ArcaMax

The new year started off with a bang -- especially when it comes to confirming two simple steps you can take to protect your brain from cognition problems and Alzheimer's.

It's not news to anyone who reads this column that eating processed red meat poses a huge risk for body-wide inflammation, heart disease, diabetes and other chronic conditions. But a new study in Neurology illuminates how it affects brain health.

It seems that the saturated fat and salt content may damage the circulation in the brain, and byproducts in the gut from digesting meat are implicated in the accumulation of amyloid tangles and clumps of tau protein that are markers for Alzheimer's. But replacing one serving of processed red meat a day with nuts and legumes is associated with a 19% lower risk of dementia and a 21% lower risk of milder cognition problems.

The second simple step? Aerobic exercise. Researchers did a lab study and found that rodents who did aerobics had around a 63% reduction in tau tangles and a 76% reduction in amyloid plaques. Brain inflammation was cut by up to two-thirds. Human clinical trials are planned, but why wait for those results?

Moderate to vigorous walking, swimming, playing pickleball -- they're all fun and our research makes us confident that they improve the health of every organ system, brain included.

For more info on using diet and exercise to protect your brain, read "The Great Age Reboot." It presents 40 things you can do which, altogether, may reduce your dementia risk by 90%!

Dr. Mike Roizen is the founder of www.longevityplaybook.com, and Dr. Mehmet Oz is global advisor to www.iHerb.com, the world's leading online health store. Roizen and Oz are chief wellness officer emeritus at Cleveland Clinic and professor emeritus at Columbia University, respectively. Together they have written 11 New York Times bestsellers (four No. 1's).

(c)2025 Michael Roizen, M.D.

Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

(c) 2025 Michael Roizen, M.D. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.