6 effects of dietary and lifestyle factors of brain tumour

Just like our muscles get weak when we don’t use them, the same impact is on the brain. Although it is not a muscle, the brain benefits from the same healthy habits that keep your body in good shape. Just like how our lifestyle has an impact on our brain, the same way our diet also does. If our brain is deprived of good quality nutrition or if there are too many free radicals/inflammatory cells circulating within the brain’s space it can lead to brain tissue injury. These habits have a negative impact on the brain and can be one of the major reasons for tumour formation.

Here are 6 dietary and lifestyle habits that may lead to brain tumour

• Sedentary lifestyle
  Being overweight or obese increases the risk of a type of brain tumour called meningioma. Obesity is the rising epidemic disease which is mainly due to lack of exercise and movement. “Sitting is the new smoking” and hence it’s as deadly as smoking a cigarette. The only way to deal with this is to get up after every 20 mins and include 30 mins of exercise every single day.
• Lack of good quality sleep
  Sleep is affected by several bad dietary and lifestyle habits. Excess screen use before going to bed, drinking alcohol and sleeping, too much coffee or tea consumption throughout the day, not channelising your emotions and suppressing them, work stress and meeting deadlines. All these factors can affect the quality of sleep. If you need to feel fully rested, make sure you calculate your REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep and the overall sleep score. REM sleep helps restore our brain and improves brain function so it’s very crucial.
• Smoking
  Studies indicate that dietary N-nitroso compounds may raise the risk of both childhood and adult tumours. These compounds are formed in the body from nitrites or nitrates found in cigarette smoke and tobacco.
• High consumption of fatty foods and sugars
  Fatty foods can alter the makeup of your brain which can cause unwanted changes to brain tissue and chemicals. There is a strong link between fatty foods, saturated fats and neurological changes that promotes obesity. Sugar is present visibly and invisibly in almost all the processed, packaged food. Due to excess consumption of sugar, there is a direct negative impact on the brain’s functional connectivity that can cause the brain to shrink. These two factors affect the brain’s health forever.

  For example, let’s say for one year’s time you are a real couch potato. You don’t exercise and you eat a lot of unhealthy foods, sugars and saturated oils. All these factors disrupt neurological messengers and metabolic messengers. Once they are disrupted it may not be possible to repair the messengers even if after a year, you change your behaviour and eating habits.

• Excess consumption of Meat and meat products
  Studies have shown that the traditional western diet that is mainly composed of meat, pork and bread have a negative effect on the brain whereas the Mediterranean diet which is high in vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, beans, cereals, fish and unsaturated fats improves cognition, memory and brain volume. It offers a protective effect on the brain and lowers the risk of brain tumour.
• Gut- Brain connection
  The microorganisms present in the gut have a role in brain development, healthy nervous system and inflammation too as they control what is to be excreted and what is passed into the body. A certain toxin called Lipopolysaccharide made by the gut bacteria can cause inflammation if we have a leaky gut. If this toxin increases in our body, it can directly affect the brain as our gut is connected to our brain through a nerve called the vagus nerve. A leaky gut is caused due to low intake of vegetables and fruits, high intake of bread and fried food, High stress levels and consumption of Over the counter (OTC) medicines. Thus, a weak gut and digestive issues can lead to brain injury and loss of brain function.

Over to you
Maintaining a healthy brain is a continuous lifelong process. Diet and Lifestyle plays a major role in it so being mindful about both is the true secret of a healthy brain. Set yourself up to be in tip-top shape- Both body and mind.