Scientists Want To See What Your Brain Looks Like On Drugs

When we first heard about a new study that claims eating less may keep the mind young, we were intrigued. After all, we all want to save our brains from the ravages of old age and the dreaded “Now what was I saying?” and “Why did I come in this room again?”. The scientists in this report seemed smart when they said that our cognitive abilities could be saved by adhering to a strict diet. But then they go on to say something really stupid about rather seeing our brains on drugs versus food.

Published in the US journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Italian scientists found that a group of mice who were fed a diet of about 70% of the food they normally consumed showed slower signs of aging in the brain. The researchers believe this was due to the fact that a calorie-restricted diet triggered a protein molecule, CREB1, that activated a host of genes linked to longevity and healthy brain function. Researchers also previously discovered that mice on diets showed better cognitive abilities and memory, less aggression, and tended to avoid or delay Alzheimer’s disease. All of which is great, and perhaps an incentive for us to not necessarily go on a “diet”, but to at least cut out unnecessary calories from our daily intake.

But then the not-so-smart lead scientist, Giovambattista Pani, went on to say this:

Our hope is to find a way to activate CREB1, for example through new drugs, so to keep the brain young without the need of a strict diet.

Wait, what? Their hope to is find a way to keep our brains young with drugs? And without us having to follow a reduced-calorie diet? Something that most Americans could benefit from anyway? That doesn’t make any sense. Why do we have to rely on synthetic drugs to keep our brains young, when this study proves that something as natural as food can do that for us?

It’s also interesting that certain experts now believe this could shed new light on why people who are obese tend to encounter more cognitive problems later in life.

Marc Gordon, chief of neurology at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York explained:

Mid-life obesity has been associated with late-life dementia. However, the physiological basis for this association remains unclear.

Perhaps what is clear though is the fact that the type of food and the amount of food we consume can be directly related to how healthy our brains remain. Forget the drugs.

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