Some foods may spur mental decline
I've told you before about foods that can prevent mental decline. Now I'm going to tell you about the foods that might speed it up. And the list might surprise you.
It turns out food with large amounts of copper-usually from foods like organ meats, shellfish (especially oysters), nuts, and even some vitamin supplements-can actually speed the mental decline of older people, when combined with a diet high in saturated and trans fats, according to a recent six-year study of 3,718 people ages 65 and older.
In the study, the people whose diets were full of both saturated and trans fats plus large amounts of copper (an average of 2.75 mg daily) suffered a much quicker rate of mental decline. In fact, those people suffered a rate of decline almost one and a half times greater than those on high fat diets who consumed about .88 mg each day. (The current recommended daily allowance of copper for adults is .9 mg.)
Of course, this isn't to say you should cut out fats or copper entirely. The key is getting the right amounts of copper and the right kinds of fats. The key here is to keep you're saturated fat intake to about 10-15% of total caloric intake and avoid foods with added trans fats (hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils) entirely. Trans fats are found primarily in a variety of packaged baked goods and processed frozen foods, salad dressings and margarines. You need to become a careful label reader. A moderate amount of saturated fat from healthy source organic lean meat and dairy foods is fine. Unless you're eating oysters several times a week and as long as you're eating a varied diet, most of you should not have to worry about getting too much copper.
