Alzheimer's Info: Dark Chocolate, Red Wine, and Nuts Can Help "Maintain the Brain"

Diet Promotes Healthy Brain and Heart

They got some of it right way back in the fifties. “Drink your milk.” Eat your liver.” “Fish is good brain food, all the things that your Grandma told you. Milk, while high in fat, has a lot of calcium. Liver is a good source of iron and other minerals, and now we know that some kinds of fish is high in Omega 3 fatty acids. Some of the other practices of that time period have been found out to be not so good, like smoking cigarettes and eating a lot of red meat. Of course I think that a balanced diet and lots of exercise is the best advice and this has been pretty consistent, except for a few rumblings in the food pyramid. This doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t indulge in the latest food that’s been shown in some study to be beneficial in one way or another. There is something that many of the health fads in food seem to leave out: the food should taste good. But, the latest hot trend is one that I, as well as most people, can sink their teeth into.

Recently the Alzheimer’s association has suggested that consuming dark chocolate, wine, and nuts can reduce your chances of developing dementia later in life. This year the local chapter of the Alzheimer's association here in St. Louis has introduced the “Maintain Your Brain’ program. In addition to their annual wine tasting event, the Alzheimer's association has also included a gift basket of dark chocolate and nuts. They maintain that dark chocolate, red wine, and nuts are not only good for your brain, but heart health as well.