pills, for example. The well-known artificial sweetener aspartame, for example, has been directly linked to anxiety in research. It also causes oxidation, increasing harmful free radicals in the brain.
3. Tuna
Speaking of omega-3, eating fish is healthy because it’s packed with it. But some types of fish, such as tuna, also contain mercury. Scientists thought that the omega-3 would compensate for the mercury, but research showed that excessive tuna consumption (read: every day) resulted in a five percent lower score on an IQ test. So don’t eat tuna too often – and choose fish species that are low in mercury. These include salmon, trout, squid, sardines and herring.
4. Egg-white omelet
Eggs make you happy. Literally. They contain tryptophan, an amino acid precursor to serotonin. The latter is known as the happiness chemical. So go ahead and eat plenty of eggs. But watch out: if you leave out the yolk, you miss an important neuroprotective nutrient: choline. Adults who include more choline in their diet perform better on verbal and visual memory tests. They’re also less likely to experience cognitive decline later in life. So from now on, just eat the whole egg. The cholesterol myth surrounding egg yolks was debunked a long time ago too.
5. Microwave popcorn
A shame, because we love popcorn and it’s so quick to make in the microwave. But unfortunately, a lot of microwave popcorn and ready-made popcorn from the supermarket are packed with trans fats. You may already have heard that they’re bad for your heart – they cause inflammation and damage your arteries – but they’re bad for your brain too. According to a 2011 study, adults who consumed a lot of trans fats experienced memory problems and had a shrunken brain later in life (yes, literally). If you see hardened or hydrogenated vegetable oil or fat listed on the packaging, leave it on the shelf. Better idea: make this divine popcorn falafel.
Read also:
- It’s been researched: vegetarians are more often depressed than meat eaters
- What to eat when you’re having a f-ing terrible mood
- Hangry? Here’s why it happens and what to do about it
Source: ModMod
