The video emphasizes the significance of brain fats, particularly Omega-3 and DHA, in maintaining brain structure and function. It underscores the necessity of sourcing these fats from fish oil supplements or vegan substitutes. The importance of phospholipids, found in seafood and eggs, for binding Omega-3 fats in the brain is highlighted. The video also explains the role of vitamin D in cognitive decline and recommends its supplementation during winter. The key takeaway is to increase the intake of these brain fats for optimal brain health and to lower the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s.
The 1st Horseman: Healthy Fats for the Brain
Transcript
There are four horsemen of the mental health apocalypse. Number one is brain fats. Your brain is literally made out of fat. The dry weight of the brain is 60% fat. And here’s an amazing thing. Those brain cells neurons that the membrane through each all your talking and perceiving and seeing and hearing happens is principally made of only two types of fats. And this is true for every brain of every single animal, every single brain of every single animal. Number one is Omega-3, DHA. When you buy a fish oil supplement, it says Omega-3 DHA and E-P-A-E-P-A is not part of the structure of the brain, but it can turn into D-H-A-D-H-A is so important. It actually stands for Dosa hexa noic acid, DHA. The hex means six. There are six double bonds. It actually is able to turn solar energy into electricity. It’s an extraordinary thing. It’s literally how we see. It’s literally how we think. And your level of Omega-3 from a simple prick blood test will tell me, number one, your future risk for dementia. Number two, your cognitive ability right now. And number three, literally how much brain you have. It’s extraordinarily important. So obviously eating seafood and it’s the oily fish, by the way. Uh, that’s what’s gonna give you the Omega-3 DHA, and we say smash it. S for salmon, mackerel vis sardines. Herrings. It’s the fish that eat fish that you want to eat. Now if you happen to be vegan, you can get a type of Omega-3 fat called alpha linolenic acid or a LA in walnuts, in cheer in flax. It’s good for you, but not a lot converts through to DHA. So I would still recommend that you supplement Omega-3 DHA, which can be derived from algae. So you’ll find a vegan DHA supplement in the health stores. That’s Omega-3. Now, those omega threes have to bind to something called a phospholipid, which is also rich in seafood and very rich in eggs. It’s in the yolk of the egg. If you’re vegan, by the way, lesser than capsules or granules, provide a source of phospholipids. And they’re very important. One of the main ones is called phosphatidylcholine. There’s another called phosphatidyl seine. And if you feed pregnant women extra choline during their pregnancy by the age of three months and onwards, you can measure faster thinking, faster processing of information, basically increased intelligence in their children. The third essential brain fat is vitamin D. And if your level of vitamin D is low, your risk of cognitive decline is 19 times higher. And if your vitamin D level is high, your risk of Alzheimer’s is five times lower. And in studies of people who supplement vitamin D, they have a third less risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s. And I think by now we all know that even though there is vitamin D in fish, you cannot get enough in the winter because most of the vitamin D that we take in is made in the skin and the presence of sunlight. And effectively, from October to March, you have got to supplement vitamin D at least a thousand IUs. I take 3000 IUs a day in effect. The minute your shadow is longer than the height, the length of your body, you do not have enough direct sunlight to make vitamin D. So those are the three essential brain fats, Omega-3, phospholipids, vitamin D. And if you maximize your intake of these both from food and from supplements, you’ve made a major step forward in upgrading your brain and making sure you don’t get any dementia later in life.