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- Meeting our daily energy needs with three similar meals may be the best way to stave off cognitive decline, new research suggests.
- According to the study, skipping breakfast is associated with decreased cognitive health.
- Research shows that biasing your energy intake towards one or another food is not associated with faster cognitive decline, but neither is it good for your cognition or a balanced three meals.
Food is fuel. It gives us the energy our bodies need to function and stay healthy.
Previous studies have focused on how the quality of energy—the food we consume—affects our health, and experts have explored
However, there has been little research examining the ways in which the distribution of our daily energy intake may affect long-term cognitive health and whether it has any effect on the risk of developing it. Dementia.
As of 2011
To better understand the effects of energy intake and meal timing on cognition, a new study looked at the potential effect of different meal schedules on cognitive decline, or temporal energy intake (TPEI).
The results showed that eating each of the three nutrients was associated with better cognitive function, compared to others with less unequally distributed total energy intake, or TEI.
“To our knowledge, this study is one of the few population-based studies examining the association of TPEI and cognitive decline, although accumulating studies have linked TPEI to health outcomes;
Research shows that skipping breakfast is associated with worse cognitive function and faster cognitive decline.
The study was recently published in Metabolism of life.
The researchers drew their conclusions from an analysis of data from the 1997-2006 Chinese Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
The data included 3,342 people in China who collected up to four repeated entries of their eating habits over a 10-year period. Individuals were at least 55 years old and the average was 62.2.
The authors noted that 61.2% lived in rural areas and 13.6% had a high school or higher degree.
People with severe cognitive decline were excluded from the study.
At the beginning of the study period, each participant received both a dietary assessment and a telephone-based cognitive test, which included rapid and delayed verbal recall, counting backwards, and the ability to subtract 7 from the presented digits.
Cognitive scores ran from 0 points to 27 points, with 27 points representing the highest cognitive level.
The researchers divided individuals’ mealtimes into six eating patterns:
- Equally distributed: People balance their energy intake on roughly three similar meals a day. They ate 28.5% of their daily energy at breakfast, 36.3% at lunch, and 33.8% at dinner.
- Breakfast – Superior: People eat three meals, but they use the highest share of energy 49.5% in breakfast.
- Over lunch. People ate three meals, but they ate the highest portion of energy 64.3% at lunch.
- Dinner-Main: People ate three meals, but they ate the highest share of energy, 64.5%, at dinner.
- Snack Rich: People ate 36.8% of TEI from snacks.
- Skip breakfast: People eat only 5.9% of TEI or no breakfast at all.
A breakfast-skipping pattern was associated with a cognitive decline of 0.14 cognitive-test points per year, compared with a split pattern.
No other similar decline was observed for other patterns.
Dr. Clifford SegalA neurologist at Providence St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, who was not involved in the study, reported this finding to Medical news today like “fun”
“I think the take home is that if you choose to skip a meal at breakfast, skipping a meal is going to be worse,” he said.
However, when the researchers broke down the possible TPEIs into just four patterns—balanced, breakfast-dominant, lunch-dominant, and dinner-dominant—all but the first were associated with lower cognitive function.
Neither was associated with accelerated loss of function.
According to Dr. Segil, the research “may help us to realize that we have excess calories, and if we think we have excess calories, we are more likely to be obese.” And I think most of this research has been done on excess calories in general health.
Still, the study generally agrees with other studies, saying that “dividing up your energy and even taking it in with meals can improve short-term cognitive function.”
“This supports what we’ve heard for other health problems.”
Dr. Hon-ki SungAssociate Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto, Ph.D. MNT:
“We have two different types of internal clocks (circadian rhythms). One is located in the brain (central clock or central circadian clock) and the other clock is located in some peripheral tissues, including fat, liver, gut, and retina (peripheral circadian clock). The central clock is mainly Although it is controlled by light, the peripheral clock can be adjusted in many ways, including central clock and feeding.
Dr. Sung suggests that circadian diet can refer to “circadian rhythm diet or circadian diet.”
This means you’re “synchronizing food rhythms with your internal clock,” he says. He pointed out that eating in this way can include three meals as well as food [or] Energy intake between meals.”
The Western three-meal-a-day schedule evolved from The needs of employers and employees During the industrial revolution. Before that, two large meals a day were common depending on family and farm work.
Dr. Segil added, “I think you should eat before the time of day.” “Some people are busy in the morning, that’s why a big breakfast [is often] Especially recommended for school age children.
Regardless, more research is still needed on the long-term benefits of mealtimes on cognitive health.
“Cognitive issues are multifaceted, and there is still very limited understanding,” Dr. Segil concluded.
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