Five Worst Foods for the Brain...Huff Post..

[Stuart G]

I saw this and thought I would share this with all. There is some scientific evidence on these, it is worth a read.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-5-worst-foods-for-your-brain_563d1713e4b0411d30711ac4

1. White Rice

High glycemic-index foods increase your risk of depression.
Certain kinds of carbs can have a negative impact on your brain, resulting in an emotional health dip. A 2015 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that post-menopausal women who eat foods with a high glycemic index, meaning refined carbohydrates like white bread and rice, cornflakes, and potatoes, have a higher incidence of new-onset depression. Conversely, the more lactose, fiber, non-juice fruit, and vegetables study participants ate, the less likely they were to get depressed.

Four others are:... 2 Fruit Juices,3 Fried Foods, 4 Cheese and Pizza, and 5 Microwave Popcorn...complete descriptions and evidence are at link

[SheilaT]

1. Hah! I've long known that microwave popcorn was the work of the devil.

Plus, I once demonstrated to a devotee of microwave popcorn that is was much faster to pop real popcorn on the stove top. Plus, none of the nasty, nasty chemicals of the fake butter flavoring.

[hobbit709]

9. I have a microwave popcorn maker.

you pour in the popcorn, put on the lid and let it cook for 3 1/2 minutes. Put it in a serving bowl and add flavoring of your choice. No artificial anything added.

[yuiyoshida]

13. I have a microwave and

brown paper bags. Put in a little bit of popcorn kernals...and pop until it slows down. No oils, and add what you want. I don't like the plastic bags either, when a brown paper bag is cheaper and easier to make!

[gblady]

35. I simply put 3 tablespoons of popcorn kernals....

into a brown paper lunch bag, fold the top down and put it in the microwave for about 2 minutes....
then doctor with whatever I'm in the mood for....usually olive oil, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, parmesan cheese.
Delicious!

[SheilaT]

36. You have a separate microwave thing just for popcorn?

Wow.

I put about a tablespoon of vegetable oil in the bottom of heavy pot, toss in about five kernels, turn up the heat to high. When the first couple of kernels pop, I pour in enough popcorn to cover the bottom of the pan, reduce the heat a bit, and as soon as they start popping cover the pan. It takes maybe two minutes for everything to pop.

The one time I did a test with a friend where I did stove-top and she did microwave, my popcorn was ready faster. The supposed butter in the microwave stuff is truly nasty, as is the fake butter at a movie theater.

A separate microwave just for popcorn. The mind boggles.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. kick

[yuiyoshida]

3. If White Rice is so bad,

Why are some of the oldest people living in Japan, a country that has had Rice as a stable for a very long time, and no, brown rice is not popular there.

[Sherman A1]

4. Agreed

I find this list a bit suspect....

[Spitfire of ATJ]

5. Louis Black claimed these people don't know....

As an example he asks, "Is milk good or bad?" (pause) "I rest my case."

[A Simple Game]

6. Same thing with eggs, coffee, chocolate... They just want to justify a paycheck it seems.

This really gives science a bad name. Much of it is financed by an industry wanting to promote themselves. You should believe very little of it. Mad because you found out your favorite food is bad for you? Wait a year, then it will be the best thing since sliced bread.

[mucifer]

7. I'm thinking they eat less processed and fried foods

and probably smaller portions than people here in the USA.

[Art_from_Ark]

10. Fried foods are popular in Japan

For example, tempura (vegetables, squid, etc. deep-fried in batter), harumaki (fried Japanese egg rolls), karaage (fried chicken nuggets), agedofu (fried tofu), agedamago kushi (fried quail eggs on a stick) and agegyoza (fried Japanese wontons).

[yuiyoshida]

12. Art you just made me hungry

at 4:02 in the morning!! but yes! That is fried food. Japanese has processed food as well, so again... when you have people living to 114 and 117 years old, tell me WHITE RICE is bad for me!!!

[Art_from_Ark]

15. Japan does have processed food as well

But Japanese probably do eat less processed foods than their American counterparts.

As far as frieds foods go, unfortunately I have been eating too many recently. The most recent was ageshumai.

[yuiyoshida]

17. I tried something new!!

Anikimo ... cured monkfish liver ..it wasn't bad!

[LiberalArkie]

31. The question is: Do you ever sleep? It seems you post 24 hours a day.

[Art_from_Ark]

32. I am in Japan

So my time schedule is a little different from yours

I'm also a "late to bed, early to rise" type, so it might seem like I post 24 hours a day.

[LiberalArkie]

33. Yes, I knew you were in Japan, I guess since I am early to bed and early to rise

is what does it. I got up to go to work at 5:30 on weekdays so I got in the rut of going to bed around 8PM. Can't break the habit to stay up later. I still get up at 4AM or 5 every morning.

[stonecutter357]

8. A pice are two of Uni and that rice bowl is good to go.

[yuiyoshida]

11. looks like Uni and

ikura with that rice. Yes, that is a very good and expensive dish. I prefer Chirashi ..myself

[Art_from_Ark]

16. I'll probably have some of that tomorrow night

If i can make it to a certain supermarket in time, they'll probably have it at half price-- around $2.50 for a serving like that.

[stonecutter357]

23. oooooomy!

yum

[yuiyoshida]

24. haiiiiiii!

oishiii ne!! (Yummy)

[Art_from_Ark]

25. Probably not uni

Uni is sea urchin. That looks more like Japanese scrambled eggs to me.

[yuiyoshida]

26. I have never heard of mixing

scrambled Chicken eggs with Salmon eggs. Most toppings tend to be fish, but Sea Urchin is expensive here, so it maybe there, considering the difficulty of removing it from the shell. It looks kind of like Uni but I have never seen that much Uni on rice..you could be right but I have not heard of scrambled eggs with salmon eggs. Maybe

[Art_from_Ark]

27. The half-price sushi plates that I am so fond of buying

always have one piece of scrambled egg sushi and one piece of salmon egg sushi.
If I buy one tomorrow, I'll post a picture of it.

[GreatGazoo]

14. It says "bad for the brain" -- not longevity

[Art_from_Ark]

18. Japanese as a whole are not stupid...

...except when they go out in public-- then they throw pedestrian and bicycle laws to the Four Winds.

[yuiyoshida]

19. So you are going to tell me Japanese

people are stupid, for eating white rice for all these years? Lets test Japanese children scores to those of American children shall we?

[GreatGazoo]

20. The claim in the OP was 'white rice is bad for the brain' so you saying there are a few people

in Japan who have lived over 100 years does not refute that claim in any way.

I said nothing disparaging about a group of people, only that your citation of long lives doesn't even respond to the claim in the OP since the claim is about brain function and your response is about long term health.

[yuiyoshida]

21. the claim is bogus..

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-32608772


Gee, all of those top 5 ASIAN countries live on Rice.

[jberryhill]

28. Yes, but they would be even smarter if they didn't eat rice

I've got this all figured out...

Because rice is bad for your brain, then Asians had to develop extremely good brains, so they would function well when the rice dragged them down.

Think about it - why have you never seen a picture of Albert Einstein eating rice?

[ohnoyoudidnt]

43. This must be some kind of evil trick.

One day they will all suddenly stop eating rice and will their intelligence will increase dramatically. What will they do with their new super brain powers? Come after us, of course. That's what.

[jberryhill]

44. But until then, we have this

[ohnoyoudidnt]

45. Oh my.

It could be a case of "Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance" - Sun Tzu

[GreatGazoo]

30. In deciding whether "the claim is bogus" or not, we should start with the ACTUAL claim.

The HuffPo article cites this study which shows that eating white rice increases the risk of depression in post-menopausal women -- it does NOT say anything about STEM test scores or intelligence or IQ or education systems or cultures or Japan or life expectancy, only depression:

Background: The consumption of sweetened beverages, refined foods, and pastries has been shown to be associated with an increased risk of depression in longitudinal studies. However, any influence that refined carbohydrates has on mood could be commensurate with their proportion in the overall diet; studies are therefore needed that measure overall intakes of carbohydrate and sugar, glycemic index (GI), and glycemic load.

Conclusions: The results from this study suggest that high-GI diets could be a risk factor for depression in postmenopausal women. Randomized trials should be undertaken to examine the question of whether diets rich in low-GI foods could serve as treatments and primary preventive measures for depression in postmenopausal women. The Women’s Health Initiative is registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00000611.

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2015/06/24/ajcn.114.103846.abstract

It looks like the study did not single out white rice but rather perhaps the HuffPo author decided to make it about white rice specifically even though the study design cites "relations between dietary GI, glycemic load, and other carbohydrate measures (added sugars, total sugars, glucose, sucrose, lactose, fructose, starch, carbohydrate) and depression in postmenopausal women who participated in the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study"

So ultimately, the HuffPo article is sloppy and and poorly written. The author seems to have broadened the conclusions of a study about post menopausal women and glycemic index.

IF the scientific study's claim was that eating white rice was linked to lower IQ then your list of the top STEM countries would not refute that. There is no evidence that eating white rice (or not) has any impact on the STEM scores of 15 year olds. One example to debunk your theory: Pakistan eats plenty of rice and produces low STEM scores.

[Stuart G]

41. People who eat white rice, are not stupid..I did not mean to imply that at all.....

Some of the evidence at Huff Post..is probably wrong

=that is ok, if this OP got people at least thinking about some foods.. sorry if that came thru in OP...Stuart

[SheilaT]

37. If white rice is *the* major component of your diet,

you may well suffer from beriberi, which is caused by a deficiency of one of the B vitamins. If white rice is only part of your diet, no problem.

Just got done reading an excellent book called Vitamania about how we got to understand vitamins, what they were, the diseases they prevented. Beriberi is one of the first ones covered in the book.

But yeah, I do get tired of specific foods being demonized, or equally bad, specific foods being held up as magic.

[Stuart G]

40. Ok...here is why the Japanese live longer..are you ready???

exercise..exerciZe and more exercise...why??what is the big deal...Gasoline is 8.00-$10.00 a gallon.. so guess what? They walk a whole lot..yes..a whole lot, that is their exercise..walking..a whole lot.

I am about 15 pounds over an absolute "ideal" weight..not heavy or fat..close to normal..I road the subways when I was in Tokyo 8 years ago..I went with a friend who knew the system and how to get from here to there..We took all kinds of routs..

As I looked at hundreds of subway travelers like me, (almost all were Japanese on their way to work, from work, or whatever, very few if any foreigners ....I noticed this fact, and it was a fact.........I was always the fattest, heaviest, most out of shape looking person..(even though I was in decent shape).

..The others were all thinner, totally "normal weight" without any..I repeat, any excess fat...

[Shandris]

46. It's America. We probably used Minute Rice instead. =P

After eating real rice, I'm not convinced Minute Rice IS rice.

[bigwillq]

22. I'm screwed.

[Quantess]

29. Oregon State University's article:

http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2015/jun/fat-sugar-cause-bacterial-changes-may-relate-loss-cognitive-function

[RichVRichV]

34. Forget the foods. Worst thing for your brain is excess additives.

1) Free glutamic acids (MSG, etc) - flavor enhancer

2) Free aspartic acids (aspartame) - sweetener

[Archae]

38. The Huffer Post is a major source of woo.

Just about any and every fake "medical" claim gets posted at Huffington Post.

http://americanloons.blogspot.com/2013/11/780-arianna-huffington.html

[panader0]

39. Fruit juices? WTF?

[Stuart G]

42. My guess this is referring to the idea of too much fruit juice..as a total substitue ...

for something else...Always drinking fruit juice all day, could upset the system..I am guessing one glass a day, would be a non event.