We have a brain epidemic going on as Alzheimer’s is the number one killer in the UK, and number 3 in Canada and the US. Join Dr. Martin as he discusses two new studies on the brain and shares how to protect it!
TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S EPISODE
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Dr. Martin: Well, good morning everyone, and welcome again to another live this morning and hope you're having a great start to your day. The sun is out here. How about you guys? Now we're gonna talk about the brain, two areas of the brain today, your prefrontal cortex, okay? Prefrontal cortex and your iCampus. Two studies, I think you will find very interesting, very preventative who doesn't wanna protect your brain. It's the biggest fear really, of people when they get into their forties and fifties or whatever, they're really, really worried about. Brain health, especially memory. And here we are today in a world with all the advancements that we have, and yet we have a very, well, I hate to use the word because we overuse it epidemic. We got a brain epidemic going on. Alzheimer's is the number one killer in the United Kingdom, and number three in Canada and the United States just below cancer, heart disease, number one, cancer, right on its heels and Alzheimer's.
That's what kills us. But who wants to lose their brain, their memory. So when we talk about these two areas, there's good news because two studies that come out talk about how to protect your brain. Now, let's talk about the first one. It's if you keep your A1C down, you're going to protect your brain. Now, listen to this study, okay? A new study on A1C and brain shrinkage. Okay? Really, really important. If your A1C is high, okay, 5.9 or higher, what's happening? And people don't realize this, when their A1C is high, their brain is shrinking, their brain shrinks. Okay?
5.6 to 5.8, you get moderate high shrinkage, 5.9 are up. And we're gonna discuss this in more detail, okay? 5.6 to 5.8. And maybe Wendy, you keep notes, you can maybe post this after if you want. We appreciate Wendy, what you do. Okay? Now the other thing is small shrinkage at 5.3 to 5.5, and no shrinkage at all in your brain. Listen to this, between 4.4 A1C and 5.2 brand new study, hot off the presses. And I'm gonna tell you, dollars to donuts. You're not gonna see this pretty well anywhere. It's unfortunate. But these things are so significant. So significant. You know, we just came out of 2022 and what we found out in 2022, I mean in mental health, we found out we got duped. It was the coming out <laugh> party in 2022 that the stuff about mental health, and Dr. McEwen would agree with me here in her doctorate of psychology, that we got duped. And one of the areas that we got duped was in depression. That antidepressants and SSRIs, they don't do much. They don't do much. And bipolar all these years. We were told that was a chemical imbalance. And we were told that depression is a chemical imbalance. And we find out it's more, it has more to do with the metabolic syndrome that you and I talk about every day.
It was the coming out and Alzheimer's, okay? This was huge. And this is where the connection, we're talking about Alzheimer's is not protein buildup in the brain, amyloid plaque in the brain. That's what they taught us. That's what all the research on Alzheimer's was fudged. I mean, those were the three biggest stories really in 2022. And people forget. People forget it's the same old, same old guys. Listen, let me unpack this study for you on a1c. What is a1c? Let's just go over it. A1C is a measurement of sugars over a three month period. Okay? You see what sugar does? Okay? Remember, your body is very intelligent. Sugar attaches to hemoglobin. What is hemoglobin? Hemoglobin, okay? Is a substance within your red blood cells, you got billions of red blood cells, okay?
And in the middle of a red blood cell is hemoglobin, and hemoglobin is a sticky substance. So every time you breathe, you capture oxygen. Your red blood cells go by your lungs and they pick up oxygen. And hemoglobin is the sticky substance in the middle of the red blood cell that picks up oxygen and now it delivers it. Your red blood cells deliver that oxygen to the rest of your body, from your brain to your toes. So when you breathe, think of that hemoglobin, the sticky substance that oxygen sticks to, but that's not all that sticks to hemoglobin sugar sticks to hemoglobin, okay? We call it glycated hemoglobin one C, okay? Glycated hemoglobin. Leave it to medicine to give it a big name so people don't understand it. But guys, that's all it is. It's a measurement of that sugar that attaches to hemoglobin. And it's an average over a period of three months.
And when you get the A1C test done, it's one of my favorite tests because it tells me if you send me your blood work, you know, doctors like to look at glucose and that's all right. I'm not against it. I told the lady yesterday, okay, by the way, I said, would you stop taking your blood sugar every five seconds? You're driving yourself crazy. Okay doc, how come my blood sugar's up in the morning? Your blood sugar should be up in the morning, you're waking up, your body produces more blood sugar brought to you by the people that make monitors for blood sugar. They want you to take it 20 times a day. Drives me crazy. It'll drive you crazy. What I like is a1c, it's an average, much more indicative of what's going on in your body because metabolic syndrome.
I'm laughing a little bit because a lady, someone, I should have kept her name because I appreciated what she said. She said, doc, you always talk about health starts in the kitchen. And she says, health really starts in the grocery store. Yeah, you, you're right. Okay, you know me, I like my little sayings. If you wanna start your health journey, it starts in the kitchen and before that in the grocery store. So I don't disagree at all. It's an expression I use. Listen, Linda a1c, a measurement of glycated hemoglobin sugar attaching to the red blood cell tells you a lot. It tells you a lot. And folks, let me tell you this. With a1c, it's food. Whether in the grocery store or in the kitchen. You know what someone said? I said this years ago and I sort of haven't used this expression. Take out a fork and look at it. What's at the end of that? It's going to determine a whole lot when it comes to your health. Okay? So that's my expression, eh? You can use the grocery store, you can use the fork. And I like to say health starts in the kitchen. Okay? Anyway, they're all the same.
A1C is food. And the study on your brain, especially the prefrontal cortex and your memory center, will be determined by what you eat. What have I said all these years, my friend that have followed me, some of you folks have followed me for over 20 years on the radio. Some of you folks know I have been talking consistently about crappy carbs and sugars. And my friend, let me just say this. Why don't we start with low hanging fruit? Okay? Cause again, I talked to another lady yesterday, that's another lady. And I said, start with low hanging fruit. What? Well, you know what? Instead of having oatmeal in the morning, which will launch your A1C through the roof, have bacon and eggs, do the low hanging fruit. Do you like bacon and eggs? I asked the lady and she said yes. I said, well, don't eat oatmeal. Oatmeal is for horses. You're not a horse.
If you wanna help your a1c start with bacon and eggs in the morning. How about that? Do you like bacon? Yeah. Well then eat it. I tell mummies for 50 years, mom, get your kids bacon or sausage and eggs. Throw the cereal out of your house. It's killing them. It's a slow death, but it's still killing them. Nonetheless. You see that's starting in the grocery store kitchen or what's at the end of your fork or spoon? A1c. Listen, think of that a1c, why I love it so much. And I've always said this. Here's me with my experience. I've always wanted your A1C to be below 5.4. Now on this study, they wanted even a little bit lower than that because they said you will get no brain shrinkage if you keep your A1C from 4.4 to 5.2. That's low my friend. And so maybe I will change my standards a little bit and come down.
If you're anything over 5.2 according to them, you're gonna get mild at 5.3. Very mild brain shrinkage. 5.3 to 5.5. Guys, this my friend, this, this, this, this is prevention. This is prevention. And A1C is directly proportional to what you're eating. You know, someone came yesterday on our private Facebook group and they were sort of poo-pooing. The eat in moderation like eggs, meat and cheese isn't sustainable. Okay, look, I appreciate all the feedback, okay? So if someone wants to come on there and say, I believe in moderation, okay? I'm trying to change your mind about that, you're not right, you're actually wrong. That is the mantra of the food industry. Moderation. Look at the Canadian or American food pyramid, the food guide, my word, it's completely upside down. That's moderation that they talk about. Well, you know, have lots of fruits and vegetables and, and grains. You gotta have your grains. Cuz if you don't get your grains, you're not gonna get your fiber. You need fiber. Fiber, fiber. Fiber drives me mental like it's so overrated. Who told you that? You need to have a big poo? Who told you that? The serial companies, they started it.
They did. They want you to spend your time in the toilet. Oh, I was thinking of the rolling stones. I can't get no satisfaction unless I have a big oh, and I don't want to gross you out this morning, but you gotta understand when you are eating the right foods, the right foods, you're lowering your A1. I'm gonna tell you something. Have bacon and eggs for breakfast. Do it for a month, 30 days and watch your A1 C go down. Somebody else said it the other day, Tim. I get tired of bacon and eggs keepers. I've been eating. I'm 70, I'm gonna be 71 soon. I've been eating bacon and eggs since the cows came home. What do you mean you're sick of bacon and eggs? I'm not sick of, it's like same dock. I'm sick of coffee. What? How can you get sick of coffee? What do you mean I want more variety. I don't like variety. And variety comes from the food industry. Oh, ya got a ham. Let's have five different cereals in your cup. Variety.
Nah, what? Whatcha are you gonna have variety for? I never get tired of bacon and eggs. I never get tired of steak. I never get tired of it. What? Now you can have a variety of meats and you could have a variety. You can make your eggs any way you want them, okay? I mean, stay within the food groups because what you're doing, my friend, is keeping your A one C down. It's protecting your brain. It's protecting your brain. I wanna protect my memory, okay? I wanna protect my memory as I get older in my practice. I saw so much dementia, so much Alzheimer's and you know, usually you came in with someone I said, tell 'em I wish you would've brought me them sooner.
Medicine, God bless their looking for love in all the wrong places. When it comes to your memory, they're trying to find a drug. The hijacking of the medical system by the pharmaceutical company. They want a drug to them it's drugs. And prevention is drugs. Prevention, my friend is food starts in the kitchen. When you understand, and I know who you guys do. When you understand what elevates your a1c, when you understand that like you do, well take care of yourself first. You know, it's like you're in a plane. Every time I go in a plane and they say pay attention, okay? And they say, okay, in the event, unlikely as it is, okay that you need oxygen, right? They show you the mass, the stewardess are the stew words show you a mouse. And they say in the unlikely event that you need oxygen, automatically it will fall from the ceiling. And you, you're supposed to look up and then it says, put the oxygen mask on first before you help anybody else.
And that's the same in nutrition, my friend. It's the same in health, my friend. Help yourself first. Do it first and then you can help others. Okay? When I'm pointing at you, remember I got at least three fingers pointing back at me and saying, doc, listen doc, you can point out to people, but you gotta do it too and take care of yourself too. You're not much good if you're not taking care of yourself. So guys, isn't that significant? Okay, isn't that significant? A1c? It's food my friend. It's food. Now there I told you there was two studies, okay? And the other one has to do with vitamin E, the real vitamin E, exercise and brain shrinkage. Okay? So listen to this. New study on exercise, vitamin E and brain shrinkage and the same two areas of the brain. A1c, food, vitamin E, exercise, same two area, prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus.
Campus memory. That's all you have to look. Two main centers in the brain. Hippocampus, hypothalamus, thalamus, hormones. It's the hormonal center of your brain. It's the orchestra. A leader of all your hormones right up in your brain. Hypothalamus, hippocampus, memory. You guys know this, you already passed the test and what aims at your memory center food does on the hypothalamus too, but we're talking hippocampus this morning. Hippocampus food, a1c exercise, vitamin E, vitamin E, 30 minutes. They're just showing what it does. Okay? 30 minutes of exercise, it increases your level of neurotransmitters, serotonin, dopamine. Okay? Serotonin, dopamine, gaba increased. Okay? Which is good for you. It lasts two hours. It lasts two hours long term. When you do exercise, and I'm gonna give you the sweet spot, I'm gonna show you the sweet spot for everything when it comes to exercise, okay? This is 50 years guys have experience, 50 years in practice and in practicality because I've told you the story of my father in 1968, starting to exercise. He was jogging on the spot on the carpet in our house. And my mom kicked him out. What are you doing? You're gonna destroy my carpet. And my dad says, I'm running on the spot.
And we all thought he was crazy. Nobody ran unless the police were chasing you in 1968. Unless you were in a race. My dad, what are you doing? He said, I'm exercising. Why? He said, cause I'm a diabetic. I gotta start exercising. My dad was light years ahead of people and I love my dad so much within a month or two. I said, cause my mom kicked him out. Not out of the house, out of the house to exercise. I said, dad, wake me up before school and I'm gonna go with you. And I remember I couldn't even walk a block, nevermind running. And I mean, I was an athlete.
I went, what you doing dad? You know, but I started working out Vitamin E exercise is so good for you. Remember my new book? Sun Steak and Steel exercise, vitamin E. Here's what it does for the brain for two hours. If neurotransmitters go up, it's like taking an antidepressant. It's so good for you. But it actually helps. Listen to this long-term protection of the brain. It increases the blood supply in the long-term. Protecting your memory center of your brain. Now, what is the sweet spot of exercise? 15 to 20 minutes. Three to four times a week. What is the best exercise for your brain? Resistant exercises, weight, training. All movement is good when you go for a walk. I love walking. It is good for you. Is it the best? No, it's not the best, but it's good. And it does help your brain, but not like strong muscles, strong brain, strong muscles, strong brain. And this study is saying vitamin E protects your brain from shrinkage. Yep. It protects your brain from shrinkage. So guys, as we close up today, these are significant studies.
One is in the kitchen food and the other one is whatever gym you like, you can do it at home. You don't have to go to a gym, but you can for sure. Guys, isn't this significant? It's protecting your brain. Now that's prevention, my friend. That's prevention. Now we could talk about other things that protect your brain that are well established by the way. And maybe we'll do that. But I had to bring you these two studies, okay? Oh, I just worked out. I protected my brain. I was, I was excited. I was, I was pumped up. Now I wanna pump you up. All of you there who are doing the reset, okay? And I'm encouraging everyone to do the reset, okay? I'm encouraging you, but for those of you who are not doing the reset, everything you put in your mouth is important. So remember that.
Remember that. And it takes discipline. It takes determination. So don't forget the three Ds desire information coming up here. And you say, yep, I got a doc. I got it. Food, exercise. I got it. Okay, now transfer that. Do 18 inches to your heart. Now you're going to be determined. I don't care what anybody else says. I am determined to be healthier. And like I said, for a lot of you start with low hanging fruit. You can change your breakfast, can't you? Instead of having toast. And I don't care if it's 50 grain, Fred, you can switch, you can go for the low hanging fruit. Cut back on sugar. How's that? That's low hanging fruit. Start with that guys. It's worth it. Your brain isn't a mystery. They, they keep telling us it's a mystery. Well, it's unbelievably made. I agree with that. Well, we got some pretty good indications on how to take care of it. So let's do that. Okay guys, love you and I mean it dearly and I mean that too. Talk to you. Soon.
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