Show 927: Grain Brain – How Gluten Could Be Harming Your Brain

What should you eat to optimize your brain’s ability to function? Dr. David Perlmutter suggests that there are many lifestyle changes we can make today to preserve our mental capacity into the future. You might be surprised that one of the first, even for people who do NOT have celiac disease, is avoiding dietary gluten as well as sugar and other foods that raise blood sugar and make insulin spike. What kind of diet should we follow to reduce inflammation throughout the body, and especially in the nervous system? Has cholesterol been falsely demonized?

In the book Grain Brain, Dr. Perlmutter argues that a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet promotes brain health and can help stave off depression and ADHD as well as dementia. How do medications harm the brain? How can we balance exercise, sleep and diet to optimize brain function?

Guest: David Perlmutter, MD, is the President of the Perlmutter Health Center in Naples, Florida, and the co-founder and president of The Perlmutter Brain Foundation. He is a board-certified neurologist and a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition. His book is Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar–Your Brain’s Silent Killers. His website is GrainBrainBook.com The photo of Dr. Perlmutter was taken by Ed Chappell.

If you would like to read the book and listen to the interview, check out our Listen & Read offer. You’ll get the details on what to eat and how to live to maintain brain power as long as possible.

The podcast of this program will be available the Monday after the broadcast date. The show can be streamed online from this site and podcasts can be downloaded for free for four weeks after the date of broadcast. After that time has passed, digital downloads are available for $2.99. CDs may be purchased at any time after broadcast for $9.99.