Looks like its true: poor nutrition can shrink your brain and lower your cognitive performance.  So  be sure to get the brain vitamins (and Omega 3s) you need to stay healthy.

Food and Brain Health

A new study in Neurology shows that people who have the optimal amounts of brain vitamins and nutrients saw 17% of the variation in increased performance in memory, thinking, and overall cognitive performance was due to nutrition.  The study also showed that proper brain nutrition helped prevent people’s brains from shrinking: 37% of the positive variance in the difference between healthy and shrinking brains was due to brain nutrition.

As Study Lead Author, Dr Gene Bowman said about his study linking good brain health, cognitive performance,  and brain vitamins and nutrients, “the findings need to be confirmed [with follow up studies], but it is obviously very exciting to think that people could stop their brains from shrinking and keep them sharp by adjusting their diet.”

TWEET THIS PAGE TO HELP A CHILD GET THE NUTRIENTS THEY NEED AND BE ELIGIBLE TO WIN A $1OO iTUNES GIFT CARD!  See details below*

Dr Bowman’s study found some striking connections between cognitive performance and brain vitamins and nutrients.  Brain vitamins, as well as Omega 3 DHA + EPA fatty acids from fish oil, are key nutrients that help boost memory, protect the myelin sheaths around neurons, and can increase thinking skills.  Some brain vitamins and nutrients like omega 3 DHA + EPA from fish oil also have been linked to fighting depression and mood stabilization, and may also help ward off dementia.  People who had higher levels of the following brain vitamins had higher scores on cognitive testes than people with lower levels of these important brain vitamins:

• B Vitamins
• Vitamin D
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin E
• Omega 3

Good fats Omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil have also long been thought to improve brain health and performance.  (Omega 3 DHA has also been linked to brain development in fetuses, as well as eye health.)  On the flip side, people with higher levels of bad trans fats did more poorly on memory and thinking tests.  MRI’s also showed that people with diets high in trans fats showed more brain shrinkage.  brain vitamins

While many studies have looked at the impact of proper nutrition on brain health, this is the first significant study that used blood bio-markers to test actual brain vitamins and nutrient levels.  Other studies have typically relied on self-reported data which is considered less accurate in measuring the impact of brain vitamins on cognitive performance and brain size.

More and more research is showing the wisdom of the old adage, “you are what you eat” and that it applies to keeping your brain healthy as well as your body.  While environmental and genetic factors clearly play a major role in keeping your brain healthy, we are seeing more and more evidence that nutrition- getting the right brain vitamins!- also plays a substantial role.

At SmartyPants, we have tried to make it easier for you to keep both your brain and body healthy.  Our gummy vitamins are packed with all of the above mentioned brain vitamins plus key nutrients like Omega 3 DHA + EPA which we source from ultra-pure, eco-friendly fish oil.  Obviously, we feel a good diet is critical to optimal health.  Our goal is to help ensure proper nutrition for you and your kids by supplementing the highest quality key nutrients that can be hard to get thru diet alone in our easy all-in-one multivitamins + omega 3 + vitamin d gummy vitamins.

We are VERY committed to quality at SmartyPants.  Read more about why what’s in your vitamin matters.  We only use the best, natural, organic, and eco-friendly ingredients we can get.  Unlike most other fish oil supplements, our fish oil comes exclusively from sardine and anchovy fish oil, not salmon or tuna fish oil.  (It is important to get fish oil from small fish because small fish oil is more eco-friendly and does not have PCB, mercury, and other toxin contamination risks as fish oil from salmon and tuna.)  We also only use the the natural forms of key vitamins like vitamin B12 and vitamin D3 In SmartyPants whenever possible, unlike most other supplements which use less effective and lower quality synthetic forms.  Even though these natural forms  of vitamin b and vitamin d cost more to make, studies show they are more readily absorbed by your body and do not contain any nasty stuff.  (for example, the widely used synthetic form of vitamin b12, cyanocobalamin, is actually made using cyanide and it leaves trace amounts of cyanide in your body when you metabolize it.  We only use vitamin B12 methlycobalamin which does NOT leave any cyanide residue)

Click to  learn more about our adult gummy vitamins (Oprah Magazine called them the “good for you gumdrops”) and our kids gummy vitamins (selected by Healthy Child as a partner product!)

* Tweet this post and be eligible to win a $100 dollar iTunes gift card.  Drawing at the end of Q1 12.  Winner selected at random from people who share.   

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• Written by Gordon Gould

  As co-founder and co-CEO of SmartyPants, Gordon uses his experience with social media and social commerce to provide parents and growups with useful content, tools, and products that can help them best care for their and their family’s health. Gordon’s primary professional interest is in empowering people through technology and in building a company that has a strong social mission, such as SmartyPants’ commitment to children’s health worldwide via partnerships with Vitamin Angels and charity:water.

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