00:00:00
the foods that we eat actually provide
00:00:02
the structural basis the building blocks
00:00:04
of the very neurons that allow us to
00:00:06
think over time there are a lot of data
00:00:08
now that indicate certain things that we
00:00:10
can do including certain foods that we
00:00:12
should eat in order to enhance our brain
00:00:17
function some of the most frequent
00:00:19
questions I get are about food and the
00:00:21
Brain everybody seems to want to know
00:00:23
what they should eat and what they
00:00:24
shouldn't eat in order to have Peak
00:00:26
brain function to be able to focus and
00:00:28
memorize things and so forth and in
00:00:31
order to maintain brain health over time
00:00:33
because nobody wants to lose their
00:00:34
memory or have troubles with cognition
00:00:37
fortunately there are a lot of data now
00:00:39
from really good quality peer-reviewed
00:00:41
studies that indicate certain things
00:00:43
that we can do including certain foods
00:00:45
that we should eat and perhaps even some
00:00:47
foods that we should avoid in order to
00:00:49
enhance our brain function and of course
00:00:51
when I say brain what I really mean is
00:00:53
nervous system function because how we
00:00:55
are able to move and remember things Etc
00:00:58
doesn't just depend on the neurons the
00:00:59
ner cells that are in our head it also
00:01:01
depends on our spinal cord and the
00:01:03
neurons that connect to all the organs
00:01:04
of our body so in general there are two
00:01:07
categories of things that are going to
00:01:09
improve brain health from the
00:01:10
perspective of nutrition the first
00:01:12
category is the general category of
00:01:15
things that we eat and avoid and things
00:01:17
that we do and avoid doing that will
00:01:19
modulate brain health and function what
00:01:21
do I mean by modulate well getting
00:01:23
quality sleep on a regular basis making
00:01:26
sure that you're socially connected
00:01:28
making sure that you're not depressed
00:01:29
breast all these things are vitally
00:01:31
important to our overall health and of
00:01:33
course they will impact brain function
00:01:35
but they do it more or less indirectly
00:01:38
okay there are a few things that happen
00:01:39
in sleep which directly benefit brain
00:01:41
function and repair Etc but today I
00:01:44
really want to concentrate not on the
00:01:45
things that modulate our overall health
00:01:47
but rather the things that mediate brain
00:01:50
health directly and in particular how
00:01:53
certain foods enhance brain function and
00:01:55
we are going to talk about how we can
00:01:58
change our relationship to food
00:01:59
literally how we can start to prefer
00:02:01
certain foods that are better for us
00:02:04
than others so just briefly I want to
00:02:06
touch on the modulatory components
00:02:08
because they are vital first of all
00:02:11
getting quality sleep on a regular basis
00:02:13
and ample sleep on a regular basis is
00:02:16
the foundation of all mental health and
00:02:19
physical health there's no question
00:02:20
about that so I just want to make
00:02:22
crystal clear that unless you're
00:02:24
sleeping well on a regular basis your
00:02:26
brain will suffer you won't be able to
00:02:27
focus very well learn very well and
00:02:29
indeed there are data linking poor
00:02:31
quality sleep to Dementia or at least
00:02:34
exacerbating pre-existing dementias and
00:02:37
things of that sort so get your sleep in
00:02:38
order the other of course is
00:02:40
cardiovascular health and exercise the
00:02:42
general prescription that's out there in
00:02:45
the literature and I think is well
00:02:46
supported is to get somewhere between
00:02:48
150 and 180 minutes of cardiovascular
00:02:52
exercise per week if you choose to also
00:02:54
use resistance exercise that's great but
00:02:57
the 150 to 180 minutes minimum per week
00:03:00
of cardiovascular exercise is crucial
00:03:03
for heart health and heart health
00:03:05
directly relates to brain health because
00:03:07
the brain consumes a lot of oxygen
00:03:10
glucose and other factors that are
00:03:11
delivered via the blood so if your
00:03:14
arteries are clogged up and you've got
00:03:15
poor vascular supply to the brain in any
00:03:18
region of the brain your brain will
00:03:20
suffer so get cardiovascular health in
00:03:22
order now with those two modulatory
00:03:25
elements set forth so that we're all
00:03:27
aware that they're there and they are
00:03:28
vitally important now I'd like to turn
00:03:30
to the elements that have been shown to
00:03:32
be vitally important for directly
00:03:34
controlling for mediating neuron
00:03:36
function neurons of course are nerve
00:03:38
cells in the brain and there are other
00:03:39
cell types too of course that will
00:03:41
impact brain function the most prominent
00:03:44
of which are the so-called Gia Gia means
00:03:46
glue but even though for a long time
00:03:48
people thought that these cells were
00:03:49
just kind of holding things together
00:03:50
passively the Gia play a very active
00:03:53
role in the metabolism neurons in brain
00:03:55
function and probably also in cognition
00:03:58
in thinking and so forth so what are the
00:04:01
things that directly impact brain health
00:04:03
and what are the foods that we can eat
00:04:05
that will support brain health generally
00:04:07
when we think about neuron function and
00:04:09
brain function we default to a
00:04:11
discussion about fuel the fact that
00:04:13
neurons use glucose which is blood sugar
00:04:15
and that they require a lot of it uh in
00:04:17
some cases they'll use ketones which we
00:04:19
will talk about a little bit later
00:04:21
especially in people that are following
00:04:22
a low carbohydrate or ketogenic diet but
00:04:25
before we can even consider the fuels
00:04:27
that neurons use in order to function we
00:04:29
have to talk about the elements that
00:04:32
actually allow those neurons to be there
00:04:34
and to stay healthy what actually makes
00:04:36
up those neurons and that brings us to
00:04:38
what I would argue is the most important
00:04:40
food element for brain function and that
00:04:44
is fat and that might come as a surprise
00:04:46
but unless one considers the water
00:04:48
content of the brain which is very high
00:04:50
a lot of our brain and a lot of the
00:04:52
Integrity of the nerve cells the
00:04:54
so-called neurons in our brain and the
00:04:56
other types of cells comes from fat and
00:04:59
that's because nerve cells and other
00:05:00
cells in the brain have a external layer
00:05:05
it's uh what's sometimes called a double
00:05:07
layered membrane it's essentially two
00:05:09
Thin layers that serve as a boundary
00:05:11
between those cells and that boundary is
00:05:13
very important because how things pass
00:05:15
across that boundary actually regulates
00:05:17
the electrical activity of neurons which
00:05:19
is the way that neurons fire and
00:05:21
communicate and keep you thinking and
00:05:22
acting and doing all the good things
00:05:24
that those neurons allow us to do and
00:05:26
those membranes are made up of fats but
00:05:28
they're not made up of the fats that are
00:05:30
around our belly around the other organs
00:05:32
of our body they're not made up of
00:05:34
storage fat they are made up of
00:05:36
structural fat and maintaining the
00:05:38
so-called Integrity of that structural
00:05:40
fat meaning the health of those neurons
00:05:43
is going to come in large part from the
00:05:45
foods that we eat this needs to be
00:05:47
underscored what I'm saying is that the
00:05:48
foods that we eat actually provide the
00:05:50
structural basis the building blocks of
00:05:53
the very neurons that allow us to think
00:05:55
over time and as I mentioned earlier the
00:05:57
fat that makes up those neurons in other
00:05:59
nerv nerve cells is different than the
00:06:01
other types of fat in the body so what
00:06:03
type of fat is it and what should we eat
00:06:05
in order to support that fat and those
00:06:08
neurons and the answer is the so-called
00:06:10
essential fatty acids and phospholipids
00:06:13
now those are more or less the same
00:06:15
thing but I just want to make a very
00:06:16
large literature very Crystal Clear
00:06:19
essential fatty acids can include the
00:06:21
so-called EPA variety or dhaa variety
00:06:24
you hear about Omega-3s and Omega 6s
00:06:27
most people are getting enough Omega
00:06:29
sixes from their diet not everybody but
00:06:31
most people are getting enough omega-6s
00:06:33
however most people are not getting
00:06:36
enough Omega-3s in their diet to support
00:06:38
healthy brain function in the short and
00:06:40
long term I've talked before about the
00:06:42
benefits of elevating the levels of
00:06:44
Omega-3s in one's diet for sake of
00:06:47
offsetting depression and for enhancing
00:06:49
mood and indeed there's a wealth of
00:06:51
literature now pointing to the fact that
00:06:53
ingesting at least one or two or even
00:06:56
three grams per day of EPA form of
00:07:00
essential fatty acid can have effects
00:07:03
positive effects on mood and well-being
00:07:05
that are at least on par with some of
00:07:06
the major anti-depressant treatments out
00:07:08
there but without similar side effects
00:07:10
to those anti-depressant treatments and
00:07:13
that for people that are already taking
00:07:15
anti-depressants that supplementing with
00:07:17
1 to two to three grams of EPA essential
00:07:20
fatty acids can actually allow a lower
00:07:23
dose of anti-depressant treatment to be
00:07:25
used and still be effective so that's
00:07:28
depression but just in terms terms of
00:07:29
maintaining normal cognitive function in
00:07:32
people that aren't depressed the epas
00:07:33
and Omega-3s seem to play a very
00:07:35
important role of course you can
00:07:38
supplement epas through various fish
00:07:40
oils and it could be liquid fish oil or
00:07:43
capsule fish oil some people if they're
00:07:45
uh not interested in eating fish for
00:07:47
whatever reason they're allergic or for
00:07:49
ethical reasons they can take krill oil
00:07:51
if they don't want to use krill oil they
00:07:53
can use uh algae and other forms of EPA
00:07:56
however I think it's clear that one can
00:07:59
get a lot of EPA from the proper foods
00:08:01
and it turns out that those foods not
00:08:03
surprisingly don't just contain high
00:08:06
levels of EPA but they also contain
00:08:08
other things that are beneficial for
00:08:10
brain health so what are foods that are
00:08:12
high in Omega-3s that we should all
00:08:15
probably be consuming at least on a
00:08:16
daily basis the number one is fish so
00:08:20
things like mackerel and salmon and
00:08:22
Herring and oysters and sardines and
00:08:24
Anchovies and perhaps the heavyweight
00:08:27
champion of epas per unit volume is
00:08:29
caviar now I don't know about you but
00:08:32
I'm not eating a lot of fish I'm not
00:08:34
eating a lot of caviar I don't think I
00:08:36
can't remember the last time I had a
00:08:38
caviar unless it was you know sprinkled
00:08:39
on a little bit of sushi I'm not a big
00:08:42
uh fish eater personally uh I will from
00:08:44
time to time but that's one reason why
00:08:46
one might want to supplement with epas
00:08:49
from another source but also epas are
00:08:53
found in chia seeds in walnuts in
00:08:55
soybeans and other plant-based foods you
00:08:57
can look these up online and you'll
00:08:59
immediately see that there are a lot of
00:09:01
sources of epas and many of the foods
00:09:03
that I listed off might be appetizing to
00:09:05
you some of them might be unappetizing
00:09:07
to you or some of them you might be sort
00:09:08
of neutral about but it's very clear
00:09:10
that eating foods that are rich in
00:09:12
Omega-3s and or supplementing with
00:09:14
Omega-3s to get above that 1.5 G and
00:09:17
ideally up to two or even three gram per
00:09:20
day of EPA can be very beneficial for
00:09:23
cognitive function in the short and long
00:09:25
term later in the episode I'm going to
00:09:27
talk about how to actually change your
00:09:30
relationship to particular Foods so that
00:09:32
foods that you don't particularly like
00:09:33
you can actually start to like more and
00:09:35
that might be important for those of you
00:09:37
that are thinking mackerel sardines I
00:09:39
mean this is B I'm making this face cuz
00:09:40
frankly those are not foods that I
00:09:42
naturally like but again I want to
00:09:44
emphasize that you don't have to consume
00:09:46
fish and animal products in order to get
00:09:48
sufficient epas you can get them from
00:09:49
Plants but I do believe based on the
00:09:52
quality peer-reviewed research that
00:09:54
everybody should be striving to get a
00:09:56
minimum threshold of at least a gram and
00:09:58
a half of EPA per day one way or the
00:10:00
other the great thing about Omega-3s is
00:10:02
that they are also thought to be
00:10:04
beneficial for things like
00:10:05
cardiovascular health and although
00:10:07
there's some controversy there as to
00:10:09
whether or not two grams or three grams
00:10:11
or six gram is ideal for cardiovascular
00:10:13
health I think the bulk of evidence
00:10:15
points to the fact that getting
00:10:16
sufficient Omega-3s in the diet is going
00:10:18
to support cardiovascular health
00:10:20
certainly not the only thing people
00:10:21
should be doing to support their
00:10:22
cardiovascular health aerobic exercise
00:10:25
and so forth being important also but it
00:10:28
does seem to support cardio vascular
00:10:29
health and in doing so supporting brain
00:10:31
health however what I'm emphasizing is
00:10:34
ingestion of Omega-3s to support the
00:10:37
very cells within the brain that make up
00:10:39
our cognition that allow for cognition
00:10:41
and for movement and memory and all the
00:10:43
other marvelous things that the brain
00:10:45
does
00:10:46
[Music]
00:11:01
[Music]
