Who does not enjoy staying young? Especially when you can do it with just tweaking your diet a little! A recent study published in Nature Publishing Group Aging, reveals that a nutrient-rich diet, similar to the Mediterranean style plays an important role in slowing brain aging.

The study used blood biomarker analysis, brain imaging and cognitive assessments to conclude that specific nutrients like fatty acids, antioxidants, carotenoids, vitamin E, and choline, are essential to support healthy brain function and delay cognitive decline.

How Was The Study Conducted?

This was a cross-sectional study which involved 100 adults between the ages of 65 and 75. The participants were healthy and showed no evidence of cognitive impairment and they underwent several tests, including MRIs, mental tests and blood work. The researchers studied 139 variables of brain health, including brain metabolism, function, and structure.

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Nutrients The Protect The Brain

Fatty Acids: Vaccenic, gondoic, alpha-linolenic, eicosapentaenoic, eicosadienoic, and lignoceric acids, commonly found in plants, dairy, and oily fish, contribute to neuron maintenance.

Antioxidants and Carotenoids: Cis-lutein, trans-lutein, and zeaxanthin are essential for neutralizing free radicals and protecting the brain from oxidative stress.

Vitamin E: This antioxidant helps safeguard brain cells, with research suggesting its role in preventing dementias like Alzheimer's disease.

Choline: A vital nutrient for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is important for memory and attention.

The Science Behind Mediterranean Diet and Brain Health

Experts affirm that these nutrients (mentioned above) are commonly found in the Mediterranean diet and are known for their neuroprotective properties. The Mediterranean diet has positive effects on brain, and there is enough evidence to prove that too. It is because the fatty acids maintain neurons, while the antioxidants combat oxidative stress, which then preserves brain function.

Choline, which is found in egg yolks are also essential for acetylcholine production, which supports cognitive functions such as memory and focus. There are certain nutrients which one can find in egg yolks that reduce oxidative stress and inflammation. Further, they also support cell membrane integrity and improve brain blood flow, which in turn enhances neuroplasticity. These are all crucial for healthy aging.

ALSO READ: What Is The Green Mediterranean Diet?

There are also additional benefits too, for instance, omega-3 fatty acids also reduce heart disease risks, whereas antioxidants like vitamin C and E also boost immune system. The Mediterranean diet in all, also manages arthritis and metabolic syndrome.

Ingredients You Can In Your Diet To Boost Brain Health

Fatty Fish: These include Salmon, mackerel, sardines, and trout are rich in omega-3s.

Leafy Greens: These include spinach, kale, broccoli. These are packed with carotenoids like lutein and zeaxanthin.

Nuts and Seeds: They are rich in alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and vitamin E. You can include almonds, sunflower seeds, and flaxseeds in your diet.

Eggs and Liver: They are a great source of choline, which can be helpful for brain function.

Colorful vegetables and fruits: Peppers, tomatoes, and oranges are rich in anti-oxidants and vitamin C.

India is actively taking steps towards stricter front-of-pack warnings for packaged foods. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is now proposing that a product could be labelled with a red warning even if one nutrient, like salt, sugar or fat, crosses the prescribed limit.

The change marks a shift from FSSAI’s earlier proposal, under which a warning would have been needed only when at least two nutrients crossed their respective thresholds. The latest proposal was submitted to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, September 23.

The rules are not final yet. FSSAI has proposed about four months to finalise the draft regulations, followed by a 365-day voluntary compliance period for food businesses.

How Will The New Warning Appear On Packaging?

Under the proposed system, packaged foods exceeding the specified limits would carry a red hexagonal warning on the front of the pack. The warning would identify the nutrient concerned, such as:

• HIGH SALT
• HIGH SUGAR
• HIGH FAT

If a product crosses the limits for two or three nutrients, the same warning symbol would identify all the applicable nutrients.

The label is proposed to appear prominently on the upper left of the front of the package, with the text larger than the nutrition information printed on the back.

Also read: High Sugar, Salt Or Fat? India May Mandate Red Hexagon Labels On Food Packs

Separate FOPL For Products Containing Non-Caloric Sweetener

FSSAI has also proposed a separate front-of-pack statement for certain products containing non-calorific sweeteners. It stresses that packaged foods and beverages containing non-caloric sweeteners should carry the declaration “CONTAIN NON CALORIC SWEETENER” on the front of the pack.

A LocalCircles survey found that 92% of respondents wanted artificial sweeteners to be prominently disclosed on the front of packaged foods. 41% urban Indian consumers confirm consuming foods with artificial sweeteners every month.

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Single-Nutrient Warning

Consider a packaged food that is extremely high in sugar but relatively low in salt and fat. Under the earlier two-nutrient approach, that product could have escaped the warning as only one nutrient crossed the threshold. The revised proposal would change that.

The idea is that no product should escape a warning simply because it is high in only one nutrient of concern.

This is a key development as excessive intake of added sugars, sodium and saturated fats is associated with major diet-related health risks. High sodium intake, for example, can contribute to raised blood pressure, while diets high in added sugars can contribute to excess calorie intake and weight gain.

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FSSAI’s Key Initiative

A front-of-pack warning is meant to flag specific nutrients that are present above the permitted threshold, rather than declare that the entire food is unhealthy.

A food item could be high in one nutrient while still providing other nutrients like protein, fibre, vitamins or minerals. Conversely, a product without a warning should not automatically be considered as healthy.

FSSAI has proposed using the Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024, developed by the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, as the basis for the nutrient thresholds.

What About “Healthy” Claims On Packets?

FSSAI’s proposal could also make it easier for consumers to look beyond marketing claims. Words like “multigrain”, “baked” or claims about added vitamins do not necessarily tell consumers how much salt, sugar or fat a product contains.

A prominent warning on the front could bring that information into view before a consumer reaches the detailed nutrition panel on the back.

Just when we thought the widespread protein takeover on almost all foods and drinks had settled, it crept up in the alcoholic beverage industry. Yes, beer may soon be getting a ‘health makeover’.

The world's largest brewer by market value has declared its plans to introduce smaller pack sizes as well as ‘health-ify’ these drinks by adding protein or electrolytes. With this move, the company wants to create a shift in changing consumer preferences amid growing focus on health and wellness.

The company has already launched a version of its Spaten beer that contains added protein in Brazil and now plans to expand low-calorie, zero-alcohol beers with functional ingredients like protein and electrolytes. The company has candidly expressed that wants to increase consumption among people who drink beer occasionally.

The news leaves us with one glaring question: does adding protein or electrolytes actually make an alcoholic drink healthier? To put it simply, it won’t if the drink contains alcohol.

The Era Of Protein In Beer

As most of us know, protein is an essential macronutrient needed to build and strengthen muscles, enzymes, hormones, and repair tissue. Simply adding protein to a beverage can amplify its nutritional value. But doing so with an alcoholic drink like beer does not negate the harmful effects of alcohol.

Alcohol is a psychoactive and toxic substance that threatens the consumer with dependence-inducing properties.

The World Health Organization says alcohol consumption is linked with more than 200 diseases, injuries, and health conditions. Also considered to be carcinogenic, alcohol increases the risk of several cancers, including breast, liver, colorectal and oesophageal cancers.

So a beer containing some additional protein cannot automatically be considered a healthy, protein-rich drink that one can consume regularly. This is because the nutritional value of the added protein has to be considered separately from the risks linked with the alcohol itself.

Also read: US Gen Z, Millennials Are Drinking Less Alcohol For First Time Since COVID-19

Do Electrolytes Make A Difference?

Electrolytes like sodium and potassium can help regulate fluid balance in the body, especially when one is dehydrated.

Electrolyte drinks can be useful in situations when the body loses significant fluid and electrolytes, like prolonged exercise, sweating or certain illnesses. But adding electrolytes to an alcoholic beverage does not make it healthier.

Alcohol increases the production of urine and thus contributes to dehydration. It can disrupt the electrolyte balance in your body even on days when you don’t engage in strenuous exercise.

Therefore, an electrolyte label should not have an alcoholic drink be considered appropriate for hydration.

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Marketing Gimmick To Get More People Drunk

The company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, has openly said it wants to grow beer consumption among occasional drinkers, while simultaneously cashing in on the current health-and-wellness trend with products containing protein, electrolytes and fewer calories.

It may seem to be a harmless tactic, but presenting alcohol alongside words associated with fitness and nutrition could make the product appear healthier than it actually is. The company is simply ‘masking’ its beer to make it more palatable for health-conscious consumers.

This is not the first time an alcohol company has resorted to such marketing gimmicks. They often opt for surrogate marketing, especially in countries where advertising alcohol directly is prohibited.

Dr. Robin Ireland, public health activist and honorary research fellow at the University of Glasgow, UK, told HealthandMe, “Alcohol companies often promote alcohol-free products. In India, I'm aware of surrogate marketing, where alcohol companies produce packaged drinking water using the same brand, colourway and distribution networks. So it's hardly surprising these brands are normalised to young people. Even where alcohol advertising is banned, alcohol can still be heavily promoted.”

This does not mean the company's intention is to deliberately mislead consumers. But the poorly-placed combination of wellness language and an alcoholic product can blur an important health boundary.

Hence, it is crucial to remember that adding a beneficial nutrient does not eliminate the harm associated with ethanol.

WHO warns that there is no risk-free level of alcohol consumption. It says that the health risk comes from the alcohol itself, regardless of the type or quality of the drink.

Can Labelling Help?

One may argue that alcohol companies will do the ethical thing and disclose all the nutritional facts on the packaging. But it’s not a guarantee that everyone will read the information diligently and make the healthy choice.

Dr. Ireland said, “Labelling helps, but it's only part of the solution. Not everybody has the time or resources to read labels, and people will still buy what they can afford and what is accessible.”

As alcohol companies have resorted borrow the language of wellness to influence consumer behaviour, people should learn to look beyond the front-of-pack claims and ask the simplest question first: How much alcohol does it contain?

In India, over half of adolescent girls and women are anaemic; one-fifth have low Body Mass Index, while micronutrient deficiencies like Vitamin D and Vitamin B12 affect 60% and 53% of girls and women, respectively. The resulting lack of energy, poor ability to concentrate, bone pain, chronic fatigue, insomnia, and a variety of other health challenges cause significant loss of quality of life, poor productivity, and high morbidity among women.

The multifactorial causation theory of nutrition effectively defines that, alongside nutrition-specific factors, nourishment depends on nutrition-sensitive factors, including socio-economic and cultural factors, that are often shaped by communities.

Although women almost universally prepare food at home, gender norms compel women to prioritise serving food to family members before themselves, resulting in smaller portions and nutritionally inferior diets for themselves. This is particularly harmful to women when the demands of the body are high, such as during adolescence, pregnancy, breastfeeding, and peri-menopause. To break such harmful practices reinforced through generations, focused social and behaviour change (SBC) strategies that foster community action are essential.

Re-Positioning Women’s Nutrition for Effective Behaviour Change

The objective of SBC is to change knowledge, attitudes and practices of target groups and stimulate social change at the local and national level. Good SBC efforts can encourage community engagement, influence social norms, support policy advocacy, promote service uptake, reach underserved populations and foster a media environment that resonates with downstream engagement. Community Action can be an outcome of a good SBC effort.

An SBC approach meant to centre a woman’s nutrition needs within a household must target all decision makers within that family and community such as husband, mothers-in-law, elders, local leaders and other influencers. Rather than adopting a narrow woman-centred approach, messages that position the health and nutrition of a woman as central for the well-being of the entire family are more effective.

Communication strategies that emphasise outcomes that are valued by families, such as better nutrition leading to a reduction in sickness-related income loss, decreased healthcare expenditure, increased savings and improved productivity, are more appealing and acceptable in Indian and other similar societies. Such framing aligns women's nutritional needs with aspirations families are motivated to achieve.

Behaviour change rarely occurs after a single exposure to a message. New ideas gain acceptance when repeated consistently by trusted community sources like ASHAs, Anganwadi Workers, SHG leaders, Panchayat representatives, faith-based leaders, community elders, and frontline health workers. Consistent messaging across platforms builds trust, creates social acceptance, and gradually shifts expectations regarding women's health.

Also read: Eating 4–6 Servings of Whole Grains Daily May Lower Heart Disease Risk

Fostering Community-Led Collective Action

Evidence demonstrates that community-led collective action effectively shifts entrenched norms. Women's collectives provide safe spaces for discussion, peer learning, and collective problem-solving, becoming agents of social change rather than mere beneficiaries. Sustainable improvements require interventions operating simultaneously across multiple levels:

• Individual level: Knowledge, confidence, and agency for informed nutritional choices.
• Household level: Positioning women's health as essential for effective caregiving, household productivity, reduced healthcare costs, and overall family well-being.
• Community level: Women's collectives, SHGs, youth groups, Panchayats, and faith-based organisations fostering dialogue and establishing healthier behaviours as socially desirable.
• Institutional level: Frontline workers requiring training, supervision, and culturally appropriate tools for consistent messaging.
• Policy level: Integrating nutrition with livelihoods, women's empowerment, social protection, and primary healthcare rather than isolated sectoral programmes.

Also read: Can An Overweight Child Be Malnourished? Signs Of Hidden Malnutrition In Kids

Lessons from Implemented Programmes

JEEViKA, Bihar's State Rural Livelihoods Mission, demonstrates effective change. Rather than presenting maternal and child nutrition as isolated health issues, JEEViKA positioned nutrition within household well-being. Messages focused on how improved food practices enhance productivity, increase income, and strengthen family well-being. This framing resonated with household priorities and encouraged wider family participation, contributing to substantial improvements in dietary practices without directly challenging cultural norms. Messages were discussed during SHG meetings, reinforced through peer support, and complemented by frontline health services.

Alive & Thrive, implemented by FHI 360, generated important evidence on culturally grounded social and behaviour change communication in Bihar. Formative research found poor maternal diets driven less by food scarcity than by household norms regarding meal frequency, food allocation, and perceptions about eating during pregnancy. Importantly, many pregnant women were willing to consume more diverse diets when household members supported changes and messages addressed prevailing beliefs rather than simply providing nutritional advice. The programme emphasised repeated interpersonal communication, practical counselling, engagement of influential family members, and community-based reinforcement.

Food fortification provides a cost-effective population-level complement to this goal. Fortified staples can help bridge micronutrient gaps; however, they are complementary to, and not a substitute for, a balanced and diversified diet.

A comprehensive review across India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam concluded that integrating social and behaviour change interventions into community-based women's groups improves maternal and child nutrition practices through peer support, collective efficacy, and existing social capital.

The Way Forward

Improving women's nutrition requires moving beyond food distribution, supplementation, and knowledge-sharing. The challenge is fundamentally social as much as nutritional. Food availability creates opportunity, but social norms determine utilisation. Lasting improvements depend on transforming beliefs, behaviours, and relationships governing food allocation within households, demanding culturally grounded communication, repeated reinforcement from trusted actors, and sustained collective action through women's groups.

Women's nutrition should be recognised as a strategic investment in household resilience, economic productivity, community development, and national human capital, not solely a maternal and child health issue. When women are well-nourished physically and mentally, benefits extend far beyond individual health.

Future programmes should move beyond information dissemination towards community-owned social norm transformation, using collective action as catalysts for sustained behavioural change. This represents one of the most promising pathways for improving women's nutrition at scale while strengthening family health, livelihoods, and community resilience.

By Dr Amrita Misra, Visiting Professor, Azim Premji University