While most of us were hurrying to turn off Twitter's new email digests, the company announced they would begin suggesting new people and brands to follow based on your Twitter activity. The trouble is, by "activity," they mean your friends, followers, and even where you go on the web once you leave Twitter.

What Is Twitter Doing?

You may already know that just about everyone is tracking you on the web, but at least you have ways to protect yourself. Twitter's new suggestion system would be fine if it stopped with the people you follow on the site and the other users who follow you, but blogger Dustin Curtis noticed that it doesn't stop there—Twitter also uses cookies dropped on your system to keep an eye on where you go on the web. As long as there's a "tweet this" or "follow me" button on the site, Twitter harvests information on where you are. Curtis explains:

Basically, every time you visit a site that has a follow button, a "tweet this" button, or a hovercard, Twitter is recording your behavior. It is transparently watching your movements and storing them somewhere for later use. Right now, that data will make better suggestions for accounts you might want to follow. But what other things can it be used for? The privacy implications of such behavior by a company so large are sweeping and absolute.

If tracking your behavior transparently is acceptable in the pursuit of a better user experience, why isn't it also acceptable in the pursuit of monetization? Is it okay for Twitter to sell your web browsing history to advertisers? The company is playing with a very slippery slope.

Essentially, remember what Facebook was doing a few months ago? Twitter is doing something similar. For the time being, Twitter is only using the information for its own purposes. It's not a stretch to think that if Twitter uses the data to suggest new brands and accounts to you, they'll use the same data to sell more promoted tweets to advertisers, or worse. Whether or not the data will be used for marketing or money-making purposes later is up in the air.

What Can I Do About It?

If the notion of Twitter keeping an eye on your browsing behavior after you've left their site feels a little intrusive, it's easily blocked with the right privacy tools:

• Twitter Disconnect stops Twitter from dropping those cookies on your system when you visit sites with "tweet" or "follow" buttons. You'll still be logged in to Twitter, and if you do want to tweet an article or follow an author, you can click the button to interact with Twitter, but no cookies will be downloaded to your computer until you click.
• Disconnect for Firefox and Chrome is from the same developer as Twitter Disconnect, but goes further. The full extension blocks Twitter, Facebook, and Google from tracking your activities by blocking the cookies they try to drop on your computer when you visit a site with a tweet button, follow box, or +1 button.
• Ghostery for Firefox and Chrome, an extension we've mentioned before, gives you complete control over the scripts and cookies that run when you visit any site. You'll be able to see which sites are dropping cookies or running scripts that call home right in your browser, and choose to block or allow any of them you choose.
• Priv3 for Firefox is lightweight and runs in the background quietly, blocking third party cookies until you interact with a social button or box.
• Do Not Track Plus for Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and IE does much of what Ghostery does—it alerts you when a page attempts to send data to another site or company when you visit, blocks the transmission, and gives you the option to unblock it if you choose.

All of these tools do similar things: they give you control over the data that the sites you visit collect and share about you.

In Twitter's defense, the company has a privacy-positive reputation. They've implimented Do Not Track, and promised to obey any browsers or clients that support it. Twitter representatives responded directly to Curtis, saying they'll will never sell your data to anyone, and data they obtain from your activities on other web sites will be deleted after no more than 10 days. Curtis rebuts that this response, and Twitter's commitment to Do Not Track is a PR distraction from the issue at hand: that their tracking—like everyone else's on the web—is opt-out, not opt-in, and forces users to understand and be outraged enough over what's going on to do something about it.

Whether you think Twitter's move is purely designed to improve their product or a creeping harbinger of future privacy intrusions, at least there are tools you can download—or that you may already have—that put control back into your hands. What do you think? Just another company looking to get their hands on your data, or much ado about nothing? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Just months after the internet censorship bills SOPA and PIPA were taken off the floor, a new and similarly scrutinized bill, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) has passed through the House of Representatives and is on its way to the Senate. So, what's the bill all about, and does it really resemble SOPA? Let's take a look.

The Basics of CISPA

If passed, CISPA would amend the National Security Act of 1947 to allow government agencies to swap customer data from Internet service providers and websites if that data is a threat to "cyber-security." On a basic level the bill is meant to provide a means for companies and the government to share information with one another to fight against cyber threats. These threats are defined as:

The term cyber threat information' means information directly pertaining to a vulnerability of, or threat to, a system or network of a government or private entity, including information pertaining to the protection of a system or network from-
(A) efforts to degrade, disrupt, or destroy such system or network; or
(B) efforts to gain unauthorized access to a system or network, including efforts to gain such unauthorized access to steal or misappropriate private or government information.

The information gathered can be used to obtain information for five express purposes:

1. Cybersecurity
2. Investigation and prosecution of cybersecurity crimes
3. Protection of individuals from the danger of death or physical injury
4. Protection of minors from physical or psychological harm
5. Protection of the national security of the United States

Essentially, CISPA makes it possible for private companies to share potential cyber threat information with the government if the government concludes it needs it for cyber security information (and vice versa) immediately, without a complicated process.

Why Technology Companies Are Supporting CISPA

The main reason companies are supporting CISPA is because it takes the pressure to regulate users off the private company (you can find a huge list of the key players and their positions over on ProPublica). CISPA transfers that role and responsibility over to a government entity. Effectively, it protects companies from being sued if they break their Terms of Service to hand over user information if it's deemed a threat to cyber security.

In Facebook's letter of support, Joel Kaplan, Vice President of U.S. Public Policy, puts the reason behind its support simply:

Your legislation removes burdensome rules that currently can inhibit protection of the cyber ecosystem, and helps provide a more established structure for sharing within the cyber community while still respecting the privacy rights and expectations of our users. Through timely sharing of threat information, both public and private entities will be able to more effectively combat malicious activity in cyberspace and protect consumers.

CISPA transfers the burdensome task of regulating its users content and activity to a government entity and this makes a company's job simple. For instance, if you were posting code snippets of a proposed cyber attack on your private Facebook page the government could request the information and Facebook would be able to hand over every piece of information they have on you immediately. However, this is an entirely voluntary step. If Facebook said no, the government agency asking for the information would have to find another means to get the information. From a company's perspective, CISPA is an opportunity to share information about potential cyber attacks with a branch of the government that could act on it.

On the surface it's not that horrible of a thing, but activists worry about the language used in the bill and how it could be construed in a variety of ways to violate a person's privacy.

Why Technology Rights Groups Are Worried About CISPA

Much like SOPA, the wording in CISPA is broad and the broadness is the root of many of the concerns. A number of activists and rights groups have spoken out against the bill, including Anonymous who reportedly took down trade websites USTelecom and TechAmerica's in retaliation for their support. The White House has also threatened to veto the bill if it passes. Digital rights group The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), issued a statement condemning CISPA's surveillance possibilities:

Hundreds of thousands of Internet users spoke out against this bill, and their numbers will only grow as we move this debate to the Senate. We will not stand idly by as the basic freedoms to read and speak online without the shadow of government surveillance are endangered by such overbroad legislative proposals.

The privacy implications of the broadly defined "cybersecurity threat" is the cause for concern among CISPA's opposition. It's feared the information gathered would be released too easily and would violate the Fourth Amendment because it offers a simple, warrantless means to acquire personal data.

Several other advocacy groups echo this sentiment, including the American Library Association, which has this to say:

The ALA is concerned that all private electronic communications could be obtained by the government and used for many purposes–and not just for cybersecurity activities. H.R.3523 would permit, and sometimes even require, Internet service providers and other entities to monitor all electronic communications and share personal information with the government without effective oversight by claiming the sharing is for "cybersecurity purposes."

CISPA could only be used if the government sees a cyber security danger in one of the five purposes mentioned in the first section above. Opponents to CISPA worry that those five reasons would still open the door to spying because they're broad enough to be applied to several different activities online.

It boils down to this: companies like Facebook and Microsoft are supporting CISPA because it's beneficial for them. The opposition is against it because it worries the bill could be used as a simple way to spy on people.

You can read the full text—including new amendments—of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence's website and track its amendment progress to see if the language is tightened up as it heads to the Senate. If you find yourself against CISPA, civic organization Avaaz has a petition and Demand Progress has set up links to contact your representative.

Photo by Leremy (Shutterstock).

Privacy is dead, right? Facebook knows everything about you, and the world is still turning. Whether you don't mind companies or the government knowing all about your private life or still feel completely uneasy at the idea, we often gloss over exactly why your personal data is worth protecting. We teamed up with the Electronic Frontier Foundation to get to the heart of the issue, and dispel some common myths around the ways your data is used.

We sat down with Rainey Reitman, Activism Director at the EFF, to discuss why digital privacy is important, why you should keep a skeptical eye to services that make promises of "free" services in exchange for tidbits of personal information, and why you should care about the privacy of others even if you're not concerned about your own data and how it may be used. All in all, the message is clear: It's tempting to throw up your hands and say "privacy is dead," but nothing could be further from the truth.

Cause for Concern: Why No One's Telling You Your Data Is Valuable

When we discussed how companies track you on the web and what you can do to stop them, I drew on my personal experience working for a company that trades in information—both personal and aggregate—to explain why your data is so valuable to the businesses that want it. Making the case that information about you, your demographics, your behaviors and habits—all information you may think has little to no value—is valuable to the people looking for it is one important step in explaining why this is all important. After all, if someone a company is able to build their business model on getting your information, it must be worth something, right? Photo by Andy Mabbett.

That's part of the problem—individuals are all too often told that the information collected about them is "non-identifiable," which may very well be true to the party requesting it, but not so for anyone else with access to it later. "Consumers are often unaware of the transaction that takes place when they sign their information away," Rainey explained, noting that this lack of transparency, coupled with the fact that companies who trade in and use that information resist efforts for consumers to opt-out of behavioral marketing are causes for concern. The fact is, your data is worth real, tangible money to the companies that offer you free services (in Facebook's case, you're worth just shy of $5 per year) and the companies they do business with, even if they're not asking you to open your wallet.

Does Anyone Actually Care Anymore? Isn't Privacy Dead?

Hardly. Rainey explained "People do care about privacy!" She directed me to a 2009 study by KnowPrivacy, a research group headed by Jason Schultz and Chris Hoofnagle of the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at the University of California Berkeley, that shows that people are indeed concerned about what data is requested of them, how much of the requested information is required for the service they want to use, and how their data is eventually used. The survey notes that even young people are concerned about their privacy, the ones often written off as part of a generation that's willing to share everything online. Photo remixed from jayfish (Shutterstock).

"These same people are comfortable telling their friends what they ate for breakfast," Rainey remarked, "but they're not comfortable telling their medical insurer, or having their medical insurer get access to their Facebook account because they clicked a Like button, for example." These results were reiterated in a 2010 USA Today/Gallup poll that uncovered similar results—people are still quite concerned with their privacy. The baseline for privacy has simply changed.

Rainey says that even those who dismiss privacy concerns become concerned when confronted with the depth of information they've revealed, and when shown how that information is used once they give it up. In the end, the argument isn't a zero-sum game: people don't want their services free and their privacy intact, Rainey reiterated. "They just want control over what information they give up, what they agree to, and what information is made public versus kept private in the databases and annals of the companies and organizations that get to see it."

Who's More Dangerous? The Government or Businesses?

The short answer is that there's no real difference between the two. Here's why:

• The Government: When you sign up for a new web service, you might assume that your data goes only as far as the company you've signed an agreement with. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Rainey points out that filing a simple FOIA request revealed that government agencies like the DEA and even the IRS regularly collect, store, and request information from companies like Facebook and Twitter.
  
  
  So the government uses the information they collect on social media to hunt and catch criminals—that's not so bad, right? It's not that simple. "Those organizations all map social graphs to see how people of interest relate to each other, and subsequently investigate their friends, followers, and others in their networks," Rainey explained. To boot, the government often doesn't bother to get a court order or justify the reason they want this information to the network in question—they make a few phone calls or send over a letter asking for someone's information, and the service responds with the requested data.
• Businesses: At least the government has to provide some measure of transparency. Private entities are largely exempt from the Privacy Act of 1974, and once they collect your information, there's no way to tell what happens to it after that. Some companies reserve the right to sell the information, and while most explicitly promise not to in their privacy policies, they give themselves the out of being able to "share" information with their "strategic partners," which is the same thing, just without a cash transaction taking place. Photo by Ludovic Hirlimann.
  
  
  But these companies don't keep personally identifiable information (PII), right? You're just an aggregate number to them, so what's the worry? Well—that information sharing is generally done between companies in order to obtain that information and refine their marketing efforts. While it may mean nothing more than a few coupons at your doorstep, the fact of the matter is the trade in aggregate information is a hot one, and companies specialize in taking aggregate information and making it very personal. Even if that's not a problem for you, the real issue is that once that information is assembled, and once it is personal, you have no rights or access to it once you've signed it away. "Most people don't ask themselves, ‘Do I still have the rights to this data once I click OK?'" Rainey explained. "And then, once it's gone, you don't even have the right to change it, update it, or even request your information be removed later if circumstances change."
  
  
  She then pointed me to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse's Chronology of Data Breaches, a massive collection of data publicly reported data breaches at companies that store public and private information going back to 2005—everything from missing laptops to massive hacks. "The fact is, that once your data is collected, even if it's aggregate, and stored in one of these databases, it's being actively targeted by people who want it, and it's vulnerable to breaches. One study showed that a year after a database like one of these is broken into, your chance of being a victim of identity theft is four times greater." That's long after the courtesy credit and identity theft monitoring services most companies offer if their databases are hacked, and as we've seen from recent credit card breaches, once your information is lost it may be a big deal to you, but on an individual level, it's not horribly valuable to the company tasked with protecting it.

So while the government and businesses are both scrambling to collect as much information as they can, you should have serious reservations about whether the data is being kept securely, what rights you have after the fact to remove personally identifiable information should be it collected, and how that information is being used by other groups you didn't sign an agreement with once you give it up to the one you did. The issue is so pervasive that the White House recently called for a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights to ensure both the government and private agencies only collect the information required to provide specific services, and no more—a measure that many called a good first step, but just that: a first step.

But Targeted Ads are Better than Random Ones, Right? And If We All Keep Our Data Private, Nothing Will Be Free Anymore and the Internet Will Cease to Exist!

When I brought up this concern to Rainey, she laughed: "It's always entertaining to hear the argument swing from ‘but people like these ads' to ‘and without them the Internet will be gone forever!' The problem with the first part is that if it were true that people really did prefer and actually enjoy behavioral marketing, then why not give consumers the option to opt-in to them instead of forcing them to opt-out of every kind of marketing entirely? If they like it, giving them the choice to turn it off won't stop anyone!" She explained that privacy advocates aren't fighting for an ad-free Internet, they just want to give consumers who care about their privacy a way to opt-out of behavioral and targeted marketing efforts, something industry groups are fighting them on tooth and nail. Photo by Jim Linwood.

As for the "death of the free internet," Rainey noted that while the basis of revenue-generation on the internet has always been advertising, it's only been recent years that we've seen a massive shift towards behavioral and targeted marketing that sticks with individuals not just on a single page, or in one company's services, but across all of their activities online. She's right—Jeff Jarvis wrote at BuzzMachine that even while he thinks much of the concern over privacy and do not track is a tempest in a teapot, companies at least need to be transparant about how they do what they've always been doing, and give consumers a choice. He noted that fast-forwarding through ads on television has been around for a long time, but that hasn't led to the death of the TV advertising industry. "Ads don't have to track you to make money," Rainey said, "You [advertisers] just need to give consumers the choice—the option to see ads without tracking! Then you could have both options and make everyone happy!" It's that lack of choice—she explained—that's the real problem.

So What Do I Do About It? What Does It Matter?

Even if your privacy isn't important to you, there are others for whom privacy is paramount. "Even if you're comfortable giving up your personal information," Rainey said, "there are plenty of people who aren't, and they shouldn't have to fight to keep their addresses out of publicly accessible databases or off of a website where it's easily obtained. Victims of domestic violence, members of the LGBT community, political activists, human rights activists, police officers, even public figures all need privacy to make sure their families and homes are safe." Even if you're not convinced that your data is worth protecting, there are others who need that protection. To that point, it's worth remembering that on many social networks, we give up information about those we're connected to when we let another app or service in—even if we've consciously decided we're okay trading the information requested about ourselves. Image by freelanceartist (Shutterstock).

So what do you do now? We've shown you how to protect yourself and even how to watch companies track you in real time. In the end, the important thing to remember before you click through another privacy policy is to be actively aware of the transaction you're making. Just because something claims it's free doesn't mean it is, and it's up to you to decide whether the service is worth the price of admission.

Rainey Reitman is Activism Director at The Electronic Frontier Foundation. She graciously offered her time and expertise for this post, and we thank her.

You should eat salmon before a test, berries to prevent Alzheimer's, or a vitamin supplement to increase your memory. You've heard the term "brain foods" since you were a kid, but how much do you really know about them? More importantly, is there really a way to boost your brain power just be eating a certain type of diet? We talked with two experts to unravel the myths and unpack the facts about how much food can really impact your brain.

Just as your stomach, muscles, and heart feed on the nutrients that food supplies, so does the brain. The brain controls almost everything we do and when it takes in chemicals it can have an effect on how it works, both positively and negatively. While you can't push your brain past a certain limit, chances are that your diet isn't providing it with what it needs.

Since the brain is a complicated machine, I talked with Barbara Shukitt-Hale of the USDA Nutrition Research Facility at Tufts University and Gary Wenk, professor of neuroscience, and author of the Your Brain on Food blog at Psychology Today to get a better understanding of how and why certain chemicals in foods have an effect on our brains. Before we delve into the ways you can integrate brain foods into your diet, we have to get an understanding of how those foods get from your mouth to your brain and what they do when they get there.

The Science Behind Why Certain Foods Interact with Your Brain

Studies on the effects of food on the brain are relatively young, and we're still learning why some foods can benefit the brain and why others can't. We do know that certain foods and diets are better for the brain, but figuring out why is still a work in progress. Shukitt-Hale suggests that our bodies may simply absorb the nutrients we take in:

Plants have developed mechanisms to deal with stresses in the environment. Because of sunlight, smog, and temperature they have developed antioxidant or anti inflammatory capabilities. When we ingest them they are protective in our bodies as well.

And Wenk elaborates:

We share an evolutionary history with plants and animals. If the chemicals they consume get into your brain in a high enough concentration it will affect how you think and feel because we share the same chemicals. For example, we hear a lot about the neurotransmitter serotonin in Prozac. Well, lizards have it. Bees have it. In fact if you get a bee sting this summer you've been injected with the bee's serotonin, but you're not going to notice [the effect of serotonin] because the dose is too low. Lots of chemicals out there look a lot like the chemicals in our brain that make us feel good or bad.

Some get across the blood-gut barrier (a lining that keeps certain bacteria and other nasty things out of the bloodstream, but lets other helpful chemicals through) and some don't and we simply excrete them. Then there's some that cross the blood-brain barrier (a layer around your brain that allows some importants things in and keeps others out) but we don't notice them. Let's say you have some sushi and you're consuming that animal's neurotransmitters and it gets into your brain, but you don't notice it. But one of my favorite types of sushi is giant clam, and when you eat that, you're going to have wonderful dreams—it's almost hallucinogenic.

Basically, it's the old saying: you are what you eat. In the case of brain foods, that also includes how much you eat because, as Wenk explains it, it's just a chemical dosage that goes from your mouth to your brain. A lot of foods can interact with the brain, but research suggests that four different types of chemicals and nutrients do so in a positive way. Photo by Scott.

• Glucose: The brain draws nearly all its energy from glucose. Like a car in need of gas, if you don't pump it full of fats and sugars (which are converted to glucose) it doesn't run.
• Fatty Acids: Specifically, polyunsaturated fatty acids, aka omega-3 and omega-6. These help strengthen the synapses in your brain related to memory.
• Amino Acids: Amino acids come from protein-rich foods and help connect the neurotransmitters which are essential for keeping your brain sharp. These neurotransmitters include: dopamine for proper immune and nervous system function. Norepinephrine for alertness and concentration. Serotonin for mood, sleep, memory, and learning. Acetylcholine for storage and recall of memory.
• Antioxidants: Antioxidants like you find in tea or vegetables help regulate the oxidative stress that destroys brain cells. The stress is caused when your body is converting glucose to energy and extra oxygen is created called free radicals. Antioxidants block them so your brain doesn't have to work as hard.

• Knowing that, let's look at the actual benefits of brain foods and how you can work them into your diet.

  How to Reap the Rewards of Brain Foods

  If you're looking for a cognitive boost before a test so you can be smarter for a few hours, you'll be disappointed by the results of most of the research. As it turns out the foods that are good for your brain basically just keep you running. You can overclock your brain with food for a few hours just to get through a rough day, but since most of us don't eat what we're supposed to the real goal is getting our brains up to par. The rewards come in two basic tiers, short term and long term. Shukitt-Hale explains:

  We think that there are short-term and long-term benefits. [Brain foods are] doing things like changing gene expression in the brain. Then they have a downstream effect so they protect at a certain point, but that has a cascade effect so you get increases in things like neuronal communication, which means you're making more brain cells. When you make more it will help with your memory.

  Just like a good diet makes you feel good in your muscles, a good brain diet does the same for your thinking. In reality, you won't really notice a change unless you're going from a horrible diet to a better one, but that doesn't mean you don't need to try and get the right chemicals and nutrients into the brain as often as possible. Let's look at the big three benefits from eating certain foods and how you can enjoy them. Photo by Pál Berge.

  Increase Your Brain's Energy Throughout the Day

  Like everything else in your body your brain doesn't work without energy. As far as short-term brain boosts are concerned, this is really the only way to get your brain in tip-top shape right away. It's not hard to do because the brain's primary energy source is glucose and we get glucose from nearly everything we eat. While candy can give you a quick high, it's better to fuel your brain with foods that slowly release carbohydrates (which are then converted to glucose). Here's a couple suggestions on how to regulate glucose for optimal thinking.

  • Graze slowly throughout the day to regulate glucose levels: It turns out that too much of a good thing is just as bad as under doing it. The brain operates best with about 25 grams of glucose in the blood stream, which is about what you'll find in a banana. Beans, lentils, whole grain pastas, and split peas are all good foods to casually snack on to keep your brain charged with glucose and optimized for thinking.
  • Lower your overall glycemic index: Not everyone has the luxury of grazing casually on food all day long, but you still want to moderate your glucose level. You can do so by lowering your glycemic index. The glycemic index is a number that shows how foods affect glucose level in your bloodstream. Foods with a low glycemic index release glucose slowly into the bloodstream so as not to overwhelm your brain. The problem is that a lot of these foods interact with each other so it's difficult to pinpoint what exactly works and what doesn't. For instance, if you eat protein with some whole wheat bread the glucose is released gradually over time, but if you eat bread by itself it causes a slight spike in glucose level then drops quickly. The Franklin Institute has a breakdown of the glucose levels in a number of foods to help you plan out meals.
  • Get energized on amino acids: Two amino acids, tryptophan and tyrosine, can get through the blood-brain barrier. Tryptophan, as we all know from Thanksgiving, has a calming effect (which is often exagerated as a sleep-inducing effect). Tyrosine makes you feel energized. When the body breaks down protein it creates amino acids to help itself (and the brain) function. Fish, meat, eggs, cheese and yogurt are all great sources of this and working in one of these elements into each meal is a good way to ensure your brain gets what it needs.

  Keeping your brain running every day is just the first part. The second and perhaps most interesting is food's ability to repair the damage you've already done. Photo by Ernst Vikne.

  Replace Lost Brain Cells

  If you had to take a drug and alcohol class in school then you likely heard that brain cells are irreplaceable. It turns out that's not entirely true. While we're not going to tell you to go out and get wasted to test the theory, research from MIT, Princeton, and others suggests that we continue to make new brain cells throughout our lives. Brain cells affect the speed of your brain and increase your working memory, which in turn makes you a better learner.

  According to Shukitt-Hale, certain foods can change gene expression in the brain and increase neuronal brain communication by creating new brain cells. It's thought that one food type that may help brain cell production comes from the fatty acid omega-3 which is found abundantly in fish and walnuts. Eating a serving of these every day in combination with exercise can help rebuild those brain cells.

  Protect Against Cognitive Decline

  It's no secret that as you age you have problems with memory and cognition. However, you can help your brain out a little by creating a protective barrier and keeping it clean and free of harmful free radicals. Free radicals are caused when an imbalance of oxygen creates oxidative stress. When this happens the brain is forced to work overtime to keep them under control. Antioxidants can do the work so the brain doesn't have to. You can also work in a few different foods that help strengthen the brain in the long term to help stave off the inevitable decline. The benefit is that many of these effects may cascade down and offer a few short-term benefits as well.

  • Eat your antioxidants daily: Antioxidants fight off the free radicals that like to destroy brain cells and when they do that your brain is kept in good running shape. Shukitt-Hale's studies on berries (which are high in antioxidants) have shown that antioxidants may also prevent the inflammation in the brain that leads to neuronal damage. This suggests that berries might help your brain work better for a longer period of time. How much do you need? A cup a day should do the trick. Other good antioxidants include spinach, broccoli, carrots, and a wide variety of teas.
  • Eat fish once a week: Fish has long been the go-to brain food but the research is still mixed. On top of being packed full of the fatty acids needed to rebuild brain cells, it also helps slow cognitive decline. A study published in the Archives of Neurology showed that eating fish slowed cognitive decline by about 10% in older people. However, other research suggests fish oil on its own, or as omega-3 vitamins doesn't do the trick for certain diseases. Essentially, researchers haven't proven that fish is the definitive brain booster, but it certainly doesn't hurt. Photo by Conrad and Peter.

  Is there a proven way to prevent cognitive decline? Wenk suggests a completely different approach for getting the same long-term cognitive benefits: eat less. He explains:

  We operate at an evolutionary timed balance and more often than not we tend to imbalance our brain function with chemicals. About ten or fifteen years ago we gave up on cognitive enhancement because we figured out that we're about as smart as we can stand and we all function about as fast as possible in our brains.

  We can push ourselves a little bit, but does it raise your IQ? No. Thus far, the only thing we've ever discovered that really slows down the decline is dietary restriction. It's not a huge change, it's cutting out 30% of your calories. It's the only thing that's been proven to help you live longer, be smarter, and stave off disease.

  ---

  The research on food's direct relation to your brain is still young and while researchers have an idea of what works, they're still still learning why and how. The idea of a brain food isn't so much about pushing your brain past its limit. Rather, it's about protecting and utilizing the brain's already immense power. The USDA's Food Plate has suggestions built in to help the brain, but knowing why and how these work might make that choice to include spinich with your next meal a little easier. Will you suddenly get smarter? Nope, but at least you'll be operating at your full potential for a longer period of time. Have some tips for working these foods into your diet? Share them in the comments.