The Dr. Hyman Show - Nourish Your Brain with These Powerful Superfoods

Episode Date: June 14, 2024

View Show Notes From This Episode Get Free Weekly Health Tips from Dr. Hyman Sign Up for Dr. Hyman’s Weekly Longevity Journal Harness the power of nutrition for a healthier, sharper mind. In this episode of "The Doctor's Farmacy," I explore the science behind five remarkable superfoods that can sharpen your mental acuity, rejuvenate your brain, and safeguard against neurodegenerative diseases. Plus, I share actionable tips to seamlessly integrate these brain-boosting foods into your daily diet, enhancing your cognitive function and overall well-being. This episode is brought to you by Rupa University, Essentia, and Momentous. Rupa University is hosting FREE classes and bootcamps for healthcare providers who want to learn more about Functional Medicine testing. Sign up at RupaUniversity.com. Enjoy an extra $100 off your organic mattress purchase with code HYMAN at checkout on Essentia's site. Visit MyEssentia.com/DrMarkHyman for more details. Head over to LiveMomentous.com/Mark for 20% off creatine, collagen, and all of their best-in-class products.

Coming up on this episode of The Doctor's Pharmacy. Now, the higher adherence to the diet was correlated with a 55% lower risk of depression symptoms, increased fish intake was linked to a 44% reduced risk of depression overall, and a 56% reduction in women. It seems that every day, more and more patients come into my office

bringing ever-increasing amounts of healthcare information with them. And I love it when this happens because it means people are taking ownership of their health, but it also means I have to stay on the top of my game. So as a healthcare practitioner, how do you make sure that when a patient walks into your office and says, hey, I really want a Dutch Complete or a GI map, that you have the right answers and tools? The answer is Rupert University. They're the number one educational institute for root cause medicine with over 20,000 practitioners a year learning about functional and specialty lab testing.

Not only do they have absolutely free live classes hosted every week, but they bring in industry experts to teach in-depth six-week boot camps on all the most popular functional tests. If you want to level up your knowledge of functional lab testing, make sure to visit rupainiversity.com. Hey everyone, it's Dr. Mark. Sleep is the foundation of wellness and happiness, but when you're sleeping on a so-so mattress, getting deep restful sleep can be difficult. Thankfully, my friends at Essentia have solved the problem of less than stellar mattresses.

Their mattresses have the latest in sleep technology to help you achieve quality sleep that you need to optimize your health and wellness. I've been sleeping on an Essentia mattress for over 10 years, and I truly believe in how effective they are. But it's not just me. A double-blind sleep study shows sleeping on an Essentia performance mattress increases your time spent in REM and deep sleep by up to 60%. Essentia's patented organic foam is ultra adaptive and contours to your body for comfort, pressure relief, and support. The sleep surface

also actively cools to help you sleep better and longer, which just might be my favorite part since I sleep so hot. Right now, enjoy an extra $100 off your organic mattress purchase with the code HYMAN at checkout on Essentia's site. Visit myessentia.com forward slash Dr. Mark Hyman.

That's M-Y-E-S-S-E-N-T-I-A.com forward 4 slash D-R-M-A-R-K-H-Y-M-A-N. And now, let's get back to this week's episode of The Doctor's Pharmacy. Now, before we jump into today's episode, I'd like to note that while I wish I could help everyone via my personal practice, there's simply not enough time for me to do this at scale. And that's why I've been busy building several passion projects to help you better understand, well, you. If you're looking for data about your biology, check out Function Health for real-time lab insights. And if you're in need of deepening your knowledge around your health journey, well, check out

my membership community, Dr. Hyman Plus. And if you're looking for curated, trusted supplements and health products for your health journey, visit my website, drhyman.com for my website store and a summary of my favorite and thoroughly tested products. Welcome to the doctor's pharmacy. I'm Dr. Mark Hyman and this special episode of Health Bites, our juicy little health bites to help you live better longer. Imagine being able to enhance your mood, your mental acuity, your overall cognitive function just by what you choose to put at the end of your fork. You see, food is not just sustenance for energy to fuel our bodies. It's one of the most potent

forms of medicine that's available to us, literally medicine. In today's episode, we're exploring the impact of food, five specific foods, we call them superfoods, but really they're just foods, that help boost our mental health, reverse brain aging, and protect us from chronic, ever more common neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia and Parkinson's. Unfortunately, the typical American diet, which the vast majority of Americans eat, is loaded with sugars, starches, ultra-processed food-like substances, science projects basically, and inflammatory fats, which can do the exact opposite, drive inflammation that harms our physical health and clouded our brains, strips us of our zest and vitality for life,

and makes us prone to sadness, anxiety, and depression. It literally breaks our brain. And that's why so many of us are walking around with a broken brain. Now, in previous episodes of the podcast, I've discussed in depth how food influences our mood and mental state, which I strongly encourage you to check out. And I'll link to them in the show notes. However, today I want to zero in on the research behind five specific foods that you can add to your diet for tremendous capacity to support your brain and health and make us feel, think, and perform better. Now, some of you may be familiar

with a few of these foods, but others may surprise you. So let's jump right in with the first food that can literally change the way your brain works for the better. The first is dark green leafy vegetables and specifically a category called cruciferous vegetables, also known as brassicas, basically the broccoli family. Kale, collards, spinach, arugula, Swiss chard, collard greens, mustard greens, bok choy, romaine lettuce, turnip greens, beet greens, watercress, endive, escarole, broccoli rabe, dandelion greens, radicchio, watercress, lettuce,

chicory, pretty much anything green. What is the mechanism of green leafy veggies and the positive effect on their brain? Well, there's a lot of reasons. Antioxidants and protective phytochemicals. Now, we don't think of phytochemicals as essential nutrients, but they kind of are. They're protective foods, right? We know harmful foods like sugar and processed food and so forth, but they're also protective

foods and we want to eat more of those and less of the harmful foods. Now, green leafy vegetables contain anti-inflammatory molecules and antioxidants, things like vitamin C and E, carotenoids, which are the green, orange things actually also, but they're in the green vegetables, lutein, which is great for your eyes, alpha-linolenic acid, which is plant-based omega-3s. They contain polyphenols, which are these plant-based anti-inflammatory chemicals, flavonoids, things like camphorol, all these things reduce oxidative stress, which causes inflammation, and then reduce, more importantly, neuroinflammation, which is inflammation of your brain. Now, oxidative stress damages your cells, and it can contribute to the formation and accumulation

of something called beta amyloid plaques. And you might have heard of amyloid theory of Alzheimer's. And amyloid, just to be clear, is not the cause of Alzheimer's, although for many years thought it was, and we spent billions of dollars studying research to prove that it was, but we never could be successful. It's sort of a side effect of inflammation, and it's the body's attempt to deal with a bad set of circumstances. So it's sort of a bystander in the process of dementia, and it does gum up your brain, but it's really not the issue.

It's the inflammation that's driving the amyloid development. And some of these foods can be protective, right? So some studies suggest that polyphenols can inhibit the formation of beta-amyloid fibrils, which are these plaques that are common in response to inflammation in the brain, and they gum up the brain that ends up causing dementia. Now, they also promote clearance of these plaques in the brain. So these polyphenols actually help the brain clear amyloid, which is great. This explains probably maybe some of the effects on the cognitive function that we're seeing.

There's also other nutrients like vitamin K, filiquinone, that plays a crucial role in regulating calcium and activates proteins that help keep calcium out of areas where it shouldn't be, such as the brain's blood vessels. Vitamin K also has anti-inflammatory effects, and that can reduce neuroinflammation. It's also involved in the synthesis of important fats called sphingolipids. It doesn't matter what they call them, but basically it's a class of lipids that are crucial components of your brain cell membrane. So your brain cells have membranes and they have to be made of the right fats. And if they don't have the right fats,

you end up with more inflammation. Now these lipids play a role in cell signaling and they maintain the integrity and the function of your brain cells, really important. So what else besides green leafy vegetables is protective for your brain? What's the second big group of food or foods that can do this? Well, small cold water fish. I'm going to explain why. Now I call these the smash fish. Salmon, mackerel, anchovies,

sardines, and herring. Now you might not like them, but they are the most nutritionally dense, the lowest in toxins, and the highest in omega-3 fats. Plus, trout and oysters are also great. Now, why is fish good for our brains? What does the research actually say? Well, a new study published in the British Journal of Nutrition looked at the diet of 798 adults aged 65 to 97, and they looked at 102-item questionnaire using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Now, participants were categorized based on adherence to the Mediterranean diet. Now, we can argue what is the Mediterranean diet? Is there a better diet out there? But it's basically a whole foods healthy diet, right? And basically, what is the Mediterranean

diet? It could be pizza and pasta. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about whole foods, right? Lots of veggies, fruit, olive oil, nuts, seeds, fish, whole grains, beans. That's a Mediterranean diet. Now, the higher adherence to the diet was correlated with a 55% lower risk of depression symptoms. Increased fish intake was linked to a 44% reduced risk of depression overall and a 56% reduction in women. Now, each additional gram of fish per day decreased a woman's depression risk by 2%. And three or more servings of fresh fish a week reduced depression by 62%. Now, think of that in the context of our mental health crisis. I mean, we're all taking

Prozac and being in therapy and doing all these things, but what if we just ate a can of sardines three times a week, right? You might have no friends, they might like how you smell, but maybe it won't be depressed. Now, I'm just kidding. I love sardines and they're great and they're delicious. And I just came from Europe where they have fresh sardines, they're so good. Now, what they found was interesting. There was no effect with canned tuna. Now, tuna is also high in omega-3s, but it's also high in mercury, which can actually cause depression. And it can be a concern. So I would stay away from those big fish like tuna, swordfish, halibut, and so forth. Now, you can use the guide from the Environmental Working Group,

ewg.org, and you can see their guide on choosing fish for the lowest amount of mercury. So just go to EWG.org and you'll learn about it. So why is this so good for our brain? Well, the brain diseases that we see, right, whether it's depression, Alzheimer's, even autism and ADD, are inflammation of the brain, brain on fire. And omega-3s are powerful anti-inflammatories. You see, up to 60% of our brain is made up of fat. So you literally are a fathead, right? Half of that fat, by the way, is omega-3 fats. So they're essential. These are called essential

fatty acids. They're not optional in your diet. And yet most of our diets are deficient in these essential fatty acids. So they're like a vitamin or mineral. If you don't get them, you're going to get deficiency. And it shows up as depression, dementia, and a whole host of other things. Now, as we expanded our brain, our cerebral cortex, and our executive function and memory and intellect, it seemed to coincide with the introduction of fish and seafood into our diet about 35,000 years ago. Even hunted land animals had higher levels of omega-3s than industrial raised animals. So like,

for example, wild bison have higher levels of omega-3s than a feedlot cow. Now, it makes sense that we need these omega-3s to keep our brains functioning properly, and that a lack of fish or omega-3s can lead to omega-3 deficiency, and that leads to mood and memory issues. Now, the two most important forms of fish oil are EPA or eicosapentaenoic acid, you don't have to remember that, and DHA or docosaxanoic acid. It just comes from the chemical structure. These come from fish. You can't get them really from plants. Alphalytic acid or ALA is also an omega-3. It's a plant-based form of omega-3 and it comes from things like walnuts, chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp, and some leafy

greens. The problem is that only about 10% of the plant-based omega-3s, the ALA, is converted to the ones we actually need, the EPA and DHA. So if you're a vegan, you're not necessarily going to be getting this, and it's a big risk for deficiency. So you have to figure out how to get your levels up by taking fish oil. And there are concentrates of plant-based fish oils where they kind of jack up the amounts and convert it, and it's kind of a bit of a project, but there are some around. EPA and DHA, these essential omega-3 fats, play crucial roles in the body's inflammatory system. We learned this in medical school.

This is not a new science. We know how they regulate eicosanoids, prostaglandins, all these inflammatory systems in our body. And they produce a whole class of anti-inflammatory molecules, also called resolvins and protectins, right? They resolve and protect you from inflammation. They resolve inflammation and they protect you. Now, these are great names. I love these names. But basically, a lot of fish oil has this in it, but sometimes at low levels. I'm going to tell you in a minute about one you can get. There's

high levels of these protective things. Now, when we're deficient in omega-3s, it increases our risk of inflammation in the body and the brain. And it can show up like depression, mood disorders, memory disorders. EPA specifically has been shown to reduce neuroinflammation, right? Remember the neuroinflammation is linked to memory issues, dementia, Alzheimer's, depression, anxiety, ADD, autism, bipolar disease, schizophrenia. All of these problems of the brain have been linked to neuroinflammation and EPA actually is inversely correlated with all these problems. So there are actually studies from Harvard that show you can treat bipolar disease by giving fish oil, surprise, or ADD by giving

fish oil or depression by giving fish oil or improve dementia by giving fish oil. That's how powerful these are. And they regulate all sorts of compounds in the body, regulate neuroinflammation. Now, when you have low levels of EPA, it increases your risk of heart disease, not just brain diseases, but also heart disease, skin disorders, diabetes, and lots more. In fact, these fats are absolutely essential for life.

We gotta get them from our diet, but 90% of Americans are deficient in these critical fats. And I'm gonna explain to you more where to get them from our diet, but 90% of Americans are deficient in these critical fats. And I'm going to explain to you more where to get them and how to take them. But I think at this point in history, unless you want to poison yourself with mercury from eating a lot of fish, you're going to need to take omega-3s from supplements. I mean, unless you want to eat sardines every day, which most people don't. Now, vitamin D receptors are found all through the brain. And vitamin D inhibits a really critical pathway in the brain that controls inflammation. This is really important, guys.

There's something that the body produces called transcription factors. And there are many transcription factors. And these transcription factors regulate which genes are transcribed or which genes are turned on or off. For example, are inflammation genes turned on or are the anti-inflammatory genes turned on? Now, the main transcription factor that drives inflammation, that turns on the genes that produce inflammation in the body is called NF-kappa B or nuclear factor kappa B. Don't have to remember that, but just remember that there's a switch that turns on inflammation. Now, vitamin D lowers NF-kappa B, which leads to a reduction in the production of these

inflammatory molecules called cytokines. You've all heard about the cytokine storm from COVID. Same thing. It also increases the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines and regulates the expression of something called neurotrophins, which is a group of proteins that stimulate the growth of nerve cells. That's a great thing. So one, you turn off inflammation. Two, you turn on the anti-inflammatory system. And three, you turn on the expression of these growth factors for the brain that actually help grow new brain cells. That's pretty good for vitamin D. Now, vitamin D also stimulates macrophages, kind of like Pac-Man-like white blood cells

that kind of gobble up bad stuff. So they help macrophages go into your brain and clear the amyloid beta. Amyloid beta is that gummy plaque stuff we talked about that's found in Alzheimer's disease. Now, a deficiency of vitamin D also has been linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease. And about 80% of Americans are either deficient or insufficient in vitamin D. It's really important. So you got to get your levels checked.

And you can also do that through function health. But it's really important to know your numbers here. All right. So we've got omega-3s, we got vitamin D, we got selenium. What else do you got, fish, for me? Well, something called astaxanthin. Now, astaxanthin, it's a big word, it's a carotenoid, which you might know sounds like carrots, right? It's the orange color in vegetables, right? Or fruit. And carotenoids are one of the antioxidant families. It's a precursor of vitamin A. In fact, when you eat salmon, why is salmon pink or orange? And by the way, when you have wild salmon, it's much darker, if you notice that. Wild caught salmon

is very dark. It's actually what gives salmon its color. So if you have salmon and you're eating orange salmon, that's why. It's because of the carotenoids. So what's great about astaxanthin, it's one of the most powerful antioxidants that's around. And it helps also reduce neuroinflammation. It scavenges free radicals and it activates this incredibly important pathway called NRF2, which is an anti-inflammatory antioxidant pathway. We all have it, but we don't activate it enough. This maintains the integrity of the blood-brain barrier. When you have low levels of NRF2 and you have more oxidative stress, you get damaged to the blood-brain barrier. So that means the brain is more susceptible to injury from outside

influences. And also, what's so great about astaxanthin is that it suppresses NF-kappa B, right? Remember we talked about that. That's the pathway that is the gene transcription factor that causes you to produce lots of inflammatory molecules called cytokines. So more astaxanthin, less cytokines. Hey everyone, it's Dr. Mark here. Now, a good diet is foundational to living a long, healthy life. But because our food just isn't as nutritious as it once was, most of us have to supplement to get all the vitamins and minerals we need. Unfortunately, finding a high-quality, no-filler supplement used to be a real challenge, but not anymore. That's why I choose Momentous. Their supplements are developed in collaboration with leading experts like Dr.

Andrew Huberman and Andy Galpin, and are used by 90% of the teams in the NFL, as well as nearly 200 pro and college locker rooms. They're also committed to rigorous third-party testing and independent certification, which means the ingredients on the label are in the product, and that's it. And with no fillers or additives with Momentus, what you see is what you get. I take Momentus Collagen and Creatine Daily, two supplements that work together to repair and power my body. Momentus Collagen is clinically researched and it delivers 15 grams of collagen that support type 1, 2, and 3 collagen in the body. Momentus Creatine uses Creatine Monohydrate, the gold standard in Creatine supplementation. So if

you're like me and you want to take supplements that are made by and used by the best in the world, go to livemomentous.com forward slash mark for 20% off creatine collagen and all their best in class products. That's L-I-V-E-M-O-M-E-N-T-O-U-S.com forward slash mark for 20% off. All right. So we covered greens. We covered fish. What is the third biggest category of things

that are good for your brain? Well, grass-fed, this might shock you, grass-fed regeneratively raised meat, right? Things like lamb, beef, bison, venison, wild game like deer, elk. So why is grass-fed meat good for our brains? Well, grass-fed meat contains higher quality protein and more bioavailable nutrients

than, for example, certain plant foods that have protein. A report by the Food and Agriculture Organization, or the FAO, examined more than 500 studies and 250 policy documents, and they concluded that animal foods offer a crucial source of much needed nutrients. Animal protein contains all the essential amino acids for supporting human health, for supporting immunity, for anti-inflammatory pathways, the raw materials for synthesizing our hormones, our neurotransmitters that are important

for memory and cognition, and the amino acids and the bioactive factors with high digestibility that are found primarily in animal foods, things like carnitine, creatine, taurine, hydroxyproline, anserine. These are all nutrients that are not available in plant foods. Tyrosine, for example, is an important precursor to dopamine. Tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin, which is important for mood. The animal protein is also rich in bioavailable micronutrients that help protect against deficiencies like iron, zinc, and B12.

And they're also, if you have the right, rigidly raised or grass-fed, finished animal foods, they have higher levels of the essential fatty acids that are important for brain health, cognition, and metabolism, and neurodevelopment. So it's not just fish that had the omega-3s. For example, all the Native Americans who were eating bison all got their omega-3s, not from eating fish because they lived in the middle of America. They got it from eating bison. They were eating wild plants that they converted into EPA and DHA. There's also something in animal foods called heme iron, which is essential for the growth and branching of neurons during fetal

development. Also, zinc is found in high levels in animal foods, and it's really important for memory and for learning, for immunity. B12 also is critical, and it's only available from animal foods. There are some plant sources that you can kind of get like nutritional yeast and weird things,

but basically it's pretty much absent from most plant foods, and that's why vegans need to supplement with B12. Now, B12 helps because it maintains the myelin sheath and protects nerve cells. I learned, for example, in medical school that B12, if it's low, will cause depression. It can also cause neuropathy, meaning damage to your nerves because it's so critical for maintaining the nerve sheath. I hope you can see that high-quality animal protein is the super food for your brain. And also many other aspects for your health that I like to talk about, like longevity, including muscle health, which is very important. We've had some podcasts on that. We're gonna have some more. Now there are controversies around meat, right? Many studies link red meat to risk

for all cause mortality, for cognitive decline, for Alzheimer's, for heart disease, for cancer, diabetes, et cetera. And this may be attributed to other factors and there are observational data. So there's a whole confounding set of things called the healthy user bias. In other words, people who, in most of these large studies who ate meat, it was during a time when meat was seen to be not good for your health. So if you ate meat, you typically were not healthy, right? You ate more food. In fact, the study showed you ate 800 calories more a day. You smoke more, you drink more, you didn't eat foods and vegetables, you didn't take your vitamins, you didn't exercise. So of course you had more disease, right? It may not be the meat itself. Now there may be other factors like TMAO or saturated fat for some people. We just don't

know. Now we have to kind of be more sophisticated if you look at nutritional data. But the problem is that nutritional data is just inherently weak and we have to do the best we can by looking at all the studies, the mechanisms, and the science behind it, right? So it's combining basic science data, animal data, population study data, randomized controls that are small trials, large randomized controlled trials, looking at all of it together, you can kind of read the tea leaves and see the smoke signals and get a sense of what we should be doing. And basically, the bottom line here is that we've been eating meat and animal foods for as long as we've been human.

It's basically not the meat that's bad for us. It's the quality of it. And maybe if it's grain fat or if it's conventional and if we're eating ultra processed meats like hot dogs and hamburgers, and maybe we're eating it with other stuff, right? Maybe we're just not paying attention to health. So we're eating our burger with a can of fries and a 32 ounce Coke, right? That may be the reason it increases risk. So the reason many population studies show plant-based diets may be healthier is what we call the healthy user bias. I sort of mentioned that earlier. Vegetarians tend to have overall

healthier habits and don't smoke. They exercise regularly and more. It's not the vegetarian or vegan diet that protects them. It's all their other healthy habits. In fact, the vegan diet may be hurting them. There was actually a study I like to quote, which looked at meat eaters and vegetarians who shopped at health food stores, and they both had their risk of death reduced in half. Why? Because they were eating whatever they were eating in the context of an overall healthier

diet. So what's the takeaway here? How do you apply this to your life? Well, grass-fed meats are good. And if you can get the regeneratively raised meats, that's even better. So I recommend places like farmer's markets, which are around everywhere in America, places like Thrive Market, Forest of Nature, which has incredible sourcing of regenerative meats from around the world, and butcher box. Try to eat, depending on your biology, you might not tolerate saturated fat as well. You might lean leaner cuts of meat. Saturated fat from high quality sources is not essentially the enemy. In fact, saturated fat is important for your brain. And those who have lower saturated fats in their diet tend to have more stroke because it's so important for the structure

and function of your brain. And it's a very nuanced topic. So it's not the saturated fat necessarily the problem, it's what you're eating it with. So if you eat saturated fat with carbohydrates and starch, bad combo. So butter and bread, bad combo. Ice cream, bad combo. You know, French fries, bad combo because you're eating starch and fat at the same time. All that's really bad.

But saturated fat, for example, butter on your broccoli may not be so bad. And of course, it's very different, right? Depending on the person. Personalized medicine is where we all need to be going. And we need to understand our own biology and how our own biology reacts to what we're doing. So there's no one size fits all diet, one size fits all prescription. And you have to look at your weight, your lipid metabolism, right? And you don't want to like be a carnivore, right? And forget everything else. You want to eat meat, but be smart about it. Most of your diet should be plants and meat is a side

dish, right? Four to six ounces, which still gets you plenty of protein, but veggies should be the main dish. So you can have animal protein every meal. You can have that over meat from dinner, for breakfast, for lunch. You can try grass-fed beef sticks as a snack, or there's now Maui Nui. I don't have any connection to them, but they're great for venison meat sticks. You can have canned salmon or sardines, even canned chicken on a salad for lunch. All right, so that's meat, grass-fed meat. We got greens. We got fish. We got grass-fed meats. The third. Greens, we got. Fish, we got. Grass-fed meats. The third category of food we should be thinking about for our brain is pasture-raised eggs. So why are eggs good for your brain?

Well, the yolk has everything you need to grow and maintain a healthy brain. The eggs are often described as perfect food or nature's perfect multivitamin. Now think of what they do, right? They have an incredible nutritional profile because they provide all the nutrients for a brand new life, all the nutrients for growth and development. And that helps grow a new chick and provides lots of benefits for us too, for humans in terms of neurodevelopment, mental health, and cognition. So what's the mechanism here, right? What are the nutrients responsible for these brain boosting effects?

Well, the first one is called choline. Choline is an essential nutrient that often doesn't get as much attention as it deserves for brain and mental health. Choline is a micronutrient important for many vital functions in the human body. Now in the brain, it's necessary for neurodevelopment, for making new brain, right? For nerve cell function, for muscle function, and for making new neurotransmitters, particularly by its conversion to something called acetylcholine. Now, acetylcholine is critical for memory. In fact, one of the drugs we use for dementia, which doesn't work well, but it's designed to increase acetylcholine. So acetylcholine is involved in memory and learning,

cognition, mood, mental health. It also plays a major role in neurogenesis, making new brain cells, and synaptogenesis, which is the formation of new connections and new neural networks and pathways in the brain, which is important for learning and memory and cognition and pretty much everything your brain does. So this concept is known as neuroplasticity. The idea that our brains are plastic and have the ability to grow and create

new nerve connections throughout our whole life into adulthood and right up into death. Really important to understand your brains are not fixed. So you need to take care of your brain. We all think, oh, we're going to take care of our heart. We're going to eat better exercise. We have to learn how to take care of our brains. And when you're buying eggs, look for the following labels on poultry and eggs at your grocery store or co-op, right? It should say pasture-raised, maybe animal welfare-proof, certified humane, organic. But pasture-raised is really the best because organic could be feeding an organic corn and it's not necessarily what you want your eggs to be eating. So pasture-raised is really the best. There are even some companies that

create scorecards to rate different egg companies based on how they treat their heads. You can eat eggs for breakfast. My favorite way to have them is to buy a jar of pre-made shakshuka, pour it in a cast iron pan, put three eggs in it, throw in the oven until the eggs are poached, and yum. Now, you can also make an omelet or hard boiled egg as a snack to take with you on the go. Those are easy. And the last of the five foods we're going to talk about today is blueberries. Now, you might have heard a lot about blueberries, but we're going to talk a little bit more about them. Now, why are blueberries good for our brains? And I think blueberries, and it can be really any dark, colorful berry, which is rich in phytochemicals and a set of compounds called

proanthocyanidins, which are found in dark berries, but blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, all that's great. They're anti-inflammatory nutrients in them, and they're an incredible source of polyphenols or anthocyanins, a phytochemical that are responsible for giving blueberries their blue color, right? And they also have flavanols, they have esferatrols, they have vitamin C, they're high in fiber, they're great for the microbiome, they increase something called butyrate, which is an anti-inflammatory postbiotic that's made by healthy bacteria, and you're feeding those. And all this does is help fight neuroinflammation.

And it also suppresses the toxicity of beta amyloid. So really important. Blueberries basically fight brain inflammation. And as I mentioned, brain inflammation is the root of all of the issues with the brain, whether it's mood disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, tension disorders, autism, you name it. So what's the mechanism, right? How do blueberries work?

What's responsible for these brain boosting effects? Well, it improves something called the endothelial function in vascular health, right? Endothelium is the lining of your blood vessels. It's super important for your overall health and helps your blood flow. And it reduces inflammation. All these are great effects for your brain. And the last of the five foods we're gonna talk about today is blueberries.

Now, you might've heard a lot about blueberries, but we're gonna talk a little bit more about them. Now, why are blueberries good for our brains? And I think blueberries, and it can be really any dark, colorful berry, which is rich in phytochemicals and a set of compounds called proanthocyanidins, which are found in dark berries, but blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, all that's great. There are anti-inflammatory nutrients in them, and they're an incredible

source of polyphenols or anthocyanins, a phytochemical that are responsible for giving blueberries their blue color, right? And they also have flavanols, they have resveratrols, they have vitamin C, they're high in fiber, they're great for the microbiome, they increase something called butyrate, which is an anti-inflammatory postbiotic that's made by healthy bacteria and you're feeding those. And all this does is help fight neuroinflammation. And it also suppresses the toxicity of beta amyloid. So really important. Blueberries basically fight brain inflammation. And as I mentioned, brain inflammation is the root of all of the issues with the brain, whether it's mood disorders, neurodegenerative disorders,

tension disorders, autism, you name it. So what's the mechanism, right? How do blueberries work? What's responsible for these brain boosting effects? Well, it improves something called the endothelial function in vascular health, right? Endothelium is the lining of your blood vessels. It's super important for your overall health and helps your blood flow and it reduces inflammation. All these are great effects for your brain. So what are the takeaways here? How do you apply this science to your everyday life? Well, eat at least a serving of blueberries every day, one cup. Now, personally, I like to buy the frozen wild blueberries because they're the most nutrient dense. So you can have them in your smoothie in the morning.

You can saw them out and just mix them in with yogurt or whatever, but they're great. And I encourage you to eat that. I hope you enjoyed this little summary of some of the five most important foods you can use to support your brain health, to take care of your brain, to reduce brain inflammation, to reduce cognitive decline, and to help your mood. Thanks for listening today. If you love this podcast, please share it with your friends and

family. Leave a comment on your own best practices on how you upgrade your health and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And follow me on all social media channels at DrMarkHyman. And we'll see you next time on The Doctor's Pharmacy. For more information on today's episode, please check out my new video and audio podcast, Health Hacks. It airs every Tuesday and includes a more detailed breakdown of these Friday Health Bites episodes.

I'm always getting questions about my favorite books, podcasts, gadgets, supplements, recipes, and lots more. And now you can have access to all of this information by signing up for my free MarksPix newsletter at drhyman.com forward slash MarksPix. I promise I'll only email you once a week on Fridays and I'll never share your email address or send you anything else besides my recommendations. These are the things that have helped me on my health journey and I hope they'll help you too. Again, that's drhyman.com forward slash Marks Picks. Thank you again and we'll see you next time on The Doctor's Pharmacy. This podcast is separate from my clinical practice at the Altru Wellness Center and my work at Cleveland Clinic

and Function Health where I'm the Chief Medical Officer. This podcast represents my opinions and my guests' opinions and neither myself nor the podcast endorses the views or statements of my guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only. This podcast is not a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. This podcast is provided on the understanding that it does not constitute medical or other professional advice or services. If you're looking for your help in your journey, seek out a qualified medical practitioner.

You can come see us at the Ultra Wellness Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. Just go to ultrawellnesscenter.com. If you're looking for a functional medicine practitioner near you, you can visit ifm.org and search find a practitioner database. It's important that you have someone in your corner who is trained, who's a licensed healthcare practitioner and can help you make changes, especially when it comes to your health. Keeping this podcast free is part of my mission to bring practical ways of improving health to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to express gratitude to the sponsors that made today's podcast possible.