The Mindspan Diet: Reduce Alzheimer's Risk, Minimize Memory Loss, and Keep Your Brain Young

A comprehensive, easy-to-use guide to the foods that curb memory loss and improve cognitive longevity, this book will forever change how you think about diet and aging.

Even though people around the world are living longer than ever, but record numbers of us are experiencing cognitive decline and other brain disorders later in life. But there is good news: We now have the knowledge to extend both lifespan and mindspan, helping to ensure that our minds and bodies stay in peak form at any age.

Studying the diets of the populations that live longest with low levels of dementia, as well as the ways that certain food additives and ingredients interact with our genes, Dr. Preston Estep shatters myths about which foods are (and are not) beneficial to our brains, with simple changes you can make today to slow cognitive decline. Startling in its revelations about healthy eating for those over the age of fortyThe Mindspan Diet challenges us to rethink our approach to many common staples, including:

• Iron: While iron-fortified foods sound healthy, high iron intake can be toxic, especially for people over forty, and increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s disease.
• Whole grains: Processed grains such as white rice, pasta, and flour are actually staples in the diets of cultures with the best cognitive health.
• Protein: Though it’s considered by some to be a miracle macronutrient, high levels of protein are actually hard on the kidneys, and may promote cancer and accelerate the progression of dementia.

Complete with food recommendations, shopping lists, advice on reading nutrition labels, and more than seventy delicious recipes, The Mindspan Diet shows that you can enjoy the richest flavors life has to offer and remain lean, healthy, and cognitively intact for a very long life.

Praise for The Mindspan Diet

“Eye-opening . . . fascinating, important . . . Estep includes plenty of practical info on improving one’s mindspan and puts some refined grains back on the table.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Presenting a sensible regimen that people can follow easily, this recommended diet book [has] useful information about aging.”—Library Journal

Preston Estep III, Ph.D., received his doctorate in genetics from Harvard Medical School. He is the director of gerontology at the Harvard Personal Genome Project, and he manages the project’s genome sequencing pipeline. A co-founder and adviser to multiple biomedical start-ups and nonprofit organizations, Dr. Estep is a founder and the chief scientific officer of Veritas Genetics, and the chairman of the Mind First Foundation, a mental health nonprofit that he established with professors at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Estep lives with his wife in the Boston area. This is his first book.