Brain Food

The Surprising Science of Eating for Cognitive Power

By: Lisa Mosconi PhD

Narrated by: Norah Tocci

Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Dr. Lisa Mosconi, whose research spans an extraordinary range of specialties including brain science, the microbiome, and nutritional genomics, notes that the dietary needs of the brain are substantially different from those of the other organs, yet few of us have any idea what they might be. Her innovative approach to cognitive health incorporates concepts that most doctors have yet to learn. Busting through advice based on pseudoscience, Dr. Mosconi provides recommendations for a complete food plan, while calling out noteworthy surprises, including why that paleo diet you are following may not be ideal, why avoiding gluten may be a terrible mistake, and how simply getting enough water can dramatically improve alertness.

Including comprehensive lists of what to eat and what to avoid, a detailed quiz that will tell you where you are on the brain health spectrum, and 24 mouth-watering brain-boosting recipes that grow out of Dr. Mosconi's own childhood in Italy, Brain Food gives us the ultimate plan for a healthy brain. Brain Food will appeal to anyone looking to improve memory, prevent cognitive decline, eliminate brain fog, lift depression, or just sharpen their edge.

©2018 Lisa Mosconi (P)2018 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Lack of scientific research

I don’t know whether to give this a 2 for below average or 3 for interesting.

There were many interesting things in the book, but it lacked scientific research. Most of it felt like her personal opinion. Some of her advice follows.

All food must be organic, no GMOs. Cattle must be organic grass fed. Chickens must be raised outdoors cage free on organic food. All animals must be antibiotic and hormone free.

GMOs:
My understanding of GMOs: they are all different. Some corn is designed to make cattle get fatter faster. Other GMOs are trying to find a better tasting vegetable or one with more vitamins. Some GMOs are for better resistance to pests or pesticides. Some GMOs are for longer shelf lives. To my knowledge there are no studies that support the author’s recommendation to avoid all GMOs. She mentions no research.

Salt:
Instead of talking about how much salt to consume she says add no more than the tip of a teaspoon for the day. But the starting point is different for people depending on whether they cook or buy prepared foods. She should talk about milligrams for the day, not a tip of the teaspoon for everyone. She also recommends avoiding the commonly bought grocery store salt because it has additives. She prefers sea rock salt and pink Himalayan salt due to more minerals and no additives. But would this be undesirable? Grocery store salt might be the only way many of us get iodine in our diet. She does not discuss iodine.

Water:
She says there is debate over how much water we need. Some experts recommend eight 8-ounce glasses per day. So that is what she recommends.

She says purified water is incapable of hydrating the brain, but she has no study or research supporting that statement.

Brain neurons:
The author made confusing statements about neurons. Early in book she said neurons are irreplaceable. Later in the book she said neurons continue to grow. And later she said a reduced calory diet promotes growth of new neurons. I was intrigued with Johanna’s review. She said the 1998 study by Dr. Fred H. Gage and Peter Eriksson found that the human brain can give rise to new neurons throughout life. They also found that exercise and cognitive enrichment can increase the brain’s ability to generate more neurons. This author made no mention of this.

Blue Zones:
Blue Zones are five regions in the world where people live to be 100. They have the lowest incidence of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and dementia. I wish the author would have given a complete list of foods consumed in each area. She did not. She mentioned a few foods in each area. I did find some of the differences interesting.

Italy: fish, olive oil, coffee
Icaria, Greece: coffee
Okinawa, Japan: fish, green tea, brown rice, soy products
Costa Rica: white rice, coffee
Loma Linda California: no coffee or tea

India:
Americans are 8 times more likely to get Altzheimers than Indians. Although Indians have shorter lives. Some believe that curry spices (turmeric and cumin) are the reason for the lower rate of Alzheimers. But there haven’t been enough studies to prove it. A thought: none of the Blue Zones consume curry.

AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR:
Norah Tocci was fine.

DATA:
368 pages. Book Copyright: 2018. Genre: Health Nonfiction.

Standard line on diet. Nothing new here.

Even though I start the review saying there's nothing new here, let me be clear that I do not mean that as an endorsement of the content. Unfortunately, I was suckered into purchasing and reading/listening to this book based on how the author's qualifications were marketed. It turns out, she says nothing new about diet than what you hear in the mainstream press. Her nutritionist credentials are questionable (look them up) because the "certificate" she received comes from a place not well known for quality or cutting edge nutritionist training.

But this isn't an ad hominem based on those credentials, rather it's based on how the book is sold as the 'Surprising science' behind the diet she recommends; there's nothing surprising and very little strong science behind the recommendations. If you have never heard of the so-called Mediterranean diet (an umbrella term that proponents use to justify their eating tastes and habits, as long as it includes olive oil, fish and red wine), then this is as good an introduction as any. But be aware that nutrition science is more unclear on what she promotes than she or anyone else lets on. And nutrition science has some actually more surprising conclusions bandied about than what you find here.

She toes the line on what one is supposed to say about nutrition these days and she does nothing to challenge received wisdom.

Interesting and informative but needed pdf

Very interesting and informative but with so much information, the audiobook needs an accompanying pdf file.

Disappointed

After hearing the author talk in TMHS podcast I expected in depth details on various processes related to nutrition of the brain. I was disappointed when hearing only fairly superficial information, even combined with outdated advice on for example cholesterol.

Also, "the brain runs exclusively on glucose". Really?

Peanuts are not nuts...

Soy is not healthy.

Nothing new here

After hearing about Dr. Mosconi on Dr. Perlmutters website I had high expectations. I didn't find any new or surprising information.

not scientific

All she does is peddle unproven dietary information that you could google. Statements like "everyone knows berries is good for you" and "blank food has been long celebrated for its health benefits" without any scientific explanation or proof of said benefits. Basically the book is a lot of anecdotes. I expected a lot more from a scientist.

Bogus bull crap

She didn’t know how to provide the correct answers to the main question . She talked about everything else . She did not explain what I wanted to hear. She talked to much about other things that made no sense. I did not like this book and I don’t want to keep it.

Very inspiring and super informative

This is your nutrition science book in plain English including recipes and useful tips for sustainable brain healthy foods

Voice

Sounds like a computer reading this. The content is good and so important but the digital voice makes it hard to listen to.

fantastic book!!

this book and its advice is incredibly good! I only wish Lisa mosconi had been the one reading it herself. yet, it is still really really good.

PDF REQUIERED

Chapter 18 is simply a whole load of recipes listed - this is ridiculous and really spoils the whole book which is otherwise very informative. Problem would be solved by providing a PDF of this chapter. Narrator's voice is relatively monotone and somewhat irritating.

A pdf and descriptive chapter names

PDF copy is required. Reference of images were made which is nonexistent. A pdf copy with the images.
Chapters could be named as meaningful descriptive names that summarises the chapter contents as opposed to typical 1, 2, 3.
Even in the title description this information in not given.
Narrator’s voice could be a lot more animated.
It was hard work and quite boring to listen to.
Otherwise the book is good.

A must read.

A must read book. I found it educating and enlightening. I could not stop listening, once started.

unclear messages

Seemed to lack scientific evidence in places. Still unclear on exactly what foods contribute to cognitive decline and which foods help. seems like author is just promoting the Mediterranean diet for overall health.

Eating for Brain health

This book is a very interesting nutritional book. Lisa Mosconi talks about the Mediterranean diet for longevity compared to the Western diet. She talks about processed foods such as pesticides, additives, artificial colourings, emulsizers, Trans fats and saturated fats hidden in our everyday foods. High fat organic cheese and high fat plain yoghurt is better for you than low fat cheese, as low fat cheese is full of emulsizers, veg oil, trans fats and gum powders. Drink plenty of water especially spring water or infused water instead of purified water as purified water has no nutritional value. quality foods like wild caught fish instead of farmed fish: Salmon, cod, halibut and mackerel are good for the brain. Small portion of grass fed organic beef, pasturize organic chicken. Lugumes, wholegrain foods, healthy nuts, seeds such as flaxseed and chia seeds. Some organic fruit & veg are laden with heavy pesticides. increase your omega 3. I haven't heard of Buddah bowls until now.

Excellent

I listen it twice and I bought the hard copy too
I already started to introduce some new stuff in my family diet. A lot of stuff we already did as we were on Mediterranean diet 😍

Too much repetition

There are some nuggets of gold in it but you really have to be patient. The pace of reading is very monotonous and then the same information is repeated.

Great book

This book completely changed my approach to nutrition and health in general. No extrems, valuable information, things that can be applied to everyone's life.

Brilliant book not suited to audio

There are lots of references to the website, tables for f info etc. I have now purchased the paperback. The content is really good but a book is needed.