Welcome to the huberman Lab podcast, where we discuss science and science based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and Ophthalmology at Stanford school of medicine.
Today. We are talking all about food and the Brain. We are
going to talk about foods that are good for your brain, in terms of focus, in terms of brain health,
generally and the longevity of your brain, your ability
to maintain cognition and clear thinking over.
I'm we are also going to talk about why and how you prefer certain foods to others. And I'm going to talk about the
three major signals that combine to drive your food choices. I'll give you a little hint of what those are one of those signals comes from your gut and is
completely subconscious. This
is not the gut microbiome per se. These are neurons in your gut that are sending signals to your brain that you are unaware
of about the nutrient. Contents of the foods that you reading.
In the second signal is how metabolically accessible a given food is meaning, how readily that
food can be converted into energy that your brain? Not your body but that
your brain can
use. And the third signal is perhaps the most interesting one.
It's the signal of belief. It's the signal of what you perceive and believe the food that you're eating to contain and what you think it can
do for you health-wise and energy-wise, and that might sound a little
Wishy
washy or vague, but we're going to
provide mechanistic data to support the fact that you can change what you eat so much so that you can drive your brain and your body to
Crave foods that are good for you or at least better for you than the foods. You might currently be eating.
This is an incredibly powerful mechanism that we all have. It's
one that I think is very underappreciated. And today. I'm going to review the data from
both animal models and fortunately more recently.
In studies that really do underscore. The fact that you can control
your desire for particular Foods. Before we dive into today's topic. I just want to briefly touch on
some key takeaways from a previous episode, which is
the episode on time restricted, feeding also called intermittent
fasting. The key elements of time, restricted feeding that will benefit your health. The most,
in terms of weight loss or maintenance
fat loss, organ.
Of quality sleep and cognition, are that the feeding window? Begin at least
one hour after waking? You could push that feeding window out to begin later. But at least one hour after waking,
and that it end at least two and
ideally, three hours before going to sleep.
Some people can end that feeding window, much further away from the beginning of sleep. Meaning, they're finishing their
last bite of food. For instance, at 6 p.m.
Em and they're not going to sleep until
midnight, but many people struggle to get quality sleep. If that feeding window
is set to early relative to when they go to sleep. So
begin the feeding window at least one hour after waking. And the feeding window at least 2 hours before going to sleep. And a key feature
based on the scientific research.
Is that the feeding window itself, fall more or less at the same period of each 24-hour day from day to day. Meaning
You are going to eat over an 8-hour period. That's your feeding
window. You wouldn't want to start that feeding window at 10:00 a.m. One day
and ended at 6 p.m. And then the next day,
started noon and ended at 8:00 p.m. In the next day. Started at 2 p.m. And ended at
10 p.m. And so forth
as much as is reasonably possible. If you want to extract the maximum benefit
from time, restricted feeding, the idea is to keep that
feeding window at more or less the same phase as it's
called of each 24.
For our day, if it slides around a little bit for social reasons, or whatever reasons doesn't seem to be a big deal,
but you don't want it
sliding around by many hours from day to
day because of the way that that feeding window
impacts other genes called clock genes. That regulate a bunch of other processes in the body. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to Consumer information about science and science.
The
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Part in an event called rethink education, that was put on by Logitech.
And there I gave a 20-minute lecture where I describe the classic and modern neuroplasticity literature in
both animal models and humans. The neuroplasticity literature is of course the literature that describes how to rewire the brain in order to learn
during that 20 minute talk. I described that literature, but I also spell out what I call the neuroplasticity super protocol which is 9 + steps of
Is that teachers can apply in the
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Sports, anything and that students of any kind in any age can use to enhance the speed and depth of learning. You can find that talk on YouTube by following the link in the caption to this episode or by simply going to YouTube and entering the Search terms
Logitech huberman, some of
the most frequent questions I
get are about food and the Brain,
everybody seems to want to know what they should eat and what they shouldn't eat.
In order to have Peak brain
function, to be able to focus and memorize things and so forth.
And in order to maintain brain
health over time because nobody wants to lose their memory or have troubles with cognition.
Fortunately. There are a lot of data now from really good quality. Peer reviewed studies, that indicate certain things that we can do, including certain foods that we should eat and perhaps, even some foods that we should avoid in order to enhance our
brain function. And of course, when I say brain,
What I really mean is nervous system function because
how we are able to move and remember things Etc. Doesn't just depend on the neurons. The nerve cells that are in our head. It also
depends on our spinal cord and the neurons that connect all the organs of our body. So in general, there are two categories of things that are going to improve brain, health from the perspective of nutrition. The first category is the general category
of things that we eat and avoid and things that we do and avoid doing that.
Modulate brain
health and function. What do I mean by modulate? Well, getting quality sleep on a regular basis, making sure that you're socially connected, making sure that you're not
depressed. All these things are vitally important to our overall health and of course, they will impact brain function, but they do it more or less indirectly. Okay. There are a few things that happen in
sleep which directly benefit brain function and repair etcetera. But
today I really want to concentrate not on the things that modulate our
Overall health. But rather the things that
mediate brain health directly and in particular
how certain foods enhance brain function, and we are going to talk about how we can change our relationship to food, literally, how we can start to prefer, certain foods that
are better for us than others.
So, just briefly, I want to touch on the module ettore components
because they are vital.
First of all, getting quality
sleep on a regular basis, and ample sleep on a regular basis.
Is the foundation of all mental health and physical health. There's no question about that. We've have done several episodes, including
the Mastery your sleep episode, which is episode 2 of the human
Lab podcast, and we've done a lot of other episodes that are
all about sleep and how to get better at sleeping. So I just want to make
crystal clear that unless you're sleeping. Well, on a regular basis,
your brain will suffer. You won't be able to
focus very well, learn very well and indeed there are data linking poor.
Quality sleep to Dementia or at least
exacerbating pre-existing dementias and things of that sort. So get your sleep in order.
The other of course is cardiovascular
health and exercise, the
general prescription that's out there in the literature and I think is well supported is to get somewhere between a hundred and
fifty and a hundred eighty minutes of cardiovascular exercise per week. If you choose to
also use resistance exercise, that's great, but the hundred and fifty to a hundred, eighty minutes minimum per week of cardiovascular exercise.
Sighs is crucial for heart health and heart health directly relates to brain health because the brain consumes a lot of oxygen glucose and other factors that are delivered via the blood. So if your arteries are clogged up and you've got poor vascular supply to the brain in any region of the brain, your brain will suffer. So get cardiovascular health in order
now with those two module, ettore elements,
set forth so that we're all aware that they're there and they are vitally
important. Now,
I'd like to turn to the elements that have been shown to be vitally important for directly controlling for
mediating neuron function neurons, of course are nerve cells in the brain and there are other cell
types to, of course that will
impact brain function, the most prominent of which are the so-called glia glia means glue,
but
even though for a long time, people thought that these cells were just kind of holding things together. Passively the glia
play, a very active
role in the
metabolism neurons in brain function and probably
So, in cognition, in thinking and so forth.
So what are the things that
directly impact brain health?
And what are the foods that we can eat that will support brain health? Generally, when we think about neuron function and brain function, we default
to a discussion about fuel. The fact that neurons use glucose, which is blood sugar in order, and that they require a lot of
it in some cases. They'll use
ketones which we will talk about a little bit later. Especially in people that are following a low carbohydrate or ketogenic diet.
It. But
before we can even consider the fuels that
neurons use in order to
function, we have to talk about the elements that actually
allow those neurons to be there and to stay healthy. What actually makes up those neurons.
And that brings us to what I would argue is the most important food
element for brain function and that is fat and that may come as a
surprise. But unless one considers the water
content of the brain, which is very high,
a lot of our brain and
A
lot of the Integrity of the nerve cells. The so called neurons in our brain and the other types of cells comes from fat and that's because nerve cells and other cells in the brain have a app
external
layer. Its what's sometimes
called a double layered membrane? It's essentially two Thin layers that serve as a boundary between those cells. And
that boundary is very important because how things pass across that boundary actually regulates the electrical activity of neurons, which is the way that neurons fire and
Kate and keep you thinking and acting and doing all the good things that those neurons
allow us to do. And those membranes are made up of fats, but they're not made up of the fats that are around our belly around the other organs of our
body. They're not made up of storage fat. They are made up of structural fat and maintaining the so-called Integrity of that, structural fat. Meaning the health of those neurons is going to come in large part from the foods that we eat.
Now, this needs to be underscored. What I'm saying, is that the foods that we eat.
He'd actually provide the structural basis, the building blocks of the very neurons that allow us to think, over time. And as I mentioned earlier, the fat that makes up those neurons and other nerve cells is different than the other types of fat in the body. So what type of fat is it? And what should we eat? In order to support that fat and those neurons? And the answer is the so-called essential fatty acids and phospholipids.
Now, those are more or less the same thing, but I just want
to make a very large literature, very
All clear,
essential fatty acids can include the so-called
EPA, variety or DHA, variety you hear about Omega-3s and omega-6s. Most people are getting enough Omega sixes from their diet, not everybody, but most people are getting enough Omega
sixes. However, most people are not getting enough
Omega-3s in their diet to support healthy brain function in the short and long term. I've talked before about the
benefits of elevating, the
levels of Omega-3s in one's diet, for sake of offsetting.
Depression and for enhancing mood and indeed. There's a
wealth of literature. Now pointing
to the fact, that ingesting, at least one or two, or even three grams per
day of EPA form of essential fatty acid,
can have effects positive. Effects on mood and well-being that are at least on par with some of the major antidepressant treatments out there, but without similar side effects to those antidepressant treatments
and
that for people that are already taking antidepressants
that supplementing with,
One to two to
three grams of EPA. Essential fatty acids can actually allow a lower dose of antidepressant treatment to be used and still be effective.
So that's depression. But just, in terms of maintaining normal cognitive
function in people that aren't oppressed, the epa's and Omega-3s seem to play a very important role. Of course, you can supplement epa's through various fish oils, and it could be liquid fish oil or
capsule fish oil. Some people,
if they're not interested in eating fish for whatever.
And they're allergic or for ethical
reasons. They can take krill oil and if they don't want to
use krill oil, they can use
algae and other forms of EPA.
However, I think it's clear that one can
get a lot of EPA from the proper
foods and it turns out that those foods not surprisingly, don't just contain
high levels of EPA, but they also contain other things that are beneficial for brain health.
So what are foods that are high in
Omega-3s that we should all probably be consuming at least on a daily basis.
The number one
is fish. So things like mackerel and salmon and Herring and oysters and sardines and Anchovies. And perhaps the heavyweight champion of epa's per unit volume is caviar. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm
not eating a lot of fish. I'm not eating a lot of caviar. I
don't think I can't. Remember the last time I had a caviar unless it was sprinkled on a little bit of sushi.
I'm not a big fish eater. Personally, I will from time to time but
One reason why one might want to supplement with
epa's from another source, but
also epa's are found in chia seeds and walnuts in soybeans and other plant based foods. You can look
these up online and you'll immediately see that there are a lot of sources of
epa's, and many of the foods that I listed off, might be appetizing to you. Some of them might be unappetizing to you or some of them, you might be
sort of neutral about.
But it's very clear that eating foods
that are rich in Omega-3s and, or supplementing with
Omega 3s to get above that 1.5 grams and ideally up to two or even three grams per day of EPA can be very beneficial for cognitive function in the short and long term.
Later in the episode. I'm going to
talk about how to actually change your relationship to particular food. So that foods that you don't particularly, like, you can actually start to like more and that might be important. For those of you that are thinking mackerel sardines. I mean, this is by making this face because frankly, those are not foods that I
naturally like,
But again, I want to emphasize that you don't have to
consume fish and animal products in order to get sufficient. Epa's, you can get them from Plants. But
I do believe based on the quality
peer reviewed research that everybody should be striving to get a minimum threshold of at least a gram and a half of epa's per day. One way or the other.
The great thing about Omega-3s is that they are also thought
to be beneficial for things like cardiovascular health.
And although there's some controversy there as to whether or not
to grams or 3 grams or 6 grams is ideal for
Cardiovascular health, I think the bulk of evidence points to the fact that
getting sufficient Omega-3s in the diet is going to
support cardiovascular health. Certainly not. The only thing people should be doing to support their cardiovascular health aerobic, exercise. And so forth, being important
also, but it does
seem to support cardiovascular
health and in doing so supporting brain health. However, what I'm
emphasizing
is ingestion of Omega-3s to support the very cells within the
brain that make up our cognition that allow for
Ignition and for movement and memory and all the other marvelous things that the brain does. The other compound that has been shown to be directly supportive of neuronal function is phosphatidyl
serine, which is abundant in meats
and in fish. So here we are again. Back to fish being an important source of brain supporting food
phosphatidylserine. Is something that nowadays people are
supplementing. It's a lipid like
compound that at least in three Studies have been shown to
Improve cognition. These weren't huge effects, but they were statistically significant effects.
And as well, in more than
three, at least, at least five studies to reduce cognitive decline.
And this is interesting in every case. It was 300 milligrams. Supplemented phosphatidyl serine, but one again, doesn't need to supplement. Phosphatidyl serine. Phosphatidyl serine. Can
be derived, as I mentioned
from meats and fish, and to some extent from
cabbage of all things. I don't know how much cabbage people are ingesting, but later.
We talk about gut health and the relationship between gut health and brain health. I'll mention fermented foods. And of course, one of the most readily available fermented foods out there that at least many people find appetizing is sauerkraut, which is of course made from cabbage. Its fermented cabbage. So
for those of you that do consume Meat and Fish provided, you're getting enough fish. You're probably getting enough,
phosphatidyl serine. For those of you that are interested in supplementing, phosphatidyl serine to get these effects that were reported in these various manuscripts.
Which, by the way, I've read and look solid. I mean, I don't think we've seen the landmark
study showing that supplementing with phosphatidylserine at 300 milligrams per day is going to create a huge offsetting of massive cognitive decline, or a massive increase in brain
function. They seem to be
modest effects, but the effects do appear to be real. And I, for those of you that are interested in supplementing the phosphatidyl serine, it's a relatively inexpensive supplement.
That again, is lipid like. So it's mimicking. Some of
the same things that you would get from food.
Depart in higher concentration. Now, after EPA fatty acids and phosphatidyl serine. I would say,
third on the list of things that come from
food that can readily support, brain function, would be choline, and that's because of the relationship to choline in the biosynthesis pathway for acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is a neuromodulator, not a neurotransmitter, but a neuromodulator in the brain. A neuromodulator is a chemical that modulates.
The function of many brain circuits and also circuits within the body. I'll mention what those are in a
moment but acetylcholine as a neuromodulator tends to enhance the activity, the electrical
activity and chemical activity of certain sets of neurons
and downplay the activity of other neurons. So it's sort of a
conductor of sorts leading to enhanced function and activity in certain brain areas and circuits and not in
others. For instance, the brain areas that are
involved in
Focus and alertness. We have multiple clusters of neurons. In our brain that make acetyl choline two of the most prominent and well-known so-called nucleus basalis, which is a cluster of neurons deep in the basal forebrain that highlight particular areas of our brain highlight. Meaning when acetylcholine is released from those neurons at their nerve, endings, and particular areas of the brain, those particular areas of the brain can undergo enhanced levels of activity relative to surrounding area. So it's kind of a electrical highlighter pen if you will by analogy.
That is the basis of much of what we call
focus our or our ability to concentrate on a particular batch of information that's coming in, through our eyes, our ears or nose, or even things that were just thinking in our
head. So having ample choline
for production of acetylcholine allows for Focus through of course, many intervening steps.
There are also regions of the brain in the so-called back of the brain. The hindbrain that release
acetylcholine that are involved in general states of
alertness and not
Rising Lee. Then many of the treatments for Alzheimer's disease,
which is an inbuilt inability or challenges. With remembering things in, focusing are drugs that impact, the acetylcholine pathway and are aimed at enhancing the amount of acetylcholine that's available to neurons and it can do that through a number of different mechanisms. You can do that by enhancing the amount of acetylcholine that's
created. Or you can
do that by taking a drug that can reduce the
amount of enzyme that gobbles up the
acetylcholine and
In doing so leading to more net
acetylcholine, but outside of the scenario where
somebody has cognitive decline due to alzheimer's, all of us, are able to focus to some degree or not or are able to be alert to some degree or not based on the amount of acetylcholine that we have. Now, other processes, of course are
involved. But what this means is that making sure that we have enough of the substrates to
create a seagull calling is vital if we want to be able to focus, and that's why dietary choline is. So
Idol in the primary source for dietary, choline would be eggs. And in particular, egg yolks, and this again has a very interesting relationship to our Evolution as
well.
We're always referred to as hunter-gatherers. But when one, hears Hunters, we often think about meat and animal sources and indeed. As a species, we hunted many many other species of animals to consume them and still do.
But we also
fished. We talked about that earlier and consumed, a lot
of fish and we consumed a lot
of eggs eggs.
Eggs are an incredibly rich source of
nutrients for the brain and that's because the egg actually, if you think about it, contains all the nutrients that are required in order for an organism to grow, you know, a bird that's in a, in an eggshell. It's got the yolk there, and it's using that Oak yoke for a reason. It's using that yolk as a source of fuel. It's using that yolk as a source of literally building blocks in order to create its nervous system. Many years ago. I worked on chick embryo.
Soon, as these amazing experiments, you could actually take an egg and you could create a little window in the top
and these were fertilized
eggs and you'd see over time you could peer in there, literally look in with a microscope or even with the naked eye. And you would see this little chick embryo sitting on top of that, yoke
growing, and growing, and growing, and growing in the yolk. Getting smaller, and smaller is really incredible. They're using that as a source for all the building blocks of the body, but in particular, the nervous system. So
eggs are a rich source of choline. Some people will supplement
And with choline, however, food sources seem to be the best
source of choline. And as with the epa's and the Omega-3s, there are plenty of foods that are non animal-based, that contain choline. So if you're somebody who doesn't eat eggs or doesn't want to eat eggs, things like potatoes, nuts and seeds, and Grains and fruit, they don't have as much choline as eggs, but they do contain choline. So you can look up the values of choline that are present in those various foods and make sure that you're reaching the threshold amount.
Colleen for you, in general, most people should probably strive to get somewhere between 500 milligrams and a gram of choline per day. So a thousand milligrams
and some people rely on
supplementation in order to hit those levels because they're not eating a lot of egg yolks or they're not eating a lot of other Foods, certain fish contain choline for instance, and the other Foods I listed off a few minutes ago, from plant-based sources.
So some people will supplement with fifty
to a hundred milligrams or whatever amount is necessary to.
To get them up to that one, gram or even a two-gram dose per day.
So we have three things that we know can
support nerve cells.
EPA, in particular, omega-3 fatty acids, phosphatidyl serine. And choline those three things. I would
list off as the top three things for enhancing neuron function and the Integrity of neurons in the short and long term.
And this is again, a setting aside, the
vitally important factors of hydration and electrolytes. I've said,
Before another podcast, but if you're not ingesting
enough water and you're
not getting enough, sodium, and magnesium and
potassium, then
obviously your neurons can't run because a lot of the brain is, is water. You need to maintain proper hydration and sodium, potassium, and magnesium are important. In order for nerve cells, to function fact, they are actually the components, the ions that pass across those lipid membranes. Those, those little fatty membranes that we're talking about earlier that allow the neurons to generate electrical activity and communicate with one another.
Either.
So, definitely want to hydrate enough will we will do an
entire other episode all about hydration and electrolytes, but
Omega-3s, the epa's, phosphatidyl serine. And choline it's obvious are going to improve brain
function, how much they will improve brain function. Probably depends on how well your brain was working previously. In fact, many of the studies that have looked at the effectiveness of these compounds have looked in people that are suffering from mild or even severe cognitive
decline. And while the outcomes of those studies, very given the interest in maintaining brain function, given the
fact that we don't make new neurons throughout our entire life and given that
Everybody has to eat. These are quality
healthy foods that we should all be ingesting anyways,
and it's clear that they
can support brain function to some degree or another many people ask what I do in light of this information. And while I can only talk about what works for
me, I choose to ingest fish oil in mainly in liquid form
because that turns out to be the easiest way and the most economically affordable way to do it for most people. So there are various forms of
Of liquid fish oil out there. Some of them include some lemon flavoring so it doesn't taste like fish oil because frankly fish oil to me is sort of noxious tasting and I'll take a tablespoon of that or two per day. If I'm traveling, I'll use the capsule form in order to hit that threshold of, for
me about to sometimes even three
grams per day of EPA. So not just two or three grams per day of fish oil, but 2 or 3 grams per day of EPA. Now, if I'm
eating
fish, which, as I mentioned earlier is not
Often then I might reduce the amount of fish oil that I take but that's my major source of fish oil.
Currently. I do not supplement with phosphatidyl
serine. A number of people that I know and trust and indeed several colleagues of mine. Do
take, phosphatidyl serine. I don't have any good explanation for why I don't take it
yet, but I have not tried supplementing with it yet. Maybe if some of you have you can place your experience in the comment section that would be of interest
and then in terms of choline, in order to get
choline in my diet.
But I do pay attention to the various foods that contain choline and I try and get those Foods on a semi-regular basis.
I do supplement with something called Alpha GPC
which is essentially in
the acetylcholine pathway or biosynthesis pathway. I don't take
it very often but I will take 300 milligrams of alpha GPC from time to time from time to time. I mean anywhere from two to three times per week. I'll generally do it early in the day because it for me can have a little bit of a
stimulant effect. Although it's
not nearly
As stimulating, say, as a double espresso or Triple
Espresso, but that's
one way in which I enhance my choline function and some people choose to get it from supplementation because it's straightforward. There are a lot of supplements out there that contain Alpha GPC. Some people are taking dosages as high as 900 milligrams per day. That sounds very high to me that the studies of offsetting cognitive decline. Using Alpha, GPC did use, quite High dosages of 600 to 900 or even 1200 milligrams per day.
So,
It has been used at
those much higher concentrations. But because fortunately, at least, not yet or not to my awareness. I'm not suffering from any cognitive decline. I will supplement with 300 milligrams every now and again,
next on my list of compounds that have been shown in peer-reviewed research to improve neuronal and brain function is creatine,
creatine can be derived from meat sources. It can also be supplemented.
Some of you are probably familiar
with creatine or heard about creatine from the context of the health
and fitness world where creatine is used to
bring more water into muscles,
which can enhance the strength of those muscles as well as bring water into other
tissues. So it doesn't just draw more water into muscle, it can more water into the body. Generally.
Creatine has also been shown to have
an important role in brain function. And once again, this is something that came up during the discussion about depression, a few episodes back.
Creatine can actually be used as a fuel
source in the brain and
there's some evidence that it can enhance the function of certain frontal cortical circuits that feed
down onto a rather connect two areas of the brain that are involved in mood regulation and motivation. And that's where creatine plays a role in depression.
Or rather where creatine supplementation seems to be able to assist in some forms of mild depression. That's an emerging literature. It's still not well established. However,
there is now ample evidence that creatine
supplementation can enhance brain function
in certain contexts. And if you're interested in learning more about what those contexts are, there's an excellent review that just came out. The first author isn't Rush L.
Rosc HL. We will provide a link to the study rather this
View, excuse me, in the caption. This was
published just very recently in 2021. And one thing to make clear, is that creatine supplementation has been shown to be, especially useful for people that are not consuming any
meat or other sources of foods that are rich in creatine.
What is the threshold level of
creatine to supplement in order to get the cognitive benefit appears to be at least 5 grams per day. Now, the
most typical form of creatine is so called creatine monohydrate. There are other forms of
Tina's. Well, some of which are thought to
not draw as much water into non muscle tissues. And for some people that is attractive to them. They don't want water sitting below their skin Etc. I should
emphasize that the response is to create teen in that sense. Can differ some people. Get a little bit of
water, retention some people experience more. There's some evidence that creatine can impact some of the hormonal
Pathways that it might
enhance levels of. So called dihydrotestosterone DHT and therefore because DHT is involved in hair loss. There are these theories that create
Teen can cause hair loss and indeed for people that are very
DHT sensitive. It might, you know, there is going to be a lot of variation person-to-person terms of how much creatine impacts DHT and how many DHD receptors they have on their scalp and therefore, whether or not they experienced hair loss. I'm just giving you all this information so that you're aware of the
various things that creatine can do. But nonetheless, I think it's interesting that creatine supplementation of
5 grams per day. That's creatine monohydrate
has been shown to improve cognition and people that aren't getting
Creatine from animal sources. And there, some evidence detailed within the review
that I just described
that creatine supplementation. Can also enhance cognition in
people that are also eating animal products. So
I personally take
creatine 5 grams per day and have for a very
long time. I can't say that I've noticed a
tremendous benefit because I've actually never really come off it and so I've never done the control experiment. I take it more as kind of a baseline insurance policy for me.
I'm probably losing. I'm certainly losing some of my hair whether or not that's due to creatine or not. I've never done the analysis, but what I can say is that I
generally consume these things like epa's creatine.
Alpha GPC to set a General
context of
support for my neurons for my brain. And of course, I do also pay attention to the foods that contain these various compounds. So I
don't actively eat
additional meat, just to obtain
creatine. I
eat a fairly limited amount of meat. I don't restrict it, but I did. And I do eat meat, but I don't actively seek out creatine in my diet. Rather. I use supplementation in order to hit that five grams per day threshold. Next on the list of foods that are
Show for brain. Health is
one that you've probably seen pictures of online because there seems to be a practice of putting pictures of blueberries and other
dark berries, next to any title that says foods that benefit your brain. There are a lot of foods out there that have been purported to improve brain function.
The interesting thing about blueberries, and other berries, blackberries
dark currents, any of these
thin-skinned berries that are purplish and color.
Is that they contain what are called? Anthocyanins anthocyanins actually have some really nice data to
support the fact that they improve brain function now whether or
not it is
Direct effects on neurons or whether or not it is by lowering inflammation or some other module. Ettore effect isn't quite
clear. But by now, there's enough data to support the fact that eating a cup or two of blueberries,
pretty often everyday, or maybe you have blackberries or maybe
Black currants that these
anthocyanins are good for us that they are enhancing our overall well-being at a number of different levels. And just to give you a couple examples of where they're actually peer-reviewed studies to support those statements,
the anthocyanins
of which blueberries and other dark berries are
rich in, have been shown to reduce. The amount of DNA damage has been shown to reduce significantly, although albiet slightly scuse me.
Cognitive decline and that particular study was supplementation of a blueberry
extract. I'll talk about the difference between extract and actual
blueberries in a moment, but supplementation of blue berry extract in offsetting cognitive decline in elderly people.
So, you know, what constitutes elderly is always a little bit of a
debate and a discussion. But in this case, what they, what they did is they supplemented with somewhere between
428. I don't
I selected 428 and
598 milligrams of anthocyanins daily for 12 weeks, was associated with improvements on verbal learning and memory. And they had some other
beneficial changes that were within the bodily, organs and blood glucose regulation and so forth, positive changes,
but that's one study. In this case, elderly meant, 65 or older, that study, and a number of studies like it, looking at things like mildly enhanced memory, reduced insulin levels.
Al's reduced
oxidation of LDL.
These sorts of things have basically created a situation where any time you Google or look up foods, that enhance brain function. You're going
to see a picture of a blueberry or some other Barry. Because of these anthocyanins.
I personally don't supplement anthocyanins. I do like blueberries. I eat blueberries when they're in season. I
love them. I'm what you would call a drive-by, blueberry eater like their blueberries in a in a bowl.
On a table. And I'm walking by, I just have to scoop them up like some sort of bear or other animal and popped in my mouth. So blueberries. Don't last
long around me. One of the
issues with berries like, blueberries and blackberries and so forth. Is that quality sources of them? Can be pretty expensive. And then, of course, when they're not in season, they're hard to get. And so that's why some people will supplement with them. So,
that range of about,
400 to about 600 milligrams per
day, seems to be the minimum
threshold for getting a cognitive effect in
these.
Elderly
patients, in that case. They were
patients a good review about the anthocyanins potentially contributing to offsetting cognitive decline
in things like Alzheimer's and also enhancing brain
function in people. That don't have,
Alzheimer's is a review by offices. All AF a z, Al that was published in 2019. We will also provide a link to that study in the caption.
When one looks across the total batch of studies that are out there on this. It appears that if one is going to supplement with blueberry
extract to get the anthocyanin effect on
cognition.
Dosages of somewhere between five and a half or about 11 grams seem optimal with the
higher-end closer to 10 or 11 grams being more beneficial.
The
blueberry eaters out there like me who prefer to get their anthocyanins from the
actual berries. It appears that somewhere between 60 to 120 grams
of fresh blueberries. Each day is the way that you can get sufficient, anthocyanins to lie, shift your system or bias your brain towards these enhanced cognitive.
X. So, we've got EPA fatty acids. We've got,
phosphatidyl serine. We've got
choline, we've got creatine, and we have the anthocyanins, and the last item that I'd like to place in this list
of food, derived things that can enhance brain
function is glutamine, glutamine is a very interesting amino acid. I've talked about glutamine on here before. There's some evidence, although somewhat scant, there's some evidence that glutamine can
Handsome you in system function. So people will supplement with glutamine or people can get glutamine from Foods foods that contain a lot of glutamine are things
like cottage cheese. There are also other sources of glutamine,
glutamine is rich, in protein, rich
foods, things like beef, chicken, fish, dairy products eggs, but also for you non animal
food, consuming people out there, vegetables, including beans cabbage, once again, spinach parsley, things of that sort. So those foods contain gluten,
I mean for people that supplement with glutamine generally, they will take anywhere from a gram
as much as 10 grams per day. Why would they want to do that?
Well, hmm. There's also some
evidence starting to emerge that glutamine can help offset sugar cravings. And I've talked about this on the podcast before we're going to
talk more about the basis for this a little bit later. But in brief, we all have neurons in our gut. That sense, the amino acid content, the fat content, and the sugar content of the foods
that we
I eat and signal in a
subconscious way to our brain. Whether or not the foods that were, we are eating contain certain levels of
certain amino acids. And so we actually
have glutamine sensing neurons
in our gut that actually have their little processes their little axons and dendrites as we call them in the mucosal lining of the gut. They're not just sensing glutamine, but when they do sends glutamine, they respond and they send signals to the brain that are signals of satiation of satisfaction
and in doing so,
An offset some of the sugar Cravings that many
people suffer from. Now
here we're talking about glutamine
for sake of enhancing cognitive
function. And this is interesting because it's been shown that glutamine supplementation can offset some of the negative effects on cognition caused by altitude and
oxygen, deprivation of other sorts. Okay? Well that's kind of a strange situation, the unique situation. If you're, you know, going up to altitude, should you supplement with glutamine in order to be able to think?
More
clearly. Well, it appears that there's good rationale for doing that. But the reason I bring this up assuming that most people including me are
not going up to high altitudes. Very
often, is that it's been well established. That apnea failure to breathe properly during sleep, can contribute to
age-related and even non age-related cognitive decline.
There are a lot of reasons for apneas
ranging from obesity to obstruction of the airway.
For other reasons,
there are a tremendous number of underlying causes of apnea and it's something to be taken. Seriously. I mean heart attacks, all sorts of metabolic issues are caused by apnea. Apnea is a serious issue that disrupts the depth of sleep and it's a serious health issue in
general. In any event. Apnea is associated
with cognitive decline in cognitive dysfunction, even in young people,
and it does appear. That glutamine
supplementation can offset some of the cognitive.
Native deficits that are associated with reduced oxygenation of the brain. If you'd like to learn more about how apnea can negatively impact cognition.
There's an excellent paper that was published on this in 2018. The first author is Sharma, sh
a RMA. It should be easy to
find. The title of the paper is obstructive sleep, apnea severity. Effects. Amyloid burden in cognitively normal. Elderly. This was a longitudinal study and Lloyd burden is a correlate of
Alzheimer's and other forms of
Of neurodegeneration and cognitive decline associated with memory
deficits. So obstructive sleep. Apnea apnea, excuse me, is a very serious issue for which glutamine appears to be able to offset
some of the negative symptomatology.
So, how is it that glutamine either from food? Or for or through, supplementation can offset some of
these so-called hypoxic effects caused by Sleep, Apnea, hypoxia, being a lack of oxygen for the
brain that relate to cognitive decline it appears.
To have this positive impact
by way of reducing inflammation.
So and if you want to look
more deeply into the various
biological Pathways and the supplementation regimes for this, the paper that I think is really spectacular is a paper. Last author is quite arrest, ma
quar esm a, that's
quar esm a, it's a review. The possible importance of glutamine, supplementation to mood and cognition in
hypoxia.
From
high altitude. And even though paper is about high altitude induced hypoxia. It does seem to have direct relevance
to the sorts of apnea that are related to Alzheimer's and other forms of cognitive decline. Now, I've been taking glutamine as a supplement gosh, since I was in college mostly because I felt either by Superstition or by reality that it protected me from various flus and colds, and things of that sort because of the purported, immune enhancing effects.
Again, those immune enhancing effects, have some data, to support them. Not a ton. However, I
got into the habit of taking glutamine. And now that I've learned the glutamine seems to also have some cognitive enhancing effects. Possibly. It's a supplement that I continue to take. I take very small amounts of it, but I do take it on a regular basis.
So that more or less completes the list of things that at least, by my read of the literature are things that are supported by at least three. And in some
cases, as many as hundred.
Birds of studies in various populations that have been explored in Mouse studies often. But also in a number of human studies,
I want to emphasize again that all of the things I listed out whether or
not it's epa's, whether or not, it's phosphatidyl serine, whether or not it's choline whether or not it's
the various compounds that are in berries, Etc. All of those can be
extracted from food. There
is not any
law that says that you have to get
them from supplementation, supplementation can help you get to the very high levels of those.
Things, if you want to work on the higher
end, if that's right for you, obviously, check with your doctor before taking anything or removing anything from your diet or supplement regime, but
in general, you can get these things from Foods. It's just so happens that for some of these
compounds, the
foods that they're contained in like fish are not foods that I particularly enjoy. And so I rely on em, excuse
me. I rely on supplements in order to get sufficient
levels for me. But again, you can get these levels from food and
Reason I made this list. The reason that I emphasize these things in
this particular order is that
they
support the structure of neurons. They support the structure of the other cells of the brain that make up our cognition and that are important for our focus and our ability to remember things and so forth and they are less. So, in the category of so-called module ettore effects, they will also have modulatory effects on sleep on inflammation or
Reducing inflammation throughout the body, on cardiovascular function, all of which I believe are positive effects. At least, what the literature tells us is that none of these compounds are harming, other systems of the body. Provided, they are taken at reasonable levels, but
everything in this list is directed towards answering the question.
What can I eat? What can I ingest by way of food and or
food supplement that can
support brain function in the short term and in the long term, so I hope you find
That list beneficial for you. If not for use at least for consideration. So now having talked
about some of the foods
and micronutrients that are beneficial to our immediate and long-term brain health. I'd like
to shift gears somewhat and talk about why it
is that we like the foods that we like, we've all heard before that. We are hard-wired to pursue sugar and to, like, fatty foods and that calorie rich foods, are attractive to us for all sorts of reasons, you know, surviving famines and things of that sort.
And while that is true, the actual mechanisms that
underlie food seeking and food
preference are far more
interesting than that. They're basically three channels in our body and nervous system by which we decide what foods to pursue, how
much to eat and whether or not, we
will find a particular
food attractive whether or not we want to consume more of it
whether or not we want to avoid it or whether or not it's just sort of. So, so what I refer to as the yum
Yuck or meta-analysis. And indeed. That's what our nervous system is doing with
respect to food. It's trying to figure out whether or not Yum. I want more of
this yuck. I want to avoid this or man. It's so so now while that may seem like a overly simplified version of food seeking and food preference. It's actually not that far from the truth. It actually
correctly captures, much of the biology of food preference.
So let's talk about what these three channels for food. Preference are the first one is an obvious one. It's taste on the mouth. It is the Sensation that we have of the foods that we eat while we're chewing them. And those Sensations, which are literally just somatosensory touch, Sensations, you know, the the palatability of food as it relates to the consistency of food, that's important. And as you've all heard, before we have sensors on our tongue and elsewhere in our mouth.
That detect the various chemicals contained within food and lead to the senses of taste
which we call Bittersweet Umami, salty and sour. Now. Most of us are familiar with the sense of bitterness, that comes from something like a raw, radish Suite, which comes obviously from sugars of different kinds Fork, toast glucose,
Etc. Salty, salty and
sour think lemon or lemon juice. For
instance, and then I mentioned Umami, the
Umami receptor is a receptor that responds to the Savory
Taste of things. So that's what you might find in a really wonderfully Rich, tomato sauce. For those of you that eat meat and like meet a really well cooked, not necessarily well done, but
properly cooked. I should say, steak, if that's your thing and mommy is present in both plant and animal foods and gives us that sensation of
savoriness. It almost has a kind of little bit of a
Briny taste to it or braised taste to it and indeed,
braising of meat and braising. A vegetables
is done specifically to
activate that Umami receptor.
So we have those five basic tastes. Those are chemical sensors on the tongue that what we call transduce those chemicals. Those chemicals literally in food, bind to those receptors and it is transduced. Meaning The Binding of those chemicals
to The receptors is converted into an electrical.
I'll signal that
travels in from the tongue along, What's called the gustatory nerve the gustatory nerve, then synapses meaning
meaning, it makes Connections in our brain stem and the so-called
nucleus of the solitary tract. There are other nuclei back, their
nuclei are just Aggregates of neurons,
and then it sends information up to the so-called insular cortex to the insula. I want to highlight the insula this episode because we are going to return to the insula again and again in this episode and later the insular.
Cortex is a incredible structure that we all have
that mainly is concerned with so-called interoception or our perception of what's going
on inside our body. So it could be the amount of pressure in our gut because of how much food we've eaten. It could
be
the acidity of our gut, if we're having a little bit of indigestion, for instance. It can also
be the case that neurons within the insula are paying attention
to how stressed you are or how alert you are or how tired you are. So
it's really
An inward focusing structure and focuses on how we feel internally
and not surprisingly, The Taste system sends
information up to the insular cortex to give
us a sense. Literally of what we've ingested whether or not
what we're tasting taste good or not. We will return to insular cortex in a few
moments. A very important thing to
understand is that the neurons in the areas of the cortex, your cortex, in mind that respond to particular tastes
are
Providing an internal representation of an external
sense. What do I mean by that? I don't want to be at all, abstract. We take these Foods. We break them down in our mouth, by chewing them or sucking,
on them. Whatever it is. That food happens to be those chemicals bind to those receptors and electrical signals are sent into the brain, but they are just electrical signals just like notes. Being played on the keys of a piano. There's no unique signature for salty or
sweet.
It is the
relative activation of one set of neurons
that was activated by sweet or another set of neurons. That was activated by who Mommy. It's
that relative activation traveling into the brain. In essentially the same form, the same electrical signals. This is
really incredible. Right? Electrical
signals are sent to the brain and you say aha
that's sweet and I want more of it or that's bitter. I want less of it or that's mommy flavored and I really really like that really like Savory Foods as I happen to
That should immediately strike you as incredible because it means that your representation of what you want, more
of her less of is electrical in nature. And to really
Tamp, this issue down studies that were done by Charles Zucker Zu K.
ER, is a absolutely phenomenal, neuroscientist at Columbia University in New York.
Studies done by their sucker lab. Have shown that first of all, they could identify the neurons in the cortex
deep in the brain that respond to a sweet taste or to a bitter taste. It turns out they are non-overlapping, populations of neurons.
And then using some molecular tricks. They were able to either silence or
activate the neurons that for instance respond to
Sweet.
When they do this, they see
incredible consequences on perception that indeed occur in your brain and my brain as well, all the time without these kind of manipulations. Here's the experiment.
They have a subject drink water that contains sugar or drink water. That contains a salty substance or drink
water that contains a bitter substance. For instance. Okay. I'm sort of paraphrasing, a large amount of work.
They identify the neurons that respond to
Tastes
they see as many researchers have seen that
subjects, prefer sweet taste to other tastes, and certainly sweet taste too bitter or sweet taste to nothing. So to plain water
and then they go in and they are able to selectively silence the
neurons that represent sweet
and when they do that they eliminate the preference for That Sweet Taste.
Now that might seem obvious. The neurons are
Vonda sweet, you silence, those neurons. They no longer seek out
sweet, but that should
strike you also as incredible
because they're not actually changing what's
happening on the tongue or in the deeper layers of the
brain conversely. They can have subjects, drink bitter water, or plain water,
while activating selectively activating the neurons that respond to Sweet
and what they find is that then subjects will actively prefer.
Bitter or plain water to actual.
Preferences, such as sweet. So what this means is that your perception of what you like is a central meaning with it deep within the brain phenomenon. It's not about how things
taste on your mouth. Now, of course under normal conditions, where there aren't these experimental manipulations being done.
Those things are positively
correlated sweet. Taste trigger, the activation of sweet neurons, for instance, neurons in the mouth that respond to Umami, trigger the activation of neurons in the brain that respond to Mommy and so forth.
So they're correlated in a way that
makes you seek out the things that you like and avoid the things that you don't like,
but as we'll see in a few minutes, turns out that that is not a direct relationship that is
hardwired.
You can actually uncouple the preference for particular taste with the reward systems in the brain in a way that for instance would allow you to
eat or I should use myself as an example cuz I don't particularly like fish. I've had a few.
You know, meals that include a fish that were pretty good, but none of them were memorable in the kind of positive way like some other events in my life were memorable. But
by way of these circuitry's and the way they link up with one another, it's actually possible to rewire one sense of taste
and preference for particular Foods. If this is seeming at all vague to you, just hang in with me a little bit longer because I will provide you with the information tools and resources with which, to navigate this process,
but the most
Important thing to understand is that like, with our hearing like with vision like with smell taste is an internal representation that has particular goals for you, your sense of what tastes good is related to particular things that are
occurring in your brain and body and that are likely to give your brain and body. The things that it
needs. It is not simply a
matter of what you quote-unquote like.
What tastes good or what, doesn't taste good? Let me
give you a relatively simple example
of how your body and your brain are acting in a coordinated way to make you prefer certain foods and indeed, to pursue certain foods more.
So, I just mentioned, you have neurons on your tongue
that respond to different tastes.
But of course, your digestive tract is in just your tongue. It's also your throat
goes all the way down to your stomach. And of course your
intestines. He was a long tube of digestion.
All along that tube, there are neurons some of the neurons are
responding to the
mechanical size
of whatever portion of the digestive tract. It happens to be. So for instance, how distended or empty or full rather than doesn't have to be descended? How depends on how much you ate, but how full or empty your gut happens to be whether or not something you just ate is temperature hot, you know, it's hot in the sense of hot to the
touch or whether or not it's spicy hot whether or not it's soothing.
They're not, it's kind of hard to swallow this kind of thing. So you have neurons all
along your gut that are responding to the mechanics related to food in digestion
and that are related to the chemistry of food and digestion.
There's a population of neurons nerve cells in your gut that are
exquisitely, tuned to the chemistry of whatever it is in your
gut. And these are neurons called neuro pod cells.
They were discovered
many, many years ago, but really defined with an
classified with modern tools
by Diego. Boras. I hope I'm
pronouncing your name correctly. Diego, we've spoken many times, but I can't ever seem to quite capture the proper pronunciation. Just
right. But yeah.
Whereas at Duke University, who discovered that these cells, reside within the gut and place little processes, their little axons and dendrites within the mucosal lining of the gut. And there they are. Paying attention to meaning, they respond to amino acids sugars
and fatty acids.
So as your food is digested as food lands, it within your
Gut neurons, they are are sensing what types of foods are available, and what types of things are making their way through the gut environment. Now, those neurons aren't actually taking those foods and doing much with them. What they're doing is they're they're essentially surveying what qualities of food are there. And these particular neurons that Diego and his group discovered, send electrical signals up into the brain, through a little passage that we call the NoDoz.
Ganglion that NoDoz ganglia is a cluster of neurons,
that then go further, send up their own process into the brain and Trigger the release of dopamine,
which is a molecule that inspires motivation, reward and more seeking for whatever it is led to their
activation.
These are super interesting neurons because what they're essentially doing is they are providing a subconscious signal about the
quality of the food that you're eating, what it
contains and then triggering the release of a molecule within your brain. Dopamine that leads
you to go seek more of those Foods.
Now this has profound impact on a number of things. First of all,
there's the consideration of so-called hidden sugars.
Robert lustig, who is a pediatric endocrinologist, at University of California. San
Francisco has been among the most prominent
researchers to talk about the fact that there are the so-called hidden
sugars and Foods. Now, these are not just sugars that they sneak in, just to be sneaky. These are sugars that are literally snuck in, in a way that you can't taste
them. That's why they're called hidden sugars. It's not that they just put them in there for
fun. These are sugars that are placed into processed foods that are designed to
trigger.
Ocean of these mechanisms to lead
you to want to eat more of these
foods, but not because they necessarily taste sweet or delicious. But because they are activating the subconscious mechanisms that are driving you to pursue more of these Foods, sounds like a very diabolical strategy and indeed. It
is somewhat of a diabolical strategy.
However, these neurons are also involved in
signaling to your brain. When for instance, you are eating a food that is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, the fatty acids that we were talking about earlier. So why is it that you don't crave salmon? Why is it that I don't sit around daydreaming about mackerel. Well, because there's also the influence of the actual taste on the mouth under normal conditions. It's a combination
of the taste of the thing on the mouth. Plus this subconscious signaling from the gut. And while this isn't a discussion
About gut microbiome. I should just mention that, it's very
clear that having a healthy gut microbiome allows these neurons to function in a way that serves our seeking of healthy foods in positive ways. And without
getting into a lot of detail about this. The
best way to ensure a healthy gut microbiome that I am aware of,
is not necessarily to take supplemental,
prebiotics and probiotics there. Actually, some reasons why you might not
Not want to do that. But rather to ingest two to four servings of fermented foods that are low in sugar each day.
There is a recent study published in cell showing that the ingestion of fermented foods. 2 to 4
servings each day,
can enhance the quality of the mucosal lining of the gut, that allows certain gut microbiota to
flourish. And the gut microbiota that are not good for us to not flourish because that's the environment that they settle down into. This is work, that was
I carried out by my colleagues Justin Sonnenberg, which is in the laboratory
upstairs for me as well as Chris Gardner and others at
Stanford.
They're certainly not the only researchers exploring this, but it does appear that two to four servings of.
Fermented foods each day. So these would be things like, natto. Sauerkraut low sugar. Fermented foods is great for the gut microbiome and separate
studies, not their study, but separate Studies have shown that the correct gut microbiome conditions, allow these neurons that signal to the brain to
Signal the right at the right times
and in the right ways to promote healthy food, seeking
many people opt to supplement with
capsule form probiotics.
There are some data that
Is that maybe those don't contain the
correct prebiotics and probiotics for setting the correct gut microbiota conditions. That's a little bit of a controversial
issue. Nonetheless, getting
probiotics from fermented foods as probably the simplest and most straightforward way. It's also the way in that we evolved to do that over, you know, many at least hundreds and probably thousands or even tens. And hundreds of thousands of years. People have been ingesting fermented foods, not just for their taste but for their health benefits as well.
So now I've mentioned two of the three mechanisms by which
we prefer certain foods. One is from the actual taste that were familiar with taste on our tongue and in our mouth and the sensations that make us go mmmm, or or the Yum yuk-man responses as I refer to them earlier. And then there's this subconscious signaling coming from the gut. That's really based on the nutrient content of the
foods. There's a third pathway, which is the Learned Association of a
Killer taste with the particular quality or value that a food
has and this is where things get
really interesting and
where there's actually a leverage point for you to rewire
what it is that you find tasty and that you want to seek more of the work. I'd like to talk about next has been carried out in Mouse
models and has been
carried out in parallel experiments in
humans. This is largely not exclusively. But largely the work of Ivan.
And Del Rio and Dana small. Ivan de irujo is at Mount Sinai, school of medicine. And Dana
small is at Yale,
and they and others in their field. Have done incredible experiments. Exploring how
taste and food value. The
nutritional value of food. And the impact of that food
on metabolism in the brain drives, our food
choices and allows us to
change our food choices for the better,
their groups.
Done. Some really amazing studies involving ingestion of a particular substance that either contains sugar
and thereby can Elevate glucose blood sugar or
not. And varying, meaning changing the taste
associated with that ingestion of sugar.
So let me just give you a simple example where they have
subjects. These can be - or these could be
humans because they've done both sets of studies drink.
Sweetwater as an alternative or a choice to non
sweetened water or bitter water, or some other flavor, what
they find is that mice and humans will prefer to consume the
sweet beverage. Now, it's not always Sweetwater mice like sweet water, but humans will will prefer, for instance, a milkshake fatty sweet
drink, they'll consume more of that and not surprisingly dopamine levels in the brain increase.
Response to that.
So the taste and the nutrient content of what it is that they're ingesting are aligned. They are matched. They've also done experiments where they have no taste, but subjects are being infused with
sugar directly into the gut
and not surprisingly
based on everything. I've told you up until now
subjects will pursue more of that thing relative to
some other taste either neutral or negative.
Taste because that sugar in the gut is triggering the activation of the neurons. I mentioned earlier, which is signaling to the brain to pursue more of that thing. So, this tells us something important. It tells us that we are driven. Meaning we have mechanisms in our brain that make us motivated to pursue more of what brings both a taste of sweetness, but also that brings actual changes in blood glucose levels up. Okay, so we are motivated to eat sweet things, not just because they taste good, but because they
Change our blood sugar level. They increase our blood sugar level.
This is important, because it mean be the case. It could have been that. We were just wired to pursue things
that taste good.
But what this tells us is that we are actually wired to pursue things that increase our blood glucose.
So much so that when the
small lab it's not a small lab. It's actually a big lab, but when Dana small slab
and or Ivan de irujo slab have done experiments where they use a compound called to deoxy glucose. This is a compound that can prevent glucose from being metabolized by
neuron. So blood glucose is
going up but neurons can't use it. What they find is that the reinforcing or the rewarding properties of
Food or
taste are eliminated, put simply. It is not sufficient for a food to taste good consciously, it is not sufficient for a food to increase blood sugar. You need blood sugar to go up and that blood sugar glucose has to
be utilized by the
neurons, even if it's not associated with a good taste and to make it even simpler. If this isn't sinking in, this should make it very
Clear what your brain meaning, what
you are seeking when you eat is not taste,
is not dopamine. Is not even a rise in blood glucose. What you're seeking even though you don't realize it because it's subconscious,
is you are seeking things that allow your neurons to be metabolically active
and this is
fundamentally important for understanding. Why you eat, why you eat
particular foods
and how you can change your relationship.
Up to those Foods. Now, earlier. I referred to circuits that are wired for a particular outcome and in biology, and in particular Neuroscience, we refer to things that are either, hardwired meaning immutable and unchangeable or softwired.
A good example of soft wiring would be the areas of your brain that are responsible for speech and language
are always more or less in the same place
in your brain and everyone else's
brain. However, they are not
hardwired to speak French or to speak English or to speak Chinese, or to speak German. Because depending on where you were born in the parents that you're born to, you need to be able to speak one, or maybe even more languages,
The Taste system.
General system of seeking particular Foods. Similarly is
hardwired to obtain certain types of nutrients. It tends to like sweet
things. Most children naturally, like sweet things, some more than others, but naturally, most people from childhood onward, don't particularly crave very
bitter. Substances may be mildly bitter but not very bitter.
So there's some hardwiring of preference but
there's also some soft wiring in the system that allows it to
change the groups I mentioned earlier.
I've done some really beautiful experiments looking at how artificial sweeteners
interact with the actual sweet sensing system. And this gets right down to a number of issues.
First of all, it gets to the issue of how we can rewire
our taste system in ways that serve Us For Better, or For Worse. Second of all, it gets right down to the issue
of whether or not artificial sweeteners
are good for us or bad for us.
And indeed, as of just this last year. We now in
answer to that.
Question and turns out it depends
and I will tell you in a few
minutes when it is, okay to ingest artificial
sweeteners and when it is very detrimental to ingest, artificial sweeteners of any kind, regardless, I'm not going to name a brand names, but their different forms of these, artificial sweeteners. Nowadays
and there are various
forms of non-caloric plant-based sweeteners for which the same information that I'm about to tell you applies.
Okay, so
Experiments that were done beautifully illustrate that you seek out particular Foods because of the way they taste
because of their impact on blood
glucose levels, but also their impact on the dopamine system, even if your blood glucose levels don't
change. So here's the
experiment. One group of subjects is given a sweet taste of a substance that also raises blood
glucose levels, blood sugar and dopamine goes up, not surprisingly
second condition.
Great subjects. Consume an artificial, sweetener or a non-caloric sweetener. It
is not preferred much over other substances, but it is
sweet. So it's preferred somewhat and it does not cause an increase in blood glucose levels and not surprisingly, dopamine levels, don't go up. So initially, we don't tend to like
artificial sweeteners that much. That's the simple way of putting it.
However, if subjects continued,
to ingest artificial sweeteners,
even though there's no
Increase
in blood, glucose level and therefore, no increase in brain
metabolism.
Dopamine levels, eventually start to rise and when those dopamine levels eventually start to rise you've essentially conditioned or reinforced that artificial or non-caloric sweetener and then subjects start to consume more of it and they actually
get a dopamine increase from it.
So that's interesting. It says that consuming more of these artificial sweeteners or consuming them for a longer period of time, can start to tap into the dopamine system and lead us to
seek out or consume more of these artificial
sweeteners. Many people are probably familiar.
You're with this because we tend to or I should say people report that when they ingest
these artificial sweeteners at first, they don't taste very good. But then over time they seem kind of tolerable and then maybe even pleasureful and then some people feel, quote, unquote addicted to various diet sodas and things of that sort.
Now, there's another condition that's been
explored, and that's the really interesting condition and it's the condition
where an artificial sweetener is paired with a substance that can increase blood sugar.
But not because it
tastes sugary like a normal sweet substance. So
now there's an artificial sweetener that's coupled with an actual
increase in blood. Glucose,
the natural world
scenario, where this would happen would be drinking a diet soda, which contains no calories, and therefore, would not increase, blood glucose, but is sweet
with a food that increases blood
glucose.
And when that happens, what you're essentially doing, is tapping into the dopamine system. This non-caloric sweetener. It sweet taste is paired with it and there's an increase in neuron metabolism. So you have all of the components for reinforcements.
And as a
consequence, you get in a sort of pavlovian conditioning way a situation where later when you ingest, that artificial sweetener. You actually get, not only the increase in
dopamine, but you get alterations.
In
blood sugar management.
Now blood sugar cannot go up. If you don't ingest something, that makes blood sugar go up. So it's not as if you ingest artificial sweetener with some food that
contains calories or sugar and then later you
remove the food and
you just drink the soda and your blood glucose goes
up. Rather. It's a
much worse
situation.
If you I'll make this in the natural world contact, if you ingest an artificial sweeteners, a drink diet soda. While consuming foods that increase blood glucose, then later, even if you just drink the diet soda, it's been shown that you secrete much more insulin, the hormone that
regulates blood glucose in response to that. Diet. Soda
Studies have been done in both adult humans
and in human children in general when we say,
Alton, we mean human children, but just to be very clear what we're talking about. Exploring
consuming diet soda with or without food then later consuming just the diet soda and what they found was having previously consumed diet soda with food and then later only consuming the diet soda, of course, there isn't an increase in blood glucose because
they're not bringing in any calories when they just drink the diet soda,
but there is a significant increase in insulin release and that is serious.
In a terrible way because increased release of insulin and so called insulin
sensitivity is the basis for type 2 diabetes.
So much. So that in the study with the children, consuming non-caloric beverages in this way first with food, and then on their own led to increases in insulin that made them pre-diabetic and they actually had to Halt the study. So one is zoom out from this and just really illustrate the major findings
and then talk about how this can be.
Applied in the positive sense. I also want to mention what this means in terms of your consumption of artificial sweeteners of any kind.
So first of all, the direct
take away about artificial sweeteners.
Artificial sweeteners are not bad for you. I'm not going to say that. What I am going to say, is that whether or not you would ingest them alone or you ingest them in combination with Foods or as part
of foods that raise blood glucose is vitally important for your insulin management and the simple
tractor tool
from this is if you're going to consume artificial sweeteners, it's very likely best to consume those away
from any food that raises blood glucose levels. So if you're going to enjoy diet soda, be my guest
but do it while not
while consuming food in particular foods that raise blood glucose because what these studies
show and I will provide references for these is that they can vastly disrupt
blood sugar management by way of
The insulin glucose system.
Okay, and actually I'll just give you the reference. Now. This is a paper from Dana small slab. The first author is Dallin Berg,
Dal ENB
ERG and the title of the paper is short-term consumption of sucralose with but not without carbohydrate impairs neural and metabolic sensitivity to sugar in humans. This is a paper published in cell metabolism in March of 2020. I think it's a very important paper, and similar findings have been addressed in mice.
And another studies and now because of this paper, there's
now a bunch of other groups working on this, this
issue. There's some evidence previously published in
nature, excellent, top-tier Journal among the Super Bowl of top three journals being nature, science and
sell paper, published in nature. A few years back showing that particular artificial sweeteners.
Can disrupt the gut microbiome and have deleterious health
effects.
That result, I think stands. Although there's some
results that may not agree with that depending on whether or not the artificial sweetener is saccharine or sucralose or aspartame or
Stevia. That's the gut microbiome. But we are talking about here is independent of the form
of artificial or non-caloric sweetener because it
has everything to do with whether or not there is a match or a mismatch between the perceived taste and the effect of the thing that you are
consuming on blood sugar and
metabolism.
The first takeaway from this
is if you're going to consume artificial sweeteners, it's really important that you do that, not in conjunction, with foods that increase blood glucose.
Second of all, it points to the fact that the foods that we prefer.
And the activation of the dopamine system.
Both through the gut and at the level of conscious taste. What, in other words, what we like is very
plastic, it's mutable and we can change it. How can we change
it? Well, earlier, I mentioned a structure in the brain
called the insula. This incredible structure that's involved in
interoception and interception of all kinds, in fact, just as an aside
year or so ago, my lab published a paper showing
that activity within certain
Compartments of the insula of humans is responding to a heightened state of
anxiety in the body. It can respond to changes in our respiration changes in our heart rate. So this is
again, it's a readout of our internal State not just of taste but of many many different aspects of the mechanics and
chemistry of our internal milieu within our body.
All of the work that I was describing previously has also been addressed at the neural level.
And using a broad brush to explain these results. What we can say is
When there is dopamine, increase
one sees activation of the so-called nucleus accumbens, which is part of the so-called me. So limbic reward pathway. If you'd like to learn more about the me's Olympic reward pathway and dopamine in general and humans and an animal studies and all the various
incredible and challenging things that dopamine can do
for us. There's a episode all about dopamine that you can look up. It's easy to find it. You Birdman lab.com.
Increases in dopamine associated with sweet taste and or blood glucose elevating foods and drinks cause activation of the nucleus accumbens, that's not surprising. Also in the circuit is activation of the so-called arcuate nuclei within the hypothalamus. These are areas of the hypothalamus that
respond to hormones from the
body and respond to hormones and neuropeptides in the brain, as well as neural signals in the
brain, to drive us to eat more or to stop eating.
So it's hypothalamus nucleus accumbens. These are sort of the
hypothalamus. And the arcuate being the motivating
to eat or motivating to stop eating.
Both sets of neurons are contain their there. Other areas like the lateral hypothalamus as well. But hypothalamus is
sort of the accelerator and the brake on eating and then the nucleus accumbens and dopamine release can be thought of as kind of a Nitro
boost. If you will to like the kids say to the
kids, say that anymore. Anyway a Nitro boost to eat.
Reese, what we call the gain or the volume of how much you want more of something.
Okay, when dopamine is present, it's this kind of generic signal to go seek out more of whatever caused that release. And then there's the insula this
very thoughtful
rational. Not really, it's not thinking it's
a brain area, you're thinking, but it's
part of the areas of your brain that are
interpreting what's going on in your body whether or not you feel good or not good. Whether or not you feel anxious excited or fearful.
It's integrating all that
information
and fed into this entire circuit as well. Are the inputs from your prefrontal
cortex, which is your thinking rational neuronal structure. If you
will informing you, for instance, ah,
I don't really like salmon very much, or I'm not so crazy about kale, but it has Omega 3s or it's rich in these
polyphenols that are good for me and
If one decides that they are going to eat these things, not just because they are good for them. But believe it or not, if one takes the perception or adopts the perception that they are both good for you and that in being good for you. They are good for your brain metabolism and that you desire to be healthy as crazy as it sounds. Those subjective signals of what you tell yourself about the foods that you're eating.
Can actually impact how those foods will taste, Maybe not immediately, but eventually and can impact the way in which your body utilizes. Those Foods.
Now that might seem like a absolute pipe dream. If I just imagined that, I like mackeral mackeral will start to taste good. I'm not saying that I didn't say that you could override yuck signals with this mechanism. I didn't say that you could take a food. That would be absolutely noxious to you or make you
One of vomit and override that
however foods that are somewhat neutral to you.
Can take on a different value based on the activation of the dopamine system. And now knowing what, you know, there are a couple ways that you could imagine doing
that. First of
all, you could in this so-called gedanken or thought experiment, you could for instance, swap out
sucralose, because sucralose is just a taste, right? It's an artificial sweet taste. You
could swap that out and insert kale, but eat the kale with something that
Raises blood glucose
to some degree or another. Now, I'm not
encouraging anyone to run out there and
Spike their blood glucose like
crazy. And in fact, blood glucose isn't really the goal. If you recall, the goal is to get neurons to be
metabolically active with that blood glucose. Okay, that's what's actually rewarded at a subconscious level, meaning at a deep subconscious level, but
consuming these foods with other foods that increase
blood glucose and thereby brain metabolism.
Or I suppose if your ketogenic here in the ketosis, I don't know what the range of foods that are allowed on ketosis are so I don't want to misspeak here and you know, say cracker which would probably be a sin in the context of
ketosis and no
knock against ketosis. I'm offering this in part because I think that there are a number of people that have and can positively benefit from a ketogenic diet.
But for instance if there's a food that you want to consume more of but that you find somewhat men were mildly. Yeah.
Yuck, even pairing it with ketones, if indeed you are using ketones
for your brain metabolism. Because that's what happens on the ketogenic
diet over time. That food will be reinforced by the dopamine pathway. We know this from these studies where sucralose
was the substance paired with the glucose elevating. In other words, metabolically elevating food substance or liquid substance.
So, how does one go about doing this? Well,
First of all, I want to emphasize that this experiment actually has been done
in a slightly different
context.
Studies by my colleague, Alia crumb in the
psychology department, at Stanford have
explored the bodily response in terms of insulin release and the release of other
food and eating related hormones,
as well as overall feelings of satisfaction Etc, in groups of people that drink a milkshake and are either told that it's a low calorie shake that contains various nutrients that are good for them
or a
Higher calorie shake that has a lot of nutrients
etcetera and what they
found was that the different groups and here again, I'm being very general with my description of these studies.
But what they found is that the physiological response, the insulin response, the blood glucose
response, and the subjective measures of whether or not people enjoyed something or not.
We're heavily influenced by what they were told were in these
milkshakes. So blood glucose will go up. Insulin would go up when people were told it was a high-calorie.
A shake with lots of nutrients less. So when people ingested a shake that was you know that they were told had less nutrients and so forth. When in reality it was The Identical shake.
This is incredible. This is a belief effect. This is not Placebo, right? A placebo effect is different. Placebo effect is in comparison. It's where the control condition,
actually influences
outcomes to a same or to some degree just like the experimental.
Mission.
This is not a placebo effect. This is a belief effect where the belief and the subjective thoughts about what a given food will
do, has a direct impact on a physiological measure, like blood sugar and blood glucose. Okay. So let's zoom
out from this for a second and think about how we can incorporate this into
adopting consumption of healthy foods that serve our brain, health in the immediate and long-term. And if you're wondering what those are, I listed them out.
At the beginning of the episode and their justification for being on that list.
What this means is obviously you want to consume foods
that you like but because brain health is very important.
And many of the foods that promote brain
health.
Perhaps are not the most palatable to you or desirable to
you. The key would be to ingest the foods that you want to ingest more of simply
because they're good for you and not because they taste good to you
alongside foods that increase,
whatever fuel system you happen to be relying on. I think that's the most nutritionally politically correct way to say it. So if you're keto, that would mean ketones. Okay, if you're not ketogenic and I think most people probably are not in ketosis.
Trying to maintain ketosis, but for instance, people that are on a purely plant-based diet. That would be one set of foods for people that are omnivores, a different set of foods. And for people that are carnivores yet another set of
foods if you want to eat more of a particular food because it's good for you, pair it
with something in the same meal. You don't have to hide it. Physically, you're in the flavor sense. You don't have to hide it within that other food, but pair it with that other food. That provides you a shift in brain metabolism
because that's
really
Your brain and you are seeking even though you don't realize
it. How long will this take? Well, according to the data in humans, on sucralose and the conditioning
for sucralose to have these effects, which in many cases, where detrimental, right? Because they were increasing insulin. But in this case, you're trying to hijack, this conditioning of food preference for healthy purposes, not with sucralose, but by ingesting things that are good for you, then
the data really,
The fact that even within a short period of time of about seven days, but certainly, within 14 days that food will take on a subjective
experience of
tasting, at least
better to you. If not good to you.
Now, I believe this has important implications for much of
the controversy and food Wars that we see out there, food wars being, of course,
these groups that ardently
subscribe to the idea that their
diet and the things that they are eating are the foods that are good for us and that are the most pleasureful and the things that everyone should be eating.
We see this with every Community within the nutrition realm. Now, of course, there are studies that point to the fact that certain foods and food components
are healthier, probably for us, and for the
planet, but you really see it on both
ends of the spectrum. You've got people who are on a pure carnivore. Diet, who are arguing with a lot of bio medical evidence.
That that's what's best for us and beneficial. And then you got people that are
arguing the same
general sets of arguments, but for a purely plant-based diet, and then I think, most people fall into the omnivore
category.
What's very clear? However, is that what we consume on a regular basis and what leads to increases in brain metabolism, leads to increases in
dopamine, and thereby our motivation to eat
them. So what this really says, is that what we tend to do regularly becomes reinforcing in and of itself and I think in large part can explain the fact that yes, indeed, for certain people a given diet, not only feels good, but
they heavily subscribe.
The nutrient and kind of Health beneficial effects of that diet and they often will provide evidence for that whether or not you ask them for it or
not. But that's true of every sub category within the nutrition realm. Again. This is not to take away from some of the beautiful data, emphasizing that certain foods and
micronutrients Etc are better for us or worse for us. And for the planet that's not a debate. I want to get into right now. What
what this emphasizes is that
Foods impact our brain and it's Health, but they also impact
how our brain functions and responds to food. And that is largely a learned response. We can't
completely override. For instance, that certain foods evoke a strong, the
yuck component. Certain foods are truly putrid to us. I should just say certain things are pewter to us and we should not consume them. Right? And that's a at
the far end of the spectrum. It's hardwired for us
to avoid those.
They can be dangerous for us that can make us very, very sick.
But it's also true that if we continue to eat foods that are progressively sweeter and sweeter and highly palatable. It shifts, our dopamine system because it activates our dopamine system, to make us believe that those foods are the only foods that
can trigger this reward system and make us feel good in taste and that they taste good. But
after consuming foods that perhaps are less, sweet,
or even less Savory, that are not what we would call. Highly.
Or I would say, nowadays. It's super
palatable Foods. We can adjust our sense, literally
of what we perceive as an attractive, and rewarding food
and indeed, the dopamine system will reward those Foods accordingly. I can't emphasize enough how much this learning of associated
food reward is important for not just understanding why we like the foods that we eat and how to eat more of foods that are healthy for us and
enjoy them, but it
Also speaks to the fact that our brain as a whole is a perceptual device
trying to make guesses or estimations about what certain foods are going to do for us.
So put simply we don't just like sweet Foods because they taste good. We like them because they
predict a certain kind of metabolic response.
This is important also because Dana small and Ivan de irujo and others have been exploring whether or not people for
instance that have type 2 diabetes
or
That suffer from any number of different, metabolic disorders, whether or not somehow these food reward systems are permanently disrupted and through a beautiful set of experiments that have been done by mainly By Dana Smalls group at Yale. But also by the Del Rio group and others, exploring how the reward pathways
are altered in various metabolic disorders, Etc people to suffering from type 2 diabetes.
We don't have time to go into all those data now, but the takeaway is that
Food preference and the ability to reshape the
circuits is not disrupted in these people to the point where it can't be rewired. And that's very encouraging because what
it means is that for people that are suffering from these syndromes through some simple alterations in dietary choice.
Provided, those are carried out over time and in the correct way by pairing with the foods that
will appropriately shift metabolism with
the brain. One can actually rewire
what they consider not just palatable but attractive as Foods.
If you want to learn more about food
reward and food reinforcement because it turns out those are slightly different things.
There's a wonderful review written by Ivan de
irujo. They have a middle author, Mark schachter and Dana small. It's called
rethinking food.
Word. And it was published in the annual reviews of psychology. You can find it very easily online. It was published in 2019
and it's a beautiful Deep dive, although quite accessible to most people about how different foods. And the way that we perceive them, impacts our brain and body, and
why we like the things we like, and how to reshape what we
like. So, once again, we've done a fairly extensive Deep dive into food and your brain focusing first on how particular foods and
Pounds within foods
that are available also through
supplementation can impact immediate and
long-term brain health came up with a
relatively short list of
what I would call
superfoods only because there are ample data to support
their role in enhancing short and long-term cognition, and neuronal health and so on.
And we also talked about food preference. And why particular tastes and particular events within the gut and particular events within the brain combined.
To lead us to pursue particular foods and to avoid other foods and how you can leverage those
Pathways in order to pursue more of the foods that are going to be good for you and good, not just for your brain, but for your overall body health and to enjoy them along the
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