Oct 3, 2025: The Power of Plants

Welcome to this week’s edition of Boost Brain Health, sharing two healthy habits and one lesson.  

Two Brain Health Habits

Remember magnesium. Magnesium is a mineral critical for brain health. We need it every day. Researchers found that adults who include half a gram of magnesium in their daily nutrition have significantly bigger brains.

Foods rich in magnesium are leafy green vegetables, beans and nuts.

Make a connection. Even a brief interaction with a stranger has a positive effect on memory and emotions. That’s because we engage our brain in listening and responding.

A casual conversation on the way to work or visiting a store is really an opportunity for a mini-workout for our prefrontal cortex, the thinking part of our brain.

One Lesson

The power of plants. We’ve all been told to eat more fruit and vegetables, and a new study adds more detail as to why.

Plants are packed with phytonutrients like resveratrol, quercetin, berberine and selenium.

They do two things at once: they suppress a biological pathway that contributes to Alzheimer’s, AND they help to protect our brain’s nerve cells through another pathway called sirtuin-1. So, double the power.

For decades, science has been focused on developing a silver-bullet treatment to halt dementia or prevent it happening in the first place. A one-and-done pathway has been the dream of researchers for decades.

But the more we know, the more it seems our brains need a more nuanced approach.

And while we wait for science to mimic the power of plants through something that can be packaged in a pill, we can shortcut that process and just eat more plants.

Resveratrol is found in berries and chocolate (and yes in red wine too, from the grapes); quercetin is in apples and citrus fruits like oranges and lemons; berberine is found in tree turmeric; and selenium is found in Brazil nuts and seafood. Just remember to go easy on the Brazil nuts. You only need two to three Brazil nuts a day: any more can exceed the recommended amount of selenium.

If you want to dig into the science, here is the latest research on the power of plants.

One Quote

“A little action often spurs a lot of momentum.”

Noah Scalin