0:00

Coming up on this episode of The

0:02

Doctor's Pharmacy. Now the higher adherence to

0:04

the diet was correlated with a 55%

0:06

lower risk of depression symptoms. Increased

0:09

fish intake was linked to a 44%

0:11

reduced risk of depression

0:13

overall and a 56% reduction in women. It

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seems that every day more and more patients come

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And now, let's get back to

2:02

this week's episode of the doctor's

2:04

pharmacy. Now

2:11

before we jump into today's episode, I'd like

2:13

to note that while I wish I could

2:15

help everyone by my personal practice, there's simply

2:17

not enough time for me to do this

2:19

at scale. And that's why I've

2:22

been busy building several passion projects to help you better

2:24

understand, well, you. If

2:26

you're looking for data about your biology,

2:28

check out Function Health for real-time lab

2:31

insights. And if you're in

2:33

need of deepening your knowledge around your

2:35

health journey, well, check out my membership

2:37

community, Dr. Hyman Plus. And if you're

2:39

looking for curated, trusted supplements and health

2:41

products for your health journey, visit my

2:43

website, drhyman.com, for my website store and

2:45

a summary of my favorite and thoroughly

2:47

tested products. Welcome to the doctor's

2:50

pharmacy. I'm Dr. Mark Hyman, and this special

2:52

episode of Health Bites, our juicy little health

2:54

bites to help you live better, longer. Imagine

2:57

being able to enhance your mood, your

2:59

mental acuity, your overall cognitive function, just

3:02

by what you choose to put at the end of

3:04

your fork. You see, food is

3:07

not just sustenance or energy to fuel our

3:09

bodies. It's one of the most potent forms

3:11

of medicine that's available to us, literally medicine.

3:14

In today's episode, we're exploring the impact

3:16

of food, five specific foods. We call

3:18

them super foods, but really they're just

3:20

foods that help boost our

3:23

mental health, reverse brain

3:25

aging, and protect us from chronic,

3:27

ever more common, nourished end of

3:29

diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia and

3:32

Parkinson's. Unfortunately, the typical American diet,

3:34

which the vast majority of Americans

3:37

eat, is loaded

3:39

with sugars, starches, ultra-processed

3:41

food-like substances, science projects

3:43

basically, and inflammatory

3:45

fats, which can do the

3:48

exact opposite, drive inflammation that

3:50

harms our physical health and clouded our

3:52

brains, strips us of our

3:54

zest and vitality for life, and makes

3:56

us prone to sadness, anxiety, and depression.

3:58

It literally breaks our brains. and

8:00

herring. Now you might not like them

8:02

but they are the most nutritionally dense, the

8:04

lowest in toxins and the highest in omega-3

8:06

fats. Plus trout and oysters

8:09

are also great. Now why is fish

8:11

good for our brains? What does the

8:13

research actually say? Well a

8:15

new study published in the British Journal of Nutrition looked at

8:17

the diet of 798 adults aged 65 to 97 and they

8:19

looked at 102 item questionnaire using

8:26

the Center for Epidemology Studies Depression

8:29

Scale. Now participants were categorized

8:31

based on adherence to the Mediterranean diet.

8:33

Now we can argue what is a

8:35

Mediterranean diet? Is there a better diet

8:37

out there? But it's basically a whole

8:39

foods healthy diet right and it's not

8:41

and basically what is a Mediterranean diet?

8:43

It could be pizza and pasta that's

8:45

what we're talking about. We're talking about

8:47

whole foods right? Lots of veggies, fruit,

8:49

olive oil, nuts, seeds, fish, whole grains,

8:51

beans that's a Mediterranean diet. Now

8:53

the higher adherence to the diet was

8:56

correlated with a 55% lower risk

8:58

of depression symptoms. Increased

9:00

fish intake was linked to

9:02

a 44% reduced risk of depression overall and

9:04

a 56% reduction

9:07

in women. Now each

9:09

additional gram of fish per day

9:12

decreased a woman's depression

9:14

risk by 2% and three or

9:17

more servings of fresh fish a week reduced

9:19

depression by 62%. Now think of

9:21

that in the context of our mental health

9:23

crisis. I mean we're all taking Prozac and

9:25

being in therapy and doing all these things

9:27

but what if we just ate a can

9:29

of sardines three times a week? Right? You

9:32

might have no friends they might like how you smell but

9:35

maybe it won't be depressed. Now

9:38

I'm just kidding I love sardines and they're great and

9:40

they're delicious and I just came from Europe where they

9:42

have fresh sardines are so good. Now what

9:45

they found was interesting there was no effect with

9:47

canned tuna. Now tuna is also high in omega-3s

9:49

but it's also high in mercury which can actually

9:51

cause depression and it can be a

9:54

concern so I would stay away from those

9:56

big fish like tuna, swordfish, halibut and

9:59

so forth. memory

28:00

and cognition and pretty much everything your brain does. So

28:02

this concept is known as neuroplasticity. The idea

28:05

that our brains are plastic can have the

28:07

ability to grow and create new nerve connections

28:09

throughout our whole life into out of all

28:11

and right up into death. Really

28:13

important to understand your brains are not fixed so you need

28:15

to take care of your brain. We

28:17

all think, oh, we're going to take care of our heart, we're

28:19

going to eat better exercise. We have to learn how to take

28:22

care of our brains. And when you're buying eggs, look for the

28:24

following labels on poultry and eggs, enter grocery store or co-op, right?

28:26

It should say pasture raised. It

28:29

should be animal welfare proof, certified humane,

28:31

organic. But pasture raised is really

28:33

the best because organic could be feeding an organic corn

28:36

and it's not necessarily what you want your eggs

28:38

to be eating. So pasture raised is really the

28:40

best. There are even some companies that create scorecards

28:42

to rate different egg companies based on how they

28:44

treat their heads. You can eat

28:46

eggs for breakfast. My favorite way to have them

28:48

is to buy a jar of pre-made shaktruka, pour

28:50

in a cast iron pan, put three eggs in

28:53

it, throw in the oven until the eggs are

28:55

poached and yum. Now you can also make an

28:57

omelet or hard boiled egg as a snack to

28:59

take with you on the go. Those are easy. And

29:01

the last of the five foods we're going to talk

29:03

about today is blueberries. Now,

29:06

you might have heard a lot about blueberries, but we're going to talk a little

29:08

bit more about them. Now, why are blueberries good

29:10

for our brains? And I think blueberries, and it can be really

29:12

any dark, colorful berry,

29:15

which is risk in phytochemicals and

29:18

a set of compounds called proanthocyanidins, which

29:20

are found in dark berries, but blackberries,

29:22

blueberries, raspberries, all that's great. So

29:24

there are anti-inflammatory nutrients in them, and

29:27

they're an incredible source of polyphenols

29:29

or anthocyanins. Phytochemicals, they're

29:31

responsible for giving blueberries their blue

29:34

color, right? And they

29:36

also have flavonols, they have asperitrols, they

29:38

have vitamin C, they're high in fiber,

29:40

they're great for the microbiome, they increase

29:43

something called butyrate, which is an anti-inflammatory

29:45

postbiotic that's made by healthy bacteria and

29:47

you're feeding those. All

29:49

this does is help

29:52

fight no inflammation. And

29:54

it also suppresses the toxicity of

29:56

beta amyloid. So really important. to

32:00

your everyday life. Well, eat at least a serving

32:02

of blueberries every day. One cup.

32:04

Now, personally, I like to buy the

32:06

frozen wild blueberries because

32:09

they're the most nutrient dense. So you can have them in

32:11

your smoothie in the morning. You can sell them out and

32:13

just mix them in with yogurt or whatever, but

32:16

they're great and I encourage you to

32:18

eat that. I hope you enjoyed this

32:20

little summary of some of the five

32:22

most important foods you can use to

32:24

support your brain health, to take care

32:26

of your brain, to reduce brain inflammation,

32:28

to reduce cognitive decline and to help

32:30

your mood. Thanks

32:32

for listening today. If you love this podcast,

32:34

please share it with your friends and family.

32:37

Leave a comment on your own best practices

32:39

on how you upgrade your health and subscribe

32:41

wherever you get your podcasts. And follow me

32:43

on all social media channels at Dr. Mark

32:45

Hyman. And we'll see you next time

32:47

on The Doctors Pharmacy. For more information on

32:50

today's episode, please check out my new video

32:52

and audio podcast, Health Hacks. It

32:54

airs every Tuesday and includes a more

32:56

detailed breakdown of these Friday health bites

32:59

episodes. I'm always getting questions about my

33:01

favorite books, podcasts, gadgets, supplements, recipes, and

33:03

lots more. And now you can have

33:05

access to all of this information by

33:07

signing up for my free Mark's Pics

33:09

newsletter at drhyman.com/Mark's Pics. I promise I'll

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only email you once a week on

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address or send you anything else besides my

33:18

recommendations. These are the things that have helped

33:20

me on my health journey and I hope

33:22

they'll help you too. Again, that's drhyman.com/Mark's Pics.

33:25

Thank you again and we'll see you next

33:27

time. On The Doctors Pharmacy. This podcast is

33:29

separate from my clinical practice at the Ultra

33:32

Wellness Center and my work at Cleveland Clinic

33:34

and Function Health where I'm the chief medical

33:36

officer. This podcast represents my opinions and my

33:38

guest opinions and neither myself nor the podcast

33:41

endorse the views or statements of my guests.

33:43

This podcast is for educational purposes only. This

33:45

podcast is not a substitute for professional

33:47

care by a doctor or other qualified

33:49

medical professional. This podcast is provided on

33:51

the understanding that it does not constitute

33:53

medical or other professional advice or services.

33:55

If you're looking for your help in

33:57

your journey, seek out a qualified medical.

34:00

practitioner. You can come see us at the

34:02

Ultra Wellness Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. Just go

34:04

to ultrawellnesscenter.com. If you're looking for a functional

34:06

medicine practitioner near you, you can visit ifm.org

34:08

and search, find a practitioner database. It's important

34:11

that you have someone in your corner who

34:13

is trained, who's a licensed healthcare practitioner and

34:15

can help you make changes, especially when it

34:17

comes to your health. Keeping this podcast free

34:19

is part of my mission to bring practical

34:22

ways of improving health to the general public.

34:24

In keeping with that theme, I'd like to

34:26

express gratitude to the sponsors that made today's

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