5. Sugary drinks
Excess sugary drink consumption raises the risk of type 2 diabetes, linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, people without diabetes but who have high blood sugar levels have a high risk of suffering from dementia.
Examples of sugary drinks include soda, sports drinks, energy drinks, and fruit juice. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which contains 55% fructose and 45% glucose, is a significant component of many sugary beverages.
Excessive consumption of sugar drinks causes obesity, high blood pressure, high blood lipids, diabetes, and vascular dysfunction. These characteristics of metabolic syndrome may raise the long-term risk of dementia development.
High fructose consumption is linked to insulin resistance in the brain. It also decreases animal brain function, memory, learning, and neuron development.
Rather than consume sugary drinks, it’s best to drink water, unsweetened iced tea, vegetable juice, and unsweetened dairy products, which are good alternatives for your brain.
6. Fish rich in Mercury, such as Tuna
While a tuna sandwich sometimes isn’t a huge problem, you might want to reconsider making it your go-to lunch. Tuna, along with swordfish, shark (flake), billfish, and deep-sea perch, has greater mercury levels than many other forms of seafood.
Studies show that high consumption of seafood increases the Mercury level in the brain, leading to poor performance. However, this does not mean you should permanently exclude seafood from your diet since they are rich in omega-3 fatty acids.
Various health organizations recommend eating 2-3 servings of fish and seafood per week.
Your seafood can include canned or fresh Tuna (one serving equals 150g), fatty fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, including salmon, trout, albacore tuna, herring, and sardines.
Fishes like orange roughy (deep sea perch), catfish, shark (flake), or billfish (swordfish/marlin) should only be consumed once per week, and no other fish that week.
A reason for consuming fatty fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids is that fat makes up around 60% of your brain, with omega-3 fatty acids accounting for half of that fat. Omega-3 fatty acids help your brain create brain and nerve cells and are crucial for learning and memory improvement.
Another reason is that omega-3s may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease by slowing age-related mental deterioration. On the other hand, a lack of omega-3 fatty acids is related to learning disabilities and depression.