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risk of atherosclerosis. Most diets are sufficient in chromium, except for elderly people with poor
diets. Supplements are available as chromium picolinate, but should not be taken in excess because
of the risk of toxicity. Although on a theoretical basis chromium may have promemory properties,
there are no worthwhile research data on this issue.

Boron

Boron is another metallic element that acts in the brain. It improves electrical activity in nerve cells
and seems to speed up reaction time and general alertness. It is also necessary for the body to
properly process calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. Fruits and nuts have a high boron content.
Since only a minuscule dietary intake is necessary, deficiency of this element is extremely rare.
There are no clinical studies showing an effect against memory loss.

Zinc

Antiaging Properties of Zinc

Helps to heal wounds and repair skin damage.
Facilitates the action of antioxidants like vitamin E.
Increases the efficiency of the immune system.
Present in high concentrations in the hippocampus.
Involved either as a catalyst or in the chemical structure of over three hundred enzymes.
Levels decline with age, and some practitioners recommend zinc supplements as part of an
antiaging program.

Zinc's utility against memory loss remains to be tested clinically. In an elegant series of laboratory
experiments in animals, Dennis Choi, chairman of the department of neurology at Washington
University in St. Louis, showed that zinc in low concentrations protects against some types of
hippocampal neuronal injury, but that at higher concentrations it kills nerve cells. So zinc therapy
may be a double-edged sword: at low doses it is good, at high doses it is bad. This twist has led to a
reversal in therapeutic strategies for memory loss; zinc therapy is now being replaced by substances
that actually decrease zinc's availability in the brain. Zinc is present in concentrations that are
sometimes too low to detect, but new technology has opened up opportunities that should eventually
tell us a great deal about the