Hello, everyone. I write to you from my home in Jackson, Wyoming, where near constant rain has transformed the entire valley into the most iridescent green. I love it! I have been walking a lot in the rain, which means catching up on podcasts. So for our third Open Thread here on Brain Health Kitchen—let’s talk about what we all are listening to. Podcasts are a wonderful way to stretch your cognitive reserve, that key facet of Alzheimer’s prevention in which you learn new things to build novel neural pathways.
I went into the concept of cognitive reserve in more detail on Growing Bolder, a podcast I discovered after they had me on as a guest. (It’s on my list, below.) I mostly listen to podcasts to learn what thought leaders in brain health science are saying. But, I also enjoy hearing from interesting people in a wide range of fields. Here’s what I don’t like: podcasts that muddy rather than clarify what we know now in the field of Alzheimer’s prevention.
Open Thread is a space to connect and chat obsessively about a topic. I loved our first Open Thread about book recommendations, and our second one about the brain healthy food groups. These open forums are meant to be like meeting friends for coffee. Everyone is welcome to follow along and paying subscribers can share thoughts in the comment section.
I’d love to hear what you are listening to. First, here are a few of my current favorites.
Found My Fitness hosted by Rhonda Patrick, PhD, who has published scientific papers on brain health topics like omega-3 fatty acids, ApoE4 carrier status, and the role of vitamin D in brain diseases. Some of the episodes are for paid subscribers, but most content is freely available. This recent discussion about the role of blood brain barrier dysfunction in the evolution of Alzheimer's is fascinating.
The Proof hosted by Simon Hill, a nutritionist and physiotherapist focused on nutrition and lifestyle to prevent common diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s. This recent episode with Drs. Ayesha and Dean Sherzai touched on many aspects of brain health. It’s 3 hours long but there’s a timestamp in the show notes so you can skip around. I found the last hour to be most useful to learn about other neurodegenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis. Readers of this newsletter will find the rest to be a thorough review of brain health topics we’ve covered here.
The Drive hosted by Peter Attia, MD, a physician focused on longevity medicine with a strong interest in Alzheimer’s. Attia is extremely curious, in a good way, as he interviews thought leaders in medicine to debunk longevity claims (like certain brain health supplements, which you can read about in this newsletter). This discussion about the role of cholesterol in heart disease and Alzheimer’s is a must-listen. I shared this episode in a previous newsletter, one of the best I’ve heard about menopausal hormone therapy. The Drive has an open access tier and one for paying subscribers. I recently listened to Attia’s new book Outlive on my recent 1000-plus mile drive. I haven’t gotten to the nutrition chapter yet (Attia and I will have some differences of opinion here) but so far I highly recommend this book.
I also discovered this podcast when they had me on as a guest:
Growing Bolder hosted by Bill Shafer, dives into what it means to redefine the possibilities of life after age 45. I was really impressed with the professional quality of the team behind this podcast and then learned that they had won an Emmy award for their broadcast journalism. I had a fun discussion with Shafer here, who’s questions crystallized what it means to take care of your brain, how to get started, and my thoughts on eating potato chips.