DMAE

        It's been a rather rainy and slow start to the work week so I thought I would attempt to pep up with day with another smart drug DMAE.  DMAE, or Dimethylethanolamine, DMAE is a chemical analog to choline which is a precursor to acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter.  It is a compound naturally found in oily fish such as salmon and sardines, and has been show to have many benefits both inside the body and out.
        Clinical studies have shown it to increase vigilance and alertness, elevate mood, boost cognitive functions such as memory and concentration, and has shown positive results in patients with ADHD and Alzheimer's.  There have also been studies on DMAE's use for increasing skin health and enhancing the skins appearance by blocking arachadonic acid, known to cause wrinkles, from being formed in the body.  This has lead some companies to bottle this product as a cognitive enhancer, while others have touted it as a skin beautification aid.

        One of the interesting things about this compound is that its effectiveness seems to increase the longer a period of time it is taken, as its levels build up in the body.  This could make it a useful supplement during the school year, especially once finals start rolling around.  From the results of these studies, adding this supplement to your diet could find you with a mentally sharper and more beautiful you.

Nutrition or "Superfoods"

        Our diets these days can always use a bit of improvement.  Keeping up with a frenetic lifestyle of work/school and play can often leave our meal planning on the back-burner and our resulting meals grabbed on the go with a bit to be desired nutritionally.  In these posts I will be featuring a number of "superfoods" that have been deemed so by the scientific and nutritional community.
        Some of you may be asking why you should bother trying to eat foods that contain certain vitamins and nutrients when you could just pop a pill with the aforementioned goodies instead.  The answer to this is that supplements can be good, but they are just that, a "supplement" to a healthy diet. Our bodies absorb these compounds best from whole food sources where they are often found in conjunction with other complementary ones.  This synergistic effect is what makes these foods so healthful, and by just taking vitamins you are missing out on many of the great benefits these whole foods provide.  As a rule of thumb, supplementation is good, but straight from the source is better.
        Some of the convoluted diets we see today can be confusing and overly complex, but hopefully the foods spotlighted in upcoming posts will pop out in your mind when shopping or at a restaurant as a healthy choice to be added to your diet.

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