When You Eat This Common Food, You're
Laying Out the Welcome Mat for Alzheimer's
Key Dietary Strategies to Protect Yourself from Alzheimer’s
April 27, 2014
Story at-a-glance
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Your diet has major implications for your Alzheimer’s
risk. Diets high in carbohydrates, and diets low in
healthful fats, lead to Alzheimer’s disease
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Research from the Mayo Clinic shows that diets rich in
carbohydrates are associated with an 89 percent
increased risk for dementia. Meanwhile, high-fat diets
are associated with a 44 percent reduced risk
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Alzheimer’s is directly related to chronically elevated
blood sugar levels
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Women given cholesterol-lowering statin medication have
a 44 percent increased risk for becoming a type 2
diabetic. Diabetes, in turn, doubles your risk for
Alzheimer’s disease
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Even if you’re already having “senior moments,” you can
regenerate cells in your brain’s memory center. This
occurs through a process called neurogenesis. Proper
lifestyle choices are imperative for this recovery
By Dr. Mercola
Alzheimer's disease has become nothing short of epidemic in the
US. Could it be that some commonly eaten foods are the primary
culprit? According to neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter, author of
the book Grain Brain, your diet has major
implications for your Alzheimer's risk.
Grain Brain has been on the New York Times Best
Seller list for six months now, which is unusual for a health book.
He has also been on a few PBS specials. Dr. Perlmutter is also the
editor-in-chief of a brand new Harvard-based journal called
Brain and Gut, slated to come out next year.
He came to the conclusion that brain dysfunction is rooted in a
flawed diet, particularly our modern-day high-grain diet, after
scouring the medical literature looking for clues to the underlying
cause.
He'd grown weary of treating his patients' symptoms, and wanted
to get to the bottom of the problem. As it turns out, the scientific
literature is actually replete with information telling us that,
yes, diet plays a crucial role in brain function. He says:
"What we've crystallized it down to now, in essence, is
that diets that are high in sugar and carbohydrates, and
similarly diets that are low in fat, are devastating to the
brain.
When you have a diet that has carbohydrates in it, you
are paving the way for Alzheimer's disease. I want to be super
clear about that. Dietary carbohydrates lead to Alzheimer's
disease.It's a pretty profound statement, but it's empowering
nonetheless when we realize that we control our diet. We control
our choices, whether to favor fat or carbohydrates."
High-Carb Diets Associated with 89 Percent Increased Risk for
Dementia
As just one example, he cites research from the Mayo Clinic,
published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, which
found that diets rich in carbohydrates are associated with an 89
percent increased risk for dementia. Meanwhile, high-fat diets are
associated with a 44 percent reduced risk.
Clearly, with Alzheimer's disease now hot in the tracks behind
heart disease and cancer as one of the top three killers in the US,
we really need to pay attention to such findings.
"[T]here is absolutely no treatment for Alzheimer's
disease. And yet, according to Dr. Deborah Barnes, publishing in
the journal Lancet Neurology, more than half the cases
of Alzheimer's disease today – 54 percent – could have been
prevented had people gotten this information," he says.
Fortunately, even if you're already having "senior moments," you
can turn back the clock, as it were. You can regenerate cells in
your brain's memory center. This occurs through a process called
neurogenesis.
According to Dr. Perlmutter, the evidence clearly shows that
high-carb diets and elevation of blood sugar is directly related to
shrinkage of your brain's memory center. And when your
hippocampus—your memory center—shrinks, your memory declines.
"That is the harbinger for Alzheimer's disease," Dr.
Perlmutter says. "It's the first place you look on a brain
scan. But here is why we're having this conversation today: (1)
it is preventable and (2) more importantly, it's reversible."
Saturated Fats Are a Critical Part of a Heart- and Brain-Healthy
Diet
Like myself, Dr. Perlmutter has been talking about the benefits
of saturated fat for a long time. Conversely, for well over half a
century, the media and a majority of health care officials have
warned that saturated fats are bad for your health and lead to a
host of negative consequences, including high cholesterol, obesity,
and heart disease.
There's little doubt that this wholly inappropriate fat phobia
has had a lot to do with our burgeoning Alzheimer's epidemic.
Fortunately, the importance of these healthy fats is starting to
become more widely recognized. One of the largest meta-analyses1,
2,
3 to date, included data from more than 600,000 people
from 18 countries.
The study concluded that current evidence does NOT support
guidelines that encourage low consumption of saturated fat for heart
health. Saturated fats, which have the longest history of being
(wrongfully) demonized, were in fact found to have NO adverse effect
on heart disease risk.
"We've been led down the wrong road," Dr. Perlmutter
says. "[Saturated] fat is your friend. You desperately need
fat. You desperately need to have good cholesterol in your body.
That war on cholesterol is a perversion of the science that was
even used to tell us we should stop eating foods with
cholesterol...
We know quite well that in elderly individuals, for
example, those in the highest level of blood cholesterol have
about a 70 percent risk reduction for becoming demented. These
are the things that are good for the heart. They're good for the
immune system. Cholesterol is the precursor of vitamin D,
progesterone, estrogen, testosterone, and cortisol...This is
probably one of the reasons why statin drugs are so damaging.
You lower cholesterol, and you set the stage for things that are
very, very worrisome."
Diabetes Doubles Your Risk of Alzheimer's
Dr. Perlmutter cites a study published in the Archives of
Internal Medicine, which found that women who are given
cholesterol-lowering statin medication have a 44 percent increased
risk for becoming a type 2 diabetic. Diabetes, in turn, doubles your
risk for Alzheimer's disease.
Our ancestral diet was very high in saturated fats and virtually
void of non-vegetable carbohydrates. Today, not only do we eat
tremendous amounts of carbohydrates, these carbs are refined and
highly processed. In the last decade, we've also shifted over to
genetically engineered grains and sugar (GMO sugar beets and corn).
At present, you have close to a 50/50 chance of developing
Alzheimer's disease if you live to be 85 years old, according to Dr.
Perlmutter. His mission is to radically shift those odds, by giving
people like yourself the information you need to avoid being one of
the unlucky ones destined to die without your mental faculties
intact.
Alzheimer's Is Directly Related to Elevated Blood Sugar Levels
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine
in August 2013 demonstrates that even mild elevation of blood
sugar—a level of around 105 or 110—was already dramatically
associated with an elevated risk for becoming demented. Dr.
Perlmutter believes it's very important for physicians to become
cognizant of this link, and to stop downplaying the risks associated
with even mildly elevated blood sugar.
If your fasting blood sugar is even mildly elevated (over 95
mg/dl), it's time to address your diet to lower it. Dr. Perlmutter
makes a very important point here, noting that "normal" blood sugar
really should not be the same as the average. It should be the
optimal or ideal level. You do not want to be right smack in the
middle "average" when the population sample is severely diseased!
So what is an ideal fasting blood sugar level? Dr. Perlmutter
suggests that anything over 92 or 93 is too high. He believes the
ideal fasting blood sugar level is around 70-85, with 95 as the
maximum. If you're fat adapted, there's no reason to shun even lower
fasting blood sugar levels. According to Dr. Perlmutter:
"It really depends on whether you have adapted your body
to burning fat. People who have been on a high-fat, low-carb
diet are able to tap into body fat as an energy resource.
They've undergone a change called keto-adaptation. It means
they're burning fat and they can get by with much lower blood
sugar because they're burning fat and don't need to worry about
blood sugar as much.
This notion that your brain needs sugar is really old
news as well. Fat, specifically ketones, which your body
produces by metabolizing your fat, is now called a 'brain
superfuel.' There is even a pharmaceutical product; a medical
food that you can write as a prescription, which raises the
level of ketones or fat in the bloodstream of patients, offered
up now as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Who knew? The
point is the brain loves to burn fat. That's what we have to
shift it over to..."
Intermittent Fasting Can 'Reset' Your Body to Burn Fat Again
One of the tools I've found particularly useful is
intermittent fasting, which can really help jumpstart your body
into burning fat instead of carbs as its primary fuel. In his book,
Grain Brain, Dr. Perlmutter also starts off the
intervention section with a period of fasting, which can be viewed
as pressing the Reset button. He's particularly aggressive about it
in patients who are insulin/leptin resistant.
I typically recommend keeping your fasting insulin level below 3.
The so-called normal, however, is anywhere from 5-25 microU per mL.
This despite the fact that the upper edge of this "normal" clearly
indicates you have a problem with insulin resistance! Again, you do
not want to be average here. You want your insulin/leptin levels to
be ideal or optimal for health and disease prevention.
"If somebody has an insulin level of 26, they are in deep
dudu. They need a lot of work. They need to fast. They need to
drop the carbs. They need to add back the good fat. They need to
add in some anti-glycating agents like benfotiamine and
resveratrol. We need to hit these people aggressively. This is
what works. This is what reduces their risk of converting to
diabetes, and therefore has a huge role to play in protecting
their brains," Dr. Perlmutter says.
Eat the Right Types of Fat, and Remember That Food Is Information
The type of fat you eat naturally makes all the
difference in the world. Avoid all trans fats or hydrogenated fats
that have been modified in such a way to extend their longevity on
the grocery store shelf. This includes margarine, vegetable oils,
and various butter-like spreads. Sources of healthy fats to
add to your diet include:
Avocados |
Butter made from raw, grass-fed organic milk |
Raw dairy |
Organic pastured egg yolks |
Coconuts and coconut oil (coconut
oil actually shows promise as an effective Alzheimer's
treatment in and of itself) |
Unheated organic nut oils |
Raw nuts, such as pecans and macadamia, which are low in
protein and high in healthy fats |
Grass-fed meats |
"Let me make one other important point. Fat, protein, and
carbohydrates are the Big Three in terms of food. That said,
we've got to understand two things: (1) the human requirement
for carbohydrates is zero. We require no carbohydrates in the
diet, unlike fat and protein. (2) Well beyond the sources of
calories that we take in, food is information. The foods that we
choose to consume are instructing our DNA in terms of its
expression. This is called epigenetics. How empowering is that?
I make this point because our genome takes 50,000 to
70,000 years to make significant changes to adapt to new
environments and adapt to new foods. We are instructing our
genome with this perverted information by giving our genomes
signals from high levels of processed foods and carbohydrates.
To me, job one is to get people to understand that you are
affecting your gene expression and giving it bad information.
This is a cornerstone in terms of almost every health malady
that we are trying to deal with today," he says.
Exercise Promotes Neurogenesis
Beyond its ability to burn calories and fat, aerobic exercise is
a powerful epigenetic player. It can help alter your gene expression
to code for things that will result in a longer and healthier life.
Exercise also reduces free radical production and inflammation, both
of which are drivers for chronic disease. More directly, exercise
has been shown to turn on a brain growth hormone called BDNF, which
stands for "brain-derived neurotrophic factor." BDNF codes for your
brain's ability to both repair itself and grow new brain cells. The
latter occurs through a process known as neurogenesis.
This is indeed new information. Back when Dr. Perlmutter and I
were in medical school, we were taught that once a brain cell dies,
that's it; there's no going back. This view has been completely
demolished by more recent research, which clearly demonstrates that
your brain can both regrow neurons and even
rewire itself to "work around" damaged areas. As for the type of
exercise, Dr. Perlmutter recommends
high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which provides you with
the equivalent of two hours-worth of conventional aerobic exercise
in just 20 minutes.
Other Recommendations That Promote Brain Health
Dr. Perlmutter's Grain Brain program also includes a number of
other recommendations, including but not limited to:
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Turmeric, for its anti-inflammatory potential and ability to
activate BDNF, the hormone involved in brain health and
neurogenesis.
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Monitoring your vitamin D level. Dr. Perlmutter recommends
maintaining an optimal level of around 70-90 nanograms per
milliliter (ng/ml) year-round.
- Optimizing your gut health by reseeding your gut with
beneficial bacteria (probiotics). One recent study cited by Dr.
Perlmutter correlates the risk for becoming an Alzheimer's
sufferer in various countries; countries that have a lot of
parasites in the gut as a marker of poor hygiene actually had
the lowest risk of Alzheimer's. Countries where there were no
parasites in the gut or very few, courtesy of superior hygiene,
had a significantly higher risk of Alzheimer's.
"Who knew? Who knew that eating foods that have a
little dirt on them can be good, and that delivering our
children through the birth canal is so important for
building their microbiome from day one? We've got a lot to
learn," he says.
Equally important as adding probiotics is avoiding
antibiotics. Non-breastfed babies are more prone to ear
infections, which can easily set them up for excessive
antibiotic use—even though
antibiotics typically do not work for ear infections... So
please, do your homework before demanding antibiotics. Eating
CAFO meats will also provide you with traces of antibiotics
in each bite. All these antibiotics kill beneficial bacteria,
and the resulting chronic poor gut health can place your brain
at significant risk.
- Measuring your gluten sensitivity with a Cyrex [Array 3]
test. Research suggests gluten can play a damaging role by the
changes it imparts on your microbiome, the bacteria in your gut.
But gluten can also wreak havoc with your neurological health
via the inflammation it causes. Non-celiac gluten sensitivity
may involve 30 to 40 percent of the population, Dr. Perlmutter
says, and according to work done at Harvard by Dr. Alessio
Fasano, it may even affect every single human being.
The reason for this is because gluten, a protein found in
wheat, barley, and rye, has significant effects on your gut
cells, which leads to the production of a chemical called
zonulin. Zonulin enhances inflammation and tends to make your
gut porous and leaky (i.e. leaky gut syndrome). But that's not
all. Dr. Fasano discovered that it can also make your
blood-brain barrier leaky, allowing foreign proteins to migrate
into your brain, where they clearly do not belong.
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Fecal transplantation, in cases of severe neurological
dysfunction where poor gut flora appears to be a contributing
factor. Your microbiome is critical for multiple reasons,
including regulating the set point of inflammation, producing
neurotransmitters like serotonin, and modulating systems
associated with brain function and brain health. This form of
therapy is now the standard of care for life-threatening C.
difficile infections.
A Brain Healthy Diet Will Benefit All Neurological Disorders
It's worth noting that a high-fat, low-carb ketogenic diet is not
just for the treatment of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.
It's the right diet for ALL brain-related disorders, including but
not limited to:
- Parkinson's disease (according to Dr. Perlmutter, the rate
at which a Parkinson's patient will decline perfectly correlates
with the elevation of their blood sugar)
- Migraines
- Seizure disorders like epilepsy
- Autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis (MS)
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Core Ingredients of a Brain-Healthy Diet
In terms of a brain-healthy diet, Dr. Perlmutter emphasizes the
importance of favoring above-ground colorful vegetables, as these
contain less starch, which your body breaks down into simple sugars.
Healthful options include kale, chard, collards, broccoli, and
spinach. These also contain plenty of healthy fiber—you really do
not need grains to meet your fiber requirement.
Dr. Perlmutter also recommends cooking your food as little as
possible. The more food you can eat raw, the better, especially as
it relates to your microbiome. To this, I would add fermented
vegetables, to promote healthy bacteria in your gut, and
sprouted seeds, for a boost of nutrients that is hard to match.
Sprouts are also really easy to grow at home, which is an added boon
for anyone seeking to improve their nutrition for the least amount
of money. As for animal protein:
"I think that if you choose to be a meat-eater, you
should be choosing meats that are grass-fed and that are
organically raised. There's no alchemy that happens when cattle
are given genetically modified grain, treated with antibiotics
and hormones, and who knows what else. There's no alchemy that
happens to create this wonderful meat. You've got to be super
selective," he warns.
"Meat, by and large, is a dangerous food with the
exception, in my opinion, of those grass-fed products – wild
fish as opposed to farm-raised, antibiotic-treated Frankenfish,
pasture-raised chicken, and farm-raised or pasture-raised eggs
as well. We look at foods in terms of how they're going to treat
us with respect to inflammation, and we know that, for example,
factory farm-raised eggs are about 14 times as high in omega-6
fatty acids, the pro-inflammatory fatty acids, as compared to
natural, pasture-raised, free-range eggs."
Take Control of Your Brain Health—For Life
In closing, Dr. Perlmutter quotes the Yellow Emperor of 4th
century B.C. who said: "Maintaining order rather than correcting
disorder is the ultimate principle of wisdom. To cure disease after
it has appeared is like digging a well when one feels thirsty or
forging weapons after the war has already begun." Your
lifestyle choices have a huge role to play in determining whether
your brain will maintain its function throughout your lifetime, or
degenerate with age into a potentially deadly neurological disease
like Alzheimer's. Again, the key lifestyle factors that will promote
lifelong brain health are:
- Eating a whole food, low- or no-carb, high-fat diet; ideally
organic with a focus on raw foods. Your main source of
carbohydrates would be above-ground vegetables, which are low in
starch and high in beneficial fiber. Every effort should be made
to keep your fasting blood sugar level at or below 85, and your
fasting insulin level below 3. Avoiding carbohydrates (think
processed foods, refined sugars, processed fructose, and all
grains) along with exercise are the right tools for this.
- Intermittent fasting can help "reset" your body,
jumpstarting its ability to use fat as its primary fuel.
- Maintaining a healthy gut flora by regularly eating
fermented foods (and/or a probiotic supplement), and avoiding
all medically unnecessary sources of antibiotics. This includes
antibiotic treatments for viral infections (which do not respond
to antibiotics) or minor infections that can be treated with
other natural alternatives, and eating animal products (meat,
dairy, and eggs) raised in confined animal feeding operations
(CAFOs) as these are fed low doses of antibiotics for
growth-promoting purposes.
- Optimizing your vitamin D levels, ideally through
appropriate sun exposure or by using a
safe tanning bed. A
vitamin D3 supplement can be used if neither of those
options is feasible. Just remember that if you take
supplemental vitamin D, you also increase your body's need
for
vitamin K2.
Copyright 1997- 2014 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
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