Seafood, greens, nuts and beans.

A nice jingle – fun to say – but this rhyming adage is more than sheer play. The word quartet is an easy way to remember the top foods that support brain health writes Dr. Drew Ramsey, psychiatrist and professor at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. With numbers of dementia and other memory-related diseases on the rise, science is starting to ask if food might support healthy brains, in the same way it supports healthy bodies.

For instance, it’s well known that saturated and trans-fats are bad for our circulatory system. Found in foods like beef and dairy, “bad fats” can raise LDLs (low-density lipoproteins) in the blood and accumulate to damage arteries and the heart.

Might these same fats also be bad for your brain?

“The truth is we still don’t know a lot,” says Dr. Francine Grodstein, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “I don’t think we’re ready yet to identify a brain-healthy diet in the way we are a heart-healthy diet. But a lot of the cardiovascular risk factors have been shown to be risk factors for dementia, including dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease.”

Formed from the same embryonic cells, the brain, and stomach are connected early in life. Dr. Uma Naidoo, Harvard-trained nutritional psychiatrist and author of “This is your Brain on Food,” says that a strong link between the two remain throughout our lives. There is a pathway that transports chemicals between the brain and gut (the vagus nerve), and it controls human responses such as digestion, swallowing, vomiting; even stress reactions like “butterflies in your stomach.”

Does food play a role in how this transfer occurs?

Possibly. Look to reduce your intake of saturated and trans fats, choosing mono- and polyunsaturated “healthy fats” instead (olive oil, grapeseed oil, avocado, nuts), which show signs of improving memory and mood. Strengthening your gut microbiome (the bacteria that live in us and on us) with plant-forward foods is also considered influential for brain health and helpful with the brain/stomach connection. The Mediterranean diet offers one culinary road map for you to follow. Filled with olive oil, whole grains, fish, greens and plenty of fruit, vegetables, dried beans, nuts and seeds, this style of eating has shown progress with dementia reduction and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) which often precedes the onslaught of dementia.

“About 20 percent of everything we eat goes to the brain,” says Dr. Ramsey. Best to choose wisely: critical neurotransmitters and receptors need specific nutrients and amino acids for development. For example, glial cells (important to the central nervous system) make up a large portion of the brain and are dependent on omega-3 fatty acids found in foods such as fish flax, chia and nuts. “Minerals including zinc, selenium and magnesium provide the foundation for cell activity, brain tissue and the synthesis of neurotransmitters that directly affect mood,” says Ramsey. Additionally, “iron, folate and vitamin B12 help your body produce serotonin.”

So don’t forget to feed your brain! A heart-healthy diet low in saturated fat and high in plants can reduce risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity, the same diseases now believed to contribute to memory loss. Diet and exercise control cholesterol, blood pressure, and strengthen cell activity, all key actions to building a strong body and quite possibly a strong mind too.