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

Overcoming Your Genetic Legacy

5 Jul 2015 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

1:41

In this monologue, Dr. David Perlmutter explains that Alzheimer’s disease, which affects 5.6 million Americans, can be significantly prevented through the principles of preventive medicine. He emphasizes that reducing systemic inflammation is central to protecting the brain. The key lifestyle strategies he outlines are: adopting a lower‑carbohydrate, gluten‑free diet; avoiding sugar because high blood glucose is directly linked to dementia risk (citing a 2013 New England Journal of Medicine study); and incorporating fermented, probiotic‑rich foods to heal the gut and further lower inflammation. He extends this inflammation‑reduction approach to other neuro‑inflammatory conditions such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, and autism, arguing that dietary and lifestyle choices that curb inflammation will help maintain brain health.

Chapters

Alzheimer's affects 5.6 million Americans. That means many people have Alzheimer's disease in their family, myself included. The suggestions in Brain Maker are certainly not guaranteed to keep that from happening, but we now know that to a significant degree that Alzheimer's is a preventable disease, and that is to say we're applying the principles of preventive medicine for disease that has no treatment and has no cure. And the key points to take home, both in Brain Maker reiterated from the work of Grain Brain, have to do with reducing inflammation by eating a diet that's lower in carbohydrate and that is gluten-free. You really want to avoid sugar. There are direct correlations between blood sugar, for example, and risk for dementia as described in the New England Journal of Medicine, August 13th, 2013, as a matter of fact. Where Brain Maker goes beyond Grain Brain is welcomes to the table fermented foods, which are foods that are rich in probiotics. They heal the gut, and as such, they reduce inflammation. And again, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, and autism are primarily diseases characterized by inflammation. So everything you can do in your diet and lifestyle choices to reduce Reduce that process. To reduce inflammation, in my opinion, will help your brain remain healthy.