Diet & nutrition

DHA & Brain Health

I’m definitely into the weeds here! I started to research the MIDAS study on algal docasahexaenoic acid (DHA) (Salem, N., Vandal, M, Calon, F., 2015). The study, the first large, randomized and placebo-controlled study of DHA and brain health in older adults, found that taking algal DHA omega-3 made a significant difference in memory for those with small memory loss. Participants who took 900mg algal DHA capsules daily for six months reduced their errors on learning tests and episodic memory performance almost by half.

Although they are not the brain, I thought these mushrooms which I found on the ridge behind my house looked very dendritic.

In researching the difference between algal DHA and DHA derived from fish oils I found a simple explanation from Precision Nutrition, a nutrition coaching company dedicated to research-driven nutrition information, directed by Dr. John Berardi and Phil Caravaggio (Andrews, R). Berardi received his doctorate at University of Western Ontario, specializing in nutrient biochemistry and exercise physiology. Little fish eat algae, bigger fish eat little fish, we eat bigger fish. Why not just eat algae? Algae contains chlorophyll, plant pigments, omega-3 fatty acids in the form of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and DHA, and other marine minerals such as iodine.

Dr. Scott Doughman is quoted on the Precision Nutrition page, “Because DHA is the active component for lowering triglycerides, for bioavailability to the brain and organs, and all omega-3s can be made from DHA. Algae oil is more concentrated in omega-3s and in DHA and is thus better formulated for human metabolism.” Doughman also has his own brand of supplements so it is important to be wary here.

Algae is also more sustainable as we face potentially overfishing our oceans.

However, another study found that DHA did not make any difference. The second, the ADCS AD trial found that DHA did not positively affect the primary outcomes but did increase the cognitive score in ApoE4 negative allele patients, patients with Alzheimers disease.

This led me to research ApoE4. I found a fascinating report about the negative effect of statins on memory written by Dr. Stephanie Seneff, Senior Research Scientist at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Very simply put, statins reduce cholesterol. Cholesterol is good for the brain.

The bottom line seems to suggest taking algae-derived DHA supplements or eating oily or pelagic fish—those who live in the water column not at the bottom—three times weekly will greatly increase episodic memory and perhaps cognitive health for Alzheimer’s patients.

And, since eating a healthy diet high in DHA is an excellent way to maintain cardiovascular health, it could eliminate the need to take statins and their deleterious effect on memory.

Andrews, R. (n.d.) All About Algae Supplements | Precision Nutrition. (2009). Retrieved February 03, 2016, from http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-algae

Salem, N., Vandal, M., & Calon, F. (2015). The benefit of docosahexaenoic acid for the adult brain in aging and dementia. Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids (PLEFA), 92, 15-22.

Seneff, S. (n.d.). APOE-4: The Clue to Why Low Fat Diet and Statins may Cause Alzheimer's. Retrieved February 03, 2016, from https://people.csail.mit.edu/seneff/alzheimers_statins.html

Red & Purple food

The dark red to purple color in berries such as black currants, elderberries, blueberries, and strawberries and their juices, and in red and purple grapes, red wine, sweet cherries, eggplants, black plums, blood oranges, and red cabbage is from anthocyanin, a flavonoid which may help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), cognitive decline, and cancer. Anthocyanins are considered antioxidants however, new research finds that health benefits may result from unidentified chemical properties beyond their antioxidant capacity.

Plants produce anthocyanins particularly in their roots, stems, and leaf tissues, as a protective mechanism against environmental stressors, such as ultraviolet light, cold temperatures, and drought.

"The amount of anthocyanins in foods can vary greatly. For example, Red Delicious apples provide more anthocyanins than Fuji apples; black raspberries are a far richer source than red raspberries; and Concord grapes are a much more concentrated source than red grapes."

Webb, D. (2014). Anthocyanins. Today’s Dietitian: Magazine for Nutrition Professionals, Vol. 16(No. 3), P. 20.

Wealth versus Health

As a single working mother of three teenagers, I made daily decisions about the diet and sustainability of it for our family. As they grew and my free time to ponder became more limited, these decisions grew harder. I’ve spent days (cumulatively per year) deliberating over food choices: the organic sausages versus the much less expensive “all natural” and not natural ones, the local and enormous cloves of organic garlic for $12.99/lb versus the smaller ones from Canada—only $6.99/lb when I’m not growing my own, the delicious whole grain bread baked 10 miles away but with non-organic wheat (which we now know is pesticide ridden) versus the plastic wrapped “organic” brand that tastes like cardboard in comparison.

Organic, free range chicken from Tangletown Farm in Glover, VT. Unfortunately, farmers have to wrap their chickens in plastic as most of sold frozen.

I am extremely familiar with the multitude of labels and the increasing angst of the consumer who wants to do right by the environment, her kids’ health, and her wallet.

Eric Zencey writes in The Other Road to Serfdom “a commercial enterprise” —which could be a household in my estimation—“is sustainable if it conserves the capital stock on which it depends.” Is the expense of shopping at Whole Foods or, in my case, Hunger Mountain Coop where I can spend double what I might at Shaws or Hannafords sustainable? Especially when you have a 6’3” athletic son who likes to eat a couple pounds of hamburger or half a chicken in one sitting? I’m spending my financial capital in order to preserve the family health capital. Often the financial pressures outweigh the those of health. Children are resilient and we may not be thinking about the long term effects of food as much as we do when we hit middle age and beyond and cancer looms.

Because I experienced the squeeze of wealth versus health, and still do, I am preoccupied with this question: How do we help working families, and particularly single working parents, eat well, eat sustainably, and conserve funds? For me, the answer came in buying über-local and cutting out the middle-man, growing my own, and making the most of the food grown or purchased.

I focus on buying organic foods that might otherwise have the most pesticide residues and hormones. We do eat meat and conventionally farmed meat is particularly unhealthy. My answer was to purchase a side of grass-fed beef from my farmer neighbor a mile away, paying about $8 per packaged pound, including free bones for stew and the dogs. I stored it in our downstairs freezer and we ate it throughout an entire year. A pound of ground beef can go a long way if you make bolognese sauce or chili instead of hamburgers. I bought organic, free-range chickens from my neighbor a mile in the other direction at $3 per pound. After eating the chickens, I roasted the bones and made soup. I planted a bigger organic garden than ever and harvested and froze as much food as I had time for. (This effort makes life exceptionally busy from May to October with a short hiatus in mid-July.) If I steamed or boiled the veggies, I kept the water filled with nutrients to add to a soup later.

Now, my kids are off at college and my decisions are much easier. But they’ll be back and I’ll be in the aisles buying something wrapped in plastic and argue with myself: “No, I can’t buy this plastic wrapped food!” “But, I don’t have time or money for the alternative!”

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End note: What about the impact of beef cattle on the environment? Don't I care about the health of the environment too? Yes.

The commonly cited assumption that makes equal the climate impact of CAFO to pasture-raised beef cattle may be wrong. It’s all about lifespan. And good grass. Vermont, pasture-raised beef cattle are slaughtered after two to two and a half years due to the nutrient dense grass we’ve got in the Northeast, which is only a little more than CAFO cattle and less than the lifespan cited for pasture-raised in some scholarly articles.

The shorter lifespan of Vermont pasture-raised beef cattle reduces its commonly assumed effect on climate. With the additions of other social, economic, and environmental pluses for pasture-raised beef, such as the increased carbon sink due to better pasture fertility, beef cattle don’t look so bad. We need to reconsider our assumptions about the climate impact of pasture-raised meat. And, we could grow this meat on the underutilized pastureland throughout New England where only 10% (for most states less) of pasture is in farmland. If you lived in Cambridge, you could buy pasture-raised beef at decent prices from your almost neighbor. Use all parts of the animal and make stock with the bones.

For more on the topic of the environmental impact of pasture-raised beef cattle, check out my article, Working With Vermont's Pastures http://www.vermontwoman.com/articles/2016/0416/06working-pastures/pastures.html

Zencey, E. (2012). The other road to serfdom & the path to sustainable democracy. Hanover: University Press of New England.

Glass & Paper Wrapped

My son who is now in college has an anaphylactic response to peanuts, cashews, and once, strawberries. For some inexplicable reason he is no longer allergic to strawberries. However, his allergies that we identified when he was very young, have made us extremely aware of what we put in our mouths.

When my children were bottle feeding (after breast) I became aware of the endocrine disrupting chemicals in plastics. During the years I was gently heating up milk in plastic bottles, the general public including myself, did not know much about BPA's ability to leach into food—particularly when heated. (Rudel, et al, 2011, Adamkiewicz, 2015). Luckily, I happened upon an article in a lesser-known, "alternative" magazine that mentioned chemical leaching from plastics. The article advised not to microwave, just heat gently in hot water, which we now know also induces chemical leaching.

It is disconcerting to know that these studies ((Rudel, et al, 2011) on BPA exposure were published 15 years after I was heating up bottled milk and long after plastic was invented circa 1860, introduced commercially in the 1920s, and developed and advanced during and after World War II. Once again, it seems the moral of the story is to be precautionary when non-natural foods and food packaging and containers are introduced: wait a generation, at least!

Finally, despite the fact that I grow my own vegetables to consume for about 6 months of the year, I rely on plastic packaging all the time. Phthalates, in the wonderful Sculpy I unwittingly gave my kids to play with for years, are widespread in food packaging. Evidence shows that phthalates are anti-androgenic (Adamkiewicz, 2015) and are associated with the inhibition of testosterone synthesis "effects on the developing male reproductive system, male hormone levels and semen quality” (Rudel, et al, 2011). Even if I don't buy any processed food with plastic packaging, I toss my organic vegetables into the plastic bags at most grocery stores and buy bread, even if baked locally, encased in a plastic package.

How do we avoid this? In France, when you buy cheese, fish, chicken, or bread from a specialty store - a fromagerie, boucherie, boulangerie, etc. - the store attendant wraps the food in plain or waxed paper. And you can still buy yogurt in glass and ceramic, although less and less. I don't know if they do this because they always have or for fear of plastic. I did a quick Google search and didn't come up with anything. But I am sure there are some interesting reasons. If anyone knows the answer, please comment!

My answer, although highly imperfect, is to eat less processed food, make as much as I can from scratch using bulk food which I bring home unfortunately in plastic and dispense into glass jars, and buy little netted bags for fruits and vegetables—and remember to bring them to the store (a habit I need to encourage in myself!).

Yet, it is still difficult to avoid plastic packaging. Olivia's delicious organic mesclun and arugula, which I buy in the winter and early spring months, is boxed in plastic.

Adamkiewicz G. 2015. Lecture for From Farm to Fork. Harvard Extension School. October 14, 2015.

Adamkiewicz G. Chemicals Lurking in Your Food? Detox Your Diet! Harvard Extension Hub. ENVR129 Chemical Exposures Blog 2015 Adamkiewicz.pdf

Rudel RA, Gray JM, Engel CL, et al. Food packaging and bisphenol A and bis(2-ethyhexyl) phthalate exposure: Findings from a dietary intervention. Environ Health Perspect 2011. 119:914-920. doi:10.1289/ehp.1003170. At: http://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/pmc/articles/PMC3223004/

Processed Food?

After a lunch from my organic, no-till garden—green beans, barely washed and dipped in hummus, and steaming heirloom Boston Marrow winter squash, baked, scooped, and reheated with pasture-raised cow butter and a sprinkle of sea salt—I headed out to walk the dogs around our land, an old farm I am resuscitating bit by bit. I plucked a misshapen and dimpled apple from one of the many ancient trees, each one different from the next, this one popping with juice and tart sweetness beneath its red skin. I passed the asparagus bed where in May and June I’d broken off tender shoots, raw and crisp, and dined on for breakfast before I even got to a sink to wash them. Across the small grassy lane, I checked the fall raspberries—at their season’s end, valiantly producing despite a recent frost. I picked two to try. Still sweet but not as plump as a few weeks ago. Around the back, the dogs and I stopped at the main vegetable garden to dig the final red fingerling potatoes, and plopped them, dirt and all into a basket for dinner later.

While walking and eating fruits straight from the earth, it occurred to me that processing begins with our bodies. We pick, we chew, we digest. And we are a lot more tolerant of naturally occurring bacteria and bugs than we think, particularly if we are growing our food organically, in small batches, and in fully composted material – manure or otherwise—and if we are healthy. The human body processing food is the most intimate and direct. We look at the food we have picked and decide whether it’s worthy or safe to ingest. It’s interesting to ponder: hundreds of thousands of years ago, we processed mostly with our bodies. We were the processors. Processing on, literally, a human scale.

In comparison, industrial scale food production—from soil to fork—increases possibilities of widespread contamination and harmful bacteria. When food poisoning breaks out, justifiable feelings of lack of control and fear ensue.

For centuries we survived in this country on home canning, raising and slaughtering our own livestock, making cheese to store and use in winter. We processed our food or knew the person who did. I’ve happily eaten delicious raspberry jam canned by my daughter and sweet bread and butter pickles by my friend’s mother. The raspberries and cucumbers were organic, the sugars and preservatives low or nill, and the trust? Well, very high. I’m still alive.

When we eat what we can see growing or being cooked and processed and have confidence in and a history with the grower and the cook, our fear diminishes. It’s food on a human scale and social capital in action, as defined by Jules Pretty, “relations of trust” (Pretty, 2007).

Fear comes mostly from the unknown and from lack of control. (When we know what we fear, we can, at least, do our best to avoid it.) When food industries get too big, it’s a lot harder to know how well they are doing their job.

Yet we relinquish control. As a society we rely and trust big industry to process our foods. When a food scare happens, our blind trust is damaged, and we stop purchasing the food. We extrapolate incorrectly that the same food grown on a small scale could also be just as harmful. But it is the scale of food production, handling, and processing which leads to potential widespread contamination (Nestle, 2006); only a few contaminated eggs, she points out, can contaminate an entire truckload. Mass-produced eggs, chickens, milk, meat – not so safe. Local eggs, chickens, meat, milk - safer. (Nestle, 2006, Kenner, 2008).

The benefits of processing are many – we heat and dry and freeze and can so food keeps safely and we can eat our bounty in the hard winter months. Canned food is actually nutrient dense, stabilizes antioxidants such as absorbic acid, and may increase levels of carotenoids (Comerford, 2015). Freezing and drying has little effect on nutritional value of fresh produce (Nestle, 2006).

But we can go too far in eliminating potentially healthy bacteria in search of safe food. Crosby pointed out that in the 1800s and early 1900s raw milk was the major cause of tuberculosis. However, there is evidence that transmission of bovine tuberculosis from milk to a human would occur only in the most uncommon of cases. There are many types of tuberculosis and most of the transmission was from human to human or cow cough (or snot) to farmer, not raw milk to human (Shmid, 2003). Once again, from where are we getting our research?

I know not everyone can eat from a backyard garden. But I want to encourage those who do, or who have a friend who might let you visit theirs, to pick a bean fresh from the bush and not worry about the bacteria, just crunch down and taste the refreshing snap of green. You'll be fine.

Pretty J. 2008. Agricultural sustainability: concepts, principles and evidence. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 363(1491):447-65

Comerford KB. 2015. Frequent canned food use is positively associated with nutrient-dense food group consumption. Nutrients 2015 Jul 9;7(7):5586-600

Nestle M. 2006. What to Eat. New York: North Point.

Shmid, Ron. 2009. The Untold Story of Milk: Green Pastures, Contented Cows and Raw Dairy Products. Newtrends Publishing, Inc. White Plains, MD.

Kenner, Robert. 2008. Food Inc. Participant Media. Los Angeles, CA.