Have you been experiencing memory problems? Have you been noticing your memory is working a little bit slower than it used to? You know, memory problems seem to be affecting more people these days than ever before so you are not alone.
Are you ignoring it?
Some of us are very clever at covering up these little memory slips and can get away with not being noticed or picked up by family members or friends. But over time, the memory problems will start to occur more frequently and get worse. You may not be as aware as you used to be and it will be too hard to disguise.
If memory problems are ignored or dismissed and nothing is done about them, then I believe that over a period of time, they may lead to Mild Cognitive Impairment or Early Onset Alzheimer’s disease/ Dementia.
The fact that your parent, grandparent or other family member may have Alzheimer’s disease/ Dementia should be enough motivation for you to not ignore your memory problems. It does not necessarily mean that you will get Alzheimer’s Disease/Dementia either.
There has to be a reason - why is it happening?
Memory problems do not happen out of the blue or on their own. There always has to be a cause or a reason for why you are getting forgetful. From my research I have found that there are many different causes of memory problems. For example, there are Medical causes and Lifestyle causes. One example of a Lifestyle cause is stress, which is one of the major causes. Another example is the ingredients found in packaged and processed foods and drinks.
The Ingredients
On the side or bottom of the packaged food or drink product, you will see a list of ingredients and numbers in brackets, for example: Fructose, (621), (951). What do the various numbers in brackets mean? These numbers represent Food Additives, Artificial Sweeteners, Colourings, Preservatives and Flavourings. Depending on which particular number it is, it may have harmful effects on your brain health, especially if it is consumed regularly.
There are many ingredients found in packaged food products that are harmful for your brain’s health, but these two are amongst the worst for your brain. They are Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) (621), and Aspartame (951). Monosodium Glutamate is Flavour Enhancer and Aspartame is an Artificial Sweetener.
These two ingredients are responsible for causing memory problems. For example, if you buy a packet of ‘Smiths’ potato chips, you will see (621) in the Ingredients list. That means it contains Monosodium Glutamate. A lot of the time, these ingredients are not written as words, but as only as numbers. That is why you have to check the ingredients list on every package or product you pick up. Look out for (621) and (951) as they seem to be included in more and more food products these days.
The next time you are in the supermarket, pick up a packet of tortillas, meat pies, stock mix, biscuits and ‘diet’ drinks for example, look at the Ingredients and see how many lines of ingredients and how many numbers in brackets there are. The more lines and numbers in brackets there are, you can assume, the worse it is for your brain health.
So that is why you should not ignore your memory problems, because there has to be a cause and it could be due to you consuming a lot of food and/or drinks with MSG or Aspartame in it for example.
Awareness
When you are aware that you are getting forgetful and having memory slips, this is the perfect window of opportunity to actually do something about it. Find out what is causing this to happen. Do not keep ignoring your memory problems or pretend they are not happening or joke about it saying ‘I must be getting Alzheimer’s Disease’- this is not a joke.
The good news is, whether you are experiencing a foggy mind, the occasional memory lapse or have noticed ongoing memory problems for a while, you can do something about it yourself. Some of these causes once they are identified, may be able to be treated.
You may find that it may be a whole lot easier than you previously thought to improve your memory and brain health, by identifying the cause of your memory problem. This in turn may also help you to reduce your risk of dementia in the future. Prevention is much better than cure.
Louise Hallinan
