00:00
Speaker 1
Each of us carries about half of 1% of our brain being plastic. Right now, that’s the size of a plastic dinner fork. This is analysis of the 17 top studies of these Alzheimer’s drugs. And it looked at two things, risk and benefit. And what they found was the risk was significant. More than 20% of people taking these drugs develop brain hemorrhaging and or brain swelling.

00:27
Speaker 2
Wow.

00:28
Speaker 1
10 Servings increases Alzheimer’s risk by 270%. And there is no treatment for it. Think about that.

00:37
Speaker 2
Is there no treatment for it because we’ve been looking at the wrong mechanism of action.

00:42
Speaker 1
Yes.

00:43
Speaker 2
The biggest myth about Alzheimer’s is that.

00:45
Speaker 1
We have treatments to cure it. We do not.

00:50
Speaker 3
What if everything you’ve been told about.

00:52
Speaker 2
Metabolism is wrong?

00:55
Speaker 3
What if your metabolism isn’t broken, it isn’t slow, and your age isn’t the real problem? For decades, we’ve been chasing smaller bodies, counting calories, punishing ourselves with cardio, living on salads. Meanwhile, the one thing that actually controls your metabolism is disappearing muscle. In my new book, the Metabolism Fix, I’ll show you why building muscle not.

01:20
Speaker 2
Starving yourself and is the fastest path to burning more fat, having more energy,.

01:25
Speaker 3
Aging powerfully, and getting your body back. Pre order today@metabolismfixbook.com and you’ll get every penny back. Seriously. You’ll receive a $29 gift card, the full price of the book, to be.

01:37
Speaker 2
Used on orders of $80 or more.

01:39
Speaker 3
At my store, plus exclusive bonuses worth over a hundred dollars. The book is free. The knowledge could change your life.

01:48
Speaker 2
Go now to metabolismfixbook.com hey, I’m JJ Virgin, PhD dropout. Sorry mom. Turned four time New York Times bestselling author.

02:02
Speaker 3
As a certified Nutrition specialist, Fitness hall.

02:05
Speaker 2
Of Famer and globally recognized leader in.

02:07
Speaker 3
Health, I’m driven to keep asking the.

02:10
Speaker 2
Tough questions and use my podcast to simplify the science of health and into.

02:14
Speaker 3
Actionable strategies that help you thrive.

02:17
Speaker 2
I’d also love to hear your thoughts on the show.

02:20
Speaker 3
And here’s the fun part. When you send me your review, I’ll reply to you using my on demand virtual me.

02:27
Speaker 2
That’s right. My team and I created a virtual.

02:29
Speaker 3
JJ packed with my books, speeches and.

02:31
Speaker 2
Wisdom so I can personally connect with you. Here’s how you do it.

02:36
Speaker 3
Subscribe and leave an honest review of the podcast. Take a screenshot of your review. Text it to 813-565-2627. That’s 813-565-2627.

02:53
Speaker 2
My virtual JJ will reply directly and Trust me, this will make your day. So subscribe now@subscribetoj.com and text me your review.

03:04
Speaker 3
Let’s keep thriving together.

03:09
Speaker 2
You know, there are certain people who.

03:10
Speaker 3
Completely change the way you think.

03:12
Speaker 2
And my guest today is one of those people for me. And if you’ve had any experience with him, I’m betting you too. Because over the years, My dear friend Dr. David Perlmutter has challenged conventional wisdom on everything from gluten to inflammation, metabolism, the gut, microbiome and brain health, all often years before the science has caught up. He’s a bit of a rebel. He’s a board certified neurologist, a six time New York Times bestselling author, and one of the world’s leading voices on the connection between brain, lifestyle and longevity.

03:46
Speaker 3
And now he’s back with a fascinating new book.

03:50
Speaker 2
I’ve got it right here, Brain Defenders. And I honestly think that this has the potential to change the conversation around Alzheimer’s disease. Once again.

03:59
Speaker 3
Instead of asking how do we treat dementia? David asks a much more powerful question. How do we protect the brain decades.

04:07
Speaker 2
Before symptoms ever appear? Now, if you’ve ever worried about memory, if you’ve ever walked into the bedroom wondering why you’re there, I know you have. I do it all the time. Cognitive decline or what the future holds as you age, Today’s conversation is one you don’t wanna miss. So, David, welcome back.

04:26
Speaker 1
JJ always great to see you.

04:28
Speaker 2
Now, you have been ahead of the curve for decades. And again, first it was gluten, there was grain brain, there’s a microbiome. Then uric acid, drop acid. And now you’re saying we’ve been asking the wrong question about Alzheimer’s. Are we on the verge of another paradigm shift here? Well, we are.

04:47
Speaker 1
And I think that the operating paradigm was really forced upon us and it was nothing more than a hypothesis, not really a paradigm. And the hypothesis as it relates to Alzheimer’s. And we’re going to talk about every neurodegenerative condition today? Well, we’ll touch upon what is upstream. But anyway, the operating hypothesis has been that it is somehow caused by the accumulation of a particular protein in the brain called beta amyloid. That was a hypothesis that was first put forth in the mid to late 1980s. And since then there have been developments in therapeutic arena, the pharmaceutical world. If that’s the cause of Alzheimer’s, we’ll develop drugs to get rid of that. Beta amyloid, Problem solved. And these drugs actually that target beta amyloid were FDA approved through some very interesting channels. Nonetheless, they were approved. And do they get rid of beta amyloid?

05:46
Speaker 1
You bet. They are very effective. These drugs that are even currently being prescribed for Alzheimer’s disease, they do get rid of beta amyloid. If beta amyloid were the cause of Alzheimer’s, these drugs would be really effective. And the reality is they aren’t. In fact, they don’t work. And it’s not just JJ that your guest on the show today is telling you that, you know, Dr. Perlmutter has yet another idea. A Cochrane analysis was published a couple of months ago. That is really what we would all consider to be the gold standard way of looking at a medical question. The question that this Cochrane analysis wanted to tackle was do the drugs that target beta amyloid treat Alzheimer’s disease? The answer was no.

06:35
Speaker 1
So this is analysis of the 17 top studies of these Alzheimer’s, so called Alzheimer’s drugs, encompassing more than 20,000 individuals, each of whom was studied for around 18 months. And it looked at two things, risk and benefit. What’s the risk and do they work? And what they found was the risk was significant, more than significant. Some people die on these drugs. That more than 20% of people, more than a fifth of the people taking these drugs develop brain hemorrhaging and or brain swelling. That’s the risk.

07:11
Speaker 2
Wow.

07:12
Speaker 1
Yeah. And the commentary that we’re seeing from the manufacturers of these medications that, well, we really don’t know if this is a threat to the brain or not. And you know, between us, I kind of think that bleeding in your brain is not necessarily a good thing. Leave it at that. But what’s the benefit? And the study, the Cochrane analysis demonstrated that the drugs basically don’t work. Their term was their effectiveness in slowing the rate of decline of Alzheimer’s. Is their word, trivial? That’s the state of the art from a pharmaceutical perspective in terms of treating this disease now affecting some 7.6 million Americans. So we can do better. And I think we’re really called upon to ask, well, what is upstream of all of these issues of the declining brain? The inflammation in the brain, the accumulation of this beta amyloid.

08:07
Speaker 1
And what we now recognize is that it is an activation of the brain’s immune system. That is the idea behind my new book, Brain Defenders, that our brain’s immune system wants to be supportive and loving and nurturing, allowing neurons to grow, allowing synapses, connections between the neurons to form and be maintained, keeping that very valuable blood brain barrier intact. That’s what the immune system does on a good day when the Immune system is getting the right signals. When the immune system gets the wrong signals, then it shifts to being what I call the evil twin. Not a brain defender anymore, but a brain destroyer. And as such, it digests away our vital synapses, the connections between neurons.

08:55
Speaker 1
It creates an inflammatory environment whereby new neurons don’t grow as readily and even threatens what the blood brain barrier is supposed to do, I. E. Keep the brain screened from things that can exist in the blood and the signals. This is the take home message, bullet point number one. The signals that this immune system relies upon to determine whether it’s friend or foe, M2 or M1. In scientific language, those signals we determine based upon our lifestyle choices, things that JJ Virgin’s been teaching us for so many years. Do the right thing as it relates to the brain. All of those things that nurture the microbiome, that keep our blood sugars intact, that give us, allow us to grow more muscle, because that’s good for our microglial cells, our brain’s immune cells. All of these things influence our brain’s destiny.

09:54
Speaker 1
So in a very real sense, everything you’ve been talking about for years is absolutely tonic for the brain through the lens of the brain’s immune system.

10:06
Speaker 2
So then it makes sense, because, you know, we tend to think we get worried about Alzheimer’s when we walk into the bedroom and forget why we’re there, or we can’t remember someone’s names. But you’re saying in your book that this is starting decades earlier, and I’m assuming a lot of that is sending the wrong signals. How is this happening? Is it starting, what, 20 years earlier, 30 years earlier? What’s going on here?

10:35
Speaker 1
I think the narrative for me is we’ve got to pay attention to the 30 and 40 year olds, I. E. They need to be paying attention to what we’re talking about right now. Because that is when the seeds of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative conditions are sown, not when you’re walking into the room and forgetting why and forgetting WI fi codes and grandchildren’s names. At that point, this disease is well on its way and there’s trouble in the near term. So we’ve really got to emphasize getting people back intact, metabolically in their 30s and 40s. And again, that’s the narrative that I’m using. But the reality is, when you think about it, we need to be targeting adolescents, we need to be targeting teenagers, we need to be targeting newborns. Think about it.

11:21
Speaker 1
Because we need to be targeting mothers prior to birth, when they are gestating a newborn, a child, a fetus. Because all of those signals are very important in setting up that individual’s metabolism for later in life. Even how a child is born via cesarean section versus vaginal delivery has a role to play in this discussion that we are having today. Who knew? But I think, you know, the biggest traction is going to be to tell those 30 and 40 year olds. Yeah, you know, you might look okay right now when you look in the mirror, but metabolically, there are some things already established in your body that you need to be paying attention to right now because you will blink your eyes and you will be my age before you know it.

12:10
Speaker 1
And wishing that you had taken better care of yourself, wishing that you had really heard this message and made it an action plan. And that’s what this new book is all about. It’s the action plan to keep that immune system on your side. These cells want to do everything they can to nurture a wonderful brain. But when again, we choose to signal them in the wrong way, via increasing inflammation, via changes in our microbiome, or having elevated blood sugar, loss of insulin, functionality, trauma, all of these things that influence these microglial cells, the brain immune cells, they start doing things to the brain that are not salubrious, that are not paving the way for brain health in decades, as you well characterized.

12:59
Speaker 2
So for the person listening to this podcast, because the title is well beyond 40, who is thinking, well, shoot, I’m not 30 or 40, I’m 50, 60 or 70. And is it too late for me?

13:13
Speaker 1
No. And in fact, let’s play on your title a little bit. Well beyond 40. Okay. If you want to be well beyond 40. And you know, I’m 31 years beyond 40. If you want to be well Beyond 40, you’ve got to make the changes when you’re 40 and not wait till you’re 60 and wait till you’re 70. Because a lot of, there’s a lot that passes under the bridge because between being 30 and being 71, as it is in my case, that you know, that are to some degree not as easily reversed. So it’s really all about what you’ve been talking about. And, you know, your new book, for example, talks about this fundamental importance of not becoming sarcopenic. What does that mean? Not losing muscle mass.

14:00
Speaker 1
Who knew that muscles create chemicals like an endocrine gland, which they are, that go throughout the body to regulate our metabolism, to regulate brain metabolism and to nurture the growth of new brain cells just Based upon chemicals that our muscles produce. If you want more of those chemicals, you need bigger muscles. And I’m not talking about, you know, really pumping up, but I’m at least talking about stemming the tide of muscle wasting that is seemingly a natural occurrence as we age. And, you know, that’s what your messaging has been for so long. How do we maintain muscle mass and how do we harvest what those muscles are trying to send to our bodies to keep our metabolism on track? It matters for health throughout the body, for cardiovascular health, for insulin health, for glucose regulation. Of course it does.

14:55
Speaker 1
We can unpack how that works and why that works, but it matters for brain health. Physical exercise and maintaining muscle mass are absolutely some of the important pillars for paving the way for brain health as we age. So in a very real sense, this is messaging to allow you to be the architect of your brain’s destiny by doing these things right now. And yes, we’re targeting the 30, 40 and 50 year olds, that’s true. But by no means are the 60, 70 and 80 year olds out of this conversation because we can maintain and even improve brain function. That’s been demonstrated. Several studies that we’ll talk about later have shown that, you know, in people who would otherwise have been declining now in their mid-60s and early 70s with metabolic issues, can be brought back online and maintain and even improve brain function.

15:52
Speaker 1
So it’s a very exciting time and again to recognize that the brain’s immune cells are doing the job. You know, we normally associate immunity. Well, I want to have a strong immune system such that the next time I get a cold or the flu or Covid or whatever it may be, that strong immune system is going to do its job and then back off. You know, the fireman will go back to the firehouse because the job is completed. We now look upon the immune system differently that the immune system is involved in. Certainly responding to those challenges. I just elucidated, but also doing maintenance work. And that’s what the brain microglial cells are doing. They’re maintaining and nurturing these vital connections, the synapses, one neuron to the next.

16:37
Speaker 1
Because fundamentally, what makes a good brain go bad in Alzheimer’s is not the accumulation of this beta amyloid. May I use the word silly? That’s silly and unfounded. But what makes the good brain go bad is the loss of synapses, the loss of connectivity at a cellular level, the loss of connectivity of that individual to himself or herself, the loss of connectivity to their friends and loved ones, and their loss of connectivity to the entire environment around them. So loss of connection is so fundamental as a process through many lenses that I just described, all mediated by the function of our brain’s immune system, over which we have control.

17:23
Speaker 2
So it’s interesting because I really don’t think there’s been much talk out there about the brain immune system. There’s talk about neurons, but there’s really. People are not talking about microglia, and they’re certainly. I mean, I don’t know how we would really even look at these. Like, is there any type of way to know if your brain immune system immune cells are functioning well, or are we looking at the effects that would be happening in your body from them functioning?

17:50
Speaker 1
Absolutely. It’s a terrific question, jj. And you can tell if your brain’s immune cells are either working for you or against you based on some very sophisticated tests, like putting a tape measure around your belly, like measuring your fasting blood sugar and fasting insulin level. You’re your A1C looking at your blood pressure. And unfortunately, looking at your age. Age happens to be a pretty powerful metric as it relates to determining whether your microglial cells are supportive or destructive. But let me say that it is not chronological age anymore. It is biological age. Whoa. That opens the door to a lot of things that you and I know about and that we’ve been messaging about. How do we slow that biological aging? So many of the things that we talk about.

18:42
Speaker 1
Exercise, caloric restriction from time to time, fasting, more of a ketogenic diet, time restricted, eating, various nutritional supplements, things, you know, very novel ideas in terms of superfoods like this Himalayan tartary buckwheat that we’ve talked about a lot. Various things are now demonstrated to slow the aging clock, and we can have that tested. There are various ways that we can have our blood work evaluated to determine what is our biological age. And to answer your question, that is a powerful way to get an indication as to the activation of your immune cells Away from being supportive to being destructive. There are obviously many more, much more sophisticated tests that are out there. One interesting research tool is called a TSPO scan. TSPO is a marker on the surface of the activated destructive microglial brain immune cells.

19:41
Speaker 1
And we can scan for that now using a type of pet scan in living humans. And interestingly, we see that this TSPO scan is positive, in other words, showing that these microglial cells are activated in their threatening configuration. Of course, we see it in Alzheimer’s, in Parkinson’s, in ms, in long Covid in PTSD and even in major depressive disorder. So it means then that this activation of the brain’s immune cells. Did I say, over which we have control a few times, Is something that is at play across a very wide spectrum of issues that affect the brain. Even neurodevelopmental issues like autism spectrum disorder demonstrate activation of these microglial cells.

20:31
Speaker 1
So once we embrace how pervasive this microglial activation is in the brain health arena and then the idea that we can change that activation based on some things we’ve mentioned and some things we will mention, it really is a new paradigm. It really is an incredibly valuable lens through which we can look to validate all of these interventions that we’ve already been talking about. I mean, all of your messaging over years. For me, the idea that we Talked about in 2013 in Grain Brain, that, you know, these processed carbohydrates, for example, are threatening your brain’s future. We didn’t have the term ultra processed foods back then, but now, you know, that’s part of the nomenclature everybody’s throwing, kicking that term around. Right. Well, you know, we knew that was threatening to the brain.

21:25
Speaker 1
And just last year in the journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s, what a name for a journal, was a study published that followed 11 people for 12.7 years looking at them cognitively and asking them to keep a food frequency diary, I. E. What are you eating and how’s your brain doing? Is what the study looked at. What they found was really very compelling. It’s that for every one serving per day, as an average of what now have become called these ultra processed foods, the handful of chips. Every handful of chips as an average was associated with a 13% increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

22:08
Speaker 2
One serving a day, one handful of chips, which, by the way, no one has one serving of anything.

22:14
Speaker 1
There used to be a commercial for Lace potato chips, but you can’t eat just one.

22:18
Speaker 3
Wait.

22:18
Speaker 2
Well, because they’re engineered so you will never just have one.

22:21
Speaker 1
They, they tap into that part of our brains is that says keep going because they’re sweet, they’re sugar. And sugar as a survival was a survival trigger for our brains. We ate as much as we could find because it meant ripe and it meant trigger your body’s ability to produce fat so you could survive the times, the winter, when there was fewer calories. But that said 10 or more servings per day, which isn’t a lot. 10 Handfuls of chips, if you will.

22:48
Speaker 2
That’s What, a bag of chips?

22:50
Speaker 1
Yeah. And you know, this is in the context of the idea that 60% of calories consumed by the average American adult are from ultra processed foods today. So that’s a heck of a lot more than 10 servings. But 10 servings increases Alzheimer’s risk by 270%, almost threefold. Increased risk for a disease that is almost uniformly fatal, the third leading cause of death in America. And there is no treatment for it. Think about that.

23:26
Speaker 2
Well, is there no treatment for it? Because we’ve been looking at the wrong mechanism of action.

23:31
Speaker 1
Yes, there will be treatments for it, no question.

23:34
Speaker 2
Because now what you’re describing sounds like now we have a target, but we didn’t. We went up to the wrong target. So nothing was working. Which is amazing to me that no one kind of went, well, if none of these things, if they’re actually lowering the target, but they’re making it go away and it’s not making it better, maybe it’s not that target. Like how is this? It’s crazy.

23:54
Speaker 1
Well, here’s the reasoning behind that. The target was thought to be. I don’t know if it’s truly thought to be, but were led to believe. When I say we, I mean everyone, even to this day, that is beta amyloid as it relates to Alzheimer’s. The other thing is what we do see happening, that the Alzheimer’s is being treated incredibly effectively by things that are not patentable and are not monotherapy. Let me give you an example. Recently a study was published by a fellow by the name of Dr. Rudolph Tanzi at Harvard and Dr. Dean Ornish. He’s a cardiologist famous for the Ornish Diet, the Ornish intervention. They published a study, albeit a small group, of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, 51 individuals, for 20 weeks. And what was their intervention?

24:43
Speaker 1
They changed lifestyle parameters by changing their diets, changing their stress levels and increasing their daily exercise. What did they find? Well, the purpose of the Alzheimer’s drugs was to slow the decline. You’re still going to decline and die of Alzheimer’s, but the rate at which you would die or decline was thought to be perhaps a little slower. It wasn’t. So it didn’t do that. But what these researchers demonstrated was that these lifestyle interventions didn’t slow the decline of Alzheimer’s. They arrested it. They stopped the decline in 70%. And actually many of those people improved. Alzheimer’s patients actually improved in their cognitive function by lifestyle intervention. To me, I would say, why, that’s fantastic. Which is wtf why that’s fantastic. Breathtaking. These are highly regarded researchers, published peer reviewed journal and yet who talks about it?

25:46
Speaker 1
Well know you and I are talking about it right now. Let me tell you about one more study that I think is really fascinating and it’s a lot larger study. 20,111 Individuals followed for 12.7 years published in the Journal of the American Medical association and it was called the Pointer study. And what did they demonstrate? They demonstrated that individuals who are in their mid-60s to early-70s, these individuals with metabolic issues, diabetes, insulin resistance, overweight, etc, we would expect over this period of time, it was a two year study, we would expect these individuals to decline cognitively. They do. If you look just take a random group, they will decline cognitively. But they took this over 20,000 individual group and they divided it into two arms. The first arm had was given lifestyle interventions in the form of exercise, stress management, physical exercise.

26:47
Speaker 1
And they had 36 meetings, many of which were real face meetings. Some were virtual with these researchers to make sure you’re on the diet and you’re getting your exercise, doing all the right things 36 times over a two year period. The other arm got the very same program but only had three meetings a year. So it’s pretty much here’s the program, do your best. And what did they find? Well in the first group that had these interventions and meetings with people over the two year period we would have expected them to decline. Their cognitive function didn’t just stabilize, it improved dramatically. Think about that. Lifestyle intervention leads to improvement of cognitive function. Well what about the group that didn’t, that only didn’t really get the hand holding, they just got the info, do your best. They improved almost the same to the same level.

27:45
Speaker 2
I never would have thought that.

27:46
Speaker 1
Right, that’s. And nobody talks about that part of the study. It’s pretty breathtaking.

27:50
Speaker 2
I would have thought they would not have been compliant that like you know,.

27:53
Speaker 1
That’s compliance rate was really high and here’s what is. So there’s a lot of take home from this study but it’s so empowering for us to be doing what we’re doing and really shouting from the mountaintops that this is the answer and it’s been there all along and we’ve kind of known it but now we’ve got so much mainstream peer reviewed support for our contentions that we’ve been trying to be vociferous about for such a long time. But here’s what’s really. Well there’s a lot interesting about this report, but that many of these people, about 20% of them carried what’s called the ApoE4 allele, call it the Alzheimer’s risk gene, if you will, they experienced the most improvement in their cognitive function. Again, why that’s fantastic. Wtf? Why, that’s fabulous.

28:47
Speaker 1
Because, you know our perception of the messaging that apoe4positive people, and we’re talking about 20 to 25% of people who’ve had their genome sequenced.

28:57
Speaker 3
My hubby.

28:58
Speaker 1
Yeah, there you go. We are told, and we’ve, you and I have had this discussion personally that, you know, pretty much the die is cast and what can be done. And now we’re seeing amazing results from the very lifestyle intervention that you are insisting that your husband engage. And I’ve watched it happen with him and he’s doing great. So I don’t worry about him. He’s gonna do all the right. He’s doing all the right things. And I’m thrilled. And I’m thrilled that you message about that and are open about that. And again, you know, you’re interviewing me, but I want to give a real call out to your next book because it is right exactly in the lane of brain health by virtue of what your messaging is all about.

29:44
Speaker 2
Well, what was interesting when I was helping my son come out of his brain injury, one of the big things that our buddy Dr. Daniel Amen said was okay, exercise.

29:53
Speaker 3
He wanted a lot of ping pong,.

29:55
Speaker 2
But you know, big thing was get him back doing exercise. And it was, it’s been one of the things that has helped the most. And you look at and go longevity exercise, brain health, exercise, metabolic health, exercise. It just goes down the line.

30:09
Speaker 1
Well, it’s interesting and I had this discussion with dan amen about 3 or 4 days ago as it relates to neuropsychiatric issues as well.

30:18
Speaker 3
Oh yeah.

30:19
Speaker 1
Mentioned earlier that major depressive disorder is characterized by the shift of these microglial brain immune cells from being M2 supportive brain defenders to being destructive, as demonstrated on that TSPO scan. So everything that Dan has been, you know, mentioning over the years about exercise and diet, et cetera, absolutely on target. Now we know why through the lens of the brain’s immune system. So a lot of stuff is converging that this is upstream of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and frontotemporal dementia and progressive supranuclear palsy multiple sclerosis. And why long COVID patients have these neurocognitive issues that are persistent and mood disorders as well. So it throws a very wide net. And so fortunately is we now know how we can control it.

31:14
Speaker 1
And to be fair to the other side, which is the pharmaceutical world, there’s a great degree of research now being done to look at what can pharmaceuticals do to shift those microglial cells to being in their brain defender state. And you know, we’re even seeing reports now of transplanting healthy microglial cells into the brains of living humans. Already been done. Wow. In one particular disease state called alsd, which is not, it’s not als, It’s a different type of brain degenerative disorder which is uniformly fatal. And it has stabilized this situation. And importantly, what happens in these brain immune cells that shifts them away from being healthy to being damaging is a change in their metabolism, away from their mitochondria producing energy. That’s fundamental because it means that whatever we can do to enhance our mitochondrial function will keep those brain cells on our side.

32:20
Speaker 3
Even when you’re doing all the right things, your strength training, staying active, prioritizing protein, keeping the muscle you’ve built over a lifetime gets harder with age. Now, our parents were told to accept that it’s just getting older. I don’t buy that. And that’s why I use Timeline powered by Magpure. Here’s the real story. Muscle isn’t just about strength or looking good. Muscle runs your metabolism, protects your balance, preserves your independence, and determines how powerfully you age. And what most people don’t realize is that muscle loss isn’t only about hormones or workouts. It’s about cellular energy. As we age our mitochondria, those energy engines inside our muscle cells and become less efficient. Now, when your muscles can’t produce energy, well, it’s harder to maintain strength, function and resilience. That’s where mitopure comes in.

33:13
Speaker 3
It’s the only clinically studied form of urolithin A, a postbiotic shown in human clinical trials to support muscle strength and function by helping renew mitochondrial health at the cellular level. I love this because it works with your training, not instead of it. Now, strength training is the signal, protein is the building block. And mitopure supports the cellular energy that allows your muscles to actually respond and adapt. Mitopure gummies make it simple. Two a day, sugar free, vegan, non GMO and independently certified for quality. And let’s not forget, absolutely delicious. So if staying strong is part of your longevity strategy, and I sure hope it is, visit timeline.com JJvirgin and get 20% off your order.

33:58
Speaker 2
Hey, JJ here.

33:59
Speaker 3
And if you’re over 30. There is something happening right now inside your body that most people have never heard of. It’s called senescent cells. These are old cells that stop doing their job, but they do not go away. They hang around, they take up space,.

34:16
Speaker 2
They drain your resources.

34:18
Speaker 3
And as they build up, you start to feel it. Less energy, slower recovery, more stiffness, just not feeling like yourself. Now, for a long time we thought.

34:30
Speaker 2
This was just aging, but thankfully now we know better.

34:35
Speaker 3
Scientists discovered that certain plant compounds called senolytics can help your body clear these cells. That is a huge breakthrough because this is not about covering up aging. This is about addressing one of the root causes. And, and that’s why I’ve been using Qualia senolytic for years. It combines nine of the most researched senolytic ingredients in one formula designed to support your body’s natural ability to clear out these zombie cells. And here’s what makes it so easy. You only take it two days a month.

35:09
Speaker 1
That’s it.

35:09
Speaker 3
No daily routine, no complexity, just two.

35:13
Speaker 2
Days a month to support how you age.

35:15
Speaker 3
And again, I’ve been using it for years and it’s one of those things that once you understand it, you will never go without it. Now, if you’re over 30, this is something you’re going to want to start now, right now, not later. So go to qualiolife.com Virgin Wellness and use code Virgin Wellness for an extra 15% off. That’s qualiacytic@qualialife.com Virgin Wellness with code Virgin Wellness. Because it’s time right now to start taking control of how you age.

35:48
Speaker 2
Does the inflammation drive the microglial cells to go sideways, to go negative? Or is it the microglial cells going negative that’s driving the inflammation? Or is it both?

36:03
Speaker 1
It is both. And that creates a feed forward cycle. That’s the big problem. So these microglial cells can respond and shift to being brain destroyers when they’re exposed to inflammation of any sort. Meaning that let’s say that the gut brain connection is threatened because the gut microbiome. Getting back to the Brain Maker book I wrote so many years ago. When there are changes in our gut bacteria, we develop permeability or leakiness of the gut, allowing certain things to get across that barrier. Something like lps, for example, activating the immune system in the body, creating more inflammatory chemicals called cytokines that can make their way to the brain. And then the microglial cells see those cytokines and shift away from being M2 supportive to being destructive M1. So I’ve just connected the microbiome to the fundamental shift that makes a good brain go bad.

37:06
Speaker 1
The shift in these immune cells. We can add one more bullet point, one more dot, if you will, to connect and that is diet being such an important inroad to a healthy or non healthy microbiome. So now if we connect that dot diet to microbiome, multiple channels to the microglial cells, brain, immune system, we now can relate, and there are many other ways we can relate it diet to shifting the microglial cells. Now you brought up a really important point and that is that once these microglial cells shift from M2 supportive to being M1 destructive, they start to spit out inflammatory cytokines. Wow. They spit out the very chemical in the brain that further shifts neighboring microglial cells like zombies to becoming on the dark side. And it explains a whole heck of a lot.

38:04
Speaker 1
Let me give you an example of what it explains that we didn’t know, we couldn’t explain for a long time. And Dan Amen has done a lot of work in this arena as well, that people who experience persistent events of head trauma, like football players, can develop what’s called chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, cte. And what’s really fascinating about CTE is okay, they retire from football, they’re at home, they’re not banging their heads anymore, and yet they continue to worsen. Why does it happen? Now we understand why. Because of what you just described. That traumatic inflammatory event or multiple of those events by getting your head hit so many times, creates the shift in these brain immune cells. Now no more trauma, but they are actually bringing more healthy immune cells to being on the dark side. So they get worse and ultimately die.

39:02
Speaker 1
Why is Alzheimer’s progressive? Why is Parkinson’s progressive? And here’s maybe the take, most important take home message for our time together today. If we can target their metabolism, we have the opportunity to end that feed forward process and shift these cells back to being supportive. Think about that. If we can target metabolism and we can target metabolism, you’ve been talking about.

39:29
Speaker 2
How to make that happen for lactate training. Do this.

39:32
Speaker 1
Yes, absolutely.

39:33
Speaker 2
As you were explaining all this, I’m like, how could we get those zombie cells to die? We could do it.

39:40
Speaker 1
Well, lactate, increasing lactate through exercise, that’s for sure. And increasing ketone availability to these mitochondria and allow them to start working again. So ketogenic diet. There’s a product.

39:55
Speaker 2
I’ve Been eating that with my son. He loves it.

39:58
Speaker 1
It’s wonderful. I have it here on the boat. I went to 40 years of Zen, as did you. And prior to our sessions there, the program Dave Asprey developed, we drank a can of kinetics, increasing this beta hydroxybutyrate throughout our bodies. Yes. In the brain. As if that’s not part of the body. It is. Who knew? And you know, allowing that opportunity for mitochondria to be stimulated and yes, mitochondrial transplantation in humans is now being done. But let me segue to something I think that people may be thinking about when we talk about. If you ask the average person here in America, what’s the latest news in terms of what you can do to target your metabolism?

40:44
Speaker 2
What?

40:44
Speaker 1
Pick a. Pick a couple of metabolic issues like elevated blood sugar and obesity. What is everybody talking about?

40:53
Speaker 2
GLP lungs.

40:56
Speaker 1
Oh, did I tell you to say that? There you go. So we review this in the new book in Brain Defenders. This idea that there may very well be an opportunity in the situation of an otherwise fatal condition like Alzheimer’s disease, there may be the possibility that a GLP1 agonist drug might be a powerful tool. And I think that your viewers may be surprised to hear Dr. Perlmutter talking about drugs. Listen, I want every possible tool in my toolbox that may be effective and has a reasonable risk profile. So are the GLP1 drugs in my toolbox right now? In. Well, I’ll get there in a moment, but they’re not taken out of the toolbox just yet because I think we have a huge opportunity. We’ve got to keep an open mind. Let me explain why I think it’s valuable.

41:48
Speaker 1
GLP1 drugs are an incredibly powerful way of targeting in a positive way, metabolic issues like obesity, overweight, insulin resistance, elevated blood sugar. And this has a huge play in the brain. A very fascinating study looked at using a GLP1 drug in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease study was published in 2024 in the New England Journal of Medicine in April of that year. It looked at 151 individuals established Parkinson’s disease randomized to receive placebo or a GLB1 agonist drug for a one year period of time. What did they find? In the intervention group, Parkinson’s disease decline was completely arrested. Can you imagine for the. Very.

42:45
Speaker 1
Well, for the first time that I’ve ever seen, I mean, I’ve seen one other intervention called intravenous glutathione slow down the decline, but this, in this situation, the disease was stopped dead in Its tracks in terms of getting worse.

43:00
Speaker 2
How much were they using?

43:01
Speaker 1
Well, they were using a glpoagus drug that we do not have available in America and it’s called lixisenatide and in fact I think pretty well globally. It’s not available. It had been available here in America but the side effect profile was pretty substantial with 42 to 48% of people experiencing gastrointestinal issues, you know, nausea, vomiting, you know, made it very unpleasant. But lixisenatide is an interesting GLP1 because it’s smaller than semaglutide, Benozempic and other now available GLP1 agonist drugs for other purposes and for off label use here in America. But the point is that GLP1 drugs target mitochondria, they target metabolism. The mitochondrial demonstration happened in diabetics, but I think it’s quite obvious that they’re targeting mitochondria even in non diabetics. This is going to be huge.

43:59
Speaker 1
Now we’ve just completed, I was not part of it, but a study using semaglutide, Ozempic like drug semaglutide, the generic name, as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. It was an oral form, it was done in multiple countries around the world and the results did not reach the endpoints that they had wanted, that is the endpoints related to cognitive stabilization or even improvement. And what does it tell us? It tells us that, well, maybe the oral delivery method is not the best for increasing levels of GLP1 drug in the brain. Maybe semaglutide is too large a molecule to get effectively into the brain via the blood brain barrier. Don’t give up hope because here’s what they did find and no one’s talking about it, but it was in the study.

44:50
Speaker 1
The study demonstrated that in the group receiving the GLP1 in comparison to the non, the placebo group the group treated had a 30% reduction in something called their highly sensitive CRP or C reactive protein. Why does that matter? It matters because that is very important and sensitive marker of inflammation. As you talked about earlier, inflammation polarizes our microglial cells away from being supportive, creating a bad environment in the brain. So there’s more work to be done and there is work, more work being done. Right now as it relates to GLB1s for Alzheimer’s disease, we’re seeing encouraging information come to us as it relates to treating major depression, a disease which is metabolic, as we’ve seen in the book Brain Energy. We know that again there’s a Microglial shift in the brains of patients with major depression.

45:52
Speaker 1
So I think that we’re going to see a much wider scope of utilization of various developed GLP1 drugs in the brain health arena.

46:04
Speaker 2
Love that. Well, let’s shift gears to one other area that I think is really important here, and I’d love you to connect the dots, and that’s the area of environmental toxins. There’s been so much discussion lately on the plastics story. And so, you know, thinking about. And you and I. You and I were in Egypt a couple months ago, and that was like, one of the worst situations I’ve ever been in terms of air pollution. But air pollution and pesticides and plastics, heavy metals, like, how important is it to focus on these? What should people be thinking about?

46:38
Speaker 1
It is very important. And I would say for many people, the idea of creating an environment that is not as threatening in terms of exposure to the various things you mentioned. And each of those is certainly very unique in terms of how we’re exposed to each of them is a little bit more compelling than being on a ketogenic diet and going to the gym each day. There are times you really don’t even know that you’re being exposed. And you are. Let’s just unpack perhaps one. And that is the particulate matter that is so pervasive in the air that we breathe. You know, everybody’s certainly dialed in that we’ve got to drink pure water. And all kinds of purification systems are available for your home, et cetera. When you go out, you don’t want to drink out of plastic water bottles.

47:27
Speaker 1
You want to choose glass. And you ask at the restaurant, how’s the water here? And I love the answer. Well, we filter our water. What does that mean? You pour it through cheesecloth. I can’t take. I just don’t. I don’t pursue that. But, but the air that we breathe is really important. It’s something we do persistently, you know, 24 7. Right. It’s, you know, we. We have a meal here and there. We go to the gym once in a while each day, and we eat for. I mean, we sleep for eight hours a day, but we’re breathing constantly. So the air that we breathe is really a fundamental input. It’s an environmental input. And these PM2.5 particles that are, you know, much more available to us when we’re in places like Egypt. You know, I was constantly monitoring the air there.

48:11
Speaker 1
I was using an app. But, you know, people think that, for example, forest fires, that the, the Air that is downstream of forest fires. Oh, that’s just wood burning in the forest. No big deal. Let’s just bust out the marshmallows. Everything will be fine. No, it’s very threatening. This is a huge source of particulate matter that we inhale. It is destabilizing to the brain. It’s amping up inflammation throughout the body and yes, in the brain. And as such, it’s activating our microglial cells. So the research demonstrates that people who live, for example, close to a major highway have a dramatic increased risk of exposure to PM2.5s and have a dramatic increased risk for developing Parkinson’s disease. We didn’t know why before. Now we fully understand why that is.

49:03
Speaker 1
So, you know, the idea of limiting our exposure to these particles, I think is really very important. When you are checking the aqi, the air quality index, where you are in a particular day and it, you know, it doesn’t smell right, or you’re looking far away and you see that it’s a little bit hazy, and there are various apps that you can get that’ll give you a report as to what is that air quality index. Wherever you are, when it’s not where it needs to be, you might actually consider wearing a mask. And then N95 they’re left over from the COVID days or buy some new masks. And indoors, we spend an awful lot, well, many people spend an awful lot of time indoors. Get A high quality HEPA 14 air purification system and run that thing constantly.

49:48
Speaker 1
And change the filter when the machine tells you that it’s time to change the filter. I mean, not all of them do. The one that we have, it’s called lichen air. L I C H E N It tells you, hey, time to change filter. And it monitors the quality of the air that you’re breathing. So, you know, so it’s a very good point. And, and I’m glad you brought it up. You know, the plastic story is certainly a different one. That’s also particulate matter that makes its way throughout the body and into the brain. It’s estimated that each of us carries about half of 1% of our brain being plastic right now. That’s the size of a dinner plastic dinner fork.

50:29
Speaker 1
And, you know, it sort of gives a new definition of the term neuroplasticity, which we always talked about in another context for so many years, but now. And that can’t be good from both the particulate part of being irritating and increasing inflammation, but also the components of these plasticizers that are used to make the plastic being what we call endocrine disruptors and throughout the body, disrupting endocrine function, acting as hormones in and of their own. And certainly that is something we would absolutely not want to have in our brains. So, you know, it’s. It’s a powerful argument in terms of getting away from these sources of pollution and getting into nature. Nature is good for your body, good for your brain, good for your immune system, and stabilizing it for a number of reasons. I mean, I’m gonna.

51:22
Speaker 1
For your viewers, I’m gonna show you an interesting photograph. I don’t know how one does this on a zoom call, but this is a photograph taken exactly where I am right now. Now, this photograph, we will definitely put.

51:35
Speaker 2
This in the show notes, too. It’s my claim to fame.

51:39
Speaker 1
This photograph was taken by a friend of mine named JJ Virgin. You took this picture right here on your very first day.

51:44
Speaker 2
I can’t believe it. I’ve never taken your very first day.

51:47
Speaker 1
And were saying, yeah, oh, yeah. This goes on all the time. You know, this is a National Geographic experience. And you had that experience on your very first day. And I know that was good for your microglial cells.

51:57
Speaker 2
Oh, it was. Well, that was. That was a whale jumping out of the water. I just happened to capture it at the exact moment it literally looks like we’re at SeaWorld. But I’ll tell you what was great for my microglial cells and my whole everything, my oxytocin on down was being out and doing that forest walk that we did that I think you told me yesterday you were doing where you did it yesterday. Oh, my gosh, with all the green and the smells and it’s just. You realize when you’re in a place like where you are right now, that, man, we like living in cities is really toxic. It’s crazy.

52:33
Speaker 1
Yes, it is. And to be fair, not everybody can always have the opportunity to get out in nature, though it’s important. And what we wrote about in Brainwash, a book that I wrote with Austin Perlmutter, our son, is the research that shows even having a house plant is nature exposure and has been demonstrated to help reduce cortisol. Why is that important that we reduce cortisol? Cortisol changes the middle U of the microbiome in the gut and leads to increased permeability that increases inflammation that threatens the microglial cells to shift them away from being supportive. So even a houseplant, even going to a park in the city or walking down the street that happens to have trees. These are all powerful ways of helping nudge those microglial cells.

53:25
Speaker 1
And interestingly, you mentioned oxytocin, and that’s a great segue for the discussion of one of the components of the Blue Zones description, the Blue Zones book, and the description of these various areas around the world where health is generally better and need I mention, rates of Alzheimer’s are lower. First, the idea that rates of Alzheimer’s disease can be lower in unique populations of the planet doesn’t speak to a genetic issue with the fact that these, you know, we’ve had a great mixing of our genome. It speaks to something that’s going on locally. Yes, they’re eating good foods. Yes, there’s a lot of verticality to their environment, meaning they got to go up and down steps and up the roads that are steep. That’s good for you. But they have a lot of socialization and, you know, that’s part of the discussion.

54:15
Speaker 1
Everyone’s heard it that, oh, people who socialize more have a lower risk of Alzheimer’s. Well, they do. And why do they? And jj, you just mentioned it. Think about it. When you’re socializing with people, there’s a lot of love in the room, and that love creates oxytocin. You mentioned it. There are oxytocin receptors on the microglial cell when they are stimulated. And it keeps those microglial cells in their love configuration, the M2 supportive synapse nurturing blood, brain barrier, repairing what we call phenotype or the type of microglial cell, just as a downstream consequence of being with people and doing things that make you feel connected to them. Like playing Shanghai. Remember when we played Shanghai? Oh my gosh, hours and hours. It’s a card game.

55:10
Speaker 1
I was just asked about what is the importance of card games for people as it relates to brain health. And the idea was, well, you’re using mathematics, you’re using probability, using future forecasting, etc. But it’s the socialization part that’s the home run. We played it for hours and nothing made us happier. We didn’t want to do the other activities.

55:35
Speaker 2
Trip to Egypt, seeing all these amazing things. And the highlight of the trip was sitting, playing cards inside, not even outside.

55:43
Speaker 1
Well, we didn’t get outside very much, which was a good thing because on the boat anyway, because of the weather. But I encourage people to engage those activities with other people. A garden is great, but a community garden is even better.

55:58
Speaker 2
So I’ve got a little speed round for you if you’re ready.

56:01
Speaker 1
Okay, I’m ready.

56:02
Speaker 2
Okay.

56:03
Speaker 1
These questions worth double value, right?

56:05
Speaker 2
They are, yes. And then the final ones, like the big points. Okay, ready? Complete sentence. The biggest myth about Alzheimer’s is that.

56:15
Speaker 1
We have treatments to cure it. We do not. And one other answer. It is by and large preventable.

56:23
Speaker 2
The habit everyone should start tomorrow is.

56:26
Speaker 1
Exercise on a daily basis. Don’t find the time to exercise. Make the time for exercise.

56:33
Speaker 2
The biomarker almost no one knows that they should measure is waist size. I love that you say that so much, I can’t even stand it. Like the two markers I realize I now have invaded your speed round, but the two markers I think that should be just standard are waist size and grip strength. Did those.

56:56
Speaker 1
Absolutely. Right.

56:57
Speaker 2
Yes. The food you wish people would stop.

57:00
Speaker 3
Eating is fruit juice.

57:03
Speaker 1
Why fruit juice? A 12 ounce glass of fruit juice may have as much as 36. Did I say 36?

57:10
Speaker 2
I did.

57:11
Speaker 1
Grams of sugar, same as a coke.

57:14
Speaker 2
It makes me crazy. And I’ve gotten in so much trouble on shows saying fruit juice. It’s like I’m attacking someone’s mother. The supplement with the strongest evidence is,.

57:32
Speaker 1
I would say vitamin D. One medication.

57:35
Speaker 2
With the strongest evidence is, I think.

57:38
Speaker 1
That story is being unraveled. But I would put my nickel down moving forward on a couple of medications, Metformin being one. And ultimately, I think there’ll be some traction in the GLP1 arena.

57:53
Speaker 2
One thing people waste money on.

57:59
Speaker 1
Ultra processed foods.

58:02
Speaker 2
Amen. Especially the ultra processed foods posing as health foods. Those ones make me the craziest.

58:10
Speaker 1
What bothers me the most are the cake and cookie mixes on the gluten free diet. Oh, it’s gluten free. I’ll take a double dose.

58:18
Speaker 2
Oh, my gosh. Remember that? I remember with the virgin diet, people would come over and they go, look what I found. I’m like, it’s a cookie.

58:24
Speaker 3
It’s still a cookie.

58:26
Speaker 2
Stop it. Yep.

58:28
Speaker 3
Okay.

58:29
Speaker 2
And here’s the big kahuna.

58:31
Speaker 1
Okay.

58:32
Speaker 2
Worth quadruple points. If someone listening today changes just one thing in the next 30 days to improve the odds of protecting the brain over the next 30 years, what would you have them do and why?

58:44
Speaker 1
Number one, above all else is embrace the idea that you are the architect of your brain’s destiny based upon the lifestyle choices that you are going to start today.

58:57
Speaker 2
So you have spent your career challenging conventional wisdom. It’s funny because you are not a contrarian person. You are a convicted person and there’s a big difference. Right?

59:07
Speaker 1
No, wait, I’m Not a convicted person. I’m a person of conviction.

59:10
Speaker 3
Of conviction.

59:11
Speaker 1
Okay. You haven’t convicted yet.

59:14
Speaker 2
You never know.

59:15
Speaker 1
Yeah, okay.

59:16
Speaker 2
Yeah, you are a person of conviction.

59:18
Speaker 1
There you go.

59:19
Speaker 2
So when your grandchildren, because they’re. They’re coming, ask you someday, what should I do to keep my brain healthy? What do you hope they’ll never forget?

59:29
Speaker 1
I hope they’ll never forget the idea that they’re in control, that even though you’re young, that you are really making choices right now that are going to play out for the entire rest of your life. It’s why your grandpa insists that you wear a helmet when you ride your bicycle. It’s why your grandpa makes sure you get enough sleep when you’re staying at our house. All of the things that grandma and grandpa are talking about are so valuable because you’re paving the way for your entire health as you get older.

01:00:07
Speaker 2
And it’s why your grandpa’s not getting.

01:00:09
Speaker 3
You the kiddie meals.

01:00:11
Speaker 1
That’s right. You know, I’ve always wondered, if you want to find the worst food on the menu, look at what they have on the very bottom, right, for the children’s dish, you know, it’s the chicken fingers that are, you know, dipped in batter and fried, and then French fries on the side and then ice cream. That’s the kids meal.

01:00:28
Speaker 2
It’s so insane. It’s so insane. So let’s do that then, so that we will get them used to eating that type of food.

01:00:34
Speaker 1
Oh, no question. I mean, you know, back in the day, and I’m talking about, and when I was in my residency, and I can tell you why I know this, there was so much sugar in the baby food. And how I know this is because we’d be up in doing things all night in the operating room, emergency room, all the things as a resident. And then in the morning, you know, you just need a sugar high. And where would we go? We’d go to the pediatrics ward where this refrigerator was full of flavored baby foods like banana. Oh, it was so good. But so much sugar. And you’re right. Get them started young.

01:01:09
Speaker 2
Yep. Exposure equals preference. All right, so for everyone listening, the Brain Defenders book probably is out as you’re hearing this, and you can grab it anywhere books are sold, especially on Amazon. You have some special gifts as well. We’re going to put that. It’s@braindefenders.com but we’ll put all of the information past interviews we’ve done, all your books, your social media, all the fun stuff. Your podcast the empowering neurologist@jjvirgin.com drdavid and thank you so much for spending the afternoon with me.

01:01:43
Speaker 1
Oh jj, thank you for having me. And I guess we’re seeing each other sooner than later, which is wonderful. And love to Tim and Lee sends her love and can’t wait to get together.

01:01:57
Speaker 2
Be sure to join me next time.

01:01:59
Speaker 3
For more tools, tips and techniques you can use to look and feel your best and be built to last. Also, I’d love to connect with you.

01:02:08
Speaker 2
And hear your thoughts on the podcast. Here’s how.

01:02:11
Speaker 3
First, subscribe to the podcast and leave an honest review. Second, take a screenshot of your review and third, text to 281-35645-2627. That’s 813-565-2627. When you do, I’ll reply using my brand new Virtual jj.

01:02:36
Speaker 2
It’s my on demand virtual self, built.

01:02:38
Speaker 3
From my books, talks and years of experience so I can interact with you directly.

01:02:44
Speaker 2
You’ll make my day and I can’t.

01:02:46
Speaker 3
Wait to hear from you.

01:02:47
Speaker 2
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll.

01:02:49
Speaker 3
Catch you on the next episode.

01:02:53
Speaker 2
Hey JJ here.

01:02:54
Speaker 3
And just a reminder that the well Beyond 40 podcast offers health, wellness, fitness and nutritional information that’s designed for educational and entertainment purposes only.

01:03:02
Speaker 2
You should not rely on this information.

01:03:04
Speaker 3
As a substitute for, nor does it replace professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

01:03:10
Speaker 2
If you have any concerns or questions.

01:03:11
Speaker 3
About your health, you should always consult with a physician or other healthcare professional.

01:03:16
Speaker 2
And make sure that you do not.

01:03:18
Speaker 3
Disregard, avoid or delay obtaining medical or.

01:03:20
Speaker 2
Health related advice from your healthcare professional because of something you may have heard.

01:03:24
Speaker 3
On the show or read in our show notes. The use of any information provided on the show is solely at your own risk. You know, when we talk about menopause, the focus is almost always on hormones. But what I’ve learned is that’s only.

01:03:38
Speaker 2
Part of the picture.

01:03:39
Speaker 3
Because this phase of life doesn’t just.

01:03:42
Speaker 2
Affect your hormones, it affects how your.

01:03:44
Speaker 3
Brain works, your energy, how you feel day to day. And a big part of that comes down to your cells. Your cells rely on something called phospholipids. These are the building blocks of your cell membranes and they’re essential for how your brain functions, how your cells communicate, and how your body operates overall. As estrogen declines, your body’s natural production of key phospholipids can shift, which can impact things like mental clarity and overall resilience. That’s why I started focusing on supporting this more foundational layer. One of the things I added into my routine is Body Bio PC. It’s a phospholipid complex that helps support cell membrane health, brain function and liver function. Basically helping your body get building blocks. It needs to function well.

01:04:35
Speaker 3
And what I like about this is that it’s not just about chasing symptoms, it’s about supporting how your body works at a deeper level. So you’re supporting things like clearer thinking, better focus, and feeling more like yourself again. And of course, Body Bio is known for really high quality practitioner trusted formulations. So if you’re in perimenopause or menopause and feel like something is still missing, this is definitely worth looking into. You can head to bodybio.com and use code JJVIRGIN20 for a discount.

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