As Youngest Baby Boomers Turn 50 in 2014, Now is the Time to Protect Brain Health, Experts Say

National Center for Creative Aging and life’sDHATM Launch Awareness Campaign Ranking States With Healthiest Brains and Celebrating America’s Beautiful Minds

 They never thought it would happen to them — but the youngest baby boomers will turn 50 this year, and with an unprecedented life expectancy of 78.7 years, they are the newest of their generation to come to grips with the need to maintain healthy brains as they age. Now, as emerging research indicates that simple lifestyle changes can influence brain health and cognition throughout life, the National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA) and life’sDHA™ are partnering on the third installment of a national health education campaign, Beautiful Minds: Finding Your Lifelong Potential. 

The Beautiful Minds campaign is designed to empower Americans to develop and maintain healthy, active minds by incorporating lifestyle factors known as the four dimensions of brain health — diet and nutrition, physical health, mental health and social well-being. A key component of the campaign is the 2014 America’s Brain Health Index, a state-by-state ranking of brain health that delivers data on how well Americans are incorporating the four dimensions into their daily lives and reveals the states where more action is needed.

America’s Top Ten Brain Healthy States 

The America’s Brain Health Index evaluated the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia based on 21 factors including diet and nutrition, physical health, mental health and social well-being. According to this year’s America’s Brain Health Index, the top 10 brain healthiest geographies are:

1) Maryland

2) Washington state

3) Colorado

4) Connecticut

5) Alaska

6) District of Columbia

7) Vermont

8) New York

9) New Hampshire

10) Georgia

Michael Roizen, M.D., co-founder of Real Age, Inc., helped to determine the key indicators of brain health and build the Index with data aggregated from highly credible secondary resources. The categories ranged from consumption of DHA-rich foods, amount of sleep and community involvement, to smoking rates, Alzheimer’s disease prevalence and state education rankings.

“Keeping the brain healthy is easier than you realize. Everyday actions such as maintaining a diet including good fats like DHA omega-3 and important nutrients such as vitamin E and lutein, and staying active physically, mentally and socially, are all good ways to influence long-term brain health,” said Dr. Roizen.

Celebrating Beautiful Minds

The campaign also introduces America’s most Beautiful Minds, individuals fulfilling the four dimensions and achieving amazing things well into the second half of life. Through a national call for entries, adults 55 and over were invited to submit an essay describing how they embody the four dimensions of brain health. Nine individuals, ranging in age from 58 to 90, were chosen as the 2014 Beautiful Minds. Their inspiring stories include an 81-year-old who bikes nine miles to work, an 84-year-old champion swimmer and a 90-year-old singer of Chinese opera.  

Three of the Beautiful Minds are from top-ranking geographies:

·         Cheryl Vassiliadis, 60, Hoschton, Ga.

·         Judith Mares Lazar, 65, Washington, D.C.

·         Leecynth “Lee” Hunkins, 84, New York, N.Y.

Other winners include:

·         Renee McClendon, 58, Diamondhead, Miss.

·         Bruce Mondschain, 71, Deerfield, Ill.

·         C.K. Perez, 81, Chicago, Ill.

·         Peter Phildius, 84, Wellesley, Mass.,

·         Carol Siegel, 75, Alexandria, Va.

·         Pei Chang “Patty” Wang, 90, San Jose, Calif.

“The ‘graying of America’ is being heralded by many as the second American Revolution, promising dramatic changes in the field of aging. The life’sDHA Beautiful Minds campaign demonstrates that Americans who incorporate the four dimensions of brain health into daily activities can enjoy lives filled with purpose and passion, strength and achievement,” said Gay Hanna, Ph.D., M.F.A., executive director of the NCCA.

Did you know? A Sampling of Brain Health Research 

·         DHA omega-3 – Recent research shows the importance diet and the omega-3 DHA have in maintaining brain health, including brain volume, which naturally shrinks as we age. A study published in Neurology found people with higher levels of DHA and EPA may have larger brain volumes in old age equivalent to preserving one to two years of brain health (Pottala 2014).

·         Vitamin E – Just over 90 percent of Americans don’t get enough vitamin E from food (Fulgoni et al. 2011). Recent studies have found that lower levels of vitamin E in the blood may be associated with the increased prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (Mangialasche et al. 2012) and vitamin E may positively impact functional performance among participants with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease (Dysken et al. 2014).

·         Lutein – New research on lutein, typically known for its benefits to eye health, has found a correlation between macular pigment density and general cognitive function in healthy elderly people (Johnson EJ 2012). A large number of Americans are not achieving adequate levels of lutein in their everyday diets (NHANES 2003-2008) and fewer than half – 41 percent – are familiar with lutein, according to the DSM Nutritional Products’ Eye Health Survey.

Learn more

Americans of all ages who want to join this growing brain-healthy community and find out where their state ranks in America’s Brain Health Index, meet all of this year’s Beautiful Minds, and learn about simple steps they can take to improve brain health are invited to visit the campaign’s online information resource, http://www.beautiful-minds.com.

About life’sDHA™

life'sDHA™, a DSM Nutritional Products brand, is a sustainable and vegetarian source of algal DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) omega-3 important for brain and eye health throughout life. life’sDHA is derived from microalgae and produced in an FDA-inspected facility from start to finish. life’sDHA is found in numerous foods, beverages and supplements for people of all ages. For a complete list of products containing life’sDHA, visit www.lifesDHA.com.   

About the National Center for Creative Aging 

The National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA) was founded in 2001 and is dedicated to promoting creative expression as vital to healthy aging through education, research, advocacy, and technical assistance in health and wellness, lifelong learning and community. Based in Washington, D.C., NCCA is a nonprofit organization with 3,000 members and is affiliated with The George Washington University. For more information about the NCCA, visit www.creativeaging.org.