Pink isn't just for princesses

Looking to preserve your power to think? Think pink!

Researchers say a common source of the color, a pigment that comes from undersea algae, could help prevent dementia.

It's called astaxanthin, and eating it is what turns shrimp, krill and salmon that delicious pink color.

And when you hear about what else it can do, you might turn pink with envy--because this pigment is also an antioxidant 500 times more powerful than vitamin E.

It can even beat PLOOH.

OK, I know that may sound silly--will PLIGLET show up next?--but PLOOH is short for phospholipid hydroperoxides, a compound known to build up in the red blood cells of dementia patients.

Stopping PLOOH might be the key to stopping dementia--and a new study finds that astaxanthin stops this stuff cold: Patients given the antioxidant saw levels fall by as much as 50 percent.

Even PLEYORE might get happy over that.

Patients who got a placebo, on the other hand, had no change in PLOOH levels, according to the study in the British Journal of Nutrition.

We'll need more research before we can say for sure whether astaxanthin can stop, slow or prevent dementia… but that's no reason to delay making it a key part of your antioxidant regimen.

Astaxanthin can protect your skin from the damage of sun and age. It's also great for your eyes, and some studies have found it can help your joints, too.

One study found it can even raise HDL cholesterol by up to 15 percent and lower levels of deadly triglycerides by up to 25 percent.

But let's get back to the brain--because there's something else from the sea that can keep yours as sharp as a knife: fish oil.

Studies have found that the great omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil can boost memory and cognitive power, and maybe even protect against Alzheimer's disease.

Wild salmon just happens to be a great source of both omega-3 fatty acids and astaxanthin--but unless you're a bear, you're probably not eating it every day.

Work in a supplement instead. (And for more on brain-boosting supplements, read this.)

But not every brain boost comes in a bottle.

In addition to good nutrition, be sure give your noggin a good workout. Studies have shown that if you don't use it, you could lose it.

For some real mental gymnastics, try to sprechen some deutsch or parlez-vous a little français--because one new study finds that people who speak two or more languages can put off or even avoid Alzheimer's disease.

And that's fantástico in any language.