Imagine being able to enhance your mood, your mental acuity, your overall cognitive function, just by what you choose to put at the end of your fork. You see, food is not just sustenance or energy to fuel our bodies. It's one of the most potent forms of medicine that's available to us. Literally medicine. In today's episode, we're exploring the impact of food.

Five specific foods. We call them superfoods, but really they're just foods that help boost our mental health, reverse brain aging, and protect us from chronic, ever more common neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia and Parkinson's. Hi, I'm Doctor Mark Hyman, and welcome to Health hacks.

The typical american diet, which the vast majority of Americans eat, is loaded with sugars, starches, ultra processed food like substances, science projects, basically, and inflammatory fats, which can do the exact opposite, drive inflammation that harms our physical health and cloud our brains, strips us of our zest and vitality for life, and makes us prone to sadness, anxiety, and depression. It literally breaks our brain, and that's why so many of us are walking around with a broken brain. Now, in previous episodes of the podcast, I've discussed in depth how food influences our mood and mental state, which I strongly encourage you to check out, and I'll link to them in the show notes. However, today I want to zero in on the research behind five specific foods that you can add to your diet for tremendous capacity to support your brain and health and make us feel, think, and perform better. Now, some of you may be familiar with a few of these foods, but others may surprise you.

So let's jump right in with the first food that can literally change the way your brain works for the better. The first is dark green leafy vegetables, and specifically a category called cruciferous vegetables, also known as brassicas, basically the broccoli family, kale, collards, spinach, arugula, swiss chard, collard greens, mustard greens, bok choy, romaine lettuce, turnip greens, beet greens, watercress, endive, escarole, broccoli rabe, dandelion greens, radicchio, watercress, lettuce, chicory. Pretty much anything green, right? How good are they for our brains, and what does the research say? Well, the data on nutrients and bioactives in green leafy veggies and cognitive decline is very impressive.

An observational study from Rush University in Chicago and the Tufts Human Nutrition Research center in Boston followed 960 participants, aged 58 to 99, who enrolled in the rush memory and Aging project. Now, researchers wanted to investigate the effects of specific nutrients found in green leafy veggies on cognitive decline in older adults over an average period about five years, using the data from food frequency questionnaires and cognitive assessments. Now, food frequency questionnaires are not the best tool, but they give us some sense of what's going on. And the findings were striking. They revealed that the higher consumption of green leafy veggies correlated with a slower rate of cognitive decline, meaning you're less likely to end up going into dementia.

Now, specifically, those with the highest green leafy vegetable consumption, an average about 1.3 servings a day, which by the way is low, like you should be actually having two or three times that. At least they had an average cognitive decline rate equivalent to being approximately, now get this, eleven years younger, simply with 1.3 servings a day of green leafy veggies compared to those with the lowest intake of green leafy veggies. Now, the protective effect was still there after adjusting for all kinds of variables like age, sex, education, lifestyle factors, things like smoking and exercise. Now part of the problem with this data is it's observational. It looks at correlation, not causation.

But we can still learn a lot from this study. Another study was entitled the association between eating green vegetables every day and mild cognitive impairment, which essentially is known as pre dementia. And it was a community based cross sectional study. It wasn't done in Shanghai. And the researchers investigated the relation between the daily consumption of green vegetable consumption and the prevalence of predimensia, or MCI.

What they found they looked at about 525 participants aged 55 and older as part of this longitudinal study that was called the China Longitudinal Aging study. It was done in Shanghai and used food frequency questionnaires to assess their diet. And the main findings indicated that participants who consumed green vegetables had a 78% reduced risk of MCI compared to those who did not. Now, its not causation, but its a pretty good association and it was still there after adjusting for age, education, hobbies, Internet use, sleep patterns, a lot of other things that can kind of mess up your cognitive decline. Now again, this was a cross sectional study which cannot prove cause and effect.

But what could be the mechanism, right? What is the mechanism of green leafy veggies and the positive effect on their brain? Well, theres a lot of reasons. Antioxidants and protective phytochemicals. Now, we dont think of phytochemicals as essential nutrients, but they kind of are, theyre protective foods, right?

We know harmful foods like sugar and processed food and so forth. But theyre also protective foods, and we want to eat more of those and less of the harmful foods. Now, green leafy vegetables contain anti inflammatory molecules and antioxidants, things like vitamin C and e, carotenoids, which are the green orange things, actually, also, but theyre in the green vegetables. Lutein, which is great for eyes. Alpha linolenic acid, which is plant based omega three s.

They contain polyphenols, which are these plant based anti inflammatory chemicals, flavonoids, things like camprol, all these things reduce oxidative stress, which causes inflammation, and then reduce, more importantly, neuroinflammation, which is inflammation of your brain. Now, oxidative stress damages your cells, and it can contribute to the formation and accumulation of something called beta amyloid plaques. And you might have heard of amyloid theory of Alzheimer's. And amyloid, just to be clear, is not the cause of Alzheimer's, although many for many years thought it was. And we've spent billions of dollars studying research to prove that it was.

But we never could be successful. It's sort of a side effect of inflammation, and it's the body's attempt to deal with a bad set of circumstances. So it's sort of a bystander in the process of dementia. And it does gum up your brain, but it's really not the issue. It's the inflammation that's driving the amyloid development.

And some of these foods can be protective. Right. So some studies suggest that polyphenols can inhibit the formation of beta amyloid fibrils, which are these plaques that are common in response to inflammation in the brain. And they gum up the brain that ends up causing dementia. Now, they also promote clearance of these plaques from the brain.

So these polyphenols actually help the brain clear amyloid, which is great. This explains probably, maybe some of their effects on the cognitive function that we're seeing. There's also other nutrients, like vitamin K, filiquinone, that plays a crucial role in regulating calcium and activates proteins that help keep calcium out of areas where it shouldn't be, such as the brain's blood vessels. Vitamin K also has anti inflammatory effects and that can reduce neuroinflammation. It's also involved in the synthesis of important fats called sphingolipids.

Doesn't matter what they call them, but basically it's a class of lipids that are crucial components of your brain cell membrane. So your brain cells have membranes and they have to be of the right fats. And if they don't have the right fats, you end up with more inflammation. Now, these lipids play a role in cell signaling and they maintain the integrity and the function of your brain cells. Really important.

So what else is in green leafy veggies that could be helpful? Well, folate, green vegetables are rich in folate, not folic acid. Now where does the word folate come from? Foliage. Right, foliage, green foliage.

That's why. Because they're rich in folate. And these are really essential for breaking down something called homocysteine in the blood. Now this is an amino acid that accumulates in the blood in the absence of the right amount of the B vitamins, like folate, b six and b twelve. And it goes up when you're low in these vitamins, b six, b twelve, and folate.

And that is linked to an increased risk for heart disease and Alzheimer's. In fact, everyone should have their homocysteine measured. It's not part of your routine checkup when you go to the doctor, but it's essential because if your level is over 14, your risk of dementia goes up by 50%. Now function Health, which is the company that I've co founded to give you access to your own health data and lab measurements. It's part of the 100 plus lab tests that you already get so you can access it@functionhealth.com.

mark and skip the 200,000 person waitlist if you want to get your homocysteine checked. And theres many other tests you need to do too. Well talk about in that podcast today. Also, greens have b vitamins. Now, many leafy greens are also rich in other b vitamins, including b six and b twelve, which are also vital for brain health.

Now these vitamins are really important because theyre involved in neurotransmitter synthesis, right, the little messenger chemicals of your brain and in the metabolism of your brain, and they help support overall brain function and reduce the risk of cognitive decline. Now I had this 85 year old patient once she was diagnosed with pre dementia and she was told to get her affairs in order because according to traditional medicine, its a one way street. You have pre dementia, youre heading all the way to dementia, and its a slow, slippery slope, or maybe sometimes fast. Now, as people get older, their stomachs dont absorb nutrients so well, especially b twelve. And it turned out she was really low in b twelve and folate, which we measured by checking her homocysteine in her blood in a special test for b twelve that most doctors again dont check, called methylmalonic acid.

Its a much better indicator of your b twelve status and its also part of the function health basic testing. Now we gave her the right forms of the nutrients and guess what, her predimension went away and she called me a few years later and I thought oh maybe shes sliding, I dont know whats happening. She says well Doctor Hyman, im just going trekking in Bhutan and I want to know what I should take to protect myself. When I go away im like oh great, this is a fabulous story. Shes not going downhill.

Really uphill. Now what are the actual takeaways? How do you apply this science to everyday life? Well, the recommended intake of non starchy veggies is five to nine servings. That's only about two and a half cups of cooked greens.

One serving is about a half a cup of cooked or one cup of raw. But you have to understand that's just the minimum. Right. If we want to use food to feel younger, to help our brain function better, we need to boost our diet to include eight to ten cups of veggies and fruit every day. Now it sounds like a lot but thankfully there's lots of ways to introduce more veggies in your diet.

You can eat more soups for example. Soups are a great way to get more veggies in your diet. You can make a vegetable base by pureeing several types of greens and adding spices to it. You can make vegetable noodles. Did you know it's super easy to make noodles out of veggies?

It's also a great low carb substitute for regular pasta. So you insert your veggie of choice into a spiralizer. It's a kitchen gadget that processes them into noodle like shapes. In fact, they're really cool. Choose healthy snacks instead of reaching for a bag of chips.

Keep a stash of raw veggie sticks handy when youre looking to munch on something between meals. Bell peppers and carrots are great options for this. Right? Also hide your veggies in smoothies. Smoothies are great and theyre great tasting and, and they add a significant amount of greens to your diet if you put greens in there and you can add any number of different veggies without compromising the fruity flavor of the drink.

Now my favorite includes spinach, kale, romaine, lettuce, zucchini. And I actually also love to make just a plain old green smoothie with just greens and cucumbers, celery, a little ginger, lemon, maybe half an apple. It's so easy to make. It's so yummy. And you can get a lot of veggies in by drinking your veggies, literally.

So what else besides green leafy vegetables is protective for your brain? What's the second big group of food or foods that can do this? Well, small, cold water fish. I'm gonna explain why. Now, I call these the smash fish.

Salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, and herring. Now, you might not like them, but they are the most nutritionally dense, the lowest in toxins, and the highest in omega three fats. Plus, trout and oysters are also great. Now, why is fish good for our brains? What does the research actually say?

Well, a new study published in the British Journal of Nutrition looked at the diet of 798 adults aged 65 to 97, and they looked at 102 item questionnaire using the center for Epidemiologic Studies depression scale. Now, participants were categorized based on adherence to the mediterranean diet. Now, we can argue, what is the mediterranean diet? Is there a better diet out there? But it's basically a whole foods, healthy diet, right?

And it's not. And basically, what is mediterranean diet? It could be pizza and pasta. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about whole foods, right?

Lots of veggies, fruit, olive oil, nuts, seeds, fish, whole grains, beans. That's a mediterranean diet. Now, the higher adherence to the diet was correlated with a 55% lower risk of depression symptoms. Increased fish intake was linked to a 44% reduced risk of depression overall and a 56% reduction in women. Now, each additional gram of fish per day decreased a woman's depression risk by 2%.

And three or more servings of fresh fish a week reduced depression by 62%. Now, think of that in the context of our mental health crisis. I mean, we're all taking Prozac and being in therapy and doing all these things, but what if we just ate a can of sardines three times a week? Right? You might have no friends.

They might like how you smell, but maybe you won't be depressed. Now. I'm just kidding. I love sardines, and they're great, and they're delicious. And I just came from Europe where they have fresh sardines.

They're so good. Now, what they found was interesting, there was no effect with canned tuna. Now, tuna is also high in omega three s, but it's also had mercury, which can actually cause depression. And it can be a concern. So I would stay away from those big fish like tuna, swordfish, halibut and so forth.

Now, you can use the guide from the environmental working group ewg.org and you can see their guide on choosing fish for the lowest amount of mercury. So just go to efg.org and youll learn about it. So just a quick note about women in the study of women, women who consume more monounsaturated, right. From olive oil, avocados, macadamia nuts, right. Versus saturated fat.

And they did this from fatty fish, olive oil, peanuts, avocados, almonds, pecans, all that cashews, hazelnuts. They had a 42% lower risk of depressive symptoms just by eating more nuts and omega three fats. Now in men, fruit and nut consumption led to an 82% reduction in the depression risk. And other large studies that are observational studies have similar findings. Right, there's an inverse correlation between fish consumption, the risk for depression.

So more fish, less depression. And the lower your fish intake, the higher your risk for depression and poor mental health. The same is also true for memory and our risk of cognitive decline. A twelve week randomized controlled trial. And this is more of a cause and effect type study, right?

So that's a better type of study. A twelve week randomized controlled trial published in the Journal of Nutrition and Healthy Aging looked at the impact of omega three fish consumption on cognition. 57 elderly adults aged 65 to 79 who lived in a retirement center in South Africa. Now these types of studies actually can be better, proving cause and effect. Now the intervention group received canned sardines and Fish Bread weekly, about 2.2 grams of omega three s daily, while the control group received canned meatballs and texturized soy.

Now both groups diets included elements of the mind diet. Now this is a combination of the mediterranean diet and whats called the dash diet, dietary approaches to stop hypertension, which is again based on a whole foods diet. So they kind of combine these two and its basically whole foods high in fruits and veggies, olive oil, good fats, omega three s, nuts and seeds, whole grains, beans and fish, right? So at twelve weeks, the intervention group consumed more omega three s and scored significantly higher in cognitive function tests and at higher levels in their red blood cells of EPA and DHA, which are the omega three fish oils. Compared to the control group, their executive function, their memory and their problem solving skills improve the most.

I mean you kind of want fish for brains, right? So the conclusion is the twelve week dietary study including fish as part of a modified mind diet seemed to enhance the cognitive function in elderly people. Not bad for a can of sardines a day, right? You can also take supplements too. So, you know, if you do sardines now, what's the mechanism?

Why do we see these positive effects? What's the science behind it? Well, what nutrients are responsible for these brain boosting effects of fish? And I just want to say, fish is great, except for humans, who've poisoned the oceans with all the coal burning and pollution that's gone into the oceans. All that coal ash ends up in the atmosphere, rains down into the oceans, it's absorbed into the water, it gets into the algae.

The little fish eat the algae, the bigger fish eat the littler fish, and the even bigger fish eat the next bigger fish and then on up through the food chain. So what happens is we're at the top of the food chain and we eat fish. We are exposing ourselves to mercury. So fish absent humans are great, but we've really poisoned them to such a degree that I think most fish are not safe to eat unless they're really small fish, which is why I like the anchovies, mackerel, herring, sardines, even salmon can be high in mercury sometimes. So why?

Why is this so good for our brain? Well, the brain diseases that we see, right, whether it's depression, Alzheimer's, even autism, and add are inflammation of the brain. Brain on fire. And omega three s are powerful anti inflammatories. You see, up to 60% of our brain is made up of fat, so you literally are a fat head.

Half of that fat, by the way, is omega three fats. So they're essential. These are called essential fatty acids. They're not optional in your diet. And yet most of our diets are deficient in these essential fatty acids.

So they're like a vitamin or mineral. If you don't get them, you're going to get deficiency. And it shows up as depression, dementia and a whole host of other things. Now, as we expanded our brain, our cerebral cortex and our executive function, memory and intellectual, it seemed to coincide with the introduction of fish and seafood into our diet. About 35,000 years ago, even hunted land animals had higher levels of omega three s than industrial raised animals.

So, like, for example, wild bison have higher levels of omega three s than a feedlot cow. Now, it makes sense that we need these omega three s to keep our brains functioning properly and that a lack of fish or omega three s can lead to omega three deficiency, and that leads to mood and memory issues. Now, the two most important forms of fish oil are EPA or icosapentanoic acid. You don't remember that? And dHA or docosa, axonoic acid, it just comes from the chemical structure.

These come from fish. You can't get them really from plants. Alpha linolenic acid, or ala, is also an omega three. It's a plant based form of omega three and it comes from things like walnuts, chia seeds, flaxseeds, hemp and some leafy greens. The problem is that only about 10% of the plant based omega three s, the Ala, is converted to the ones we actually need, the EPA and DHA.

So if youre vegan, youre not necessarily going to be getting this and its a big risk for deficiency. So you have to figure out how to get your levels up by taking fish oil. And there are concentrates of plant based fish oils where they kind of jack up the amounts and convert it. And its kind of a bit of a project, but there are some around EPA and DHA. These essential omega three fats play crucial roles in the body's inflammatory system.

We learned this in medical school. This is not a new science. We know how they regulate icosanoids, prostaglandins, all these inflammatory systems in our body, and they produce a whole class of anti inflammatory molecules, also called resolvins and protectants. Right. They resolve and protect you from inflammation.

They resolve inflammation and they protect you. Now these are great names, I love these names. But basically a lot of fish oil has this in it. But sometimes at low levels. I'm going to tell you in a minute about one you can get, there's a high levels of these protective things.

Now when we're deficient omega three s, it increases our risk, inflammation of the body and the brain. And it can show up like depression, mood disorders, memory disorders. EPA specifically has been shown to reduce neuroinflammation. Right? Remember, the neuroinflammation is linked to memory issues, dementia, Alzheimer's, depression, anxiety, add autism, bipolar disease, schizophrenia.

All of these problems of the brain have been linked to neuroinflammation. And EPA actually is inversely correlated with all these problems. So there are actually studies from Harvard that show you can treat bipolar disease by giving fish oil. Surprise. Or add by giving fish oil, or depression by giving fish oil, or improve dementia by giving fish oil.

That's how powerful these are. And they regulate all, all sorts of compounds in the body regulate neuroinflammation. Now when you have low levels of EPA, it increases your risk of heart disease. Not just brain diseases, but also heart disease, skin disorders, diabetes and lots more. In fact, these fats are absolutely essential for life.

We gotta get them from our diet. But 90% of Americans are deficient in these critical fats. And im going to explain to you more where to get them and how to take them. But I think at this point in history, unless you want to poison yourself with mercury from eating a lot of fish, you're going to need to take omega three s from supplements. I mean, unless you want to eat sardines every day, which most people don't.

Now, what other nutrients are found in fish that might be protective for the brain? Vitamin D. And we think of vitamin D as the sunshine vitamin, but also it can come from fatty fish like herring and mackerel and so forth. And its, how many populations did get this when, for example, they were living in northern climates? Theyd get a lot of their vitamin D from the fatty fish.

So if youre living in inuit territory in Greenland or in Alaska a thousand years ago, were youre going to get your vitamin D, youre not going to be on the sun all day. Youre getting it from the fatty fish. Now, vitamin D receptors are found all through the brain. And vitamin D inhibits a really critical pathway in the brain that controls inflammation. This is really important, guys.

Theres something that the body produces called transcription factors. And there are many transcription factors. And these transcription factors regulate which genes are transcribed or which genes are turned on or off. For example, are inflammation genes turned on or are the anti inflammatory genes turned on? Now, the main transcription factor that drives inflammation, that turns on the genes that produce inflammation in the body is called NF kappa B, or nuclear factor kappa B.

Don't remember that, but just remember that there's a switch that turns on inflammation. Now, vitamin D lowers NF kappa B, which leads to a reduction in the production of these inflammatory molecules called cytokines. You all heard about the cytokine storm from COVID Same thing. It also increases the production of anti inflammatory cytokines and regulates the expression of something called neurotrophins, which is a group of proteins that stimulate the growth of nerve cells. Thats a great thing.

So one, you turn off inflammation, two, you turn on the anti inflammatory system, and three, you turn on the expression of these growth factors for the brain that actually help grow new brain cells. Thats pretty good for vitamin D. Now, vitamin D also stimulates macrophages, kind of like pac man, like white blood cells that kind of gobble up bad stuff. So they help macrophages go into your brain and clear the amyloid beta. Amyloid beta, is that gummy plaque stuff we talked about.

That's found in Alzheimer's disease. Now, a deficiency of vitamin D also has been linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease. And about 80% of Americans either either deficient or insufficient in vitamin D. It's really important, so you got to get your levels checked and you can also do that through function, health. But it's really important to know your numbers here.

Vitamin D also does a lot of other things. I mean, it controls hundreds of genes, many, many pathways. Its super essential for your immune system, for your bones, for your muscles, for everything. But here were focused on the brain. It also plays a role in the synthesis of neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, which youve probably heard about.

Dopamine is what you get stimulated with the adderall drugs and add drugs. And serotonin is whats increased with things like Prozac. And these neurotransmitters affect mood, sleep and cognition. And that's why people get the winter blues or something called seasonal affective disorder from low vitamin D levels. And like I said, 80% of Americans have either low or insufficient levels of vitamin D.

What else do fish contain that can protect your brain? Well, selenium is high in fish. It's a crucial trace element, got a powerful antioxidant capacity, and it protects against oxidative stress and cellular damage in the body and the brain. Now it's a cofactor for an enzyme, a very important enzyme your body makes. It's a selenium dependent enzyme called glutathione peroxidase.

Now, you don't remember that, but glutathione, you should remember. Glutathione is one of the most important molecules in your body. It's the body's main detoxifier to get rid of environmental toxins. It's the final any powerful, most powerful antioxidant. And it's a powerful anti inflammatory.

Its so powerful, by the way, that when someone comes in with liver failure from tylenol, its the only thing that will save their life. Otherwise they need a liver transplant. Now, whats great about glutathione? Its kind of sulfur sticky. It sticks to toxins, so it binds to and eliminates heavy metals, things like mercury, which is great.

And smash fish are high in selenium, which protects against mercury absorption and toxicity. So I say, you know, if youre going to eat fish, you have to eat small fish. I'm sorry, guys. I love big fish, too, but you just can't unless you're really doing chelation. All the time, which is probably not a good idea either.

All right, so we've got omega three s, we got vitamin d, we got selenium. What else you got? Fish for me? Well, something called astaxanthin. Now, astaxanthin, it's a big word.

It's a carotenoid, which you might know, sounds like carrots, right? It's the orange color in vegetables. Right? Or fruit. And carotenoids are, are one of the antioxidant families.

It's a precursor of vitamin a. In fact, when you eat salmon, why is salmon pink or orange? And by the way, when you have wild salmon, it's much darker. If you notice that wild caught salmon is very dark. It's actually what gives salmon its color.

So if you have salmon and they're eating Orange salmon, that's why it's because of the carotenoids. Now, factory farm salmon. And this blew my mind. I met with a guy who was sort of trying to source healthy wild salmon and market years ago, this guy Randy Hartnell from vital choice. And he came once to meet me, and he brought it like this palette.

It was like this. When you pick paint to paint your kitchen or your house, they give you all these little color samples. It was like a whole palette of different Orange color shades that fish farmers could add to their fish to decide what color they wanted their farm fish to be. Right. I mean, it's a whole range of dyes.

It's crazy. In fact, I was in South Africa once, and I was having a meal at this event, and there was this big fish. It kind of looked like salmon, but I was like, I don't know what that is. It was white. And I'm like, what is that?

And they're like, well, that's salmon. I'm like, really? They say, yeah, we don't add color to our salmon here in the fish farming. I'm like, wow, crazy. Anyway, so what's great about astaxanthin?

It's one of the most powerful antioxidants that's around. And it, it helps also reduce neuroinflammation. It scavenges free radicals, and it activates this incredibly important pathway called NRF two, which is an anti inflammatory antioxidant pathway. We all have it, but we don't activate it enough. This maintains the integrity of the blood brain barrier.

When you have low levels of NRF two and you have more oxidative stress, you get damaged to the blood brain barrier. So that means the brain is more susceptible to injury from outside influences. And also, what's so great about astaxanthin is that it suppresses NF Kappa B. Right? Remember we talked about that?

That's the pathway, that is the gene transcription factor that causes you to produce lots of inflammatory molecules called cytokines. So more sizanthin, less cytokines. All right, so let's dive in a little more. We talked about all these great nutrients. Omega three s, vitamin D, selenium, astaxanthin.

I want to dive a little bit more into omega three s. Now, in addition to lowering inflammation, which is really important, omega three s also support brain structure, the fluidity of your cell membranes in your brain. Basically, your brain cells also help nerve firing. Right. Just the transmission of nerve impulses, which are all important in the prevention of Alzheimer's.

DHA is the most abundant long chain fatty acid in the brain. DHA is that fish fat that's so important. And most of the fat in your brain is DHA. The cell membranes of your brain cells of your neurons are composed of high concentrations of DHA. So if you have low dhA, your brain ain't gonna work well.

Now, DHA helps maintain the structure and the function of your brain and your hippocampus, which is basically the memory center. It also does cool stuff. In addition, it increases something called BDNF. BDNF stands for brain derived neurotrophic factor. It's a mouthful, but essentially neurotrophic means trophic, means to grow.

Neuro means brain. So it grows brain. It's that miracle. Grow for the brain, right? You want that.

Exercise also increases that. A lot of other things do, but omega three fats do. And what we found is higher levels of red blood cell levels, in particular of DHA, lower the risk of dementia. In a big study of the Framingham offspring cohort, they found that those who had the highest levels of red blood cell DHA had a 49% lower risk of developing Alzheimer's and an estimated five additional years of life free from Alzheimer's. Not bad for a little bit of fish oil.

There was also an interaction between red cell DHA and also APoE, four carriers who were at high risk for dementia. That's kind of the dementia gene. It doesn't mean you're going to get it, but it increases your risk significantly for everyone. Standard deviation increase in red blood cell DHA, the risk of dementia went down even more. So how do you know your dhea levels?

Most of you probably know your cholesterol level, but who knows your DHA level, well, you need to know it. And again, it's why I created function health, or co founded this company to help people get access to all this data about themselves is so important. So the things that you're typically getting, like your renal function, kidney function, liver function, electrolytes, all that stuff, cholesterol is kind of not as important as some of these other things. And you can modify these things by changing your habits. And functional health is also one of the best places to check your levels of omega three s, including DHA.

You can check selenium, vitamin D, super important. You can also check your mercury level, because that can be a sign you're eating too much of the wrong fish. In addition to all this stuff, omega three s help maintain the fluidity of your brain cell membrane, so that we call the neuronal membrane. So really important to have healthy cell membranes because it's how your cells communicate with one another. And when your cell membranes aren't healthy, you're not healthy.

You need, you need healthy cell membranes for proper neurotransmitter signaling. Across the synapses, the junctions, you know, where the neurotransmitters are released to communicate from one neuron to another. It also enhances the responsiveness of our neurons to the neurotransmitter, so it makes our brain cells respond better to things like serotonin and dopamine. And that's why DHA also has been shown to help regulate serotonin levels. And as a result, mood, appetite, sleep, all the good stuff.

So what's the action item here? How can you apply the science to your everyday life? Well, the American Heart association recommends having two palm sized servings of oily fish per week, which have greater than 250 milligrams of EPA and DHA per day. Now, I love my canned sardines and canned mackerel and water or extra virgin olive oil. There's wild planet patagonia makes them vital choice.

Also has wild sardines and mackerel. Now, I bring a can with me when I travel. I don't want to get in a food emergency. I literally stick it in my bag. It tastes great, plain or I like to put it on my, what I call my fat salad, which has regular salad with olive oils, olives, nuts, tons of veggies, fatty fish.

All that gives me fiber, phytochemicals, and also the crucial fats for my brain health. The fiber also helps your gut, and a healthy gut leads to a healthy brain. Now, you can also have canned wild caught salmon or herring or anchovies. If you don't like fish, though, you're not out of luck. You can take one to 2 grams of high quality omega three fatty acids every day.

Now you want ones that are third party tested for quality and purity. And the recommendation I have is the omega three rejuvenate from big, bold health. Now, just transparency. I'm an investor. I help with big, bold health.

It was started by my mentor, Jeffrey Bland, who I think is one of the greatest minds of the 20th and 21st century in medicine. He pretty much taught me most of what I know, and he's been just religious about creating something that has high levels of the right omega three s that's pure, clean, doesn't have toxins in it. Also has high levels of these pro resolve and mediators that are like a super anti inflammatory on top of an anti inflammatory supplement. So that's what I recommend.

All right, so we covered greens, we covered fish. What is the third biggest category of things that are good for your brain? Well, grass fed, this might shock you. Grass fed, regeneratively raised meat. Right?

Things like lamb, beef, bison, venison, wild game, like deer, elk. So why is grass fed meat good for our brains? Well, grass fed meat contains higher quality protein and more bioavailable nutrients than, for example, certain plant foods that have protein. A report by the Food and Agriculture Organization, or the FAO, examined more than 500 studies and 250 policy documents, and they concluded that animal foods offer a crucial source of much needed nutrients. Animal protein contains all the essential amino acids for supporting human health, for supporting immunity, for anti inflammatory pathways, the raw materials for synthesizing our hormones, our neurotransmitters that are important for memory and cognition, and the amino acids and the bioactive factors with high digestibility that are found primarily in animal foods.

Things like carnitine, creatine, taurine, hydroxyproline, anserine. These are all nutrients that are not available in plant foods. Tyrosine, for example, is an important precursor to dopamine. Tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin, which is important for mood. Anal protein is also rich in bioavailable micronutrients that help protect against deficiencies like iron, zinc, and b twelve.

And they're also, if you have the right rigidity, raised or grass fed finished animal foods. They have higher levels of the essential fatty acids that are important for brain health, cognition and metabolism, and neurodevelopment. So it's not just fish that had the omega three s. For example, all the Native Americans who were eating bison all got their omega three s not from eating fish because they lived in the middle of America. They got it from eating bison.

They were eating wild plants that they converted into EPA and DHA. There's also something in animal foods called heme iron, which is essential for the growth and branching of neurons during fetal development. Also, zinc is found in high levels in animal foods, and it's really important for memory and for learning, for immunity. B twelve also is critical, and it's only available from animal foods. There are some plant sources that you can kind of get, like nutritional yeast and weird things, but basically, it's pretty much absent from most plant foods.

And that's why vegans need to supplement with b twelve. Now, b twelve helps because it maintains the myelin sheath and protects nerve cells. I learned, for example, in medical school that beach twelve, if it's low, will cause depression. It can also cause neuropathy, meaning damage to your nerves, because it's so critical for maintaining the nerve sheath. So I hope you can see that high quality animal protein is a super food for your brain and also many other aspects for your health that I like to talk about, like longevity, including muscle health, which is very important.

We've had some podcasts on that, we're gonna have some more. So, low levels of critical micronutrients that we see that are found in animal foods are linked to things like a lower iq, autism, depression, dementia. And it's easier to get these nutrients from meat than plants. For example, non heme iron is in the form that's found in plants, but it's bound to phytates, which is a compound that blocks the absorption of the iron. So you need about two and a half kilograms of spinach, about six pounds of spinach, to get the same amount of iron that's in 625 grams of cook beef, or 300 grams of liver.

Now, liver is probably one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet. In another study, a new study, actually a relatively new study, 2024, they looked at data from NHANEs. I've talked about that before. That's a national Health and nutrition examination survey. And this is research is done by the government on thousands and thousands of people every year.

They look at their lab work, ask some questions, examine them, and they look at 20,000 participants over ten years to look at the adequacy of their nutritional intake when increasing protein intake from plants. In other words, if you were more plant based and eating more free from plants, what happened now? They reported that with increasing plant protein, this is important with increasing plant protein. The diet was not adequate for total protein, for calcium, potassium, vitamin D, vitamin a, choline, selenium, b twelve, and zinc. Now thats a lot of nutrients and those nutrients are ones that are essentially important for your brain.

Now certain nutrients were higher in the plant higher plant based diet like copper, folate, non heme iron, magnesium, thiamine and vitamin C, which is great. So you can tell you just eat meat, youre eating plants and meat. So youre getting both right. But if youre vegan youre going to be a bit in trouble here. Now the results really suggested here that probably being a vegan is not such a great idea.

And the best diets come from mixed sources of food, from plants and animals and animal and plant protein, those are the most nutritionally adequate. So let's look at some more research. Now there was a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that looked at 500,000 people who study in the UK biobank and they reported a 20% lower risk of all cause dementia and a 30% lower risk of Alzheimer's for every 50 grams a day of unprocessed red meat intake. Not bacon, but like grass fed steak and so forth. And that was independent of their status of APoe, which is the gene that increases your Alzheimer's risk.

That's pretty amazing. Another review of 18 studies, over 160,000 people aged eleven to 96 looked at the link between meat abstention, not eating meat, and depression, anxiety and other related mental health outcomes. And they reported a higher prevalence or risk of depression, anxiety and self harm in those who avoided meat. Now, the authors concluded that the evidence does not support avoiding meat consumption for overall psychological health benefits. Right.

Really important across sexual analysis. Another study, a cohort of over 14,000 Brazilians aged 35 to 74, they found a positive association between the prevalence of depressive episodes and a meatless diet. In other words, being vegan can make you more depressed and there's a lot of scientific evidence about why that occurs and the mechanisms. Just for example, vitamin D and omega three fats alone can explain a lot of that. Now, meat non consumers experienced about two times the frequency of depressive episodes compared to meat eaters.

Now there are a lot of key brain nutrients that you need for a happy, healthy brain that are found in animal foods, so you need to eat some of those. A systematic review and there's another study, right, a systematic review and meta analysis of 33 prospective cohort studies. They report a link between total meat consumption and a 28% lower risk of cognitive impairment. So all this is not just one study. It's study after study after study.

Now, there are controversies around meat, right? Many studies link red meat to risk for all cause mortality, for cognitive decline, for Alzheimer's, for heart disease, for cancer, diabetes, et cetera. And this may be attributed to other factors. And there are observational data. So there's a whole confounding set of things called the healthy user bias.

In other words, people who, in most of these large studies, who ate meat. It was during a time when meat was seen to be not good for your health. So if you ate me, you typically were not healthy, right? You ate more food. In fact, the study show you ate 800 calories more a day.

You smoked more, you drank more. You eat fruits and vegetables, you didnt take your vitamins, you didnt exercise. So of course you had more disease, right? It may not be the meat itself. Now, there may be other factors like TMAO or saturated fat for some people, we just dont know.

Now we have to kind of be more sophisticated if you look at nutritional data. But the problem is that nutritional data is just inherently weak, and we have to do the best we can by looking at all the studies, the mechanisms and the science behind it, right? So its combining basic science data, animal data, population study data, randomized controls that are small trials, large randomized controlled trials, all of it together. You can kind of read this tea leaves and see the smoke signals and get a sense of what we should be doing. And basically the bottom line here is that we've been eating meat and animal foods for as long as we've been human.

It's basically not the meat that's bad for us, it's the quality of it. And maybe if it's grain fed or if it's conventional, and for eating ultra processed meats like hot dogs and hamburgers, and maybe we're eating it with other stuff, right? Maybe were just not paying attention to health. So were eating our burger with a can of fries and a 32 ounce coke, right. That may be the reason it increases risk.

So the reason many population studies show plant based diets may be healthier is what we call the healthy user bias. I sort of mentioned that earlier. Vegetarians tend to have overall healthier habits and dont smoke, they exercise regularly and more. Its not the vegetarian or vegan diet that protects them. Its all their other healthy habits.

In fact, the vegan diet may be hurting them. There was actually a study, I like to quote, which looked at meat eaters and vegetarians who shopped at health food stores, and they both had the risk of death reduced in half. Why? Because they were eating whatever they were eating in the context of an overall healthier diet. So what's the takeaway here?

How do you apply this to your life? Well, grass fed meats are good, and if you can get the regeneratively raised meats, that's even better. So I recommend places like farmers markets, which are around everywhere in America. Places like thrive market force of nature, which has incredible sourcing of Virginia meats from around the world, and butcher box. Try to eat.

Depending on your biology, you might not tolerate saturated fat as well. You might lean, leaner cuts of meat. Saturated fat from high quality sources is not necessarily the enemy. In fact, saturated fat is important for your brain. And those who have lower saturated fats in their diet tend to have more stroke because it's so important for the structure and function of your brain.

And it's a very nuanced topic. So it's not the saturated fat necessarily problem. It's what you're eating it with. Saturated fat, with carbohydrates and starch, bad combo. So butter and bread, bad combo.

Ice cream, bad combo. You know, french fries, bad combo. Because you're eating starch and fat at the same time. All that's really bad. But saturated fat, for example, butter on your broccoli, may not be so bad.

And of course, it's very different, right, depending on the person. Personalized medicine is where we all need to be going, and we need to understand our own biology and how our own biology reacts to what we're doing. So there's no one size fits all diet, one size fits all prescription. And you have just look at your weight, your lipid metabolism, right? And you don't want to, like, be a carnivore, right?

And forget everything else. You want to eat meat, but be smart about it. Most of your diet should be plants, and meat is a side dish, right? Four to 6oz, which still gets you plenty of protein, but veggies should be the main dish. So you can have animal protein every meal.

You can have leftover meat from dinner for breakfast. For lunch, you can try grass fed beef sticks as a snack. Or there's now maui nui. I don't have any connection to them, but they're great for venison meat sticks. You can have canned salmon or sardines, even canned chicken on a salad for lunch.

All right, so that's meat. Grass fed meat. We got greens, we got fish, we got grass fed meats. The third category of food we should think about for our brain is pasture raised eggs. So why are eggs good for your brain?

Well, the yolk has everything you need to grow and maintain a healthy brain. The eggs are often described as perfect food, or nature's perfect multivitamin. Now think of what they do, right. They have an incredible nutritional profile, because they provide all the nutrients for a brand new life, all the nutrients for growth and development. And that helps grow a new chick, and provides lots of benefits for us too, for humans, in terms of neurodevelopment, mental health and cognition.

So, so whats the mechanism here? What are the nutrients responsible for these brain boosting effects? Well, the first one is called choline. Choline is an essential nutrient that often doesnt get as much attention as it deserves for brain and mental health. Choline is a micronutrient, important for many vital functions in the human body.

Now, in the brain, its necessary for neurodevelopment, for making new brain, right, for nerve cell function, for muscle function, and for making new neurotransmitters, particularly by its conversion to something called acetylcholine. Now, acetylcholine is critical for memory, in fact, one of the drugs we use for dementia, which doesn't work well, but it's designed to increase acetylcholine. So acetylcholine is involved in memory and learning, cognition, mood, mental health. It also plays a major role in neurogenesis, making new brain cells, and synaptogenesis, which is the formation of new connections and new neural networks and pathways in the brain, which is important for learning and memory and cognition, and pretty much everything your brain does. So this concept is known as neuroplasticity, the idea that our brains are plastic and have the ability to grow and create new nerve connections throughout our whole life, into adulthood, and right up into death.

Really important to understand, your brains are not fixed, so you need to take care of your brain. We all think, oh, gonna take care of our heart, we're gonna eat better, exercise, we have to learn how to take care of our brains. Now, studies suggest that a consumption can have an actual positive effect on cognition. There was a twelve week randomized controlled trial, which was the best kind of study, in 41 middle aged and elderly adults without dementia. Now, they were randomly assigned to take a supplement containing 300 milligrams of egyl choline, or a placebo.

Then they looked at verbal memory scores, and they were higher than the placebo group at six and twelve weeks, so their memory was better. In another longitudinal study, of 2500 dementia free men, they measured the impact of choline intake on the risk for getting dementia. And the highest intake of choline, right about 430 milligrams a day was associated with a 28% lower risk of developing dementia. So how much choline is in an egg? Well, one egg is about 150 grams.

So two eggs, about 303 eggs, about 450, which is about what they found in that study. And the recommended dietary intake for choline is about 425 milligrams a day for women and about 550 milligrams a day for men. And many of us are very low in choline. But guess what also has choline? Sardines.

I know you hate me pushing sardines, but they are a superfood. Now some experts suggest that now this may be too low, might even more for optimal brain function and optimal brain health and cognition. And guess what folks, 90% of Americans are not meeting the minimum recommended amount of choline. So egg intake is associated with a lower risk of depression. A longitudinal study in chinese algorithm found that those who were compared to a non egg eating group, those who had three eggs or more a week, had a 38% lower risk of depression.

And each additional egg per week was associated with a 4% lower risk. Theres also a lot of other stuff in eggs, right? All the b vitamins, b twelve folate, b six, biotin and b six is important. Why b six is so important for neurotransmitter synthesis, just to make your happy mood chemicals like serotonin or to make dopamine or gaba, the relaxation neurotransmitter, you need vitamin b six. And it's critical for mood regulation.

It helps alleviate mood swings, irritability, anxiety. Really important. Uh, what else is in eggs? Biotin. Biotin is involved in generation of myelin.

Myelin is that sheath I was talking to you about that protects the nerves. So like the coating of the nerves that are kind of runs within this little kind of tube, let's call it like a pipe. And that's myelin. And myelin is really important for the generation of nerve impulses. And loss of myelin is what happens with multiple sclerosis.

You know, what happens there. It's pretty bad news. So biotin is super important. And biotin deficiencies are common and they can lead to neurologic symptoms and they can lead to lethargy, depression, even hallucinations, because they affect the myelin sheath integrity and the regulation of our neurotransmitters. Now, one egg contains about ten micrograms of biotin or about 33%.

So if you three eggs, you're about getting 100% what you should be getting. Now, what else is in eggs? Sphingomyelin. Now, sphingomyelin mouthful, I know medical words, whatever. It's a type of phospholipid.

It's found in cell membranes and it's especially important for nerve cells. Now, egg yolks contain a whole variety of phospholipids and sphingomyelin is one of the most prominent among them. And it's a key component, as I mentioned before, the myelin sheath that protects the nerves, right? The covering around the nerves. Now this sheath, as I mentioned, is essential for proper neuronal function because it enables the fast and efficient transmission of electrical impulses along nerve cells.

And when you have no myelin, you see what happens with Ms. People cant move their limbs and they get really uncoordinated. And it protects the nerve cells from damage due to inflammation and oxidative stress. It can also help protect against neurodegenerative disease. So single myelin is really important.

What are the controversies about eggs? Cholesterol, right? I mean, this is such old news. But anyway, a lot of this was based on observational studies which show correlation but not causation. But there are new randomized control trials.

There's one presented at the American College of Cardiology annual conference. It showed that twelve eggs a week, right, for four months, did not have any meaningful impact on cholesterol levels of older adults. There was a study in the New England Journal of a guy who ate 88 eggs a week. He was a little mentally ill and they had no impact on his cholesterol or heart disease risk. Now, a review of 30 randomized controlled trials show that egg consumption may in some people, increase cholesterol, but it increases both ldl and hdl.

And what matters more is the ratio of those. So if they both go up, it's not a big issue. Now, most studies around eggs show a reduced risk for heart disease or maybe no association at all. What are the take homes here? How do you apply the science to everyday life?

Well, buy eggs from small local farms or farmers markets. You can find out a farmers market area by going to localharvest.org or eatwild.com. and when you're buying eggs, look for the following labels on poultry and eggs. Enter grocery store co op. Right?

It should say pasture raised, maybe animal welfare approved, certified humane, organic. But pasture raised is really the best because organic could be feeding an organic corn. And it's not necessarily what you want your eggs to be eating, so pasture regions for the best. There are even some companies that create scorecards to rate different egg companies based on how they treat their heads. You can eat eggs for breakfast.

My favorite way to have them is to buy a jar. Premade, shakshuka. Pour in a cast iron pan, put three eggs in it, throw in the oven till the eggs are poached and yum. Now, you can also make an omelet or hard boiled egg as a snack to take with you on the go. Those are easy.

And the last of the five foods we're going to talk about today is blueberries. Now, you might have heard a lot about blueberries, but we're going to talk a little bit more about them. Now, why are blueberries good for our brains? And I think blueberries, and it can be really any dark, colorful berry, which is rich in phytochemicals and a compound set of compounds called proanthocyanidins, which are found in dark berries. But blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, all that's great.

They're anti inflammatory nutrients in them, and they're incredible source of polyphenols or anthocyanins, a phytochemical. They're responsible for giving blueberries their blue color. Right. And they also have flavonols, they have resveratrols, they have vitamin c, they're high in fiber. They're great for the microbiome.

They increase something called butyrate, which is an anti inflammatory postbiotic that's made by healthy bacteria, and you're feeding those. And all this does is help fight neuroinflammation. And it also suppresses the toxicity of beta amyloid. So really important blueberries basically fight brain inflammation. And as I mentioned, brain inflammation is the root of all of the issues with the brain, whether it's mood disorders, neurogenic disorders, attention disorders, autism, you name it.

So what's the mechanism? Right. How do blueberries work? What's responsible for these brain boosting effects? Well, it improves something called endothelial function and vascular health.

Right. Endothelium is the lining of your blood vessels. It's super important for your overall health, and it helps your blood flow, and it reduces inflammation. All these are great effects for your brain. There was a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that looked about 61 healthy older adults, and they gave them either 26 grams of freeze dried wild blueberry powder, which about 302 milligrams of andocyanins or placebo.

Right. With zero milligrams for twelve weeks. And then they measured the endothelial function, in other words, the health of your blood vessels. And they measured cognition, like memory, executive function. They also measured the arterial stiffness, how stiff your blood vessels are, and blood pressure, which is not good if they're stiff.

They looked at brain blood flow or cerebral blood flow. They looked at the gut microbiome and they looked at a bunch of blood biomarkers. It was a great study. They found significant improvements in endothelial function, which enhanced blood flow, better blood pressure, better cognitive performance. But there were no real changes noted in cerebral blood flow or in the microbiome after the wild blueberry powder intake.

Maybe you need more or longer, right? Of course, it was funded by the Wild Blueberry association, but still, I think it was a well done independent study. Many epidemiologic studies, population studies, also show the same thing. They link flavonoid intake from blueberries specifically to a positive impact on mood and executive function. Now, in a double blind, placebo control crossover study, this is the best kind of study, one in young adults and the other in young children.

Both cohorts were giving a flavonoid rich blueberry drink and a matched placebo. So they couldn't tell the difference. Right. The impact on the participants mood, as indicated by the positive effect score, which is a depression scale, 2 hours after the drink consumption was significantly higher in the blueberry group. So, blueberries help your mood.

In a randomized, double blind placebo control trial, older adults with cognitive impairment were given a wild blueberry powder, or placebo, for six months. And the results showed significant improvement in cognitive processing speed, which is a basic component that underlies all cognitive abilities. Right, how fast your brain works. And when they tested this, they were using electrophysiological and behavioral protocols. So they did very sophisticated measurements, and they basically found the brain worked faster on blueberries.

And it also might help with slowing cognitive decline, aging in the brain, cognitive fatigue, and may even protect against brain fog. So what are the takeaways here? How do you apply the science to everyday life? Well, eat at least a serving of blueberries every day, one cup. Now, personally, I like to buy the frozen wild blueberries because they're the most nutrient dense.

So you can have them in your smoothie in the morning. You can saw them out and just mix them in with yogurt or whatever, but they're great, and I encourage you to eat that. Now, I want to mention one more food. You're gonna get a bonus food here, which is very promising. And I think it's gonna be very important for overall health and immune health.

Now, the five superfoods I mentioned above have extensive research behind them, and they demonstrate their positive effect on brain health and their neuroprotective properties. So there's no doubt about those. But there is another ancient functional superfood that deserves a spotlight. And it's my favorite himalayan tartary buckwheat sprout powder. So it's buckwheat sprouts and it's a powder made from that.

And it's kind of pre cooked cooked. It's 100% regenerative, it's gluten free, it has zero fillers, no additives or sugars. It's got high levels of certain polyphenols like rutin and corcin, which has been linked to longevity. And it's farmed, packaged, and sprouted right here in the US. Now, what's the mechanism for these brain boosting effects?

Well, HTB, or himalayan tartary buckwheat, is rich in dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, and a whole diverse array of bioactive compounds, flavonoids, anthroquinones, phenolic acids, a lot of big words, but basically all these wonderful medicines and food that we need to be eating more of. And the research on himalayan and Tariq buckwheat shows that these compounds are neuroprotective. Theyre anti inflammatory, theyre heart healthy, and they work through the epigenetic modulation of our genes. Right. We talked about the epigenome a lot on the podcast.

Basically, its the piano player that plays the genes. Your genes are fixed like a piano keys. The epigenome is the piano player, and the epigenome modulates your genes for good or bad. And this himalayan tarot rebukwe positively impacts the epigenetic modulation of your genes, which is a good thing. Theres also other stuff in there like rutin and corset.

Rutin is a distinctive flavonoid that benefits heart health. It also enhances circulation strengths, your blood vessels. Quercetin is a powerful anti inflammatory. Its also antimicrobial, helps immunity. It supports overall longevity and overall health.

And it works on many of the longevity pathways that I talked about in my buckyung forever, and supports healthy aging through many ways and also is important for the gut microbiome, for balancing your immune system and has immuno rejuvenation properties. So how do you apply the science to everyday life? Well, you can put the himalayan tartary buckwheat sprout powder in smoothies. You can mix it in salad dressings. You can put in coffee in a blended coffee.

It's great for you and it's really delicious. I hope you enjoyed this little summary of some of the five and maybe six most important foods you you can use to support your brain health, to take care of your brain, to reduce brain inflammation, to reduce cognitive decline, and to help your mood.