Protecting your brain isn’t just about what you eat — it’s also about what you drink. Here are four beverages worth minimizing or avoiding to help protect long-term brain health. The last one surprises most people.
1. Alcohol
When alcohol is metabolized in the body, it’s converted into acetaldehyde, a compound related to formaldehyde that is toxic to brain cells.
2. Sugary Beverages
Sugar-sweetened drinks cause blood sugar spikes, which increase the risk of microvascular damage to the brain over time.
3. Artificially Sweetened Beverages
Diet soft drinks and energy drinks have also been linked to increased dementia risk. A Harvard study found that people who regularly drank diet soft drinks had three times the risk of Alzheimer’s disease compared to those who didn’t consume artificially sweetened beverages.
4. Artificial Non-Dairy Creamers
This is the surprising one. Most artificial non-dairy creamers contain trans fats, which can contribute to brain inflammation — even when the label says “zero trans fat.” The FDA allows products with less than half a gram of trans fat per serving to be labeled as having zero trans fat, so the true amount can add up if used regularly.
To help protect your brain, consider minimizing or avoiding these four beverages.
For more tips on natural health, download the free eBook Health Secrets at peacediet.org.
About Dr. Terry Shintani, MD, JD, MPH
Dr. Terry Shintani is a Harvard-trained physician and nutritionist, named a Living Treasure of Hawai’i and recipient of the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Award for Excellence. He is the creator of the Peace Diet and the landmark Waianae Diet — published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and cited over 137 times — and the author of 16 books on natural health and nutrition, drawing on more than 35 years of clinical practice in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Learn more about Dr. Shintani’s work and recognition: NLM Native Voices
Sources:
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health — Artificially Sweetened Beverages and Dementia Risk
- NIH/PubMed — Alcohol Metabolism and Neurotoxicity of Acetaldehyde
- FDA — Trans Fat Labeling Requirements