Finding the Most Beautiful Minds in America

life'sDHA^™™ and the National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA) are partnering for the second year in a national health education campaign, Beautiful Minds: Finding Your Lifelong Potential. The goal of the campaign is to empower Americans to develop and maintain healthy, beautiful minds by incorporating lifestyle factors known as the four dimensions of brain health — diet and nutrition, physical health, mental health and social well-being. Inspired by both science and creativity, the campaign reveals stories of people across the country who are fulfilling the four dimensions of brain health and accomplishing amazing things well into the second half of their lives.

Meet the Minds

Adults 55 and over were invited to submit an essay to www.beautiful-minds.com describing what they are doing to keep their minds beautiful. Americans were then encouraged to visit the site and vote for their favorites.

Eleven individuals, ranging in age from 59 to 91, were chosen as the 2011 Beautiful Minds. The Beautiful Minds profiles are featured on the campaign website (www.beautiful-minds.com) and in a photo essay exhibit that recognizes and honors "the most beautiful minds in America." The exhibit will travel the country throughout 2012. The 2011 Beautiful Minds received $500 to donate to the charity of their choice and a life'sDHA^™ prize package.

This year's Beautiful Minds include:

• Arthur S. Berger, 91, Aventura, Fla.
• John Guider, 62, Nashville, Tenn.
• Sue Kelley, 72, Olmsted Township, Ohio
• Melody MacDuffee, 59, Mobile, Ala.
• Alice and Richard Matzkin, 71 and 68, Ojai, Calif.
• Benjamin Nickson, 86, Washington, D.C.
• Delores Porch, 61, Gresham, Ore.
• Alvin H. Reiss, 81, New York, N.Y.
• Ernestine Shepherd, 75, Baltimore, Md.
• Dr. Mary Turner Maher, 83, Mendota Heights, Minn.

life'sDHA^™ and the National Center for Creative Aging created the exhibit to showcase the importance of maintaining healthier minds. All of the "Beautiful Minds" featured in the exhibit have stories of accomplishment, creativity and reinvention in the second half of life, and have maintained healthy lifestyles that fulfill the four dimensions of brain health.

Identifying America's Brain-Healthiest States

A key component of the Beautiful Minds campaign, the 2011 America's Brain Health Index is a state-by-state ranking of brain health that delivers the data on how well Americans are incorporating the four dimensions into their daily lives.

The goal of America's Brain Health Index is to provide a platform of discussion and debate that will encourage positive changes for better brain health.

life'sDHA^™ worked in partnership with key health experts to develop the Index, including Dr. Michael Roizen, leading medical expert, author and advisor to the Index, and Dr. Majid Fotuhi, M.D., Ph.D., chairman of the Neurology Institute for Brain Health and Fitness, and assistant professor of Neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, to determine the key indicators of brain health — as recognized by the overall medical community — and to build the Index with data aggregated from highly credible secondary resources.

Major sources of data for the Index include the Centers for Disease Control (Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System), the Alzheimer's Association (2009 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures), the Corporation for National and Community Service (Civic Life Index), the Bureau of Labor Statistics (American Time Use Survey) and CQ Press (Education State Rankings) among others.

Conducted in 2009 and 2011, America's Brain Health Index evaluated the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia based on 21 categories of brain health measures and outcomes in the areas of diet and nutrition, physical health, mental health and social well-being. The categories included a range of determinants from consumption of DHA-fortified foods, supplements and fish high in DHA, breast-feeding rates and amount of sleep, to smoking rates, Alzheimer's disease prevalence, education state rankings, and religious, spiritual and community involvement.

America's Brain Health Index Methodology

For each brain health indicator, data for all 51 geographies was compared to the national average, which was set at 100. Data points that were better than the national average indexed higher than 100, and data points that were poorer than the national average indexed lower than 100. After weighting the relative importance of each indicator to brain health, an overall Index score was calculated for each geography. Geographies were then ranked from first to 51^st.

Key Findings

In addition to providing a brain health ranking for each state, the 2011 America's Brain Health Index includes comparative data showing how each part of the country has either progressed, held its own or lost ground in taking measures to improve brain health over the past two years. For example, data shows that Maryland has overtaken the District of Columbia for the No. 1 spot since 2009. Other key findings include:

• In the 2011 Index, Delaware had the biggest gain (+13 points) and Arizona had the biggest decrease (-10 points) since the 2009 report.
• Delaware had a strong performance across a range of factors, including many that had a bigger weight on the overall Index, such as consumption of fruits and vegetables, breast-feeding, religious/spiritual activities and playing games.
• While Arizona slipped in all areas except physical health, residents can nourish their minds by consuming more brain-healthy foods and supplements and engaging in more religious and spiritual activities.
• Data also shows that Maryland and District of Columbia, the two top-ranked geographies, had high consumption of DHA (fish rich in DHA, DHA-fortified foods and supplements), as well as fruits and vegetables.
• The two lowest-ranking states, Louisiana and Mississippi, had high incidences of diabetes or gestational diabetes.

The top 10 brain-healthy states according to the 2011 America's Brain Health Index are:

1. Maryland
2. District of Columbia
3. Washington
4. Colorado
5. Vermont
6. New Hampshire
7. Oregon
8. Utah
9. Maine
10. New Jersey

Two of the Beautiful Minds hail from the top-two-ranked states in the Index:

• Ernestine Shepherd, 75, Baltimore, Md.
• Benjamin Nickson, 86, Washington, D.C.

Beautiful Minds: Finding Your Lifelong Potential is funded by an educational grant from life'sDHA^™, a DSM Nutritional Products brand, which is a sustainable and vegetarian source of algal DHA omega-3 important for brain, eye and heart health.

Americans who wish to read more about the Beautiful Minds, find out where their state ranks in the America's Brain Health Index, and learn simple steps they can take to improve brain health are invited to visit www.beautiful-minds.com.