If you’re concerned about preserving your mental function, you need to read this Daily Dispatch. It’s the only place you’ll hear about the incredible brain nutrient that almost slipped through the cracks.
I began research into this little-known nutrient over 30 years ago. But at the time, I worked for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). And they wouldn’t allow me to publish all my findings.
But today, I’m no longer beholden to any government agency. So I’m telling you all about this incredible, “forgotten” brain powerhouse. It could very well make all the difference in preserving (and even boosting) your memory as you age, rather than letting it slip through your fingers.
When good ideas go wrong
My story begins in the mid-1980s, when the National Academy of Sciences finally began to recognize that food and nutrition play an integral role in cancer prevention.
Never one to be last through the food line, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) launched an effort to discover the “magic bullet” nutrient they could isolate and use to help control cancer.
The NCI largely ignored the massive evidence already supporting vitamin C as an anticancer ingredient. Instead, they decided to focus on a then-obscure carotenoid called beta-carotene (which was handily already available as a supplement, made by a major pharmaceutical company. Their representative, seated on the NCI advisory board, eagerly voted to go forward with this wasteful, misbegotten research. And sales of their synthetic supplement went through the roof before the research was even begun).
They made this impulsive decision even before they knew to what extent beta-carotene was even present in the healthy vegetables that are consistently found to promote health and prevent chronic diseases.
And that’s just the beginning of how badly they missed the mark…
NIH ignored and even suppressed real science
All the usual fat cats at NIH — who knew next to nothing about human nutrition — received most of the NCI’s new funding. And the government’s true nutrition experts at the USDA Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland initially got nothing.
I had just been recruited into the NCI’s new program on nutrition research. And I soon found out about all the stodgy pen pushers who ran the show there. But the other new, young scientists and I didn’t let that stop us. We realized we could collaborate with some real experts at USDA to get real answers.
So we did, and quickly.
We went to work learning the basics about the yet-undiscovered nutrient composition of foods. We soon discovered these “new” carotenoids had strong metabolic effects. And while beta carotene didn’t turn out to be the magic bullet the NCI wanted it to be, my team and I did make a stunning discovery about other carotenoids—and one in particular was eventually found to have critical roles in eye and brain health.
Unfortunately, the NIH ignored and even tried to suppress some of my important findings. They wouldn’t even permit me to publish all my findings on this standout carotenoid.
So not only did the NIH miss out on finding the nutrient that actually could ultimately make a difference for brain health — they set back true understanding about nutrition and health by decades.
But today, I hope to change all that.
The unsung brain-boosting hero
If you’ve heard of lutein, I can almost guarantee it wasn’t about its ability to protect brain function.
Lutein is best-known as a vision helper. But as I discovered 30 years ago, lutein is a powerhouse in many other areas of human health…including the brain.
It’s little wonder that a nutrient that helps the eyes would be good for the brain as well. The eye itself is a very specialized organ originating from brain and nervous tissue.
But there’s an obstacle when it comes to nourishing the eye and the brain: The blood-retina and blood-brain barriers are highly selective in granting entry. This barrier normally protects the delicate eye, brain and nervous tissues against many toxic effects. But it also means only very special nutrients get across it.
Lutein is actually one of just two carotenoids that can penetrate the blood-retina barrier and the blood-brain barrier — which makes it a critical tool in the field of brain science. In fact, scientists now link higher levels of lutein-related pigments in the eye with improved brain function.
Turns out, people with higher levels of lutein-related pigments also had higher levels of global cognitive function, verbal fluency, and memory retention. They also had lower rates of cognitive decline. Even in subjects who were 100 years old and older!
Yet another study found that giving lutein alone or in combination with an omega fatty acid improved cognitive function, verbal fluency, learning ability, and memory in older women.
Bottom line?
Lutein is, by far, one of the most important discoveries I’ve made in all my years of original research on human diet, nutrition, and metabolism. And now we know it can improve cognitive function in older people with or without cognitive impairment.
And in the world of natural remedies, this finding is especially significant because the best-researched herbal remedy for cognitive function, Gingko biloba, has been proven to improve memory in people with documented cognitive impairment…but not in the general population. In other words…
It’s never too early — or too late — to start taking lutein to promote brain health and cognitive function
Of course, the laboratory scientists say, as they do about everything, to keep their taxpayer funding coming, “lutein warrants further research.” But for the millions of aging Americans feeling their memory slip away, always waiting for that “further research” just isn’t an option.
Based on my own research, and the studies that have emerged since, I believe lutein is an integral part of any brain support regimen…And yet, because most people associate it with vision, it’s not often included in products formulated for brain health.
That’s why I made sure to add this important nutrient to my CoreBrilliance formula (along with 6 other natural ingredients backed by solid science for brain and cognitive support). In fact, CoreBrilliance contains the same dose of lutein used in the study I mentioned above that showed improved memory and cognitive function in women. (But don’t worry — lutein has the same benefits in men too!)
With cognitive impairment becoming such a huge concern among the aging population, this information about lutein is absolutely critical. Please don’t shortchange yourself — or your brain — by missing out on this essential (but often overlooked) nutrient.
If you’re not already taking CoreBrilliance, I urge you to learn more about it, and what it can do for you — and all your precious memories – today.
Sources:
“A possible role for lutein and zeaxanthin in cognitive function in the elderly.” Am J Clin Nutr. 2012;96(5):1161S-1165S.
“Cognitive findings of an exploratory trial of docosahexaenoic acid and lutein supplementation in older women.” Nutr Neurosci. 2008; 11(2): 75-83