We talk about heart diseases, Type 2 diabetes, obesity and digestives issues…but what about your brain? Even though the brain only represents 3% of your total body weight, it utilizes as much as 25% of the total energy produced by your body. The brain’s demand for energy is such that when you have a brain injury, the total daily calories needed increases dramatically. Make no mistake about it, when you have heart diseases, the vascular problem is also seen in the brain. When you have Type 2 diabetes, the insulin resistance is also seen in the brain. The brain utilizes glucose as its primary form of energy but when insulin does not work optimally anymore, the brain is affected and the reason why Alzheimer’s has
also been called Type 3 diabetes. When you are obese, inflammation in the body is also present in the brain and high inflammation means reduced metabolic function. When you have digestive issues the brain also gets affected through the vagus nerve. Think of symptoms like brain fog, headaches, depression, anxiety, sleep issues and stress. They are all related to the digestive tract. Did you know that the happy neurotransmitter “serotonin” is 85% produced in the gut?
As we age, the capacity for the brain to utilize glucose declines. In a sense we become insulin resistant therefore not able to properly utilize glucose for energy. Picture this: when you become insulin resistant, the mechanism that opens your cells (and in this case, brain cells) to receive glucose as a source of energy for the brain, does not work. The enzyme responsible for clearing amyloid/tau plaques (symptom of Alzheimer’s Disease) is the same enzyme that helps reduce insulin in the brain. This enzyme favors clearing insulin over clearing plaque deposits. Let’s recap: the brain cannot get the necessary energy (glucose) and a diet high in carbohydrates increases insulin in the brain causing inflammation and as we age our brain’s ability to use glucose as its primary source of energy declines. With an increase in Type 2 Diabetes, heart diseases, obesity and digestive issues, our brain is taking a major hit.
What if there was another source of energy the brain could utilize without increasing cerebral insulin? Would the enzyme used to reduce insulin now be able to concentrate on clearing amyloid plaque/tau plaque in Alzheimer’s disease? Would there be plaque deposit in the first place? Many research have been done over the past 10 years on a high fat Ketogenic Diet with brain diseases and show promising results. When eating a high healthy fat diet:
Blood pressure and heart rate will go down.
Blood glucose and insulin will go down.
C-reactive protein will go down (marker for inflammation).
Homocystein level will go down (one of the markers for inflammation and brain diseases).
Triglycerides will go down.
LDL will go up but this isn’t an indication of heart disease when all the other markers are going the other direction. LDL is only an indication your body is processing more fats and does not mean heart diseases....and the fear of saturated fats has another side to it when eating healthy saturated fats....they cannot be oxidized!
When the body is metabolizing fats, it produces ketones…..and the brain CAN use ketones as a source of energy. I am currently following clients with brain impairments who are following a ketogenic diet, under supervision, along with specific supplements to open up vessels and reduce cerebral inflammation. Although not a cure, we are seeing amazing anecdotal results. Please do not try to implement such a protocol without the supervision of a trained professional, especially when medications are involved. Your diet today will determine your health tomorrow.
Here’s a quote from Dr. Vincent Fortanasce, , Board Certified Neurologist (he treated the Dalai Lama and Pope John Paul)…“When analyzing the results from 8 Clinical trials, the drug used to treat Alzheimer’s disease, which has made so far $84.4B dollars, offered worse results than the patients using the placebo.”
Marie-Josée Brown, CHCP, ROHP
Certified Holistic Cancer Practitioner
Registered Orthomolecular Health Practitioner