TED - “You can grow new brain cells” - Sandrine Thuret, October 2015
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_tjKYvEziI
It turns out that adults do grow new brain cells. It’s called Neurogenesis, and it happens in the hippocampus.
The hippocampus is important for
• Learning & memory
• Mood & emotion
It turns out we (as adults) produce 700 new neurons per day in the hippocampus.
There seems to be a clear link between depression and neurogenesis; people with depression have a lower level of neurogenesis. If we give anti-depressants, we increase the nevel of neurogenesis. Also, if you block neurogenesis, you also block the efficacy of the anti-depressant.
We can control neurogenesis.
Some activities increase it, such as:
• Learning
• Sex
• Running (but it is not know if it is the running itself, or the effect of it on the oxigenation of bloodflow towards the brain)
Some decrease it:
• Stress
• Sleep deprivation
• Getting older
What you eat will also impact neurogenesis:
Postitive:
• Reserveratrol (in red wine. But careful, alcohol also decreases it)
• Omega 3 fatty acids (fatty fish like salmon)
• Calorie restriction
• Folic Acid
• Zinc
• Flavonoids (Dark chocolate, blueberries
• Caffeine
• Curcurmin
• Intermittent fasting (space time between meals)
Negative:
• Deficiency in vitamins A, B, E
• High sugar
• High saturated fat
• Soft diet (food that is soft, as opposed to food requiring mastication)
• Ethanol (alcohol)
Diet modulates memory & mood in the same direction as it modulates neurogenesis. So, what helps neurogenesis also helps mood (eg depression) and vice versa.
Image A: Hippocampus section of a mouse with no running wheel in its cage. -The black dots are newborn neurons
Image D: Hipoocampus section of a mouse that had a running wheel in its cage.
Sandrine Thuret
Neural stem cell researcher in AHN - Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis, King’s College London
▻https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/sandrine.1.thuret.html