David Perlmutter M.D. – Empowering Neurologist: The food, the facts, the science to control your genetic destiny. It’s quite likely that very few people wouldn’t want to do everything they could to preserve the integrity and functionality of their brains. As it turns out, we, each and every one of us, have a lot to say about how our brains change over time. We certainly don’t need to be reminded that persistent head trauma can pave the way for brain degeneration as we have seen with professional football players and others involved in contact sports. Further, there has been a lot written about the value of exercise in terms of a brain preservation program. Sleep, both its duration as well as its quality, has also gotten some of the spotlight as of late as we have begun to recognize how, during deep sleep, our brains are actually quite active in Read More
Articles tagged with "Science"
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Reducing Risk for Diabetes with Exercise
David Perlmutter M.D. – Empowering Neurologist: The food, the facts, the science to control your genetic destiny. While there has been so much attention as of late focused on infectious diseases, there is another epidemic that may have even wider implications—type 2 diabetes. In and of itself, diabetes is a significant life-threatening condition. In addition, it is strongly associated with other important and potentially life-threatening diseases like Alzheimer’s, stroke, kidney disease, coronary artery disease, and even cancer. According to CDC data from 2018, some 34.2 million Americans, or 10.5% of our population, have diabetes. The percentage of adults with this diagnosis increased with age, affecting more than 25% of those aged 65 years or older. And clearly, the data indicates that these numbers are progressively worsening with time. Though it may be uncomfortable, it is important to embrace the notion that type 2 diabetes is generally considered a consequence of Read More
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Asthma and Nature Exposure
David Perlmutter M.D. – Empowering Neurologist: The food, the facts, the science to control your genetic destiny. According to the CDC, 1 in 12 children in America suffers from asthma. That translates to approximately 6 million children. To be clear, asthma is a serious problem not only because asthmatic attacks can be life-threatening, but in the long-term, asthma has been associated with permanent lung damage. Treatment of asthma in children typically involves inhalers of one sort or another. There are inhaled steroid medications that help to prevent asthma attacks, and so-called “rescue inhalers” that are utilized when the quick relief of symptoms is required. But, as so often is the focus of my blogs, I think it’s important to first ask questions related to what may be causing a particular problem, in this case asthma, as opposed to simply focusing on treatments. In other words, how might the idea of Read More
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Coronavirus and the Microbiome
David Perlmutter M.D. – Empowering Neurologist: The food, the facts, the science to control your genetic destiny. The microbiome plays a central role in two fundamental processes, immune regulation and inflammation. These are obviously central considerations as it relates to COVID-19. Please watch this presentation and hear this as a call to action both for researchers and for each of us. The post Coronavirus and the Microbiome appeared first on David Perlmutter M.D.. Source
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Yes – A Lack of Sleep Means Eating More, A Lot More!
David Perlmutter M.D. – Empowering Neurologist: The food, the facts, the science to control your genetic destiny. In today’s video, Dr. Austin Perlmutter takes a look at a recent study that sought to understand the impact of lack of (restorative) sleep on our decision-making. In particular, how this lack of sleep can impact our decision-making as it relates to our food choices. If you’ve read Brain Wash, then you likely know where this is heading, but let’s take a look at the research. The post Yes – A Lack of Sleep Means Eating More, A Lot More! appeared first on David Perlmutter M.D.. Source
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Added Sugars – Not a Good Choice for Infant Nutrition
David Perlmutter M.D. – Empowering Neurologist: The food, the facts, the science to control your genetic destiny. Who can forget the message of Mary Poppins telling us that “…a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” Yes, we humans certainly like our sugar. To be sure, added sugar certainly increases our desire to consume a lot more than the “medicine” described in the song. It’s concerning to consider that of the 1.2 million food products sold in America’s grocery stores, approximately 68% have added sweeteners. This represents an active attempt to hack into our primitive desire for sweet and to alter our food choices moving forward. Even more worrisome is the fact that 60% of infants are given foods and beverages that contain added sugar. It is this very early exposure that may significantly influence food preferences for the rest of that child’s lifetime. As Robert T. Murray at Read More
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Alzheimer’s and Exercise – You Can Protect Your Brain
David Perlmutter M.D. – Empowering Neurologist: The food, the facts, the science to control your genetic destiny. The number of Americans diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease has continued to grow at a dramatic rate. Currently, it is estimated that some 5.8 million Americans (of all ages) have Alzheimer’s disease. By and large, this is a disease of elderly individuals, with approximately 5.6 million of those diagnosed age 65 or older. To put that number into context, consider that this means 1 in 10 people age 65 or older suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Further, it is instructive to note that there are some 200,000 individuals here in America under age 65 years who have also been given the diagnosis. Despite heroic research efforts, Alzheimer’s remains a disease for which there is no cure or meaningful treatment whatsoever. That said, it is critical that we ask ourselves if there is any evidence that Read More
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Health Benefits of Urban Nature Exposure
David Perlmutter M.D. – Empowering Neurologist: The food, the facts, the science to control your genetic destiny. Most people have a sense that there is something intrinsically healthy about getting out into nature. Truthfully, there is certainly a lot of science that backs up that contention. Well-conducted scientific research demonstrates that there are significant immune-boosting benefits of nature exposure, alongside a lowering of blood pressure, improvement in mood, more rapid recovery from surgery, better sleep, and reduction of stress. It is the stress consideration that seems to be getting a lot of attention as of late, perhaps as our world and day-to-day lives become more and more stressful. Related to this, researchers have been trying to develop ways of measuring stress, and in particular, its reduction as a result of nature exposure. In addition, there’s been quite a bit of new research trying to determine if there is any benefit Read More
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How to Lower Risk for Brain Amyloid
David Perlmutter M.D. – Empowering Neurologist: The food, the facts, the science to control your genetic destiny. It is well-documented that the accumulation of the beta-amyloid protein in the brain is correlated with Alzheimer’s disease. Ongoing research seeks to understand how, and at what stage of Alzheimer’s, beta-amyloid proteins influence the disease. What we can be certain of is that reducing levels of beta-amyloid accumulation, and preventing accumulation in the first place, is something we should be striving for in the pursuit of optimal brain health. Doing so means understanding what causes beta-amyloid accumulation in the first place. A study in the journal Nature looked at one specific factor, insulin resistance, to understand its role, and also considered it in the context of whether or not the research subject was a carrier of the APOE4 gene. The results are illuminating with regard to what they tell us about the significance Read More
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On The Healing Power of Nature
David Perlmutter M.D. – Empowering Neurologist: The food, the facts, the science to control your genetic destiny. Among the many recommendations that seem like good ideas, we’ve often heard that getting out in nature is a healthy practice. But our mission is not to simply recapitulate what may represent common beliefs, but rather to explore these practices in terms of their scientific support. As it turns out, there is a lot of science happening right now that is looking specifically at the health benefits ascribed to nature exposure. Much of the literature is being generated by researchers in Japan, where nature exposure is referred to as Shinrin-yoku, a term created by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries in 1982, and defined as making contact with and taking in the atmosphere of the forest, or “forest bathing.” In a study appearing in The Japanese Society of Hygiene, researchers aimed Read More