044: David Perlmutter – Brain Health, Grain Brain 5 Years Later, and How Diet & Exercise Affect Your Brain

Episode #44
Brain Health, Grain Brain 5 Years Later, and How Diet & Exercise Affect Your Brain

You may recognize Dr. David Perlmutter from his wildly successful book, Grain Brain, which made the New York Times — four times I might add, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and The Globe and Mail’s best sellers list four years ago. But, as Dr. Perlmutter mentions in this podcast episode, a lot can change when […]

Guest

David Perlmutter

We’ve got to jump on these 30 and 40 year old people and tell them that the lifestyle choices you are making today are either going to pave the way for health or disability 20, 30 years down the line. Share on X

You may recognize Dr. David Perlmutter from his wildly successful book, Grain Brain, which made the New York Times — four times I might add, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and The Globe and Mail’s best sellers list four years ago.

But, as Dr. Perlmutter mentions in this podcast episode, a lot can change when it comes to science and research even just over the span of one year.

So the question is, are the foundational principles in Grain Brain still valid today?

Or has the science proved that gluten really isn’t that big of an issue and we’ve got it all wrong?

With his upcoming revision of Grain Brain about to hit store shelves, I sat down with Dr. Perlmutter to get a sneak peek into how the research has evolved since publishing his first version.

To do that, we dove into the latest research surrounding gluten, carbs, sugar — including natural ones that seem like healthier alternatives — and dietary fat to see what’s really going on here five years later.

Those individuals whose diets derived the most calories from carbohydrates had an increased risk of death by 28%, whereas those whose highest source of calories comes from fat had a 23% risk reduction in comparison. Share on X

I’ll also ask Dr. Perlmutter — who is a board certified neurologist with over 500k followers on his Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube channel combined —  whether his own opinion has changed since his first publishing of Grain Brain, why he recommends a ketogenic diet to his patients with one of these six conditions, and how diabetes, IBS, and Parkinson’s all share one interesting thing in common.

We’ll also explore the connection between gut bacteria and metabolic issues related to brain health, exercise and brain health as well as the one “drug” that can slow Alzheimer’s and Dr. Perlmutter’s message for anyone in their 30s and 40s.

Despite being under an hour, we cover a ton of ground in this podcast episode.

Here’s a complete rundown of everything Dr. Perlmutter and I talk about

  • Why it’s important to keep an open mind when it comes to nutrition
  • How even 1 year can make a huge difference in how science and research evolve over time
  • What Dr. Perlmutter and his team have learned since publishing Grain Brain
  • What the research says about a eating a diet high in grains and sugar
  • Is gluten really a problem for the body and brain?
  • What research has been confirmed since Grain Brain?
  • How ketones affect gene expression and what this does to the body
  • How Dr. Perlmutter and his team came to the Grain Brain conclusions in the first place
  • Why medical practitioners today are only taught to treat symptoms, not disease
  • What happened when he put his patients on a ketogenic diet
  • Six conditions that he found a ketogenic had great results with
  • Whether or not you can have a sensitivity to gluten without defined celiac disease
  • How your gut bacteria affects metabolic issues related to brain health
  • Why most medical practices should have an on-site dietician or nutritionist
  • Why the biggest culprit isn’t gluten and is this other deadly ingredient instead
  • So is gluten still an issue?
  • How blood sugar and insulin resistance impact brain function
  • Dr. Perlmutter’s view on natural sugars found in fruit and other sweeteners like natural cane sugar, coconut sugar, agave, honey or maple syrup
  • Why agave is just as dangerous as high fructose corn syrup
  • The deadly impact agave has on your liver and your body
  • Why people should spend time with a dietician to come up with a personalized approach instead of trying to fit into a one-size-fits-all plan
  • What about artificial sweeteners?
  • How your risk for diabetes and obesity is affected by artificial sweeteners and how this compares to drinking regular sugar-packed drinks
  • What artificial sweeteners do to your gut health
  • How the mortality rate compares on a high carb diet vs a high fat one and what happens when the high fat diet is rich in saturated fat
  • 4 things we should be paying more attention to today that we might look back 10 years from now and think it was obvious and simple then and we should have started sooner
  • How exosomes and plant RNA can affect your gut bacteria
  • How relocalization of gut bacteria is being used with regards to leaky gut syndrome and how this impacts inflammation in the body
  • The connection between diabetes, IBS, and Parkinson’s and how the proper treatment of one of them drastically reduces the other
  • Why personalized medicine is becoming more of a focus
  • How at-home genetic testing kits can help you discover how medicines react with your genes
  • Dr. Perlmutter also answers the question of whether or not he’s changed his own opinion on things since writing Grain Brain
  • What happens when you have elevated A1C levels as a non-diabetic
  • What the revised version of Grain Brain has in store
  • The connection between bloodmarkers and brain shrinkage
  • What raises inflammation?
  • The connection between abdominal fat and dementia
  • Dr. Perlmutter’s message for anyone in their 30s and 40s
  • Exercise and brain health
  • Dr. Perlmutter’s general recommendation when it comes to exercising
  • The one drug that research has shown can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s
  • Another key area that deserves more attention when it comes to brain health and reducing your risk for developing Alzheimer’s
  • How to little or too much sleep affects your dementia risks
  • How really low blood sugar levels impact dementia
  • How getting less than 6 hours of sleep a night affects your brain health
  • Why Dr. Perlmutter thinks everyone should sign up for a sleep study
  • Why you should use an at-home sleep tracking device at a minimum
  • The real impact stress has on your body
  • Why Dr. Perlmutter recommends using an at-home genetic testing kit and what he discovered after using one
  • Other things you can learn from your genome sequence
  • Why the time to fix your health is before something goes wrong
  • The impact of preventative interventions on brain health

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