Daily Archives: February 27, 2020

"I think the future is from the neck up. To be dramatic, I think its the next step in human evolution, and were at the forefront of that," Miller told FoodNavigator-USA.

"I dont think our brains have caught up from an evolutionary standpoint to keep up [with advances in technology], which is why you have guys like Elon Musk worried about brain function, and why hes made huge investments in it."

Before founder and CEO Chris Miller started Koios in 2015, he was doing what many other members of the workforce did to keep energy levels up throughout the day: drinking copious amounts of caffeine.

"As I became more entrenched in work, I did what everyone else does in this information age does to keep up, and I self-medicated with energy drinks and too much coffee," Miller said.

The company launched with a nootropic(referring to a group of substances linked to improved cognitive function)capsule, and after seeing strong success with its supplement line, Miller and his team decided to enter the beverage category.

"[We thought to ourselves]how do you have a better technology instead of just coffee? Because it can only get you so far," said Miller."We thought if we could get this drink into Whole Foods, more people would be open to the idea. For us, it was how do we get this into more peoples hands?'."

Koios' line of carbonated canned beverages features nootropic ingredients including medium chain triglycerides from coconut oil, vitamins B6 and B12, ginseng, Lion's Mane mushroom, and caffeine from green tea.

The drinks are available in Whole Foods and at Walmart in the retailers' functional beverage set. With its clean and fresh branding, Koios drinks are doing especially well with active female consumers, said Miller.

"When we repackaged we wanted it to be feminine, we wanted it to be clean, we wanted it to be very ingredients focused. Like a sparkling water with a ton of benefit.Who we really saw traction with is 25- to 45-year-old females who are upwardly mobile and really care about their body. Kind of the same demo[graphic] as Lululemon would have," Miller said.

According to Grandview Research, the global market size of digestive health products is more than five times the size of the market for brain health products ($32.7bn vs. $6.2bn).

"I look at nootropics as sort of where kombucha was seven years ago," said Miller.

If the general consumer now understands to a certain degree what a probiotic is, then it's not too far of leap to develop a basic understanding of nootropics, noted Miller.

"I think youre about to see this huge explosion [in brain health]. We saw the explosion in gut health, everyone understands probiotics and prebiotics now. I think in the next few years, everyones going to want a nootropic. I think if gut health can be that fancy so can brain health. I think its an even more attractive category."

According to Miller, the hottest brands that have come out of the functional beverage space in recent years have all started online where they built a loyal following (e.g. Soylent, Bulletproof, Dirty Lemon).

The reason Koios was able to gain distribution with major retailers such as Walmart and Whole Foods, is because the brand built a strong online audience first, noted Miller.

"I personally think that people are more brand loyal than theyve ever been.I think youre going to see a lot of brands like Bulletproof did come in and sort of take over...brands that are really direct-to-consumer focus are going to win the battle,"Miller said.

Miller also believes that theFDA's final guidance of Nutrition Facts labeling regulationswill have a noticeable impact on food and beverage manufacturers.

"I do think theres going to be some sweeping changes in how products are labeled. I think there will be even more accountability,"he said.

Koios has the advantage of operating their own production facility, opposed to working through a copacker to produce its wares, which can delay production cycles, speed to market, and innovation, according to Miller.

The brand's latest innovation is Fit Soda, a more indulgent option for consumers looking to get their soda fix. Fit Soda contains BCAAs (branch chain amino acids) and zero sugar (it's sweetened with sucralose)."I think one of the things that holds CPG brands back is innovation, because most of us are dealing with co packers, third party faculties, and that almost killed us in the beginning,"Miller said."So whats unique about us is we can innovate as often and as quickly as we want."

"We really wanted something that was non-caffeinated that was indulgent and still incredibly healthy. Kind of following the footsteps of Halo Top and Smart Sweets,"Miller said.

"If everyones being honest, I really want to drink soda."

Interested in learning more about the future of the functional beverage category? Tune into our FREE-TO-ATTEND LIVE Beverage Trends webinar on Thursday, March 19th at 11:30 a.m. CST.

Check out our panel of beverage industry stakeholders and the topics that will be covered HERE.

More:

Brain health: The next big trend in functional beverages? - FoodNavigator-USA.com

Consider the brain to be a piece of hardware, where therapies and technology can be applied to manipulate and upgrade it. This understanding is loosely the basis of neurohacking, which is simply any process that tweaks brain function or structure to improve a persons experience of the world. Usage of nootropics, dopamine fasting, neurofeedback and brain stimulation are all different ways to change the way your mind functions. While these practises were relatively unknown until a few years ago, theyve now become quite popular, especially amongst the in the Silicon Valley crowd or professionals in high-performance jobs. Vogue spoke to a neurohacking expert, a psychiatrist and a nutritionist to find out more about the trend.

My interest in neurohacking came from the search to create a better experience in the life I was creating and living, says Ben Cote, a director at Neurohacker Collective in San Francisco. To put in simply, neurohacking is about taking control of your diet, sleep, exercise through a specific technology like nootropics, or practices like red light therapy and meditation. The great thing about it is that there are so many entrances into discovering what is possible when you take responsibility for your own health. It has the ability to show that with a deliberate and thoughtful decision about one aspect of your lifeand the amazing results that come from thatwhat all is possible in other areas of your life,

While neurohacking is usually safe, doctors suggest that is is best to check with a professional first, especially if you already have medical conditions, or are consuming medications that could alter the results. Part of the world of neurohacking and biohacking is the notion of N=1 experimentation. N=1 is the nomenclature for a test with a single subject, which is yourself.It is important to experiment and see what works for you, says Cote. Try a new food routine, experiment with a new product or technology, and add in a new supplement or practice. Then, document your results. Tweak the experiment to see how those change the results, and then begin to stack those experiments on to one another, he explains. If youre nervous about trying something too complicated, clinical nutritionist Juhi Agarwal has a suggestion that might ease some of the stress. Instead of resorting to extremes, I think simple practices like maintaining a gratitude journal could help you equally, as you also end up learning about yourself on the way. This can be a great first step, she says. On the other hand, Mumbai-based psychiatrist Dr Kersi Chavda, is still wary. "There is still not enough clinical evidence backing it," he says.

While some non-invasive practices can be tested without too many side effects, doctors caution against jumping into oral medication or making other long-term changes before carrying out due diligence. They suggest that nootropics or other drugs wont work like magic pills, but could be an upgrade for an already healthy system. Taking few selective ingredients in high doses can cause the system to get out of balance, which can lead to down-regulation or dependence.We understand the body has an innate ability to self-regulate, and we want to support those pathways and processes that help this, and increase the capacity and resilience of the system towards that goal, says Cote. "Many believe that nootropics make a lot of difference in cognitive abilities, concentration, attention span, memory issues, but the fact is that there is no definitive proof of how effective they are. There are no specific studies done to prove that they are as useful as they are made out to be. At best one can believe they are useful as adjuvants [an ingredient used to boost or modify the effect of other ingredients] but they certainly cannot take on the role of the main drug given for that particular disorder," says Dr Chavda.

How my life changed when I kept a gratitude journal for 30 days

The biggest (and weirdest) wellness trends we all witnessed in the 2010s

All about Nootropics, the supplements that claim to make you smarter and faster

More:

Would you try hacking your brain to perform better? - VOGUE India

While we as parents worry about the nutrition content of the food of our kids, we rarely think about how food can also affect our childs brains.

The feeding of children, the right way, has to be well monitored by their parents for their proper physical and mental growth of children. Healthy eating can stabilize childrens energy, sharpen their minds, and even out their moods.

Children who dont get proper nutrition during their first three years may be losing ground in intelligence to their better-nourished peers and hence children should be encouraged to eat healthy foods from an early age, and to avoid foods that arehigh in fat and sugar, as far as possible.

Nutrition has been called the single greatest environmental influence for children, and it remains essential during the initial years of life and during examination for their memory.

WHAT ARE NOOTROPIC FOODS

Nootropics are brain booster they are drugs or supplements which helps to improve cognitive function, memory, creativity or motivation particularly executive functions which is beneficial for the human brain.

The foods which are rich in nootropics are:

Eggs:are rich in choline, which helps transmit signals across neuronal membranes. Body use the choline in eggs to produce acetylcholine, which aids the body in achieving deep sleep to retaining new memories.

Spinach:Dark greens leafy vegetable like spinach and kale are the best source of brain-boosting nutrients lutein and zeaxanthin these nutrients helps in quicker mental recall, and increased capacity for memory.

Turmeric:turmeric which belong to ginger family helps stimulates neurogenic cellular creation, and is used in the treatment of depression, Alzheimers disease, and strokes.

Blueberries:contain Anthocyanin, an antioxidant which prevents the brain from aging. Anthocyanin helps improve memory and cognitive function, and even helps intra-cellular communication within our brains.

Dark chocolate: Flavanol-rich cocoa beans actually increase blood flow to the brain and can even trigger the production of new brain cells.

Oily fish:the long chain omega 3s in oily fish may improve learning and memory and reduce inflammation in the brain which helps in decreased risk of Alzheimers disease, depression and other mental health conditions.

Red wine: nootropic benefits in red wine are in its high levels of resveratrol, an antioxidant compound that targets the free radicals associated with some forms of cancer.

Nuts:walnuts have high amount of vitamin E that forms a protective layer around the brain cell membranes and ward off free radicals.

Coffee caffeine content in the coffee shows cognitive performance by blocking the activity of adenosine, an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. This neurotransmitter can reduce mental stamina and make one feel drowsy.

Green tea contains catechin and L-theanine which promote relaxation without sedation which is favourably promote brain function.

Water When we are dehydrated, we are more likely not to be able to think clearly. around two litres of water a day is recommended but it also depends on body weight, and level of physical activity of a person.

BY:Ms. Pavithra N Raj, Chief Dietician, Columbia Asia Referral Hospital Yeshwanthpur

Link:

NOOTROPIC FOODS TO BOOST THE MEMORY DURING EXAMINATION - NewsPatrolling

The venerable New York Times does its fair share of trolling these days, and because the paper of record is The Paper of Record, it is quite amusing to see people up in arms about its latest diversion. (Looking specifically at you, Styles and Opinion. Well done.) A friend posted the latest in a Slack I frequent: a video titled Dont Just Live Your Life, Optimize It. It was a funny, beautifully animated argument against the productivity fetish disguised as a piece of productivity messaging. It was an attack or, at least, a shot across the bow.

The video, created by Tala Schlossberg, describes steps to get rid of the downtime left in your life minimize friction, maximize hustle; iterate; accelerate; and eventually you die but the real victory is the tone of the narration, which strikes a nice balance between enthusiasm and cynicism. Yes, there is a jape about polyphasic sleep.

Productivity, strictly defined, is the state of being productive the time it takes to make stuff. In macroeconomics, its the thing that makes the economy grow without having to add jobs, and its defined as gross domestic product (GDP) divided by total hours worked. Or to put it differently, its a measure of the ratio of value added to a system versus the labor put into in the first place. Schlossbergs video references one of economist John Maynard Keynes more famous essays, Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, which was published in 1930 and is credited with popularizing the theory that technological advancement would lead to more productivity and, crucially, less labor for workers. (Its where the idea of a three-hour workday / 15-hour workweek comes from.)

But Keynes vision was far grander than that: he believed that 100 years in the future, the economic problem of the human race would be solved. And the insight startled him because, drawn out to its logical conclusion, it meant that mankind would decouple itself from having to strive to subsist. If the economic problem is solved, mankind will be deprived of its traditional purpose, he wrote. Were about a decade away from the period Keynes was imagining himself into, and while I dont think its too early to say the gains he predicted havent materialized, there is a case to be made that the ennui has. Its no coincidence that Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX, and David Michael Solomon, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, are both record producers.

In 2017, Ben Friedman, a Harvard economist, published a paper that explained why. Keynes was right (so far) about output per capita, but wrong about the workweek, he wrote. The key reason is that he failed to allow for changing distribution. With widening inequality, median income (and therefore the income of most families) has risen, and is now rising, much more slowly than he anticipated.

That means: were working harder for less now because the people who have more have so much more. The economy is optimized to push gains to the top. The whole point of personal optimization, on the other hand, is to increase your productivity in this system, to work harder in a way that mostly does not benefit you at least not in the end.

In recent years, Silicon Valley, that hotbed of technological advancement, has begun to push the gospel of personal optimization into the mainstream. Things like intermittent fasting (previously known as orthorexia), polyphasic sleep (napping), and nootropics (sketchy brain drugs) have been given a new health-boosting, wellness-enhancing glow because they allow you to work harder, maybe. At the same time, hustle culture the native argot of the small business owner has arisen from the personal responsibility wing of society and has taken over the internet. A day rarely goes by that I dont encounter some success story about a person who didnt take any days off and has been rewarded with a handsome exit from their startup or something.

More people are freelancing now than ever before. A study last year concluded that Americas 57 million freelancers bring in $1 trillion to the economy, or about 5 percent of Americas GDP. (They also represent a full 35 percent of the countrys workforce.) But there is a worrying generational trend. The younger the worker, the more likely they are to freelance, reported CNBC. According to the study, the increase is clear in generational results: 29% of baby boomer workers freelance, 31% of Gen X, 40% of millennials and 53% of Gen Z.

While freelancing is flexible, it doesnt usually come with any of the benefits that make a life in America sustainable: theres no health insurance and flexibility is another way to say that its very easy to get fired. There arent really regulations for how to treat freelance workers only norms because the default assumption is that if you dont like the work, you can quit, regardless of whether you need it or not. In all of these senses, freelancing is the ultimate state of productivity, the perfectly optimized job for a perfectly optimized present. Freelancers are 2020s rugged individualist frontiersmen, living off the fat of corporations, owing nobody anything.

Problem is, thats nearly impossible to sustain. You get tired, eventually. Human bodies can only be made to work so much; there is a reason sleep is still the most mysterious, widespread function in the animal kingdom. The truth of the matter is its impossible to do anything alone forever, which is why co-working spaces for freelancers (offices) are gradually turning into co-living spaces for alienated people. Hustle culture makes the argument that your worth is your productivity, your ability to stay busy and ahead of the pack. As much as Id like to think I want to make a living by my wits alone, I know that relying on other people makes those stakes manageable. Theres a reason you dont see many old cowboys.

After I finished watching Schlossbergs video for the second time, and I was trying to make sense of it all, I remembered a tweet Id seen about art and millennials. I cant find it now, but it went something like: art is bad now because nobody has the time to sit still. Lately, Ive been trying to spend more specifically unproductive time at home time when I cant do any thinking and when I have to figure out a way to turn off the part of my brain that says the only way out is through.

Excerpt from:

The optimization trap: what you give up when you hustle - The Verge

With reference to Kelly Clarke's story What are trans fats and why are there calls to ban them in the UAE? (February 24): it would help if we stopped advertising these fast food chains. The adverts are sometimes posted over each lamp post around town.

Ashwin Amin, Dubai

Nutrition is the single greatest environmental influence on children. It is essential during the initial years of life. The effect of food and memory is especially important during the time of school exams. Healthy eating can stabilise childrens energy, sharpen their minds and even out their moods.

Children who dont get proper nutrition during their first three years may lose ground in intelligence to their better-nourished peers and hence children should be encouraged to eat healthy foods from an early age and not be fed foods high in fat and sugar, as far as possible.

During exams they need foods that all the more boost brain function such as nootropics. Some foods rich in them are eggs, dark greens leafy vegetables like spinach and kale the best source of brain-boosting nutrients lutein and zeaxanthin, these nutrients helps in quicker mental recall.

Turmeric helps stimulate neurogenic cellular creation, blueberries contain anthocyanin, an antioxidant which prevents the brain from ageing. Anthocyanin helps improve memory and cognitive function, and even helps intra-cellular communication within our brains. Dark chocolate actually increases blood flow to the brain and can even trigger the production of new brain cells.

These besides other nutrient rich oily fish and nuts, coffee, green tea and water should be consumed.

Pavithra N Raj, chief dietician, Columbia Asia Referral Hospital, Benguluru, India

Justice served: Harvey Weinstein has had it coming for years

About the report Harvey Weinstein found guilty of rape and sexual assault (February 24): the former Hollywood producer is getting what he deserves. The guilty finally have to accept what they have had coming to them for years. The judgement will give his victims and the #MeToo movement some form of solace and will set an example to predators world over. Let's hope this verdict teaches people to not abuse their positions of power.

K Ragavan, Bengaluru, India

Let's hope countries can control the spread of coronavirus

In reference to your report Coronavirus: Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Afghanistan confirm first cases (February 24): As per your paper's reported cases in Iran, it's evident that the virus has started to spread to some countries in the Middle East also. Let us hope that local governments are able to control the situation and they all co-operate generously to manage this dreaded virus. Apart from combining our medical resources and knowledge across the world, we also need to pray that we can control the virus.

Rajendra Aneja, Dubai

Updated: February 26, 2020 05:38 PM

Originally posted here:

Fast food and nutrition: for the sake of our brain health we need to watch what we eat - The National

The appearance of ones doppelgnger usually presages disaster. Today, a shadow version of oneself exists constantly alongside our flesh-and-bone selves, for the most part concealed under the surface of our smartphones, in the ebb and flow of data behind our screens. These statistical alter egos, as de Young contemporary art curator Claudia Schmuckli calls them, are part of the modern conditionat least for anyone who engages with the networked world.

Instead of shying away from this uncomfortable truth, the artists of Uncanny Valley, Schmucklis first group exhibition at the de Young, meet these doppelgngers head on, mining and manipulating that data to confront audiences with their digital lives, and the real-world implications of all that information.

Uncanny Valley is billed as the first major exhibition in the U.S. to explore the relationship between humans and intelligent machines through an artistic lens, which sounds like it could be a show of unwieldy and intangible technology. It does, however, hew fairly close to the standard exhibition format, just with slightly more interactive features. Dealing in such nebulous, digital stuff, Uncanny Valleys strongest moments turn those themes into room-sized installations, as happens in Zach Blas The Doors, Lynn Hershman Leesons Shadow Stalker and Christopher Kulendran Thomas Being Human.

The exhibition opens with Blas green-tinged mystical corporate garden, organized around the sacred geometry of Metatrons cube in a nod to the Bay Areas past and present relationship to psychedelia. At the rooms center, a glass case displays readily available nootropics (so-called smart drugs), popular with a Silicon Valley set interested in optimizing everything, including their own minds. On hanging screens, video projections trained on various neural networks (Fillmore-esque posters, Jim Morrisons poetry, lizard skin) create a frenetic ambiance, the textbook cacophony of a bad trip.

While Blas LSD-inspired garden asks questions like Who gets to have a vision of the future today? other projects supply an onslaught of unsettling information we didnt necessarily know to ask after. Soliciting visitors email addresses, Hershman Leesons Shadow Stalker broadcasts what personal data can be gleaned from an internet search of that email, yielding current and former addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and even, sometimes, credit scores. (Schmuckli assured me the museum isnt keeping peoples email addresses on file, so at least theres that.)

Hershman Leeson further implicates her audience (their physical and digital shadows become part of a projected map) by linking this invasive search to the reality of predictive policing, which uses data about past arrests to identify high-risk areas and determine heightened surveillance of those spaces. The feedback loop is dizzying.

Read this article:

Artists Mine Data and the Mostly Chilling Implications of AI in 'Uncanny Valley' - KQED