What Foods Make My BrainWork Best?

Seth Roberts

Tsinghua University & UC Berkeley

Ancestral Health Symposium

6 August 2011

Background

breakfast is bad → paleo interest Shangri-La Diet: "Flaxseed oil?" better balance Aquatic Ape theory of evolution

Outline: Three Foods

1. Flaxseed oil improves balance, cognition, gums

2. Pork fat improves sleep

3. Butter improves cognition

Measuring Balance

What Dose?

flaxseed oil vs. olive oil

flaxseed oil vs. nothing

Memory Scan Test

Memory Scan: flaxseed oil vs. olive oil

Memory Scan:flaxseed oil vs. nothing

Tim Lundeen

Sander Van De Cruys

Flaxseed Oil: Other Benefits

Me: Dentist said my gums no longer inflamed (= now pink, no longer red)

Tyler Cowen (Marginal Revolution): No longer needed gum surgery

Tucker Max: Gums stop bleeding, recovers from sports injuries much faster. Stops flaxseed oil, bad gums return.

Flaxseed Oil: More Evidence of Gum Benefits

Other people find same improvement (gums no longer inflamed): my sister, Carl Willat, Joyce Cohen, Tim Beneke, Jack Rusher, blogger at Ihaveneverdonethisbefore.com.

Fred Stange, Dentist: "In 3 different instances I asked what the difference in their hygiene routine was." [Their answer:] Nothing, just adding the Omega 3."

Flaxseed Oil Summary

1. Very clear brain benefits: balance, memory scan.

2. Benefits are general: 3 more tests (arithmetic, digit span, visual memory), 2 more people (Tim Lundeen, Sander Van De Cruys).

3. Other benefits: gums (many people), sports injuries (Tucker Max).

Pork Fat & Sleep

Buy 10 lb of pork from boutique farmer.

Finally eat pork belly.

Sleep really well, great energy the next day.

Pork Fat & Sleep Quality

Animal Fat & Sleep Quality

David Shackleford had similar experience:

"Started carnivorous diet. Immediately after starting, fell asleep faster, slept longer & deeper. Very pleasant surprise."

Old diet: 20% fat, 30% protein, 50% carbs

New diet: 60% fat (all animal fat), 30% protein, 10% carbs

March Anomaly

Repetition of Anomaly

Butter & Arithmetic

Repetition in Genomera Study

Effect of Butter on Heart Health?

Did Butter Cause Heart Scan Improvement?

Two rare events coincided. Event 1: eat half stick of butter daily (1 in 1000?). Event 2: Big heart scan improvement (1 in 100).

Lightning doesn't strike twice in one place for different reasons. Only possibility: Event 1 (butter) caused Event 2 (heart scan improvement).

Mozaffarian et al. (2004): In older women, "a greater saturated fat intake is associated with less progression of coronary atherosclerosis."

Plausible that butter caused improvement

Butter Summary

1. Caused big improvement in arithmetic speed.

2. Effect repeated in other people.

3. Plausible that it reduced heart disease risk.

What I Learned

1. Flaxseed oil & butter very helpful. Improved cognition & other things.

2. Big brain improvement possible. Brain dysfunction often invisible. Big improvement elsewhere (inflammation, circulatory system) possible.

3. Trying to improve brain function led to improvements in rest of body.

4. Brief daily mental tests can help us decide what to eat.