More dementia preventing foods

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Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care professionals to get an easyceu or two

By: Celeste Perron

Some "superfood" fruits and vegetables get all the fanfare. You know the ones: Those richly-colored berries and beets, the Brussels sprouts and broccoli you avoided for the first twenty years of your life, only to shovel them in now.

But then there are the humble wallflowers of the salad bar, the varieties of produce that don't usually get much attention—iceberg lettuce, celery, cucumbers and the like. We tend to think of this stuff as not terribly impressive . . good low-calorie stomach fillers with a little fiber, but certainly not as disease-preventing powerhouses.

Well at least one of these veggies has recently seen its stock rise: Celery. Celery contains a compound called Luteolin that may prevent inflammation in the brain, and related conditions such as dementia and other types of memory impairment.

Research published last fall in the Journal of Nutrition found that aged mice fed a luteolin-heavy diet improved on tests of learning and memory, and had less of a certain type of inflammation in their brains. They also did experiments at the cellular level which showed that luteolin can prevent inflammatory processes in the brain from damaging neurons.

Although similar studies of luteolin have yet to be done on humans, the researchers concluded that eating luteolin-containing foods can have a beneficial effect on the aging brain, and possibly prevent aging-related mental decline.

Aside from celery, luteolin can be found in carrots, peppers, olive oil, peppermint, rosemary and chamomile. Isn't it nice to hear that such simple, inexpensive foods might prevent a disease as serious as dementia? Too often when I write about disease-fighting compounds they're found in exotic ingredients or can only be easily accessed in expensive supplements (see 4 Supplements to Stop Heart Disease, 2 Anti-Aging "Miracle" Pills)

So I'm going to start looking at celery, and those other luteolin-packed foods, as something more than salad filler.