Dr. Sanjay GuptaThe CNN correspondent, world traveler and practicing neurosurgeon considers himself healthy: He exercises, stays active, stimulates his mind and eats healthy. But like millions of Americans, he has a family history of Alzheimer’s, which is why he’s the subject of a new documentary,“The Last Alzheimer’s Patient” Gupta wanted to know what his risk was and whether, at 54, he was starting to show signs of the disease.
He underwent hours of high-tech testing with neurologists and embarked on a mission to keep his brain healthy not with drugs, but with surprisingly simple changes to his daily life. Here are Gupta’s best tips for keeping your brain healthy.
1. Cut out the meat
Gupta had always tried to eat a balanced, nutritious diet, but after visiting a pioneering neurologist, Dr. Richard Isaacson,in Florida Institute for Neurodegenerative DiseasesGupta has completely stopped eating meat. “The big change that I’ve made is really around my diet,” he tells Yahoo Life. “I don’t eat meat. I eat mostly plant-based foods, mostly whole foods, and I try not to overeat.” In fact, Gupta says his diet is now mostly vegan.
That’s because certain foods, like dairy and meat, especially red meat, cause inflammation throughout the body, which is very damaging to the brain. Harvard Healthcontributing to the formation of Alzheimer’s plaques. Even before signs of dementia appear, inflammation can impair the brain, particularly executive function – the ability to control and coordinate thoughts, emotions, and behavior.
Inflammation has many causes, but for Gupta, “the inflammation in my body was almost entirely diet-driven,” he says. He was surprised by the results of his blood tests: “This is kind of a testament to how inflammatory meat is,” he adds.
2. Wear a weighted backpack when walking
Isaacson encouraged Gupta to continue her daily walks with her three dogs, but also to try walking with a weighted backpack (an activity known as “rucksacking”), which Isaacson said is good for brain health in the first place. Alzheimer’s AssociationBut backpacking has its own benefits: Adding weight to your walking provides both cardiovascular exercise and strength training, which together can help you lose what’s called visceral fat. It also strengthens your core and spine.
According to Gupta, a “big problem” that contributes to Alzheimer’s is visceral fat. “It’s the fat in the body that you can’t pinch,” he explains. Visceral fat, also known as deep abdominal fat, also accumulates around organs. A groundbreaking study in 2023 found a close link between visceral fat and Alzheimer’s. “So, using a backpack and walking with weights helps reduce visceral fat and build bone, all of which reduces insulin resistance.”
Some doctors Isaacsonbelieves that insulin resistance is one of the causes of Alzheimer’s because it can trigger the formation of amyloid plaques that are a sign of the disease. “The most objective and important outcome measure that Richard thinks about is probably insulin resistance,” he says. [Isaacson] “It’s just what we were looking for,” Gupta says. Because insulin resistance can also impede executive function, suppressing insulin resistance with exercise and a healthy diet could improve everyday brain health and help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s.
3. Consider tracking your blood sugar levels
As part of a study he’s taking part in at Isaacson’s clinic, Gupta started keeping a food diary and wearing a continuous glucose monitor, a wearable device that tracks blood sugar (glucose) levels throughout the day. Spikes in blood sugar can lead to insulin resistance, which can increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
“I was surprised by the foods that spiked my blood sugar, but also the foods I thought would spike it didn’t,” Gupta says. He found that chapati — a wheat-and-ghee flatbread that Gupta’s Indian-American family has eaten his whole life — was a major trigger for him. “Anything, including ice cream,” he says. Gupta stopped eating chapati, but he says giving up all of your favorite blood sugar-spiking foods isn’t necessarily the solution. “You understand that sweet spot,” he says.
4. Try toe spacers
During his interview with Yahoo Life, Gupta walked around his office wearing toe spacers, which he describes as “like having a loop between your toes.” The new accessory is meant to keep communication between your brain and your feet active.
“The nerves that run from the spinal cord to the legs and feet are some of the longest in the body,” Gupta explains. “Most people walk around in shoes, so they’re not stimulating those nerves. Even just walking barefoot can make a difference.” [the goal is] “We’re trying to keep the neural pathways active,” which helps protect proprioceptors, the nerve endings in the brain that control balance and coordination, which decline with age. Gupta plans to wear the toe spacers for 10 to 15 minutes a day, gradually increasing the amount of time the toes are stimulated.
5. Talk to your doctor about supplements to boost your brain health
Isaacson’s tests revealed that Gupta had an imbalance of two types of fatty acids in his body: omega-3 and omega-6. While omega-3 was high enough on its own, it was too high given how low omega-6 was. These fatty acids, which play an important role in brain development and health, help counter the effects of inflammation and cell damage caused by oxidative stress.
At Isaacson’s urging, Gupta is now taking omega-rich fish oil to optimize his omega levels. Questions have been raised recently about whether fish oil supplements work as advertised, with many recently found to be spoiled. Gupta was skeptical of the supplements’ effect on heart health, but was convinced of their possible benefits to the brain.
Even for a neuroscientist like Gupta, having your brain scanned can be nerve-wracking. “It’s intimidating and very meta to have your brain scanned,” Gupta says. And until recently, assessing risk for Alzheimer’s before symptoms appeared seemed particularly daunting. “The tendency was to think, ‘Even if the test shows something is wrong, what do I do?’ There was no clear path forward,” Gupta says.
But now, thanks to preventive neurologists like Isaacson, there’s a lot you can do to keep your brain healthy, and most of it can be done at home and at relatively low cost. “These lifestyle changes… are not nothing, but they’re doable,” Gupta says. Some of the cognitive tests Gupta took are also available to people who participate in Isaacson’s study through an app he and his team developed. Maintaining the brain.
It’s too early to tell what difference Gupta’s new habits are making to his brain health, but he has good reason to be hopeful. Other patients Participants in clinical trials reported that not only did their Alzheimer’s symptoms improve, but that they did so in just 14 months. The possibilities are enticing. “Want to clear your head for the holidays? You can do that without treatment or medication,” Gupta says.
