In this video, Dr. Perlmutter talks at the Buck Institute for about 20 minutes about the important role of the gut microbiome…

They he and Dr. Dale Bredesen answers audience questions which covers topic like …

•  Cholesterol and fat.  Cholesterol is not bad. It plays an important role in the body in terms of supply life-sustaining nutrients to the cells.  What you eat does not correlate well with the cholesterol levels in the blood, because most of the blood cholesterol is made by your liver and not from the food.  No correlation between intake of fat and cardiovascular disease.   But trans fat is bad.
• Statins not so good because they decrease the production of Co-Q10, a brain antioxidant.  While statin might have a good side such as its anti-inflamatory effects, it maybe out-weight by the bad side.
• Supplements Dr. Perlmutter believe can be beneficial are vitamin D, B vitamins, DHA, and NAC.  Have your levels measured and try to get them into the “optimal” range instead of just the “normal” range.  There is mention that Omega-3 (along with vitamin D) enhance ability of macrophages to phagocytosize amyloid beta in the brain. [reference]
• Caffeine and coffee.   Some neuroprotective effects of caffeine.  Also phytophytophenols in coffee itself.  Coffee drinkers are at lower risk for Alzheimer’s.
• APOE4 “Alzheimer’s Gene”.  Perlmutter believes a high fat diet outweighs some of the negative effects of fat on APOE4 carriers.
• They both believe in eating organics and non-GMO.
• Perlmutter believe that we should avoid gluten (even if we are not diagnosed with celiac disease), because gluten increase leakiness of gut and thereby increase inflammation.  Also gluten foods are typically high carb foods, which we should avoid eating anyways.
• Alcohol in and of itself is a neurotoxin.  But small amount is okay. A glass of red wine has some upsides that would allow it in the diet.

Dr. Gary Small of UCLA talks on YouTube’s UCTV channel about his Alzheimer’s Prevent Program.

In the video, he talks about 4 main area that can reduce Alzheimer’s risk.

1.  Physical Exercise – this has the most compelling evidence.  Exercise stimulates production of BDNF (brain-derived neurotropic factor) and is also anti-inflamatory.

2. Mental Exercise – the evidence here is not as compelling as physical exercise.  But he did cite some cases of improvement from certain mental exercises.

3. Reduce stress – the stress hormone cortisol is damaging to the brain.

4. Nutrition – optimize nutrition.

He is the co-author of the book by the same name “The Alzheimer’s Prevention Program: Keep Your Brain Healthy for the Rest of Your Life“

The following video is interview between Dr. Mercola and Dr. Perlmutter.

Dr. Mercola suggests that since astaxanthin helps with macular degeneration by providing antioxidation support, it might help with the brain as well.

Dr. Perlmutter, author of Grain Brain, shows two graphs where high fasting blood glucose and high Hemoglobin A1C correlates with greater shrinkage of the hippocampus. He believes that reducing calories, low carb, exercise, healthy fats, somewhat ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting, vitamin D are helpful ways to help reduce Alzheimer’s risk. And cholesterol in the presence of sunshine is needed to produce vitamin D. He believes that grains are not healthy and hence the title of his book.

Dr. Mercola says that dairy protein are generally not great for most people. But dairy fat (such as butter) is healthy fat.

Dr. Terry Wahls gave this inspiring TedTalk in which he improved her multiple sclerosis mostly through diet.

This video in 2010 shows Dr. Mark Hyman talking to Google about his UltraMind Solution (which is mainly about the brain)

An important quote from the video (about 45 minutes in) is when he said …

“Your brain runs on nutrients … and if you don’t have adequate levels of nutrients, you can’t actually regulate your brain function properly. So, having adequate levels of nutrients, particularly the methylating nutrients, B6, folate, B12, vitamin D, omega-3 fats, these are critical for brain function.”