Primo Health Blog

Bee Pollen, Propolis & Royal Jelly

By Gene Bruno, MS, MHS – Dean of Academics, Huntington College of Health Sciences

Quick Overview

Do you have unexplained brain fog, trouble concentrating, memory problems, or constant anxiety? You may have what is called a leaky brain. I've previously explained what a Leaky Gut is, but what is a leaky brain?

On a previous post Health Brain Healthy Body I shared 7 tips for maintaining a healthy brain. Having a healthy brain is essential to having a healthy body. Low fat diets and junk food diets do little to feed the brain what it needs to maintain healthy neurological function, memory and emotional well being. Environmental toxins like heavy metals as well as alcohol and drug abuse contribute greatly to loss of brain function and mental health.

This blog post will focus on eating right for your brain. Those of you with issues like anxiety, deppression, brain fog, memory loss, attention deficit disorder, dementia, autism, and addictions cannot ignore the impact of nutrition on the brain. Everyone knows the importance of nutrition when other organs of the body are ailing. But interestingly enough, nutrition for the brain and the ailments of the brain goes all to often ignored. I don't care what other treatments you may be using to deal with your brain issues, you cannot forget to eat foods for a healthy brain! 

We are born with more brain cells than we will ever have again in our lives. As we age, we lose brain cells, and as far as science can tell at this time, our bodies cannot regenerate the neurons in the brain. To preserve health and brain function, it is essential that we protect, nourish and exercise our brains. This is the topic of discussion for my Healthy Brain series.

Although our brains are unable to regenerate dead neurons, scientists have discovered that the brain has an amazing way of overcoming this downfall in order to preserve memory and brain function. This process is called neurotropism. When a neuron (brain cell) dies, there's a gap left between the cells on either side of the dead cell. Nerve transmissions usually travel from one neuron to the other much like electricity does. The healthy neurons surrounding the dead space where the cell once was will reach out with their extensions (dendrites) and stretch across that dead space to create new connections with surrounding neurons. This phenomenon maintains the function of the brains cells so that messages are able to travel across those divides without disruption. You can see some cells in neurotropism in the video below.

Glutathione is known as the "Master Antioxidant." Without antioxidants, nature's free radicals would cause endless damage to our bodies and living healthy would be quite difficult. Fortunately, we have a built in system of antioxidant power that when operating optimally, the dreaded effects of aging can be thwarted and youth preserved.

Glutathione is revered because of it's amazing power over free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules in our body that cause damage to our tissue and organs because of their erratic behavior. Glutathione, like other antioxidants, grab on to the unruly free radical and remove an electron, the bad influence on the free radical, and render it harmless. Glutathione is our most abundant antioxidant found in our cells and livers, and even stored in our protein. Science has observed that when there is marked illness, glutathione levels plummet. It is crucial to maintain adequate levels of glutathione, especially for those with chronic disease and autoimmune conditions.  Those with autoimmune conditions are often low in glutathione levels.