BRAIN HEALTH GUIDE
CONTENTS 3
Brain Basics
3
Brain Structures -Cerebrum (Forebrain)
4
Brain Structures -Midbrain & Hindbrain
5 What Is Alzheimer’s Disease? 6 10 Warning Signs For Early Development Of Brain Shrinkage 7 So Why Are The Rates Increasing So Rapidly? 7 What Can We Do About It? 8 Memorax Ingredients 9 What Are The Ingredients Included In Memorax And How Do They Help Your Brain? 11 References
Brain Basics The brain is the most complex part of the human body. This organ is the seat of intelligence, interpreter of the senses, initiator of body movement, and controller of behavior. Lying in its bony shell, a skull, and washed by protective fluid, the brain is the source of all the qualities that define our humanity. This is why the brain is called the crown jewel of the human body. For many centuries, scientists and philosophers have been fascinated by the brain, but until recently they viewed the brain as nearly incomprehensible. Now, however, the brain is beginning to relinquish its secrets. Scientists have learned more about the brain in the last 10 years than in all previous centuries because of the accelerating pace of research in neurological and behavioral science and the development of new research techniques (NDH, 2015)
Brain Structures The brain consists of three basic units: cerebrum (Forebrain), midbrain and hindbrain. All these parts work together to make our body work and enable us to think, but each part has its own unique properties.
Cerebrum (Forebrain) When people think of the brain, it is usually the cerebrum. The cerebrum is the topmost part of the brain and is the source of intellectual activities. It plays a key role in memory, attention, perception, awareness, thought, language, and consciousness. Frontal Lobe is the very frontal part of the cerebrum, also called ‘Motor cortex’ (Society for Neuroscience, 2015). It is responsible of control of movement for different areas of the body, for example moving fingers to grab a pen or turning head to check sidemirrors. Impairment in Frontal lobe may result in either abnormal movement (e.g. sudden aggressive arm movement, Jerk movement) or inability to move at all. Parietal Lobe, which sits the far most behind of the cerebrum, is the sensory part of the brain, receiving and perceiving sensation from our body and process for further action. Usually touch and pain sensation goes to opposite side of the brain (e.g. pain sensation on right hand travels and is processed in left brain). Right handed person (left-brained) receives and processes mathematical, or number-related information more than right part of the brain, and are generally good at math. Left handed person (right-brained) is generally better at drawing.
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BRAIN HEALTH GUIDE
Temporal Lobe is at most lateral right and left side of the brain and is responsible for communicating socially in real world, recognizing expressions, processing their meanings, and understanding emotions. Damage or impairment in temporal lobe causes disturbance in auditory sensation, visual perception, language comprehension, long-term memory and many more. Occipital Lobe is the visual processing centre. It receives visual information from the eyes and the optic nerve and organizes it into images that the brain can recognize. It is also where we perceive visually associated danger such as difference in colour (e.g. red vs. green light) and speed of object (e.g. fast vs. slow moving car).
Hindbrain The hindbrain consists of very upper part of the spinal cord, the brain stem, and the cerebellum, which is commonly called the small brain. The hindbrain is responsible for vital functions that are essential for survival, such as respiration and heart rate. Constantly monitoring the vital level, the hindbrain automatically adjusts any changes that are perceived as danger to survival. For example, when a person experiences blood loss from an accident, the hindbrain detects changes in blood pressure and sends signals to various part of the body, for example to vessels in wounded site, to make the blood loss minimal and bring the blood pressure back to normal. Cerebellum is a unique region of the brain that plays an important role in movementrelated functions. It does not initiate the movement, but it rather assesses the way how the movement is performed and controls the muscle tone to make the movement smooth and sequentially performed. For example, when you play the piano or hit a gold ball, you activate the cerebellum to receive feedback and plan -next corrected movement.
Midbrain Midbrain, located between cerebrum and hindbrain, is a portion of central nervous system, connecting all the nerve circuits, organizing motor movement, the auditory, eye movement, and vision. Many vital functions involve midbrain, including some reflex actions, controlling respiratory muscles, and controlling vocal chords enabling us to phonate.
What is Cognition? Cognition refers to the brain’s ability to learn, think and remember, which is something that we need to have to function day to day. As humans, our brains are more developed and larger than our primate ancestors allowing us to perform more complex tasks. While the brain is a very complex organ, different parts of the brain have been discovered to play a role in different daily functions. The cerebral cortex is the outer layer of brain that plays key role in memory, attention, perception, awareness, thought, language, and consciousness. Intelligence is proportional to cortical thickness or size of the brain in adults. While some decline in brain function can be expected as a normal part of Healthy Brain Advanced aging, the rates at which we are seeing Alzheimer’s diseases such as Alzheimer’s affect our population can’t be attributed to natural aging alone. After the age of 60, a normal healthy brain will begin to shrink at 0.5% per year. Rates of decline higher than 0.5% per year will result in cognitive declines, the most common of which is Alzheimer’s disease.
What is Alzheimer’s Disease? When plaques become deposited all over the brain tissue, they become toxic to the brain, causing brain cells to degenerate and die, resulting in shrinking of brain tissue. There is a progressive impairment of memory and other cognitive functions. Early symptoms may be subtle at first, such as forgetting where you put your keys, not able to recall a name right away. It will then slowly advance to complete disorientation and loss of language. Alzheimer’s disease is currently estimated to affect 1 in 9 Americans over the age of 65 and 1 in 3 over the age of 85 and the rates are rapidly increasing. To put this into perspective approximately 5 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease and in the next 20 years that is expected to more than double.
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10 Warning Signs for
Early Development of Brain Shrinkage □ Memory loss that disrupts daily life □ Challenges in planning or solving problems □ Difficulty completing familiar task at home, at work or at leisure □ Confusion with time or place □ Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships □ New problems with words in speaking or writing □ Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps □ Decreased or poor judgment □ Withdrawal from work or social activities □ Changes in mood and personality
So why are the rates increasing so rapidly? This is partly due to the baby boomer generation reaching the age of 65 years old but can also be linked to the negative lifestyle factors that are related to so many of chronic diseases. Smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and traumatic brain injury are all factors which are associated with increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
What can we do about it? First and foremost, maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle are the most important factors in protecting your brain health.
1. Eat a well-balanced diet! There is not just one food or nutrient that you can take to ensure your brain has the nutrients it needs to function at its best. Minimizing simple sugars, eating high quality organic proteins, getting at least the minimum recommended servings of a diverse group of vegetables and fruits are all some of the essential first steps to improve brain health.
2. Take Omega-3! Taking a good quality fish oil that is high in EPA and DHA will help decrease inflammation throughout your body, including your brain.
3. Exercise! You need exercise to increase blood flow around the body to deliver nutrients to all of your organs and that includes your brain too.
4. Get enough sleep! Your body’s tissues regenerate at night and if you are not giving your body adequate time to shut down and repair itself, you will start to feel that effects in many aspects of your health.
5. Top up these basic essentials with a high quality supplement that specifically targets nutrients for the brain. Acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter or information protein in the brain, is responsible for memory. The enzyme acetylcholinesterase is responsible for the breakdown of acetylcholine in the nervous system. Thus treatments for cognitive impairments related to memory will often target the acetylcholine system by increasing choline levels directly or slowing this breakdown.
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PROSTATE HEALTH GUIDE
Ingredients Serving Size: 1 capsule Servings Per Container: 60 Amount Per Serving Ginkgo Biloba ............................................. 175 mg (6% Terpene lactones, 25% Flavonoid flycosides, 10:1) Non-Medicinal Ingredients: Sage Leaf ................................................... 200 mg Rosemary ..................................................... 20 mg Pycnogenol ..................................................... 5 mg Lemon Balm ................................................ 100 mg Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (vegetable Capsule Shell) Recommended Use: Helps to enhance memory in adults Helps to enhance cognitive function in adults Duration of Use: Consult a health care practitioner for use beyond 8 months
60 capsules NPN 80033883
Recommended Dose: Adults: 1 Capsule(s) 3 time(s) per day Caution and Warning: Consult a health care practitioner prior to use if you are taking medications for diabetes, high blood pressure, or seizures. Consult a health care practitioner prior to use if you are pregnant or breastfeeding Contraindications: Do not use if you are taking health products that affect blood coagulation (e.g. blood thinners, clotting factor replacements, acetylsalicyclic acid, ibuprofen, fish oils, vitamin E) as this may increase the risk of spontaneous bleeding
Memorax contains several natural ingredients that target the acetylcholine system and other factors that can improve brain health.
What are the ingredients included in Memorax and how do they help your brain? SAGE (Salvia officinalis) Patients diagnosed with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease who received Sage Leaf treatment for 4 months showed improved scores in the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale and the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale. (1) In healthy volunteers, a single dose of sage demonstrated improved cognitive performance and mood indicating its potential use for aiding in academic performance of young students. (1). Age appears to decrease acetylcholinesterase activity as demonstrated in several animal trials. (2) In vitro studies also demonstrated an inhibitory effect on acetylcholinesterase activity, which mayy be sage’s mechanism of action in improving cognitive nitive performance.
ROSEMARY (Rosmarinus officinalis) A powdered dose of Rosemary demonstrated positive effects on the th speedd off memory in i healthy subject between the ages of 65 and 90 years of age. (3) Rosemary also demonstrated a reduction in mental fatigue in young adults (4). Studies in rats have demonstrated improvements in long-term ( ) memory through inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (5).
LEMON BALM (Melissa officinalis) Lemon balm is known to have calming effects. It appears to bind directly to specific receptors in the brain resulting in decreased levels of anxiety with acute dosing. Along with anti-anxiety and anti-depressant activity, Lemon Balm has shown neuro-protective effects attributed to its antioxidant properties as well as increasing levels of acetylcholine in the brain through inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity (6). BRAIN BRAI BR AIN AI N HEALTH HEAL HE ALTH AL TH GUIDE GUI UIDE DE 9
PROSTATE HEALTH GUIDE
PYCNOGENOL Pycnogenol is an isolated compound found in French maritime pine bark, which has highly bioavailable antioxidant properties. Human studies demonstrated improved cognitive function, attention and mental performance as well as a decreased level of oxidative stress in healthy subjects after 12 months of Pycnogenol supplementation. (7) Significant reductions in hyperactivity and increased levels of attention and motor co-ordination were seen in children with ADHD who were supplemented with Pycnogenol over 4 weeks. (8)
GINKGO BILOBA Ginkgo biloba is one of the most widely used medicinal plants and as such there iss a significant amount of research, which has as been devoted to the traditional Chinese herb. A recent analysis of several double blind placebo controlled trials involving a high dose of standardized extract of ginkgo biloba demonstrated several improvements with markers of cognitive health (9). Its medicinal use is likely due to its ability to dilate blood vessels and improve blood flow, reduce levels of damaging free radicals in the body and its ability to modulate neurotransmitter activity in the nervous system.
References: 1. Miroddi M1, Navarra M, Quattropani MC, Calapai F, Gangemi S, Calapai G. Systematic review of clinical trials assessing pharmacological properties of Salvia species on memory, cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. CNS Neurosci Ther. 2014 Jun;20(6):485-95. doi: 10.1111/ cns.12270. Epub 2014 Apr 10. 2. Smach MA, Hafsa J, Charfeddine B, Dridi H, Limem K Effects of sage extract on memory performance in mice and acetylcholinesterase activity. Ann Pharm Fr. 2015 Jul;73(4):281-8. doi: 10.1016/j.pharma.2015.03.005. Epub 2015 Apr 28. 3. Pengelly A1, Snow J, Mills SY, Scholey A, Wesnes K, Butler LR. Short-term study on the effects of rosemary on cognitive function in an elderly population. J Med Food. 2012 Jan;15(1):10-7. doi: 10.1089/jmf.2011.0005. Epub 2011 Aug 30. 4. Lindheimer JB1, Loy BD, O’Connor PJ. Short-term effects of black pepper (Piper nigrum) and rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis andRosmarinus eriocalyx) on sustained attention and on energy and fatigue mood states in young adults with low energy. J Med Food. 2013 Aug;16(8):765-71. doi: 10.1089/jmf.2012.0216. Epub 2013 Aug 1. 5. Ozarowski M1 et al. Rosmarinus officinalis L. leaf extract improves memory impairment and affects acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase activities in rat brain. Fitoterapia. 2013 Dec;91:26171. doi: 10.1016/j.fitote.2013.09.012. Epub 2013 Sep 27. 6. Kennedy DO1, Scholey AB. The psychopharmacology of European herbs with cognition-enhancing properties. Curr Pharm Des. 2006;12(35):4613-23. 7. Belcaro G1, Dugall M, Ippolito E, Hu S, Saggino A, Feragalli B. The COFU3 Study. Improvement in cognitive function, attention, mental performance withPycnogenol® in healthy subjects (55-70) with high oxidative stress. J Neurosurg Sci. 2015 Dec;59(4):437-46. 8. Trebatická J1, Kopasová S, Hradecná Z, Cinovský K, Skodácek I, Suba J, Muchová J, Zitnanová I, Waczulíková I, Rohdewald P, Duracková Z. Treatment of ADHD with French maritime pine bark extract, Pycnogenol. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2006 Sep;15(6):329-35. Epub 2006 May 13 9. Birks J,Grimley Evans J. Ginkgo biloba for cognitive impairment and dementia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2009 Jan 21;(1):CD003120. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD003120.pub3.
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This booklet is written by members of the research team at David Health Herbal Research Laboratory. info@davidhealthfood.com The product descriptions in this booklet are for general information purposes only, and are not intended as medical advice, which can only be administered to each individual by qualified health professionals. These statements have not been evaluated by any government body. These products are not intended to treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Before starting any new program, it is recommended that you check with a qualified health care practitioner, especially if you have a specific medical problem or are taking any medication. Every attempt has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this booklet; however, David Health International will not be responsible for errors or accidental omissions. If you require further product information, or should you have any questions, please call or visit our web site at www.Memorax.ca All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission from David Health International.
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