You Can Make Your Brain Bigger
September 24, 2023You Can Make Your Brain Bigger
The cardinal sign of Alzheimer's is a shrunken, withered brain. Science has progressed from recognizing the shrinkage on the macro level to understanding the engine that is driving it. Yale was the first to show by PET scanning with a unique marker of synapses that synaptic density correlates with cognitive function.
That just makes sense when you realize that the preserving of memory is bound up in multiple neurons making thousands of links to generate any single memory.
Goodenowe was the first to identify the culprit at the molecular level. He invented the field of "metabolomics", measuring everything in the blood over time with aging Catholic clergy. He discovered that the fatty membrane lipids called plasmalogens are the cardinal component of synapses (70%) and axons (70%) that decline and cause the progress loss of synapses and the progressive degradation of white matter. White matter is composed of all the cables wrapped up in the insulating plasmalogen membranes wherein all the communications are carried between the neurons of gray matter and every cell in the body.
What this week's study reveals is MRI evaluation of an aging population with MRI scans taken at regular intervals. There were 653 subjects who were followed for some 12 years and had over 7000 exams of their brains. They showed that aging is linked to a shrinking brain at a steady pace over age 40, and this is linked to reduced cognitive function.
This study reinforced a similar study from Hamburg that confirmed the loss of cortical thickness. This all builds on the finding of Kristine Walhovd from Norway in 2011.
Fair enough. It's a given. As you get older, your brain shrinks. That's just normal aging. Or is it? Has anyone ever reversed it? Of note, there were no brains in any of these studies that got larger. Maybe stay close to the same, but that -1 to -2% slope appears to be universal.
What has changed is the ability to manufacture plasmalogen supplements that can augment the normal healing the human body wants to do, and will do, given the chance. We know that that is what is missing.
Now, reported at a national meeting (World Peptide Conference) Dr Goodenowe reported on his own experiment on himself. He gave himself 100 mg per kg per day of Prodrome Neuro and Glia for 18 months with before and after fMRI exams.
His brain got 8% larger in that time. That would be a +76% slope positive. No one has ever done that before. He reversed the effects of 17 years of "normal aging". Furthermore, diffusion studies of his white matter showed a 10% improvement. He had no indication before his experiment that any of this would have been abnormal. It has never been done before. No toxicity. No side effects.
This is big.
www.What will Work for me? Well, I had a mother who died of Alzheimer's and I'm anxious for my brain. I'm taking 50 mg per kg per day of plasmalogen supplements. I feel subjectively that I'm getting sharper. Fortunately, three years ago I got an MRI just for the purpose of checking things out. That was before diffusion studies were widely available. Time to go back for a repeat.
References: JAMA Network Open, Frontiers, Neurobiology of Aging,
Pop Quiz
1. Is a shrinking brain normal with aging? Answer: It is happening to everyone. Those who have a slightly steeper slope get Alzheimer's. If you live to 95, you have a 50% chance of dementia. Normal means it is happening to everyone, but it doesn't mean that has to be accepted as healthy, or ok.
2. What happened to our first recorded, documented brain supplementation program of 18 months of 100 mg per kg per day? Answer: An 8% increase in brain size and 17 years of "normal " aging reversed.
3. What was the observed toxicity of such high-dose treatment? Answer. None
4. Can one consider a study with an N of 1 credible? Answer: Depends how you look at it. The first single human heart transplant triggered a revolution.
5. To repair a broken brain with symptoms of memory issues, how long does it take to repair? Answer: We are doing research on our car while driving it. We don't know the answer, but it appears that 1 year of 100 mg per kg per day reverses the "normal" shrinkage that would occur over 17 years.