- A neurologist says there’s a lot you can do for your brain health through small dietary changes.
- The first tip he recommends is to eat more green leafy vegetables, like spinach and kale.
- The nutrients that help plants grow healthy and green are also good for our brains.
Dean Sherzai, a neurologist and dementia researcher, has a favorite study.
Published in 2018 and funded by the National Institute on Aging, the blockbuster study — which looked at the eating habits of more than 900 older adults living around Chicago — found that those who ate about one to two cups of salad greens a day, including spinach, kale, collard greens and lettuce, had brains that functioned about 11 years younger than their age-matched peers without lettuce.
“Just add green,” Sherzai, one half of the husband-and-wife team that calls themselves “The Brain Docs,” told me when I asked what single change I could make today to prevent neurodegenerative diseases.
“If you have to start with just one food, because you have limited stomach space, add two servings of green vegetables to your diet,” he told Business Insider. With that, “you’ve significantly reduced inflammation, oxidation, glucose dysregulation, and lipid dysregulation,” all of which are hallmarks of many age-related diseases.
Sherzai knows it’s tempting to reach for some new miracle potion that promises to boost brain health, like a fancy supplement, an expensive gummy, or a new smoothie powder. But what he’s discovered, after decades of research, is that some of the most “profound” ways we can influence our own cognitive health are the oldest.
Our thirst for novelty may be steering us in the wrong direction, away from the truly phenomenal chemical properties of greens. If there’s a miracle ingredient for your brain, it’s probably the cocktail of nutrients lurking quietly in bright green leaves that helps them grow.
Why Plant Chlorophyll Is More Powerful Than Green Juices and Supplements
When we eat green plants, we consume a green pigment molecule called chlorophyll, which helps plants perform photosynthesis, which is capturing sunlight and converting it into energy for growth.
Chlorophyll is green because the red and blue light from the sun is absorbed by the plant to produce energy. The green light is what is left behind and reflected back to us visually. It turns out that these green chlorophyll molecules are packed with a lot of nutrients, including iron, magnesium, and nitrogen, which are fundamental ingredients for life, whether it is a plant or a person.
Wellness brands have tried to harness this natural dream combination by incorporating it into supplements and products like chlorophyll water. But because chlorophyll is so unstable, they often have to remove the magnesium and add other elements like copper or zinc instead. Experts say it’s unclear whether these industrial versions of chlorophyll have any health benefits. What we do know is that you can Get the benefits of chlorophyll by consuming it in its original packaging. In other words: eat more leaves.
“Chlorophyll itself may not be that useful,” Troy Magney, an associate professor of plant optics at the University of California, Davis, told Business Insider, reflecting the fact that there is no solid research to support chlorophyll supplementation.
Rather, it’s the chemical “building blocks” of the chlorophyll molecules in the leaves we eat that likely help us humans thrive, Magney said. Open up that old chemistry textbook and you’ll discover that many of the atomic components of the chlorophyll molecule, along with other ingredients needed for healthy metabolism and plant growth, are powerful boosters for human health.
“Things like iron, magnesium, nitrogen and those nutrients that are all needed for chlorophyll,” Magney explained.
Magnesium is essential for our muscles, nerves, bones, and blood sugar levels. Yet nearly half of us don’t get enough. Iron plays a vital role in carrying fresh oxygen throughout our bodies, while nitrogen helps us grow and keeps our brains and immune systems strong.
People who eat more leafy greens also get decent amounts of other nutrients, including vitamin K, folate, lutein, and beta-carotene. Experts believe that these nutrients, all present thanks to the bright pigments in leaves, may work together synergistically to protect our brains. We already know that they’re great for reducing inflammation, improving eyesight, and protecting DNA.
Darker leaves contain more nutrients in each bite
Sherzai recommends incorporating more dark greens like spinach and kale into your diet when you can.
“The darker the better,” he said.
This is because darker green vegetables, by default, contain more chlorophyll and therefore more nutrients in each bite.
“It takes more nutrients to produce more chlorophyll,” Magney says. “So the density of these compounds is higher in the leaf itself.”
It’s also a good idea to eat your plants as fresh as possible. When greens start to rot and turn yellow in your refrigerator, it’s a good sign that they’re losing some of the green chlorophyll they created while growing.
“These yellow pigments are still there, but we can’t see them because the chlorophylls are so intense that they kind of overwhelm the yellow pigments,” Amber Flores, a doctoral student in plant biology at UC Davis, told BI. “Once the chlorophyll starts to degrade and the leaf starts to age, meaning die, we start to see the yellows appear.”
There may still be beneficial carotenoid pigments hidden in those yellowing leaves (and they’re great for eye health), but generally speaking, a wilted leaf becomes less nutritious than it was before.
So, look for the freshest lettuce possible, and if you like olive oil, drizzle some on top: the fat will also help your body better absorb the nutrients in the plant. If you prefer a less colorful leafy green, like a pale iceberg or romaine, don’t be ashamed. Go for it.
“I know people think of lettuce as being like crunchy water, especially iceberg lettuce, but that definitely diminishes the other benefits that lettuce can bring to the table,” Flores said. While it’s true that lettuce grown inside a protective ball like a head of lettuce won’t be able to absorb as much sunlight as a soft spinach stock, and therefore won’t be bright green and chlorophyll-rich, it still contains a decent amount of other minerals and fiber.
“They’re not as pigmented as some other leafy greens, but again, they’re worth eating and are also easier to incorporate into many dishes,” Flores said. “Just keep eating vegetables,” she added, however you like them.