This video, titled 'Brain Diet,' explains how diet heavily affects brain health, memory, and decision-making. The speaker highlights a study on rats that showed how a processed diet, high in sugar and refined fats, significantly hurt their memory and navigation skills. The video also discusses how uncontrolled insulin resistance, caused by high sugar intake, leads to various health problems, including conditions like Alzheimer's disease, which is sometimes called 'type 3 diabetes.' The importance of a healthy gut microbiome, fed by fiber-rich foods and harmed by antibiotics and herbicides, is also emphasized for overall brain health.
Key Takeaways
1
The food we eat, particularly sugar and refined fats, significantly impacts our brain's thinking skills, memory, and decision-making.
2
A Brown University rat study showed that rats on a processed, high-sugar diet had a severe decline in memory and navigation abilities, taking over seven times longer to complete a simple task.
3
Insulin resistance, often linked to high sugar consumption, is a key factor in conditions like Alzheimer's disease, which some researchers call 'type 3 diabetes'.
4
The American diet, high in processed foods, sugar, and unhealthy fats, harms the gut microbiome, leading to inflammation that can spread to the brain.
5
A diverse and healthy gut microbiome, nourished by fiber-rich foods, is crucial for sending healthy signals to the entire body, including the brain.
6
Natural interventions focused on diet and lifestyle have been shown to be 75-95% effective at reversing cognitive decline, unlike drugs which only slow it down.
7
Too much sugar damages the brain by causing oxidative damage, promoting deposits on blood vessel walls, and affecting nerve cell connections, similar to rusting.
8
Sugar is highly addictive, triggering strong cravings through gut signals to the brain and releasing feel-good hormones like dopamine.
9
Globally, 40% of all dementia cases and 90% of all strokes are preventable, many of which are linked to industrial sugar consumption.
10
Limiting sugar intake, including naturally occurring sugars like those in fruit (no more than two pieces a day), is recommended for optimal brain health.
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0:01
good morning and welcome to another
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edition of today's nutrition where we
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look at what is new in research what's
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hot in the news or any topic that can
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help us lose weight feel great and live
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longer better well this is back to
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school month already and we're kind of
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thinking about learning and keeping good
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grades and sharpening our thinking
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skills so I thought I would focus on how
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to keep our mind sharp this month each
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week I'm going to dive into a different
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aspect of of how we live our life and
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how that can impact the quality of our
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thinking our memory and even how we make
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decisions and stay
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motivated really motivation impacted by
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diet and lifestyle you bet this week I'm
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going to dive into the diet and the
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Brain there is this video you must watch
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it's not new it's about 10 years old and
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it comes from Brown University in Rhode
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Island if you did a YouTube search for
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Brown University rat and sugar you'll
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see and I also shared this on Facebook
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recently so it's worth looking into but
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in a nutshell I'll boil it down for you
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they took normal rats and quickly
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trained them to swim in cloudy water and
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teach them how to get out of the water
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quickly basically which route to
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go all of them performed and they got
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out of the water within 5 seconds then
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they did a little diet intervention they
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kept one group on the regular rat chow
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and they put the other group on a
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processed diet much like the American
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diet high in flour and sugar refined
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fats you know the barcoded plastic wrap
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package drive up window kind of diet
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that 88% of Americans eat wow wow did
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the ability of the rat on that processed
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diet
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decline instead of swimming quickly to
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safely and remembering where to go it
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went from 5.2 seconds getting out of the
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water to over 36.2 seconds to get out of
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the water over seven times as long so
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what does that mean well memory
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navigation brain structure
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changes now I know this diet This
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research was over 10 years old but it
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sure drives home the fact that we know
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lots about the brain and diet we know
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one of the components of Alzheimer's
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disease is insulin resistance and if
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you've listened to me for a while you
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know I'm Keen about keeping that under
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control it is essential I think I've had
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insulin resistance since I was about 8
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years old Ty typical American diet
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processed highend sugar non-stop
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antibiotics and that set me up for a
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whole world of trouble so you can see
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why I do what I do but back then we just
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didn't know better but we know now right
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uncontrolled insulin resistance leads to
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all the metabolic issues we suffer from
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in America the horrible Co outcome the
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worst in the whole world yeah high
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cholesterol high blood sugar high blood
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pressure fatty liver disease gallbladder
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disease infertility depression anxiety
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basically you name it insulin resistance
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plays a major role in its development
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even cancer especially hormon related
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cancer but this week let's talk brain
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fog you know maybe you just don't feel
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quite as sharp as you once were you know
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that ought to be a wakeup call something
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needs to change you know you want to
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have it get named like dementia down the
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road maybe you've even heard that
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Alzheimer's has been nicknamed type 3
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Diabetes by researchers you know not
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precisely accurate but it sure gets the
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point across sugar is the enemy of the
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brain diabetics are always increased
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risk for dementia as well we know that
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we've known that for over 20 years
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insulin plays plays a huge role in the
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formation of Alzheimer's plaque in fact
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there is the enzyme in the brain the
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insulin reducing enzyme which also takes
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out the beta ameloid plaque but why does
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the American diet have such a profound
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effect on how we think and how we learn
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one reason is that food plays a powerful
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role in the microbiome you know the gut
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microbes all that good healthy bacteria
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and if it's out of balance that can be a
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major source of
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inflammation which leads the road down
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to brain inflammation and with all the
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rampant use of antibiotics is it any
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Wonder we have a disrupted gut
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microbiome and with all the use of
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herbicides on our food like Roundup
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absolutely obliterates our microbiome I
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am astounded
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how many seemingly healthy people are
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getting sea diff this rapid explosion of
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it is absolutely Rel raised related to
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how we are raising our Foods killing off
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all the good microbes in our gut and
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reducing diversity you've got to have
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diversity in the gut a lot of the good
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guys keeping the so-called bad guys in
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check you know it's it's like you got to
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have a little bit of the the stressors
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as well as the good guy keeping them
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down it's just kind of that stress is
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good for the gut okay so the typical
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American diet is loaded with processed
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foods that are not fiber rich food and
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that fiber feeds the gut
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microbiome fiber is for more than just
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regularity you know even if you are
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eating your gut microbes may not be they
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could be starving because they don't
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have enough of the right kind of food
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for them the fiber when you're starving
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the the unhealthy gut microbes that's
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that is sending unhealthy signals to the
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entire body the immune system the heart
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the kidneys the skin and yes even the
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brain and this is kind of a side note
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but Cleveland Clinic has even found that
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women with breast cancer have different
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or unhealthy breast microbiome compared
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to healthy controls who don't have bre
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breast cancer but breast biome Health
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like all the other biomes are greatly
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influenced by the gut
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microbiome they get their signals either
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healthy signals or unhealthy signals
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from your gut so keeping the gut healthy
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is priority number one you know you've
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heard the saying that all disease begins
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in the gut well it comes down to that
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none other than the f father of modern
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medicine hypocrates in about 400 BC he
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said yes it all begins in the gut so
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yeah we are rediscovering the ancient
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knowledge in so many ways hypocrates
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probably learned from traditional
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Chinese medicine and maybe even the
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Indian aurvedic medicine yeah he wasn't
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new to it and you know when I do gut
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tests on people one of the things I look
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at is the ratio of certain bacteria
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families one to another and if you don't
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have enough of one kind the bacteroid
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eats that flourish on eating lots of
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vegetables and lots of fibers you know
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you're feeding the bad guys and boy oh
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boy I can guarantee you that you've got
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a weight problem but not only obesity is
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an issue but these unhealthy gut
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microbes send unhealthy signals that
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contribute to inflammation in the brain
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so lots of mechanisms but processed food
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devoid of fiber phytonutrients healthy
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fats and minerals you know affect how we
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think and based on that rat experiment
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you know that I talked about but there's
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a lot of other experiments that we know
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affect how we learn how we remember
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food's medicine and no matter how we
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rationalize it when we eat overprocessed
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fake food loaded with sugar and flour
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and you know even honey or coconut sugar
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yep that's the sugar bad fats hidden
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chemicals we're poisoning enzymes and
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starving our
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microbiome diet
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lifestyle it's humble it's
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underestimated but absolutely the most
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powerful simple medicine so much
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research about reversing dementia you
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know I talk about predicine I talk about
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Pearl mutter doors Dean and Aisha shur
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ey
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cat tube Steen ornish tons of others and
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even in my programs I always hear my
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clients say they think better but
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research shows natural interventions are
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between 75 and
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95% effective at reversing decline you
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know in addition to breson there's
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there's Dr Mark Heyman there's Dr Sarah
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Godfrey there's Dr an Hathaway
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clinicians experts I know these people
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they are amazing
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they are the real deal I think they
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should share in the Nobel Prize but you
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know research is always way ahead of how
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medicine practices and it may even be
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more of a battle because there's no
10:13
pharmaceutical company that can benefit
10:16
heck advertisers were even banned from
10:19
talking about weight loss on social
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media until the drug companies had a
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drug for weight loss now you can talk
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about it on social media pharmace itical
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companies want you to take drugs even if
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diet and lifestyle is the real answer
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but dementia research how diet and
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lifestyle show a huge rate of
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improvement not just slowing decline
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these people went back to work started
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new careers they reversed the decline
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the earlier you start the program of
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course the better it is but no drug has
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ever shown Improvement just slowing
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decline that isn't what I want I mean
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who wants to have 10 years of
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Alzheimer's disease turn into 20 when
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you have a good chance at reversing this
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I think that's exciting but it
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works yes it is work but heck what a
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rewarding job so much research so much
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um you know and it's not just me it's
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not just OB obscure doctors but there's
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a lot of research going on and here's
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here's one I love this one um German
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research German Society of Neurology G
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uh dgn or the German brain Foundation
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GBF they point out that too much sugar
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can harm the brain and the study was
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called the global burden of disease and
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it showed that St stroke and dementia
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are among the top 10 causes of death it
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states a healthy active lifestyle with
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sufficient exercise sleep and and
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avoidance of harmful toxins like alcohol
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nicotine or excessive sugar protects the
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brain currently with a permanent
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increase in blood sugar due to what they
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call too much lavish meals and constant
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snacking on the side we overload the
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system and fuel the development of
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neurological diseases particularly
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stroke and
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dementia so they go on to say that per
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capita consumption of sugar is 3 33.2
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kgam okay and that was in 2022 which is
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twice their recommended amount the
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German nutrition Society recommends much
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like ours that no more than 10% of that
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come from sugar but what they say that
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this includes not only added sugar but
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also naturally incur occurring sugars
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like fruits honey or juices and this is
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why I tell my clients to limit fruit to
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no more than two a day for Optimal
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Health oh those Germans so what is the
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mechanism of why sugar hurts the brain
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you know it causes oxidative damage
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oxida I mean think of it like rusting of
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the brain blood vessels and it's
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promoting deposits on those blood vessel
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walls so it's reducing blood flow and
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nutrient Supply in addition there are
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these complex sugar molecules that
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affect the direct synapses between the
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nerve cells so you can't connect those
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thoughts you want to make so another 20
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years ago there was a study again uh on
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high-fat high sugar diet and how that
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affected
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neuroplasticity and functioning of what
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they called the hippocampus that's the
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memory center of the brain and it was
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longterm and it wasn't just one or two
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studies there there's many studies
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finding that mental
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performance while it may temporarily
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improve after sugar consumption It
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ultimately causes permanent damage to
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cognitive function sugar is not our
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friend the max plank Institute for
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metabolism demonstrates that regular
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sugar consumption of high sugar high fat
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can change how the brain works and of
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course promotes obesity and type 2
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diabetes okay so we know you know it's
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hard to minimize sugar consumption it is
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so addictive just a taste a small dose
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of sugar can trigger your gut to send
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signals to the brain via the Vegas nerve
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to cause strong cravings for more sugar
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a little bit makes you want more and
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more and more so the old I'll bet you
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can't eat one is true rarely you can
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stop especially if you're stressed tired
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or hungry in addition to that you've got
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the dopamine hit that feel-good hormone
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that's released when you eat
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sugar this drct
15:16
Peter
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perlit from the German study said it is
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wise to break free of this cycle by
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largely avoiding sugar I love this guy
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he knows just say no he goes on to say
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that in the research the effort is worth
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it as 40% of all dementia cases and 90%
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of all Strokes are preventable and many
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of them are linked to Industrial Sugar
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and the German said he goes on to
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support what I've always said we need to
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tax junk food just like we tax alcohol
15:53
and cigarettes they call for a tax on
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sugary Beverages and then they go on to
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point out that you know yogurt and
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tomato ketchup all contain sugar yeah so
16:04
anyway since sugar harms the brain you
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know there's been a lot of research on
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those gop1 agonists Pearl mutter um
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talked about it a while back but yeah I
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mean it's just all linking back to how
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the brain is processing sugar how much
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sugar it's exposed to and even jamama
16:25
2020 the Journal of American Medical
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Association the title of the journal
16:30
that month was in Alzheimer's research
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glucose metabolism takes center stage
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and I've said this like forever so it's
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like oh it's just lifestyle you know
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there's just so much research can't go
16:43
into all of it but boy oh boy one of my
16:45
favorite books right now besides my own
16:49
is the one by Dr Carol Fitzgerald called
16:52
younger you and she proves that you can
16:56
reverse age by 3.23 years in just a few
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short weeks measurable okay so then
17:04
there was Harvard oh my gosh there's
17:06
just so many things I don't have time to
17:07
tell you all about but ask me there's
17:10
tons of research nothing like you know
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the aari Italy or acheri Italy where 15
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to 30% of the population is over a 100
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with none of the normal diseases of
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Aging not even cataracts they aren't
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genetically different it's just how they
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live so thanks for listening to another
17:28
edition of today's nutrition I hope it
17:30
helped you or someone you love you can
17:32
listen to this one again or other shows
17:35
on my website de.com on YouTube or any
17:38
place you listen to podcasts if you'd
17:40
like to work with me my greatest
17:42
pleasure is working with people to
17:44
reverse their health problems one of my
17:47
quotes from my last group includes my
17:49
brain is like 20 years younger mental
17:52
Clarity like years ago pretty good huh
17:55
well have a great day and I'll see you
17:57
soon
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Brain Diet
Deb Ford DCN RDN
202 views
Aug 6, 2024
17:59
Brain fog. You just don’t feel you are as sharp as you once were. That should be a wakeup call. Something needs to change. You don’t want to have that get worse and end up with a dementia diagnosis. Maybe you have even heard Alzheimer's nicknamed, type 3 diabetes. Not exactly accurate, but it gets the point across.