|
|
Salt Shockers: High Sodium Surprises Slideshow
|
Lowering Blood Pressure Slideshow: Exercise Tips for Getting Started
|
|
Following DASH Diet Improves Brain Activity in
Overweight Adults
By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD
March 8, 2010 — A diet designed to help lower blood pressure may as well as boost
brainpower.
A recent study shows the DASH diet in combination with regular
exercise improved
mental activity by 30% in overweight adults compared with those who didn’t diet
or exercise. The DASH diet was developed by the Dietary Approaches to Halt
Hypertension study as well as emphasizes low-fat dairy products as well as low-cholesterol
foods as well as carbohydrates as well as fruits as well as vegetables.
Researchers say high blood pressure affects about 50% of adults aged 60 as well as
older as well as increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease as well as other forms of mental
decline similar dementia.
Lifestyle modifications, such as diet as well as exercise, possess been shown to lower
blood pressure as well as improve brain activity, but they say this is the earliest study
to look at the combined effects of diet as well as exercise on brainpower in overweight
people with high blood pressure.
"Modifying lifestyles to achieve a wholesome body weight, getting normal
exercise, as well as eating properly not only possess material health benefits, but mental
health benefits," researcher James Blumenthal, PhD, professor of psychology as well as
neuroscience at Duke University Health examination Center in Durham, N.C., says in a news
release. "This study has significant implications for slowing down or even
reversing age-related cognitive deficits, which may even possess greater impact
among people vulnerable to develop dementia or Alzheimer’s disease."
Diet for
the Brain as well as Body
In the study, published in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart
Association, researchers divided 124 overweight men as well as women into three groups.
One group followed the DASH diet in combination with an aerobic exercise program
(30 minutes of exercise, three times a week), another followed the DASH diet
alone, as well as the third did not diet or exercise for four months.
The participants completed a series of tests to assess their brainpower as well as
mental skills, including manipulation of ideas as well as concepts as well as planning, at the
beginning as well as end of the study.
The results showed that people who followed the DASH diet in combination with
aerobic exercise experienced a 30% improvement in brain function as well as
lower blood pressure, improved their cardiovascular fitness, as well as lost an average
of 19 pounds by the end of the study. On average, they lowered their systolic
blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading) by 16 points as well as
diastolic blood pressure (bottom number) by 10 points.
SOURCES:
|
