BRAIN MATTERS

from Your Time Magazine Brisbane - June 2022

HISTORY

Build your muscles, build your brain The many benefits of the Apple

KAILAS ROBERTS explains how regular exercise not only offers benefits for the body but also the muscles of the mind. Cider Vinegar drink

It is common knowledge that exercise is good for your brain. We know that it can help in several ways – enhancing blood supply, combatting inflammation, and improving other factors associated with poor brain health and dementia, including insomnia and mental health disorders.

But when most people think of exercise that may help in this way, they imagine doing things that get them out of breath like brisk walking, running, cycling and swimming.

What is less appreciated is the value of resistance exercise, or strength training. This involves activities that specifically improve muscular fitness and growth – generally using external weights (or one’s own bodyweight – think push-ups and the like).

But how does focussing on muscle growth and maintenance help the brain? Well, it’s not fully understood, but it may have something to do with so called myokines. These are proteins, or fragments of proteins, produced by muscle cells (myo- meaning muscle), and include one named irisin. This hormone is intimately connected to the expression of another molecule you may have heard of – brainderived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF for short.

BDNF is critical for brain heath and function and is often referred to as Miracle Gro for the brain. It promotes neurogenesis, or the growth of new nerve cells, as well as synaptogenesis, the promotion of connections (synapses) between nerve cells. Low levels of BDNF have been associated with shrinkage of various parts of the brain, including the hippocampus, which is critical for encoding new memories. It’s your hippocampus that is usually one of the first structures to be affected by Alzheimer’s disease.

Coming back to your muscles, though, it appears that the level of irisin and other myokines is directly related to your muscle mass, so the stronger you are, the more you Besides its amazing health benefits, there have also been studies conducted on Apple Cider Vinegar, with promising results. A double-blind study was done on 175 obese Japanese participants over 12 weeks. The conclusion of the study showed there were significant benefits in reducing visceral fat (fat around the gut), in reducing subcutaneous fat (fat just beneath the skin), reducing triglycerides, reducing cholesterol, increasing the BMI, decreasing body fat, and decreasing the waist to hip ratio. Apple Cider Vinegar can inhibit the expression of lipogenic genes (the genes that increase fat production).

The acid in Apple Cider Vinegar is acetic acid, which is known to suppress body fat and it helps to regulate your blood sugars (insulin).

Consuming this acid does not make your body acid. Different parts of your body have different PH levels. Your stomach is extremely acid whilst your gall bladder and small intestine are more slightly alkaline. Urine should be slightly acid, and your large intestine should be slightly acid, but not as highly acidic as your stomach. So, you need these different PH’s to support your different body systems.

Apple Cider Vinegar supports your stomach acids to help you digest better. The stomach level is where the start of your digestion occurs. Your stomach release hydrochloric acid to breakdown protein therefore you don’t want to alkalise your stomach. Therefore, Apple Cider Vinegar is used for a lot of digestive problems. If you change your blood PH even a slight bit, you can create many positive benefits, such as transporting minerals, allowing enzymes to work, to stimulate your thyroid and increasing your metabolism.

are likely to produce these helpful chemicals. It then follows that being more muscular should protect you against cognitive impairment and dementia, and studies do seem to suggest this.

Unfortunately, as you get older there is a natural loss of muscle mass. In fact, this loss can start as early as your thirties, and if you are inactive, may result in as much as 5% reduction in muscle per decade. This has something to do with the body responding less optimally to growth signals, in part because of a natural reduction in hormones like growth hormone, insulin like growth factor and testosterone. In extremis, this results in a condition known as sarcopenia, which increases your risk of falls and impacts upon your ability to perform daily tasks. Sarcopenia has also been clearly linked to dementia.

So, what can you do to combat muscle wastage? Well, perhaps unsurprisingly, you should use them! If you’ve had a period of forced inactivity – say after an operation or an injury - you need to be extra diligent. Guidelines suggest training in this way at least two to three times per week – in addition to your usual aerobic exercise.

Physiotherapists and exercise physiologists can be very helpful at devising resistance exercise routines that you can do safely, even if you are in some way injured, and so there is usually no excuse to including these into your hebdomadal schedule.

Kailas Roberts is a psychogeriatrician and author of Mind your brain The Essential Australian Guide to Dementia now available at all good bookstores and online. Visit yourbraininmind.com or uqp.com.au Why is the Apple Cider Vinegar drink so popular? TRUDY KITHER discusses how it can balance in the body.

In approximately 12 weeks you can potentially lose 1-2 kilograms. The only time not recommended to do the Apple Cider Vinegar drink daily is if you are in a prolonged fast, ketosis or if you have an ulcer. You will know pretty quickly if you have an ulcer because when you drink it, you will have more pain in your stomach.

The Apple Cider Vinegar drink can be taken once or twice daily. It consists of two tablespoons (30ml) of Apple Cider Vinegar, one whole lemon and a little bit of highquality Himalayan salt. If you use the whole lemon, then you are also getting a whole lot of Vitamin C in your drink! Put it all in the blender, blend it all up and take it twice a day – once in the morning and once in the evening. This will give you four tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar. Take this every single day and do it on a regular basis. If you are concerned about the effect of the Apple Cider Vinegar on your teeth, just drink it with a straw! Trudy Kither, Naturopath, Iridologist, Herbalist and Owner of Nature’s Temple, Palmwoods. www.naturestemple.net

This information is for general informational purposes only. It should not be used to selfdiagnose. It is not a substitute for a medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, diagnosis, and prescription or recommendation. Always seek the advice of a registered natural medicine practitioner or other qualified health providers with any specific health questions you may have.

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Nation’s aged care residents reap benefits of promised new Government policies.

There is every reason to be optimistic that the new Labor government will work with the nation’s peak dental body to fix the broken dental system for people in aged care says The Australian Dental Association (ADA).

Labor promised in a letter written before polling day, that it would work with ADA to improve training for aged care workers, so it includes an oral health component.

In response, ADA President Dr Mark Hutton said: “The ADA congratulates the new Labor government and looks forward to its new Cabinet delivering on the undertaking to work with us.”

“Labor has said it understands the importance of oral health to elderly Australians and acknowledges the relevant recommendation of the Aged Care Royal Commission’s Final Report.

“Further, they wrote to us saying that an Albanese Labor Government would engage with relevant stakeholders, including the ADA, to address issues with aged care vocational and university education programs, the Aged Care Quality Standards and other regulations relating to oral health needs in residential aged care.

“This is great news and will go a long way to fixing some of the biggest issues facing the 190,000 residents of aged care facilities around Australia, many whose oral health issues are not being met as often as they should be, or not at all.”

Dr Stephen Liew, ADA Vice President said in the run-up to the election the nation’s dentists asked the major parties to address the lack of oral care in residential homes by: • Funding direct access to public and Malnutrition, social isolation and declining general health are some of the serious impacts of not maintaining a healthy mouth. The Australian Oral Health Survey has found: • 32% of those aged 55-74 years and 25% of those aged 75+ years have untreated tooth decay, • 51% of those aged 55-74 years and 69% of those aged 75+ years have gum disease, • where the gum disease wasn’t treated, it resulted in complete tooth loss for 20% of those aged 75+ years, • 22% of those aged 55-74 years and 46% of those aged 75+ years have an inadequate dentition (less than 21 teeth).

private dental services that maintain the basic dental and oral healthcare standards in aged care facilities, what the ADA calls a Seniors Dental Benefits

Schedule, • Including clinical indicators for oral health in the Aged Care Quality

Standards, • Including core units of study on oral health in the Cert III in Aged Care to ensure staff in aged care services are skilled to be able to care for resident’s

daily oral health needs and to identify when dental services are required, and • I ncluding an oral health assessment in the over 75 health check performed by

GPs.