David Perlmutter > Quotes

“For those of you who test negative to gluten sensitivity or who have never had problems with gluten and love your pancakes and pizza, let me share the following: Research shows that modern wheat is capable of producing more than 23,000 different proteins, any one of which could trigger a potentially damaging inflammatory response.13”
― David Perlmutter, Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain for Life

“We are designed to be smart people our entire lives. The brain is supposed to work well until our last breath.”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar - Your Brain's Silent Killers

“By far the most important fat for brain energy utilization is beta-hydroxybutyrate (beta-HBA), and we’ll explore this unique fat in more detail in the next chapter. This is why the so-called ketogenic diet has been a treatment for epilepsy since the early 1920s and is now being reevaluated as a very powerful therapeutic option in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease,”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“omega-6 fats fall under the “bad fat” category; they are somewhat pro-inflammatory, and there is evidence that higher consumption of these fats is related to brain disorders. Unfortunately,”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“POP QUIZ! WHAT’S GOING TO MAKE YOU SMARTER and less prone to brain diseases? Is it A. solving a complex brainteaser, or B. taking a walk? If you guessed A, I won’t come down hard on you, but I will encourage you to go for a walk first (as fast as you can) and then sit down to work on a brainy puzzle. The answer, it turns out, is B. The simple act of moving your body will do more for your brain than any riddle, math equation, mystery book, or even thinking itself. Exercise has numerous pro-health effects on the body—especially on the brain. It’s a powerful player in the world of epigenetics.”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“So what happens if you restrict your cholesterol intake, as so many people do today? The body sends out an alarm that indicates crisis (famine).”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“The gene that turns on BDNF is activated by a variety of lifestyle habits, including physical exercise, caloric restriction, following a ketogenic diet, and the addition of certain nutrients like curcumin and the omega-3 fat DHA.”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“We’ve known since the late 1970s that gluten breaks down in the stomach to become a mix of polypeptides that can cross the blood-brain barrier. Once they gain entry, they can then bind to the brain’s morphine receptor to produce a sensorial high. This is the same receptor to which opiate drugs bind, creating their pleasurable, albeit addicting, effect. The”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“You can improve insulin sensitivity and reduce your risk of diabetes (not to mention all manner of brain diseases) simply by making lifestyle changes that melt that fat away. And if you add exercise to the dieting, you’ll stand to gain even bigger benefits.”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“Some bacteria are more or less permanent residents; they form long-lasting colonies.”
― David Perlmutter, Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain for Life

“formulas as easy as possible, I’ve simplified my recommendation to just five core probiotic species that are widely available: Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus brevis, Bifidobacterium lactis, and Bifidobacterium longum. Different strains provide different benefits, but these are the ones that will, as we’ve been discussing since the beginning of the book, best support brain health in these ways: • Fortifying the intestinal lining and reducing gut permeability • Reducing LPS, the inflammatory molecule that can be dangerous if it reaches the bloodstream • Increasing BDNF, the brain’s growth hormone • Sustaining an overall balance to crowd out any”
― David Perlmutter, Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain for Life

“I am saddened by the fact that the billion-dollar psychotropic pharmaceutical industry is predicated on the idea that people will take a pill to treat symptoms, while the underlying disorder is ignored.”
― David Perlmutter, Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain for Life

“he gave the first modern-day description of the condition in children in a lecture at a London hospital in 1887, noting, “If the patient can be cured at all, it must be by means of diet.”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“A purely ketogenic diet is one that derives 80 to 90 percent of calories from fat, and the rest from carbohydrate and protein.”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“Professor of Biophysics at Iowa State University Dr. Yeon-Kyun Shin is a noted authority on how cholesterol functions within neural networks to transmit messages. He put it bluntly in an interview for a ScienceDaily reporter:28 If you deprive cholesterol from the brain, then you directly affect the machinery that triggers the release of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters affect the data-processing and memory functions. In other words—how smart you are and how well you remember things. If you try to lower the cholesterol by taking medication that is attacking the machinery of cholesterol synthesis in the liver, that medicine goes to the brain too. And then it reduces the synthesis of cholesterol, which is necessary in the brain. Our study shows there is a direct link between cholesterol and the neurotransmitter release, and we know exactly the molecular mechanics of what happens in the cells. Cholesterol changes the shape of the proteins to stimulate thinking and memory.”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“The one variable that clearly stood out above all others was whether or not the mice had a running wheel. It didn’t matter if they had things to play with in their cages. The animals that exercised were the ones who had healthier brains and outperformed on the cognitive tests.”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“At the root of the problem? That sticky wheat protein, gluten. Although the jury is still out on the connections between gluten sensitivity and behavioral or psychological issues, we do know a few facts: People with celiac disease may be at increased risk for developmental delay, learning difficulties, tic disorders, and ADHD.6 Depression and anxiety are often severe in patients with gluten sensitivity.7, 8 This is primarily due to the cytokines that block production of critical brain neurotransmitters like serotonin, which is essential in regulating mood. With the elimination of gluten and often dairy, many patients have been freed from not just their mood disorders but other conditions caused by an overactive immune system, like allergies and arthritis. As many as 45 percent of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have gastrointestinal problems.9 Although not all gastrointestinal symptoms in ASD result from celiac disease, data shows an increased prevalence of celiac in pediatric cases of autism, compared to the general pediatric population. The good news is that we can reverse many of the symptoms of neurological, psychological, and behavioral disorders just by going gluten-free and adding supplements like DHA and probiotics to our diet.”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“Brain dysfunction starts in your daily bread, and I’m going to prove it. I’ll state it again because I realize it sounds absurd: Modern grains are silently destroying your brain.”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“The results of the study revealed that those individuals in the lowest 10 percent of daily physical activity had a 230 percent increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease compared to those in the highest 10 percent of physical activity. When”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“reduce the risk of LDL oxidation—not necessarily levels of LDL itself. A principal player in that risk of oxidation is higher levels of glucose; LDL is far more likely to become oxidized in the presence of sugar molecules that will bind to it and change its shape. Glycosylated”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“Surge una pregunta lógica: ¿cómo se relaciona la depresión con el daño intestinal? Una vez que el recubrimiento del intestino ha sido dañado por la enfermedad celiaca pierde su efectividad para absorber nutrientes esenciales, muchos de los cuales mantienen la salud del cerebro, como el zinc, el triptófano y el complejo B. Además, estos nutrientes son necesarios para la producción de sustancias neurológicas como la serotonina. Asimismo, la mayoría de las hormonas y las “sustancias de la felicidad” se producen en torno a los intestinos en lo que los científicos ahora denominan el “segundo cerebro”.39 Las células nerviosas presentes en el intestino no sólo regulan los músculos, las células inmunológicas y las hormonas, sino que también producen de 80 a 90% de la serotonina del cuerpo. De hecho, el cerebro del intestino genera más serotonina que el cerebro que tienes dentro del cráneo.”
― David Perlmutter, Cerebro de pan (Colección Vital): La devastadora verdad sobre los efectos del trigo, el azúcar y los carbohidratos

“often a fully preventable problem. If you’re a chronic headache sufferer, why not try a gluten-free diet? What have you got to lose?”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“The more we moved, the fitter our brain became. And even today our brain’s healthy functioning requires regular physical activity despite the passage of time and ills of the aging process.”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“Modern grains are silently destroying your brain.”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“gluten breaks down in the stomach to become a mix of polypeptides that can cross the blood-brain barrier. Once they gain entry, they can then bind to the brain’s morphine receptor to produce a sensorial high. This”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“For people who never consumed fish, the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease during the four-year follow-up period was increased by 37 percent. In those individuals who consumed fish on a daily basis, risk for these diseases was reduced by 44 percent. Regular”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“The bottom line is that if you want to reduce oxidative stress and the action of free radicals harming your brain, you have to reduce the glycation of proteins. Which is to say, you have to diminish the availability of sugar. Pure and simple.”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“What’s more, as we consume carbohydrates we stimulate an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase that tends to drive fat into the cell; the insulin secreted when we consume carbohydrates makes matters worse by triggering enzymes that lock fat tightly into our fat cells.”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

“Fortalecer el revestimiento intestinal y disminuir la permeabilidad intestinal. Disminuir los niveles de LPS, la molécula inflamatoria que puede ser peligrosa si llega al torrente sanguíneo. Aumentar el FNDC, la hormona de crecimiento cerebral. Mantener un equilibrio general para controlar cualquier posible colonia bacteriana rebelde.”
― David Perlmutter, Alimenta tu cerebro: El sorprendente poder de la flora intestinal para sanar y proteger tu cerebro...

“ApoE ε2 is relatively rare, but if you inherit this allele, you’re more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease later in life. ApoE ε3 is the most common allele, but it’s believed to neither increase nor decrease your risk. ApoE ε4, however, is the one typically mentioned in the media and feared the most. In”
― David Perlmutter, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers