Magnesium Supplement Helps Boost Brainpower

[steven johnson]

Here is an intriguing finding suggesting possibly we should be supplementing our normal diet with magnesium.

ScienceDaily (Feb. 2, 2010) — New research finds that an increase in brain magnesium improves learning and memory in young and old rats. The study, published in the January 28th issue of the journal Neuron, suggests that increasing magnesium intake may be a valid strategy to enhance cognitive abilities and supports speculation that inadequate levels of magnesium impair cognitive function, leading to faster deterioration of memory in aging humans.

"Magnesium is essential for the proper functioning of many tissues in the body, including the brain and, in an earlier study, we demonstrated that magnesium promoted synaptic plasticity in cultured brain cells," explains Dr. Liu. "Therefore it was tempting to take our studies a step further and investigate whether an increase in brain magnesium levels enhanced cognitive function in animals."

"We found that increased brain magnesium enhanced many different forms of learning and memory in both young and aged rats," says Dr. Liu. A close examination of cellular changes associated with memory revealed an increase in the number of functional synapses, activation of key signaling molecules and an enhancement of short- and long-term synaptic processes that are crucial for learning and memory.

"Our findings suggest that elevating brain magnesium content via increasing magnesium intake might be a useful new strategy to enhance cognitive abilities," explains Dr. Liu. "Moreover, half the population of industrialized countries has a magnesium deficit, which increases with aging. This may very well contribute to age-dependent memory decline; increasing magnesium intake might prevent or reduce such decline."


Magnesium Supplement Helps Boost Brainpower

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Critically essential nutrients can have a profound effect on the

aging nervous system and even more so on a developing one.


Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2009 Nov 30;61(14):1332-42. Epub 2009 Aug 29.
Mitochondria in the elderly: Is acetylcarnitine a rejuvenator?

Rosca MG, Lemieux H, Hoppel CL.

Center for Mitochondrial Diseases and Department of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

Endogenous acetylcarnitine is an indicator of acetyl-CoA synthesized by multiple metabolic pathways involving carbohydrates, amino acids, fatty acids, sterols, and ketone bodies, and utilized mainly by the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Acetylcarnitine supplementation has beneficial effects in elderly animals and humans, including restoration of mitochondrial content and function. These effects appear to be dose-dependent and occur even after short-term therapy. In order to set the stage for understanding the mechanism of action of acetylcarnitine, we review the metabolism and role of this compound. We suggest that acetylation of mitochondrial proteins leads to a specific increase in mitochondrial gene expression and mitochondrial protein synthesis. In the aged rat heart, this effect is translated to increased cytochrome b content, restoration of complex III activity, and oxidative phosphorylation, resulting in amelioration of the age-related mitochondrial defect.

[tridim]

2. Yep, vitamins and minerals are good.

Eat lots.

:)

[trotsky]

4. Better to eat a balanced diet.

And supplement only when needed, and not to excess. Supplements aren't always processed and absorbed as well by the body, and many of them have harmful doses.

[tridim]

5. Yea, that's what I was getting at.

I meant, eat lots of good foods high in vitamins and minerals.

[classysassy]

3. Old and new rats

I'll be sending some to Alito,Thomas,Scalia,Kennedy and Roberts.