Deficiency In Two Vitamins & Two Minerals Linked To Cognitive Decline

…and other items from this week’s health news:

Food for thought

Researchers (Dr. Samitinjaya Dhakal et al.) analyzed dietary intake, eating patterns, and cognitive function in adults aged 65 and older, and found that higher intakes of fiber, healthy unsaturated fats, and micronutrients including vitamins A and E, as well as magnesium and potassium, were associated with better brain health and memory.

It is also worth mentioning that carotenoids, the pigments that give many fruits and vegetables their bright colors, were also linked to better overall cognitive function.

Nevertheless, nearly all participants had diets that fell short of age-appropriate nutrient adequacy, and some did even worse—higher consumption of refined grains such as white bread, certain cereals, pasta, and crackers was negatively associated with cognitive function and memory (i.e. they were associated with lower scores in those things).

Read in full: Fiber and certain micronutrients help with healthy brain aging, study finds

Related: A New Contender For “Best Diet For Heart & Brain” In Aging

Too old for it? No, but…

Researchers from the University of Tartu in Estonia analyzed data from 67,334 adults aged 18–89 in the Estonian Biobank, representing about 7% of the country’s adult population, to examine how sexual desire varies with demographic factors.

There were some interesting findings, including:

• men’s desire and age: men’s reported sexual desire peaked in their late 30s and early 40s rather than in their teens or 20s, which rather challenges long-held assumptions about male desire across the lifespan.
• women’s desire and age: sexual desire tended to decline with age for everyone, but the decrease was significantly steeper in women than in men; it also decreased more if in a family with children.

The researchers wrote that “demographic factors alone—even without accounting for psychological or relational influences—explained 28% of the variance in sexual desire,” meaning that nearly one-third of differences can be predicted from factors such as age, gender, education, and family situation.

In particular the men’s age range thing is quite interesting, as it means it’s not linked to peak testosterone (which would be teens and 20s).

Read in full: What a study of 67,000 people reveals about sexual desire and age

Related: Who Initiates Sex & Why It Matters

When teens need more social media, not less

Social media is often thought as a “Big Bad” when it comes to health in general, and older adults tend to especially hold this view when it comes to teens and younger. However, science suggests it’s not always true!

Researchers (Dr. Rachel Curtis et al.) analyzed data from nearly 100,991 children followed from grades 4 through 12, using self-reported social media use and annual wellbeing surveys covering happiness, life satisfaction, and emotional regulation.

There’s a definite “Goldilocks zone”, because:

• Those using social media for more than two hours every day were more likely to have low wellbeing compared with moderate users.
• Those not using social media at all were also much more likely to have poorer wellbeing, particularly in older adolescents.

This held true regardless of gender, but there was a disparity in how big the effect was, as boys who didn’t use social media were 300% more likely to have low wellbeing, while girls who didn’t use social media were “only” 79% more likely to have low wellbeing.

As the paper concluded:

❝Adolescents reporting moderate use generally demonstrated the most favorable well-being profiles, whereas both nonusers and those with the highest levels of use were at elevated risk for low well-being.❞

Read in full: Can teens use social media too little for their own good? Maybe, study says

Related: Make Social Media Work For Your Mental Health

Take care!