In the United States, health authorities currently consider Alzheimer's disease to be a real epidemic. What if certain commonly consumed foods aggravate the onset of this health problem? This is the thesis of the neurologist David Perlmutter in his book "Grain brain". Seeing the number of his patients with this disease increase alarmingly, he wanted to get to the bottom of the problem in order to treat his patients properly.

Alzheimer's disease, for which there is currently no effective treatment, is second only to heart disease and cancer as a leading cause of death. These 3 conditions are the top 3 causes of death in the United States. So it's really time to look at prevention for this brain degeneration.
According to Dr. Deborah Barnes, published in the Lancet Neurology journal, more than half (54%) of current Alzheimer's cases could have been prevented if patients had properly managed their diet.

According to David Perlmutter, one of the solutions lies in the diet because it has major implications on the risks of developing Alzheimer's disease and particularly our modern diet which is too rich in cereals but depleted in essential nutrients. This is a reassuring fact since before being affected by this disease, one can always turn back. And contrary to what was believed until a few years ago, it is possible to regenerate the cells of the memory centers of our brain thanks to neurogenesis processes.

Dr. David Perlmutter's book quickly became a New York Times best-seller. This is quite unusual for a health-related book.

So what about the diet to limit the risk of Alzheimer's?

Clearly, one thing is certain: a high consumption of carbohydrates leads to Alzheimer's disease. The risk of dementia would be increased by 89% with a diet too rich in sugars, while a diet rich in fats reduces the risk by 44%. Figures published by the Mayo Clinic in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease are cited as an example by David Perlmutter, MD.

It is clear that diets high in carbohydrates that raise blood sugar levels have a direct impact on the hippocampus (memory center). Damage to this brain region is a warning sign of Alzheimer's disease. According to Dr. David Perlmutter, this is the first place you should look during a brain scan.
If for nearly half a century saturated fats have been demonized and decried by the media and official health organizations, this would be a mistake according to Dr. David Perlmutter, who claims that the health of our heart and brain depends largely on saturated fats.

It would seem that this phobia of fat and excess weight cholesterol have much to do with the current explosion of Alzheimer's disease.
Fortunately, many studies are beginning to highlight the importance of eating "good" fats. A huge study carried out in 18 countries on more than 600,000 people, tends to demonstrate the harmful effects on the cardiac sphere of a too low consumption of saturated fats. It seems that our body needs too much good cholesterol. This is confirmed by the high levels of blood cholesterol in elderly people, which would reduce the risk of dementia by almost 70%, which would have positive consequences on their heart and cardiac system, but also on their immune system.

Cholesterol is a precursor of vitamin D, progesterone, estrogen, testosterone, cortisol and many other hormones. This is probably one of the reasons why statins are so harmful.

While high cholesterol levels protect against Alzheimer's, diabetes doubles the risk

Dr. Perlmutter cites a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. It highlights that women who take statins have a 44% increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Diabetes, which in turn doubles the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

Our ancestral diet was very high in saturated fats and practically devoid of carbohydrates other than those from plants. Today, not only do we eat huge amounts of carbohydrates, but they are also refined and processed. According to Dr. Perlmutter, a person is more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease the higher their blood sugar levels. According to him, the fasting blood sugar level should ideally not exceed 70-85. He estimates that the ideal fasting blood sugar level is about 80 with 95 as the maximum.

It is absolutely necessary to erase this notion that the brain absolutely needs sugar to function. Remember that it is better to provide him with good fatty acids which are a cerebral super fuel. That's why we have to reteach our body to tap into its fat reserves and burn its fat. One particularly effective tool is intermittent fasting. This is what Dr. Perlmutter suggests because this process actually helps your body burn fat from your reserves instead of going to carbohydrates as your main fuel. In his book, he presents this approach as a reset of our energy metabolism.

This measure may seem drastic and will be particularly difficult to follow for insulin and leptin resistant subjects, but it is really an ideal and optimal solution to regain health and prevent disease. This doctor recommends avoiding trans fatty acids and hydrogenated fats. On the other hand, he advocates a return to true happiness made with raw milk of organic origin and from cows raised on pasture.

Eating coconuts and consuming their oil is almost a guarantee against Alzheimer's disease, as are pecans and macadamia nuts, which are low in protein and rich in fatty acids useful to the body.

Dr. David Perlmutter also reminds us that food is the information from which we maintain and transmit our genetic heritage (DNA). This is why we must ban all denatured and especially genetically modified elements from our diet.
He insists on this point because our genome, which took 50,000 to 70,000 years to adapt to the environment and the foods commonly consumed, does not assimilate and recognize this perverted information provided by processed foods.
This is the cornerstone of understanding almost all diseases: we must absolutely maintain our genetic integrity in order for our gene expression to build a perfect pattern.

Exercise promotes neurogenesis

Beyond the burning of calories and fat, exercise also reduces the production of free radicals and inflammation, factors involved in chronic disease. Aerobic exercise also plays an exceedingly important role in the expression of our genetic code and in the secretion of a brain growth hormone called BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). This hormone provides the brain with the ability to repair some damage, but also to develop new brain cells through the processes of neurogenesis.

The postulate of a predefined number of neurons from the beginning of life until death and their destruction without possibility of return must be completely abandoned. More recent scientific data clearly show that not only can our brain generate new neurons, but it can also bypass damaged areas by creating new neural circuits. This cerebral faculty is strongly increased when practicing physical exercise for a minimum of 2 hours per week.

Dr. Perlmutter makes other recommendations:

• Eat turmeric: this root has a high anti-inflammatory potential and activates the BDNF
• Maintain an optimal vitamin D level of approximately 70-90 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml) year-round. Knowing that by taking a vitamin D supplement, you also increase the assimilation by your body of vitamin K2 (very useful for bone strength and circulation).
• Optimize the intestine by regularly reseeding the flora with probiotics and prebiotics
• Just as important as taking probiotics, avoiding antibiotics
• Encourage breastfeeding. It has been proven that non-breastfed babies are more prone to ear infections. Conditions for which antibiotics are often prescribed, antibiotics that generally do not work...
• Avoid meats that contain antibiotics due to the treatment of the animals. Even if we do not consume them directly, in the long term these antibiotics destroy our intestinal flora and induce bacterial resistance
• Avoid gluten which is an inflammatory factor and favors the porosity of the intestinal wall.
  Dr. Fasano has established the link between a bad intestinal flora and the porosity of the blood-brain barrier, a porosity that opens the door to the brain to foreign proteins that have nothing to do there.
  It is obvious that all these nutritional and hygienic measures will reduce the risks of Alzheimer's disease, but also those related to any other form of dementia and brain disorders.
  Thus the benefits of this reform are also preventive for Parkinson's disease, seizure disorders such as epilepsy, autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders and migraines.
  In practice, you should favor colored vegetables, because they contain less starch, starch that your body breaks down into simple sugars. Greens such as kale and other collards, broccoli, Swiss chard and spinach are rich in fiber and chlorophyll.
• Cook your food as little as possible and eat as much raw food as possible.
• Enjoy fermented vegetables that promote good bacteria in your gut and sprouted seeds that are rich in enzymes and nutrients. They are easy to germinate at home and very democratic.
• If you are going to eat meat, choose untreated animals that live in the wild.