Selenium is a trace element that has antioxidant properties and is claimed to be an antimemory-loss agent, but it has not been tested rigorously in people who have memory loss. There are other elements— magnesium and zinc in particular— that are necessary for normal brain function in small quantities, or traces. Until more solid evidence is forthcoming, and given the potential toxicity of these metallic elements and compounds, I don’t recommend taking supplements of any trace metals. The amounts of these various substances present naturally in foods (and most multivitamin tablets) easily reach the FDA minimum daily requirement guidelines, so nutritional deficiency states are
extremely rare.
Promemory Diet Action Steps
Decrease intake of saturated fats such as red meat, pizza, desserts.
Maintain your water and fluid (nonalcohol) intake.
Eat fruits and vegetables, which are vital sources of antioxidants.
Take a multivitamin tablet daily.
Supplement with vitamin E and consider vitamins A and C as well.
Keep Exercising
Even very old people can benefit from a rigorous exercise program. Maria Fiatarone, a geriatrician at Tufts University, published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine in which a hundred frail, elderly nursing home residents (averaging eighty-seven years old) were randomized (equal chances of entering one treatment condition or another, like tossing a coin and seeing if it’s heads or tails) to be in an exercise program that included progressive resistance weight training, intensive nutritional supplementation, a combination of the exercise program and nutritional supplementation, or a comparison (control) group that did not receive weight training. Compared to the control group, people in the exercise group more than doubled their leg strength in eight weeks. Perhaps even more important, nutritional supplementation alone did not do much good for physical strength and
stamina, but the exercise plus nutritional supplementation group performed as well as the exercise only group.
The results of this study were striking, and the advantages of regular exercise are now universally accepted as part of any good health program, regardless of age. A recent study by Kramer and colleagues (1999) also produced impressive results: in 174 previously sedentary people sixty to seventy-five years old, regular walking led to improved performance on cognitive tests of executive function (memory was not systematically assessed in that study). As with diet, exercise should be a lifelong effort and not cease abruptly when you reach fifty or sixty or seventy. The body is a dynamic system and needs constant physical pruning and reshaping to perform optimally.
Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power
