I’m excited to be back sharing this FREE 2021 expert brain health lecture series. You already know that much of my work is focused in this space. Well, this series is an incredible opportunity for you to advance your understanding of the brain and its marvelous ability to change and adapt. You’ll listen AT NO COST to four of the world’s leading brain health experts and pioneers, each TUESDAY evening in February (8:00-9:00 PM EST). Guys, these fab four are key insighters!
The lecture series is called “The Brain: An Owner’s Guide”.
Category Archives: Blog: Alzheimer’s
2019 Wellness Conference Diet, Microbiome, and the Aging Brain
Summary: Please join us for 3 wonderful talks Friday, April 12, 2019, 8:30 AM to 11:55AM, at Caritas Christi, 129 DePaul Center Rd., Greensburg, PA. I will be speaking about diet, microbiome and the aging brain! Much of my talk will feature key points that I presented at the 2019 Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioner (VCNP) Annual Conference! You’ll learn that the Western Diet is aging the brain FASTER than the Mediterranean Diet, and that the MIND diet, a hybrid diet of the heart healthy Mediterranean Diet, DASH, and aging brain literature, decreases the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease and slows cognitive decline better that its constituent diets.
This is information you don’t want to miss! Please join us as ALL of the talks presented April 12th encompass keys to grateful and healthy aging, resilience, and holistic health.
Diet, Dementia, Cognition, Alzheimer’s
SUMMARY: We’re excited to be presenting what the evidence finds for WHAT TO EAT, and WHAT NOT TO EAT, for BRAIN HEALTH! We will be at the beautiful Blue Ridge Region for the 2019 Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioner (VCNP) Annual Conference! IN the meantime, you win too because we decided to share a bonus here –>\0/ the prelude videoto our presentation, which is called “Add 7.5 yrs to Brainspan with MIND diet and SAGE Cognition Assessment Tool”. We also want to let you know that your response has been overwhelming for wanting us to bring our DIET, DEMENTIA, COGNITION, ALZHEIMER’S presentation to you! We’re here to dispel the brain age MYTH –> Those in their 40s and 50s realize that brain changes are occurring in the midlife time-frame. By 2050, 20% of the US population will be over age 65. One fifth will have mild cognitive impairment, increasing risk of Alzheimer’s. The Western diet is aging the brain faster than the Mediterranean diet as found on both MRI and PET imaging. You need to learn all about this! We’re booking now, so if you are interesting in having your group learn this powerful information, click here to contact us! And, just adding… they are also including our other Therapeutic Diet presentations for (1) Hypertension, Atherosclerosis, and Obesity, (2) IBS and Autoimmunity, and of course (3) Dementia, Cognition, and Alzheimer’s. You can learn about all of those programs here! Let’s hear from you today. Let’s move off DiseaseSpan and onto HealthSpan!
Brain, Cognition, Diet, CE (Nursing). March 2019 PRESENTATION!
SUMMARY: Our upcoming CE presentation at the 2019 Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioner (VCNP) Annual Conference, March 7th, dives deep into BRAIN, COGNITION, DIET, CE, ALZHEIMER’S! We are going to share what the evidence finds for WHAT TO EAT, and WHAT NOT TO EAT, for BRAIN HEALTH! Our presentation is called “Add 7.5 yrs to Brainspan with MIND diet and SAGE Cognition Assessment Tool”. What you need to know –> A LOT of research is looking at specific diets and brain health. At this time, the MIND diet rises to the top for reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive impairment both with strict and moderate follow. It is this latter finding that makes the MIND diet BETTER than the Mediterranean and DASH diet for brain health because those had NO significant impact on AD risk reduction for moderate follow! ♥–> Diet has incredible systemic reach, including all the way to crossing the blood brain barrier! BAM–> Diet is perhaps the biggest determinant of the microbiome constituents. The major focus of recent research is on the microbiome and its by-products (called metabolites) because those can be changed up by diet and lifestyle. Thus diet can alter the microbiome towards health (anti-inflammatory) or towards being more disease-prone (inflammatory). \o/ If you are a Licensed Nurse Practitioner (in any state), or student enrolled in a NP program, plan to attend this Brain, Cognition, Diet CE! Those unable to attend, or not nurse practitioners, message us for information on how you too can see this presentation! \o/ The bottom line is that everyone needs to hear this information because recent studies find that eating a Western-style diet literally SHRINKS the brain, even in middle age. The results accounted for the effects of all other lifestyle factors, indicating that, when people are in their 40s and 50s,diet exerts a stronger influence on Alzheimer’s disease than exercise or intellectual activity do. “Alzheimer’s doesn’t just turn on when you reach a certain age,” explains Lisa Mosconi, PhD, associate director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian. “Instead, it’s a very long process that starts with changes in the brain when people are in their 40s and 50s. So we have a good 20 years to do something about it. The question is, what can we do in terms of prevention?” This Brain, Cognition, Diet, CE Alzheimer’s information is key to mitigating those risks! ♥
Move for Brain Health
SUMMARY: You can’t outrun a bad diet, but that said, you must still move for brain health! This post shares a study that published last week, [Choi et al 2018], that found that the brain cognition benefit of exercise(that would be new neuron production (aka neurogenesis) AND increased production of brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNE)) could NOT be achieved by drugs alone because those newly produced neurons could not survive in the inflamed Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) brain tissue. However, it was achieved in a mice AD model by combining drugs and gene therapy to simultaneously turn on neurogenesis and BDNF production, but there is NOT YET a way to safely achieve the same effect in humans using drugs and gene therapy. The Pearl: Induce both new neuron neurogenesis and BDNF via exercise in order to let the newly produced neurons survive and thrive! Specifically, for brain health, Joyce Gomes-Osman’s study looked at almost 100 existing studies associating exercise with 122 different tests for brain function, having data for over 11,000 older people. [Gomes-Osman et al 2018] found ⇒ Exercise one hour, three times a week using a diverse regimen that includes aerobic exercise, resistance training, AND mind-body exercises like tai-chi because all are associated with evidence specifically supporting benefits for brain health in both people without cognitive decline as well as those with mild cognitive impairment or dementia. ♥♥♥ Go move! ♥♥♥ Exercise ⇒⇒ New Neurons +++ BDNF ⇒⇒ IMPROVES Cognition! Additionally, another important reference for appreciation of other factors beyond movement impacting cognition and AD, is: Alzheimer’s Dementia Bredesen Approach.
SCD PALEO Cucumber Salad (Mediterranean, Whole Foods, SCD, GAPS, PALEO, AIP)
Summary: This is the second of five family fav vegetable redic delic recipes I’m posting –> SCD PALEO Cucumber Salad. The first posted at SCD PALEO Cauliflower Mock Potato Salad! These salads meet all healing diet tenets be it: Mediterranean Diet, Whole Foods, SCD, GAPS, PALEO, AIP… You can add whatever vegetables you want to help meet the target of 30 different vegetables each week to increase microbiome diversity! These salads are also great topped on leafy greens! ♥ The BIG thing to learn in this post is that cucumbers are high on the EWG Dirty Dozen pesticide residue list (they are listed fifteen) so buy them organic if possible. Regarding the green peel, I recommend you peel cucumbers unless you can confirm there is NO coating, even if the cucumber is organic. I don’t want your gut seeing coatings! To avoid coatings, try growing cucumbers in your garden ⇒ they grow insane in ours! Or source from a farmer you trust! Of course this recipe usesunadulterated EVOO ⇒ those are listed on this UC Davis PDF report. Costco Kirkland Organic or California Ranch are listed as unadulterated on this report. Unadulterated EVOO is a heart AND brain healthy monounsaturated fat. This oil is a predominant ingredient on the Mediterranean Diet and MIND diet! The MIND diet stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay. It combines Mediterranean, DASH, AND aging brain literature. Learn a bit more about it here! ♥ It’s the first time I’m posting about it, but contact me to learn How-Tos, Workshops, or for CME! XO
Autism, autoimmune, cognition, Alzheimer’s and other neurological concerns of our times
Summary: The article, [Handley, j.b.Handleyblog.com, April 2, 2018], is a must read for anyone interested in autism and/or autoimmune conditions including cognition, Alzheimer’s and other neurological concerns so prevalent in our times. Handley’s article will make you think twice about healthcare shots and the power of the microbiome to mitigate immune system damage and dsyfunctionality=&4=& for autism: =&5=&role of immune activation events for vaccines containing aluminum adjuvants (in utero via maternal vaccines, as well as post birth vaccinations=&6=&=&7=&[Mold et al 2018] As well, autism is strongly linked to gut dysbiosis thus Handley’s article addresses, autoimmune and neurological interested audiences listen up: That immune activating event(s) can cause gut dsybiosis, that aluminum is also found in the brains of neurological diseases including=&14=&aluminum in the brains of individuals who died of familial Alzheimer’s disease=&15=&mediating gut microbiome inflammation using diet. Leading light Alzheimer’s researcher [Exley 2017 Editorial] notes: “Alzheimer’s disease is not an inevitable consequence of aging in the absence of a brain burden of aluminum.” His editorial can be read here: Aluminum Should Now Be Considered a Primary Etiological Factor in Alzheimer’s Disease Truth be told, healing dietary tenets that I teach are baseline for the chronic disease mitigation, autoimmune and autism healing diets (SCD, GAPS, FODMAPs, etc), and there are anecdotally plenty that see benefit of microbiome dietary intervention. These diets remove dietary aluminum, and below I note where you’ll find it. I also give substitutions for baking powder which contains aluminum. Handley’s article also contains The Three Letters, sent in 2017 to caution American public health authorities, authored by three of the most important scientists in the field of aluminum adjuvant toxicity — Dr. Christopher Shaw of Canada, Dr. Chris Exley of England, and Dr. Romain Gherardi of France. Whether you are a parent, grandparent, or just someone trying to get their arms around the microbiome — diet — health link, Handley’s article is a great read. Accordingly, my post, focusing on autism, autoimmune, cognition, Alzheimer’s and other neurological concerns of our times, will only summarize a few pertinent salient points of Handley’s post.
How Aluminum Adjuvant in Vaccines Can Cause Autism
In sum, “Five clear, replicable, and related discoveries explaining how autism is triggered have formed an undeniably clear picture of autism’s causation, and possibly ways to alleviate the symptoms, too. Most of the research that has created this understanding has been published in the last 36 months, and largely from international scientists in the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Israel, and China… Published studies are showing that autism is caused by an immune activation event. The adjuvant in vaccines — aluminum adjuvant — can activate the brain’s immune system and is far more neurotoxic than previously realized — all the new science has been published in just the last few years. Aluminum can cause IL-6, the key cytokine implicated in autism. Chinese scientists — for the first time anywhere in the world — used a vaccine to trigger an immune activation event, and recorded elevated levels of IL-6 in rats… Vaccines, administered early and often, are igniting immune activation event after immune activation event. [Handley, j.b.Handleyblog.com, April 2, 2018] International Scientists Have Found Autism’s Cause. What will Americans do?
“…while the aluminium content of each of the 5 brains [of people with autism] was shockingly high it was the location of the aluminium in the brain tissue which served as the standout observation…The new evidence strongly suggests that aluminium is entering the brain in ASD [autism spectrum disorders] via pro-inflammatory cells which have become loaded up with aluminium in the blood and/or lymph, much as has been demonstrated for monocytes at injection sites for vaccines including aluminium adjuvants.”
A “monocyte” is a type of white blood cell, of which one form of monocyte is a “macrophage.” A macrophage can be thought of as the garbage man of the immune system, eating up foreign substances, cell debris, etc. As you will see in a moment, macrophages appear to be playing a critical and devastating role in triggering autism, serving to escort aluminum injected from a vaccine directly into the brain, where it can disrupt brain development and trigger autism.
How Much Aluminum is in Our Brains?
Here’s the evidence for aluminum in autism and Alzheimer’s brains.
For autism, [Mold et al 2018]: “Aluminium-selective fluorescence microscopy was used to identify aluminium in brain tissue in 10 [autism] donors. While aluminium was imaged associated with neurones it appeared to be present intracellularly in microglia-like cells and other inflammatory non-neuronal cells in the meninges, vasculature, grey and white matter. The pre-eminence of intracellular aluminium associated with non-neuronal cells was a standout observation in autism brain tissue and may offer clues as to both the origin of the brain aluminium as well as a putative role in autism spectrum disorder.
Alzheimer’s Dementia Bredesen Approach
Summary:
I’m giving you a heads up on a book I read by Dr. Dale Bredesen titled, The End of Alzheimer’s. I think everyone needs to read this book for proactive and reactive neurologic health ranging from mild cognitive impairment, to dementia to Alzheimer’s. Alarming statistics: 15% of the population will succumb to Alzheimer’s. 65% of Alzheimer’s patients are female. If you are female, your chance of getting Alzheimer’s is greater than getting breast cancer. Dr. Mark Hyman’s email dated Sept 5, 2017 stated: “10 percent of 65-year-olds, 25 percent of 75-year-olds, and 50 percent of 85-year-olds will develop dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.” Do your brain a favor, read The End of Alzheimer’s to understand Alzheimer’s Dementia Bredesen Approach. In fact,
Eat eggs. Help heart, brain.
SUMMARY: Eat eggs. Help heart, brain! Learn about two January 2017 studies (Finland & UConn) that found a high-cholesterol egg diet did NOT increase risk of dementia or Alzheimer’s, and it improved the lipid profile! Serum antioxidants increased as well! Also learn about the benefits of eggs, egg quality, and pass the word to avoid BPA exposure (plastics used for food storage) especially for those pregnant and during lactation because low dose BPA exposure (below that which the FDA considers is safe) increased the risk of an egg white allergy for infants. AIP folks literally separate the white from the yolk for re-introduction! Last, think about eggs as a healthy fat boosting carotenoids as found in the salad — egg studies posted here.
Heartburn drugs, dementia, Alzheimer’s risk for all? T2D, is it the canary in the coal mine!?!
“Fire in the gut is fire in the brain — Dementia, Alzheimer’s. SUMMARY: A recent study found risk of dementia in PPI users aged 75 and over. Previous studies had found that Histamine H2 antagonists (H2RAs) also have adverse cognitive impact in the elderly but the mechanism differed… it was due to anticholinergic effects; I wrote about that here. Can the heartburn drugs, dementia, Alzheimer’s risk associations be extended to younger ages?
What may be possible mechanisms? This post lists the PubMed studies finding that heartburn drugs put fire in the gut; they
- Skew microbiome — PPIs microbiome skew is so severe it increases the risk of CDiff and HALF of users have small intestinal bowel overgrowth, aka SIBO. Regarding the H2RA impact on the microbiome, there is only a paucity of data though studies are now ongoing. However, given that it too is an acid reducer, microbiome impact is likely similar to PPI. And
- Both PPIs and H2RAs mug nutrients, especially B12 which is associated with cognition.
Both of these mechanisms are not age dependent. “Fire in the gut is fire in the brain”.
With dementia known to be associated with B12 deficiency, and if dementia is shown to be associated with microbiome skew in humans, (this mouse study also suggests such) are heartburn drugs (that skew microbiome and deplete B12), dementia, Alzheimer’s a risk for all ages? Can impaired cognition for Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) irrespective of age, many of whom also take acid reducers, be the canary in the coal mine suggesting YES? Read on; it may be time to re-think grandma, your dad, yourself, and your child on heartburn drugs.
Last, this post shows another mechanism for dementia for all ages — high blood sugar with or without diagnosed diabetes. Diet guidance (with links) that lowers blood sugar for all is provided.
Realize however, dementia and Alzheimer’s risks are multi-factorial. It is certainly worth reducing their risk by focusing on risk factor associations.
Some confounding factors for cognition risk includes exercise and here, cardiovascular, gut microbiome impact (mouse study) and diet this post details optimal microbiome diet learned thus far from American Gut though not specifically addressing brain health, or possibly even overgrowth of oral anaerobes in the brain. The later is challenging the entrenched dogma that organs are supposed to be sterile. For example, bacterial findings in the placenta and amniotic fluid is thought to likely be a natural part of in utero development with the hypothesis that exposure to harmless bacteria “trains” the developing immune system — however, bad things may happen to this taxa and overgrowth is one thought. For another example see the breast microbiome — cancer post). Actually, the greatest known risk factor for Alzheimer’s is the aging brain; it certainly makes sense to knock down all the risk factors that one can.
If gut microbiome is found to be associated with dementia, reducing/eliminating the acid reducer factor which is contributing to skewed microbiome, with physician guidance, knocks down a big contributor to microbiome skew. Check out Dr. Mark Hyman’s post here to begin to self educate yourself on reducing heartburn drugs.
We now know that acid reducers are associated with cognition impairment in the elderly.
The study: Association of Proton Pump Inhibitors With Risk of Dementia A Pharmacoepidemiological Claims Data Analysis, published Feb, 2016 in JAMA, reports on increased risk for dementia for PPIs in older patients. See also the associated MedScape article, Proton Pump Inhibitors Linked to Dementia. In the study, Regular PPI use was defined as at least 1 prescription per quarter for: omeprazole, pantoprazole, lansoprazole, esomeprazole, rabeprazole.
Results A total of 73 679 participants 75 years of age or older and free of dementia at baseline were analyzed. The patients receiving regular PPI medication (n = 2950; mean [SD] age, 83.8 [5.4] years; 77.9% female) had a significantly increased risk of incident dementia compared with the patients not receiving PPI medication (n = 70 729; mean [SD] age, 83.0 [5.6] years; 73.6% female) (hazard ratio, 1.44 [95% CI, 1.36-1.52]; < .001). The association was slightly more pronounced in men than women (HR 1.52 versus HR 1.42), though both were statistically significant