High Fat Foods & the Brain - 003

SPEAKER A The following program presents principles designed to promote good health and is not intended to take the place of personalized, professional care. The opinions and ideas expressed are those of the speakers. Viewers are encouraged to draw their own conclusions about the information presented. SPEAKER B Welcome to healthy living. I'm your host, Margot Marshall. Alzheimer's, stroke, poor mental performance. Is there a common denominator or more than one causing these ailments? Find out today on Healthy Living. SPEAKER C Healthy Living is a 13 part production of 3abn Australia television focusing on the health of the whole person, body, mind, and spirit. You'll learn natural lifestyle principles with practical health solutions for overall good health. SPEAKER B With me in the studio today, we have Dr. John Clark and Jenifer Skues, who was a health psychologist. Welcome, Jenifer. And welcome, John. SPEAKER C Thank you. SPEAKER B We have some ailments today that can cause a lot of grief, really, to the person and to the people who love them. And we're interested to hear what you have to say about the underlying cause or causes of these problems and whether they can be actually remedied in some way. So we're waiting to hear what you have to say about that. John, would you like to lead out there? SPEAKER C Yes. And the story I want to talk about today helps illustrate several different ways the brain can be compromised by our health habits. This lady was a longtime worker at one facility. She was well liked. People thought she was great. When she came around time for retirement, they wanted to send her off with a huge party. And so, you know how at parties they bring some of the worst foods on the planet, and so they lavished her with some of the richest foods. And this wasn't her usual diet. She was a very healthy person and usually stayed away from this kind of thing. But she sort of had the thought, well, just this once, it's my retirement, I'll just indulge and everybody wants me too. And they've been so kind to bring all this stuff. And so she ate quite a bit of this food and went home after the festivities. And the next morning, she woke up unable to smile, with half of her face, unable to move half of her body. She had had a stroke. SPEAKER B My goodness. So just living it up and having some party food, a lot of party food, that's a bit scary, john definitely is a bit scary. So what kinds of things might she have been having? We're wanting to get down to what it know or the things that might have been specifically responsible. SPEAKER C What set her up for? SPEAKER B Yes. Yes. I'd like to know too. SPEAKER C Yeah, we all better avoid this. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER C And so there's this brain requirement for lots of blood. Your brain uses 40% of the blood coming out of your heart, at least, and what you need to have is good blood flow to every part of the brain. SPEAKER B Right. SPEAKER C But there's several things that can compromise the blood flow. A stroke is often a drop in blood flow to a part of the brain, dropping so low that the cells can no longer stay alive. They literally die. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER C Dead parts of the brain is basically the definition of a stroke. And so the first thing that can do it is plaque. We often think about plaque in the heart, plaque that keeps the blood from flowing to the heart muscle. But this plaque that's in the heart can be anywhere in the body. Can be in the kidneys, the legs, the arms. It can be in the brain. SPEAKER B No big surprise there when you think about it, because if plaque can narrow the big vessels, the arteries, and the same blood flows through the little tiny vessels, no big surprise that they should also be affected. Really? SPEAKER C Yes. Vascular disease is a systemic disease. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER C And so studies of people with plaque in their heart show that if the plaque is building up to 80, 99%, they start having angina heaviness in the chest. SPEAKER A Okay. SPEAKER C But it's interesting that on a heart monitor test, where we put the little stickers all over your chest and look at the screen on the wall, we cannot begin to detect if you have any blockage whatsoever until the blockage reaches nearly 70%. SPEAKER B Oh. SPEAKER C Only way we can figure it out if it's less than 70% would be through invasive techniques like catheterization. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B That's not a good plan. Is that can cause damage of its. SPEAKER C Own, I believe it sure can. Angiography. SPEAKER B And it's expensive. SPEAKER C And it's expensive. So you really can't tell, even on a treadmill test at 70%, if you have heart blockage, which might make you think, okay, I got quite a bit of reserve. I can block up to 70% without knowing it. Well, that's the heart. But let's talk about the brain. Studies of the brain and the blood vessels that feed, particularly the frontal lobes of the brain, show that if the arteries get blocked just 20%, the patient has changes on a mental status exam. In other words, just the doctor questioning the patient can tell there's something different here. SPEAKER B Okay. SPEAKER A So it prevents their ability for the brain to actually function mentally, which brings down their mental performance, basically, doesn't it? SPEAKER C That's right. That's right. SPEAKER B So before we get Alzheimer's or have a stroke, we actually have impaired brain function. That's what you're saying at 20%. SPEAKER C At 20% plaque. And so that's a huge difference between not being able to detect until it's 70% and being able to detect something at 20%. SPEAKER B And that just impacts on the quality of life and work performance and relationships, all sorts of impact, doesn't it? SPEAKER A And it's interesting because at that point, if mental performance goes down, people often suspect something like Alzheimer's. But in actual fact, when that happens, it can lead to a stroke, but it's still affecting their mental performance. And I do get say, women who come to me and say, oh, my husband, there's something wrong, he just doesn't remember things as easily. And that but it can be this problem. It doesn't necessarily have to be a. SPEAKER B Dementia hasn't reached that stage just yet, but the signs are there just the same. So that would be like an early warning sign if something is really wrong. SPEAKER C And you can be sure if you have plaque in the heart, you'll have it in your brain. It's everywhere. SPEAKER B Okay? SPEAKER C And so this is a big issue. So here we have a lady who's elderly. I mean, I say elderly, she's a retirement age, and she may already have plaque in her brain, setting herself up for a lower threshold to having an ischemic event or no blood flowing to a certain part of her brain. And so then the next part of the equation is this. You go to the party and you eat foods such as cake with frosting. What's frosting? Sugar and oil or sugar and lard or sugar and shortening. That's hydrogenated fats. When you eat that stuff, the fat in the product goes into bloodstream. It causes all the little red blood cells to stick together, and it lowers the oxygen. In one study, after one high fat meal, within 6 hours, the oxygen on the brain dropped below 70%, and it didn't return to normal for three whole days. That's three days without your brain. SPEAKER B I don't think I could last quite that long without my brain. So say that again, how much? One high fat meal. SPEAKER C One high fat meal in this study decreased the oxygen on the brain at 6 hours below 70%. You'd like the oxygen on your brain to be somewhere around 95% in order. SPEAKER A To be to function well, yes. SPEAKER B And then that lasted for three days. SPEAKER C And it didn't return to normal for three whole days. SPEAKER B And then if you have high fat. SPEAKER C Meals routinely, yeah, some people eat another high fat meal the next day and another high fat meal the next day. And some people have never had a. SPEAKER A Fully functioning brain, and they just accept it because that's what it is. That's what they've lived with. And they just wonder, oh, I'm not with it, or they make reason or excuses why, but it's actually the diet that is causing it. SPEAKER C That's correct. SPEAKER B So is fat the big villain in this particular case? SPEAKER C In this case, fat certainly plays a major role. But it's also true any refined foods tend to cause little red blood cells to stick together and lower oxygenation. So the sugar would also play a role as well in contributing to her brain dysfunction. So here we have what we're assuming is a lady who probably already had plaque in her brain already compromising blood flow. And then on top of that, she adds a high fat meal, which compromises oxygenation of whatever blood is flowing further, and you get below the level of survivability and part of the brain dies. And so one high fat meal, one party. Well, I'll just go off my diet once, I'll just splurge this once. And you've compromised yourself. She spent the rest of her retirement being cared for by others. SPEAKER A The sad part is, nowadays they know with strokes there's a lot you can do to get the brain to pick up and to actually correct the problem, which is some of the work I do. SPEAKER B Yes, and we need to come to that, but I'm just intrigued about some other villains that you've got. So what else might have been at the party besides the high fat, the high sugar? And that's typical party food, isn't it? High fat, high sugar, high salt going that's right. SPEAKER C And another thing that will affect the brain, so we said that at 20% blockage you could detect it on a mental status exam. There are certain vasoactive substances in certain foods that will compromise blood flow to the brain. One of those is caffeine, found in colas, found in chocolate, found in different types of drinks people use, like coffee. And so here we have an individual who might have had chocolate as a main part of chocolate cake. SPEAKER B Chocolate cake with chocolate icing or frosting. SPEAKER C Chocolate ice cream, whatever. And so chocolate. So for somebody who drinks one cup of coffee, the blood flow is shut down to the brain, especially the frontal lobes, by 30%. SPEAKER B So what percentage are we down to now? We're down 20 with the oxygen and another 30 with the caffeine. Not looking very good, is it? SPEAKER C Not looking too good. And what happens when the blood gets shut down to your frontal lobes? Your frontal lobes are where you do your higher thinking. SPEAKER A It's where you make decisions, where your intelligence is. SPEAKER C Yes. And how you know the difference between right and wrong. SPEAKER B So that would also mean when you're offered the next piece of chocolate cake, whatever it is, take it less, more likely to have maybe more of the same. SPEAKER C It's a little like drinking alcohol. The next drink is easier because your inhibitions are down further. You've lost more control of yourself. SPEAKER A It's highly likely she probably had a glass of wine as well. Who knows? SPEAKER C Who knows? Yes. And so here we have a lady who might have had some caffeine. It's also true if somebody drinks one cup of coffee, they're more likely to share secrets they'd otherwise keep confidential. SPEAKER A Bee inhibits. So does alcohol. SPEAKER B I actually didn't realize that about caffeine. We know about alcohol. SPEAKER C So that's why we're going to take you out to coffee. SPEAKER A Cake and coffee is common denominator. SPEAKER B Okay, let's go to the coffee shop and have a cake. They do, they have cake and coffee, don't they? SPEAKER A Double whammy. SPEAKER B So it's not just the business lunch, it's the cake and coffee that can get you what you want. Very interesting. SPEAKER C So compromised brain function is what we're talking about here. Another thing that affects the brain, affects function, affects whether or not you have a stroke, is the inflammation level of the brain. And for inflammation, the things that raise the inflammation in the brain are any foods that are created through rotting, spoiling, fermenting, aging. SPEAKER B Rotting, spoiling, fermenting, aging. SPEAKER C And these are foods that cheese, I mean, parties often have cheese, cheese chunks with a little fork in it, whatever. Wine, as you mentioned, anything with vinegar, salad dressings, ketchup, mayonnaise, vinegar is definitely going to be an inflammatory agent. Soy sauce. Chocolate itself is a fermented product. So is coffee. Vanilla, there's a lot of things that are not fresh by the time you get them. In fact, vanilla has been aged or rotted for like nine months before they get that flavor that you think you like so well. SPEAKER A Oh, that's interesting. Is that the pure vanilla? SPEAKER B Is that the pure vanilla, or is that the imitation? SPEAKER C The imitation would not have the fermentation. It's merely a chemical product from the laboratory. SPEAKER B Well, thank you for that. I've been buying pure vanilla, thinking it was a great thing to do, and you're telling me it's fermented? SPEAKER C Definitely fermented, definitely aged, definitely full of and what happens is when the little yeasts and the microbes eat on it, it produces toxins, they can be aflatoxins, they can be excitotoxins, they can be merely false neurotransmitters. And some of these false neurotransmitters are like Tyramine. For somebody suffering from a migraine headache, they know to stay away from cheese and wine. The reason is tyramine. But what does Tyramine do? It causes a clamping down of the blood vessels in the brain, just like the caffeine. SPEAKER B Wow. Jenny, have you got some good take? SPEAKER A This is all the bad news on really good news. SPEAKER B Yeah. Let's just have a little chat about how we might work that you one. SPEAKER A Of the things I do is see people with strokes, and as a health psychologist, I certainly help them to change things. But I find mentally and emotionally to have a stroke is very stressful and often their self worth and self esteem goes down. They can get very depressed and even anxious that it's going to happen again. And it's also about survival. So there's a lot I help them to work through. But one of the things that in the area that we work with as a psychologist is the fact that the brain can grow and change. SPEAKER B Now, that's very refreshing because we all. SPEAKER A Have an amazing brain. Yes, God has given us this amazing brain that can. SPEAKER B And this is actually good news for someone who might have already had a stroke. And so you're saying that there can be a good recovery? SPEAKER A Well, what I do is it can be. And there are people who've fully recovered from strokes, and this is where there's a lot people can do to keep their mind active. Like, certainly what we're hearing is a dietetic side of nutrition and health and what's good for us and not. But what I do is help people to keep their brain alive, literally, is to use it. It's a use it or lose it principle. And there was a very good example of what we're talking about here. A man by the name of Pedro, and he was 65 years old, and he actually had a major stroke and that left him inability to speak. It paralyzed half of his body. He couldn't walk or speak. They put him through a rehab program and at the end of that they said, well, nothing will fix this, you're incurable. And they sent him home. And his son didn't accept that. So he came to live with his father. And he first of all got him on his flat on the floor and he got him to start to move his legs and he would help him do the movement to get the muscles going. SPEAKER B What a blessing to have a son who cares about you enough to help you. Especially when he'd been told that really there's no hope. Because this would have taken, probably taken a while for him to do. SPEAKER A Well, it did. It was twelve months. Some work with him in recovery, but initially he got him to crawl and then he would get him to stand up against a wall and to get mobility. And he also used children's games to stimulate brain function. SPEAKER B What sort of children's game? SPEAKER A Well, he didn't say, I'm not sure. But when you look at children's games, probably board games and things that stimulate brain function, that get them to think, but in simple terms to start it's like starting back at kindergarten, isn't it? That's what he did. But because he had already learned all these things, his brain grew very quickly. And by growth I mean by what we call neuroplasticity. And the brain has the capacity to reproduce trillions of cells when it's stimulated. So getting him to do these things stimulated major brain growth. And then the other amazing thing that is like a miracle in the brain, that the brain can actually change the wiring. And even though the stroke destroys part of the tissues in the brain where that ability to speak no longer exists, it's the speech center. The brain can actually recreate a new speech center. SPEAKER B Oh, isn't that incredible? SPEAKER A And what it does with the stimulation, it starts to wire that in. Because he could already speak, the brain can reproduce it. So within twelve months he then got onto a computer and then he was walking and he did a virtually full recovery. And he had twelve good years where he would go hiking in the mountains and he had time with his grandchildren, his family, and back in the garden, highly active man could go back to writing and using his computer, and mentally good. Mentally very, very good. And after twelve years he actually had a heart attack and he was actually out hiking, apparently, when he had this heart attack and died. And they did an autopsy, and they found that from what they call the cerebral cortex, which is the brain through to his spine and down his spine, there was catastrophic damage that was still evident from the stroke. But what the brain had done was put in new wiring and connections, and the nervous system had readjusted to pick up that functioning again, but the actual physical damage was still evident as an autopsy. SPEAKER B Isn't that amazing? SPEAKER A We are a miracle when we look at what we can do. SPEAKER B But I just got to say, for people tuning in, don't just think because of what Jenny just said and it can be fixed that it gives you any reason not to take notice of what Dr. Clark's been telling you. SPEAKER A Don't want to get to that point where I have to fix it. SPEAKER B Yeah. Don't want to get to that point at all. No. I'm sure you're not really thinking that. Was there anything else that Dr. John that contributes to these problems? Not just Alzheimer's and stroke, but just the brain fog and all that? SPEAKER C One of the things that will create more inflammation in the brain is having any kind of oxidized oils in the diet. This would be any oils that have been heat treated. Now, you might wonder what I'm talking about here, and one of the ways that people heat treat their oils is they fry things. SPEAKER B Oh, yes. SPEAKER C Anytime you heat up oils, they deteriorate, especially if they're in the presence of oxygen. And when you get oxidized oils in the body, then those oxidized oils cause damage to cells, causes damage to protein. That protein gets messed up, and it ends up in the brain as sludge. And when we go testing for Alzheimer's, we go looking for this Sludge, and we call it amyloid, and we discover that the patient has Alzheimer's. But really, was the Sludge just another evidence that you had oxidized oils along with Alzheimer's? Really, what's happening here is you end up oxidizing your brain capacity through these free radicals. That's what they are free radicals that were made in your frying pan in your kitchen. So if you want to make free radicals, just take the best cold pressed, cold processed olive oil, put it in a frying pan, heat it up, and then you have a toxic potion that can help you achieve Alzheimer's in a short amount of time. SPEAKER B So any oil, any refined oil or fat can be oxidized just by frying. SPEAKER C Refined oils or even unrefined oils. They don't handle heat well, and so you're better off not heating oils, especially if you want to avoid Alzheimer's. SPEAKER B So, fast foods are not really a. SPEAKER C Good idea, as they're made in most places. They do contain high amounts of oil. Now, on the other hand, when we're talking here about neuroplasticity and recreating the brain, you want to support the brain with a good nutritional approach. And first of all, we said blood flow is the problem, and so you want to improve blood flow. And so if you're going to improve blood flow, you want to get fresh oils from their source. Eat nuts and seeds, for example. Walnuts are very good at helping blood flow through the omega three S flax seed, a similar mechanism. And so eating good food in that way, avocados, when you going to say. SPEAKER A Avocados, they're brilliant for that. SPEAKER C And olives. And so you're looking at good sources of fats, there'll be a benefit. But I'm not saying that fats are the ants that you want to stock up too much on fats. It's better not to eat more than 10% of your diet as nuts, for example. And so the other thing is that helps blood flow are foods that are high in water and high in vitamin C and vitamin E. So what foods. SPEAKER B Are high in water most? SPEAKER C Your fruit is at least 93% to 98% water. SPEAKER B Okay. SPEAKER C And so some of the best fruits for this would be, like, pineapple, because it's high in vitamin C. It's also got bromalain, which helps inflammation and blood flow. Grapefruit help blood flow, particularly to the brain. It makes the blood more slippery, if you please. SPEAKER A I love grapefruit berries. SPEAKER B That makes one of us. I find them a bit challenging. Is there anything equivalent to grapefruit in the citrus? SPEAKER C Lemon pomelos. SPEAKER B All right. SPEAKER C And so the grapefruit is sort of unique. It's got some special properties. But a garlic is good for keeping the blood flow. So while Jenny's eating her grapefruit, you can eat your garlic. SPEAKER B Yes. So garlic will help to keep stroke away and keep your friends away. SPEAKER C Helps with social distancing. You don't spread disease. SPEAKER B It's absolutely delicious. I love garlic. Yeah. SPEAKER A I've got an interesting story about a friend of mine whose husband's got Alzheimer's, and they were advised to stimulate brain function. This comes back to the neuroplasticity again, and they can afford to do this, but they used to do a lot of traveling, so they decided they would do a lot of traveling, but do it on ships because it's a confined space, it's a manageable chunk. And that has really helped him a lot. And it's interesting because even though certain things in his memory are disappearing, he still can use the short term memory in, like in looking at photos. And the stimulation of that has stimulated new brain growth. So there's a lot you can do, even with Alzheimer's, to help to slow it down if it is a disease that's taking over and to actually keep the brain more alive instead of it deteriorating so quickly. SPEAKER B And what about exercise? Does that play? Silly question. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER A Thanks for asking for oxygen in the brain. SPEAKER C The oxygenation of the brain and a healthy body supports a healthy brain. And so physical activity, especially getting out and getting the heart pumping, is going to have the effect to help more blood flow to the brain. It opens up the blood vessels and you want to make sure you're well hydrated for that as well. And so physical activity also puts the brain to work at coordinating your muscles. So you're stimulating that part of your brain. Certainly important. Also, exercise mentally. And so people wanting to recover from a stroke or from any of this Alzheimer's or degenerative brain disease, they need to use the brain. If you don't use it, you lose it. SPEAKER B That's what you were just saying, Jenny, and this is much of what you do, isn't it? SPEAKER A So I help motivate people, get them to set realistic goals, small goals, and it will be. This is why I've studied lifestyle and the nutritional medicine side of it, because it's a whole package. SPEAKER B It's a package, yeah. SPEAKER A And so I do a lot of doing the whole package with people, as well as getting them to use their mind and to learn to think the right way and to change their old beliefs and values that are keeping them stuck in this way of life. Because it's a lot to give up a lifestyle where you've had all this junk food. SPEAKER B Oh, it is. SPEAKER A Most people cannot just go and, well, that's it. I'll change overnight. Very rare. You have to help them and motivate them and help them to set the goals and to try new foods and to look at an area, like a chunk or an area they can change with exercise. It might be and we talked a bit about this before, it might be just halfway around the block or out to the front and around the garden, and then they'll start to be stimulated and motivated to do more. So I'm doing that. SPEAKER B Yeah. On that exercise question, I remember reading a study a while ago where they had two groups of people and they were trying to who had Alzheimer's and they were trying to improve their communication skills. So one group, they didn't change it didn't change anything. And the other group, they put them on an exercise program and they had a 40% increase wow. In communication skills. The other group actually was given communication counseling and assistance with that, but the ones who just did the exercise had a 40% increase. So that's incredible, isn't it? And that helps us not to get it as well. So these have been wonderful things that. SPEAKER C You'Ve shared, john, have you got we had some friends who are fairly health conscious and their mother was getting older. She was widowed, she was living down in Florida. She's eating on her own, choosing foods that are easy to grab at the grocery store, pre prepared, and she developed Alzheimer's. And so since she wasn't able to take care of herself down in Florida, they moved her up with them in Minnesota, put her on their good lifestyle and good diet and homemade foods she totally cleared up. Her Alzheimer's totally disappeared. She was back to normal. SPEAKER A I believe that can happen. SPEAKER B Do you know the father of medicine, as he's often called hippocrates? A few hundred years before BC, he said, Let food be your medicine. You can probably finish that and medicine be your food. Well, that's all we have for today, what we've got time for. But you can view our programs on demand by visiting our website, threeABN australia.org Au, and just click on the watch button. And you can also download our fact sheets. And if you have a health concern that you'd like to discuss with Dr. John Clark or to Jenifer, send it to [email protected] . And please join us next time for more secrets of healthy living.