By now you know, cholesterol was never really the health boogeyman the medical community made it out to be in the 80s and 90s. In fact, all those years spent buying low-fat foods probably didn’t help your heart health ,because research shows that cholesterol and heart disease aren’t that closely connected after all.
And, even worse, depriving your body of cholesterol might have prevented one of your vital organs from getting the fuel it needs to thrive…
Cholesterol fuels your brain- Your brain needs cholesterol to grow new nerve cells and for these nerve cells to work properly. And when your brain is deprived of cholesterol, things don’t go so well up there. In fact, without enough cholesterol, you may even develop serious brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Research shows that a lack of cholesterol in the brain can lead to severe brain disease. A 2016 study on cholesterol-lowering drugs demonstrated a similar phenomenon… but this time the end result was Parkinson’s disease. In a study, researchers from Penn State College of Medicine looked at the medical records of more than 30,343,035 people, including about 20,000 people with Parkinson’s disease. Through careful analysis, they determined that people using cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins were at a higher risk of developing Parkinson’s than people who didn’t use these drugs.
Now, statins are known for having a long list of side effects. so it’s not exactly shocking that they can increase your risk of Parkinson’s too… But, the truth is, it wasn’t just statins that increased the risk of Parkinson’s disease. Researchers found that other types of cholesterol-lowering drugs increased Parkinson’s disease risk also, making the cholesterol-Parkinson’s connection alarmingly clear.
Connecting the dots: Cholesterol and your brain- If you want to maintain a healthy brain and prevent diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s you need to provide your brain with a steady supply of cholesterol. To keep cholesterol levels healthy in your body and brain, you should focus on eating plenty of foods that increase your good (HDL) cholesterol, like:
- Olive oil
- Beans and legumes
- Fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, albacore tuna, sardines, and rainbow trout.
- Flax and chia seeds
- Nuts like Brazil nuts, almonds, pistachios and walnuts
Avocado - High-fiber fruits like apples, blackberries, raspberries and pears
- Red, blue and purple produce like plums, grapes, cherries,
raspberries, pomegranates, beets and eggplant.
And if you’re looking for another way to boost your brain health and protect yourself from diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, don’t forget to take your vitamin B.
