Key Nutrients Reverse Brain AgingHealth News

This is an article from the staff at Vitamin Research Products, one of the cutting edge companies that I deal with. The brain is under assault today from envirnomental toxins, lack of proper sleep and nutrition, and couch potato-ism. Consequently we have the highest rates of neruodegenerative diseases in history. The old science said that the brain and it's wiring were set in our youth. Whatever we lost could not be regained. We now know otherwise. Exercises and activities, improved sleep, hydration, and nutrition can all be implemented to build new brain cells, neurotransmitters, and pathways.


By VRP Staff

For years, the health of your brain cells was largely considered a one-shot deal: Your neurons had a single non-dividing lifespan — and once they were gone, there was no replacing them.
Making matters worse, any further loss of neurites and dendrites (the branches that form your brain’s massive communication network) could take what would be an otherwise normal loss of brain cells and turn it into a much more serious (and equally irreversible) condition — one marked by anything from minor physical and behavioral impairments to a state of complete senility.
Luckily, the scientific community has since done an about face on this particular matter.
More recent research has revealed that brain cells can replace themselves and regrow their communication networks, if given the right environment. In fact, just by boosting your intake of a few key nutrients, you can improve cognitive health — and even turn back the clock where cognitive decline has already started to settle in.
Among these nutrients, acetyl carnitine could be considered the most important. Laboratory studies have shown that this nutrient increases the revitalizing effects of nerve growth factor (NGF) on brain cells — helping to boost neurite outgrowth a full 100 times greater than NGF alone.1 And when taken in combination with acetyl carnitine arginate, the two act synergistically to boost the production of key neurotransmitters, like GABA and glutamate.2
These powerful effects are reflected in a number of human trials—all of which have shown that acetyl carnitine yields significant improvements in cognition.3
Uridine is also an important and little known ingredient for brain function—it provides the necessary components for cell membrane growth and memory-related neural signaling. In vitro analysis has revealed that human brain cells exposed to uridine experience increased neurite outgrowth and regeneration — results that carried over in vivo, when tested in aged rats.4-5
Similar applications can be seen with gotu kola, an Indian plant with a long history of use in Ayurvedic preparations for senility, epilepsy, and other nervous conditions. Studies performed in the last decade have only reinforced this reputation: Scientists have identified two of gotu kola’s unique compounds — asiaticosides and asiatic acid — as being particularly active, sparking repair of damaged neurons and higher brain functioning in both animal and in vitro studies.6
References:
Tagliatatela G, Angelucci L, Ramacci MT, et al. “Acetyl-L-carnitine enhances the response of PC12 cells to nerve growth factor.” Brain Res Dev Brain Res. 1991 Apr 24;59(2):221-30.
Westlund KN, LU Y, Werrbach-Perez K, et al. “Effects of nerve growth factor and acetyl-L-carnitine arginyl amide on the human neuronal line HCN-1A. Int J Dev Neurosci. 1992 Oct;10(5):361-73.
Montgomery SA, Thai LJ, Amrein R. “Meta-analysis of double-blind randomized controlled clinical trials of acetyl-L-carnitine versus placebo in the treatment of mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer’s disease.” Int Clin Psychopharmacol. 2003 Mar;18(2): 61-71.
Pooler Am, Guez DH, Benedictus R, et al. “Uridine enhances neurite outgrowth in nerve growth factor-differentiated PC12 [corrected].” Neuroscience. 2005; 134(1):207-14.
Wang L, Pooler AM, Albrecht MA, et al. “Dietary uridine-5-monophosphate supplementation increases potassium-evoked dopamine release and promotes neurite outgrowth in aged rats. J Mol Neurosci. 2005;27(1):137-45.
Soumyanth A, Zhong YP, Gold SA, et al. “Centella asiatica accelerates nerve regeneration upon oral administration and contains multiple fractions increasing neurite elongation in-vitro.” J Pharm Pharmacol. 2005 Sept;57(9):1221-9.