This Mineral Beats Dementia

One mineral has been linked in several studies to better brain function and smaller risks of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

How effective is this mineral, and how much is enough?

That’s a question that a new study in the European Journal of Nutrition attempted to answer.

Researchers from the Australian National University enrolled 6,001 participants from the UK Biobank database, all aged between 40 and 73. For each participant, the researchers had two blood pressure measurements, MRI brain scans, and dietary magnesium intake measured with a 24-hour recall questionnaire, completed several times to minimize error.

The most important finding was that higher magnesium intake at the beginning of the study was associated with larger brain volumes, including gray matter, the left hippocampus, and the right hippocampus.

Participants who consumed more than 550 milligrams of magnesium daily had a brain age about a year younger by the time they turned 55 than those who consumed only 350 milligrams.

This means that increasing magnesium intake by 58% can reduce age-related brain shrinkage, which is associated with better cognitive abilities and a decreased risk of dementia.

This finding held true for all subgroups but was stronger for women than men and stronger for postmenopausal than premenopausal women.

When the scientists calculated the participants’ magnesium intake trajectory, they identified three groups: high-decreasing, normal-stable, and low-increasing. The relationship was especially strong in the first group, confirming the finding that high magnesium intake boosts brain function and reduces dementia risk.

Foods high in magnesium include dark chocolate, spinach, avocado, banana, nuts, legumes, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, salmon, mackerel, and brown rice.

Magnesium is only one piece of the puzzle. To halt or reverse dementia, you need to load up on one free ingredient explained here…