What's in Your Nail Polish? Berries and Brain Function

What's in Your Nail Polish?

This article is taken from the July,2019 Wellness Letter of the University of California, Berkeley.  Nail polish contains plasticizers to make it flexible and chip resistant, but also endocrine disruptors that may adversely affect reproductive health, fetal development and thyroid function.  There has been an effort in recent years to ban ingredients of known risk, but the substitute ingredients may be just as toxic. Nail polish is clearly an occupational hazard for salon workers.  For you, dear reader, go to the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Database to look for guidance for choosing safer nail polish.  Alternatively, you could decide to give up nail polish and find other ways to decorate your toes and fingers.  At the present state of knowledge, this may be the wise thing to do. 

Berries and Brain Function

Blueberries have attracted a good deal of scientific attention for their ability to help the brain, but strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and cranberries contain similar pigment compounds called anthocyanins, which give berries their red, purple and blue colors.  Anthocyanins can cross the blood-brain barrier to become localized in areas of the brain related to learning and memory.  Anthocyanins decrease the vulnerability to the oxidative stress that occurs with aging.  They reduce inflammation and may increase neuronal signaling.  In the Nurses’ Health Study, an analysis of 16,000 women over 70 suggests how berries might affect aging brains. The women were tested for memory and other cognitive functions every 2 years and completed dietary questionnaires every 4 years.  Those who consumed two or more half –cup servings of strawberries or blueberries per  week had a slower mental decline over time of up to 2 ½ years of delayed aging. Previous studies conducted at Tufts University found that blueberries improved short-term memory, navigational skills, balance, coordination and reaction time.  Berries retain their healthy qualities even when dried or frozen. You can enjoy them year round.

This article is taken from the journal Environmental Nutrition, a newsletter of food, nutrition and health. This newsletter is highly recommended by your writer, Greenwood.  Here’s another addendum from Greenwood:  Strawberries should be purchased in organic form whenever possible, as they are treated with about 20 pesticides, and are on the ‘dirty dozen’ list of the Environmental Working Group.  

Sadja Greenwood, MD, MPH