Can Broccoli Rebuild Your Brain?

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It seems like every month, there’s a new “superfood” being touted as the cure for anything and everything. It’s part of a growing trend of food-based preventative medicine. After decades of popping pills and ever-increasing healthcare costs, people are developing much more open minds toward preventative measures built around a healthy diet.

One disease which fills many people with dread is the thought of dementia, or age-related neurodegeneration. Conditions like Alzheimer’s disease fit into this category, and a great deal of interest has developed in recent years over how to prevent it from happening, or reverse its development in people who already have it.

There have been many new developments recently which show promise in this regard, and one of them pertains to an everyday vegetable which might be in your fridge right now: Broccoli, according to some scientists, can help rebuild your brain.

Understanding Neurodegeneration

When someone is experiencing a neurodegenerative condition, their neurons (brain cells) become entangled, impeding the normal functioning of these cells. These problems manifest themselves as difficultly with concentration and memory. Over time, they begin hindering normal bodily functions (because everything in the body is ultimately controlled by the brain). Diseases like Alzheimer’s eventually become fatal.

Of course, not everyone experiences this as they get older. Why is this? Why are some people are more genetically predisposed to neurological conditions? Research has shown that lifestyle choices, including diet, play an enormously influential role in whether or not such conditions occur.

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