Fasting autophagy
In addition to neurogenesis, there is also a process called autophagy that is activated when humans fast. Autophagy is loosely described as the process of cleaning cells and removing debris.
Theoretically, you can see how this can be beneficial in improving cell and neuronal activation. But in addition to exercise and fasting, there are some other elements that can help develop new brain cells.
Omega-3 fatty acids
It should come as no surprise to the Paleo community that there are benefits to omega-3 fatty acids. Docosahexaenoic acid is preferable to all other forms of omega-3s. Unsurprisingly, the scientific literature shows that DHA helps support neurogenesis.
There are many other reasons you may want to supplement with DHA or get large amounts from your daily intake from wild-caught fish, but the specific neurological effects of DHA are intriguing.
Grow new neurons with blueberries
Blueberries are another beneficial food that may be linked to the growth of new brain cells. Studies have talked about the impact of diet on neurogenesis, the flavonoids in blueberries are advantageous.
Since the link between increased neurogenesis and increased mood and cognition is obvious, it makes sense to regularly include blueberries in your diet.
Not only will you enjoy the cognitive effects of food, but you will also be indulging your taste buds and gaining the inherent antioxidant effects.
Low sugar diet
While it's generally a good idea to stay on a low-sugar diet, especially when looking to boost neuron growth, blueberries are a rare exception because they offer so many other benefits.
And it should be noted that they are low in sugar compared to many other fruits. In fact, the following figure shows the multitude of factors involved in the influence of neurogenesis, where both blueberries and flavonoids are shown individually.
Green tea to develop new brain cells
Besides the methods mentioned above, green tea is another method to increase neurogenesis. Specifically, the compound epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is the element that has been linked to the growth of new brain cells.
Researchers have shown that "EGCG treatment significantly increased the number of 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU) -labeled cells in adult hippocampal neural progenitor cell (NPC) cultures and in the dentate gyrus of adult mice."
This means that drinking green tea or supplementing with EGCG in isolation will increase your neuronal growth rate.
Initially, neurogenesis was studied in rats before being transferred to humans. As expected, EGCG was also found to be beneficial for neurogenesis in rats. When comparing rat studies with humans, we must always ensure that the data is physiologically relevant.
What does this mean? It means that we must use dose-relevant amounts. The amount of EGCG that has been studied to be beneficial can be obtained by normal means in humans. A few cups of green tea, or a standardized EGCG extract, will do the job. This is not always the same, as seen in the case of resveratrol.
Final words on neurogenesis
Now, it is vital to look at the drawbacks and realistic results of the growth of these new neurons. Although it is an exciting prospect, neurogenesis or the growth of new cells in the brain is subject to the rest of the diet, human body processes, and other activities and stresses that occur in your brain.
As researchers have also pointed out, too much neurogenesis could be just as bad as too little.
It is also important to note that many new neurons transmitted through the process of neurogenesis die within 2 weeks. Therefore, it is not a way to replace a barely functioning brain with Einstein's brain. But, many of the new neurons migrate to the molecular layer.
It's easy to overstate the importance of new brain cell growth, but science is still emerging on how much control we have over the growth of our adult brain. Of course, there are other theories on how to increase your intelligence.
To conclude, it is important to think that neurogenesis is similar to taking a supplement. Yes, it may be slightly beneficial to increase your intake of foods and supplements to help stimulate neurogenesis.
But if your overall diet and lifestyle are poor, highly stressed, and generally unhealthy, these methods will do little or no benefit. You must always remember the whole image, the whole human body and the whole psyche.
Blood sugar levels can either be normal, high, or low, depending on how much glucose someone has in their bloodstream. Glucose is a simple sugar that’s present in the bloodstream at all times. Normal blood glucose levels can be measured when someone fasts, eats, or after they’ve eaten. A normal blood glucose level for adults, without diabetes, who haven’t eaten for at least eight hours (fasting) is less than 100 mg/dL. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/02/17/2177547/0/en/gluco...