Meet the mastermind who is trying to cure brain disease

The laboratory Mark Effinger uses to develop his range of brain-boosting supplements has become an analytics powerhouse. He shares his breakthroughs with Evgeny Lebedev

-  Evgeny Lebedev

WE are in the grip of a neuroscience renaissance. New research measuring the impact of nutrition, exercise and sleep on our health have turned attention from the body to the brain. How does my diet, for example, affect my ability to think? What foods can I eat in order to work faster and which of them should I avoid to prevent brain fogor, further down the line, neurodegeneration? Last week, a study tracking more than 130,000 adults in the US found those consuming two servings of processed red meat per week had a 14 per cent greater risk of developing dementia than those who ate fewer than three servings per month. In a UK study, the Lancet Commission suggested that nearly half of all dementia cases could be prevented if people adopted healthier lifestyles and took action to lower their cholesterol. Answers are flooding in: this is great progress. But one that comes against a medical crisis.

Globally, one in eight people is affected by a mental disorder, according to the World Health Organisation.

Social media is weakening our attention spans and affecting the chemical makeup of our brains. In the US, we are now at a point where the diagnosis of ADHD in adults is four times that of children. The most common solution is an Adderall prescription: a drug linked to an increased risk of heart attack and strokes. It's no wonder people are turning away from Big Pharma and towards new solutions.