David PerlmutterPresident,, Perlmutter Health Center · Board-Certified Neurologist | Functional Medicine Pioneer | #1 New York Times Best-Selling Author | International Speaker | Host of The Empowering Neurologist Podcast

David Perlmutter, M.D. on why he wrote "Grain Brain"

21 Oct 2013 · 1 min

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In this interview, Dr. David Perlmutter explains that modern medicine often treats only the symptoms of brain disorders rather than addressing their underlying causes, likening this to treating smoke while ignoring the fire. He emphasizes that cutting‑edge scientific research shows diet and lifestyle have a profound impact on brain health. Motivated by patients’ frustration at not having this knowledge—such as the missed opportunity to prevent a father’s Alzheimer’s—he wrote the book Grain Brain to inform the public. The book reveals his view that wheat, carbohydrates, and sugar act as silent killers for the brain, contributing to cognitive decline and neurological disease.

Chapters

We live in a time when we really feel like we can just live our lives come what may, and then when we have some sort of brain disorder, there'll be some kind of magic bullet available for us to help us with our mental dilemmas. Modern medicine tends to focus on treating symptoms, not the underlying disease process, and that's pretty much like treating the smoke while you ignore the fire. So we now understand, and in fact the best leading-edge science tells us, That diet and lifestyle have a profound role to play in determining the destiny of a person's health with respect to brain function. So I wrote the book really as a response to my daily challenge in my medical practice when people say, why didn't I know this information? Why didn't I know that my father's Alzheimer's, for example, could be prevented? It's time people get this information. Grain Brain reveals the surprising truth about wheat, carbohydrates, and sugar, the brain's silent killers.