How Sugar Harms Your Brain Health and Drives Alzheimer’s Epidemic

English: PET scan of a human brain with Alzheimer's disease (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Dr. Mercola

Alzheimer's disease, a severe form of dementia, affects an estimated 5.2 million Americans, according to 2013 statistics.1

One in nine seniors over the age of 65 has Alzheimer's, and the disease is now thought to be the third leading cause of death in the US, right behind heart disease and cancer.

A growing body of research suggests there's a powerful connection between your diet and your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, via similar pathways that cause type 2 diabetes.

Contrary to popular belief, your brain does not require glucose, and actually functions better burning alternative fuels, especially ketones, which your body makes in response to digesting healthy fats.

According to some experts, such as Dr. Ron Rosedale, Alzheimer's and other brain disorders may in large part be caused by the constant burning of glucose for fuel by your brain.

Alzheimer's disease was tentatively dubbed "type 3 diabetes" in early 2005 when researchers discovered that in addition to your pancreas, your brain alsoproduces insulin, and this brain insulin is necessary for the survival of brain cells.

Sugar Damages Brain Structure and Function

In your brain, insulin helps with neuron glucose-uptake and the regulation of neurotransmitters, such as acetylcholine, which are crucial for memory and learning. This is why reducing the level of insulin in your brain impairs your cognition.

Research2 has also shown that type 2 diabetics lose more brain volume with age than expected—particularly gray matter. This kind of brain atrophy is yet another contributing factor for dementia.

Studies have found that people with lower levels of insulin and insulin receptors in their brain often have Alzheimer's disease. But according to recent research published in the journal Neurology,3 sugar and other carbohydrates can disrupt your brain function even if you're not diabetic or have any signs of dementia.

To test their theory, they evaluated short- and long-term glucose markers in 141 healthy, non-diabetic, non-demented seniors. Memory tests and brain imaging were administered to assess their brain function and the actual structure of their hippocampus. As reported by Scientific American:4

"Higher levels on both glucose measures were associated with worse memory, as well as a smaller hippocampus and compromised hippocampal structure.

The researchers also found that the structural changes partially accounted for the statistical link between glucose and memory. According to study co-author Agnes Flöel, a neurologist at Charité, the results 'provide further evidence that glucose might directly contribute to hippocampal atrophy.'"

The findings suggest that even if you're not diabetic or insulin resistant (and about 80 percent of Americans fall into the latter category), sugar consumption can still disrupt your memory.

Long-term, it can contribute to the shrinking of your hippocampus, which is a hallmark symptom of Alzheimer's disease. (Your hippocampus is involved with the formation, organization, and storage of memories.)

The authors of the study suggest that "strategies aimed at lowering glucose levels even in the normal range may beneficially influence cognition in the older population."

'Normal' Blood Sugar Levels May Still Be High Enough to Cause Problems

Normally, a fasting blood sugar level between 100-125 mg/dl is diagnosed as a pre-diabetic state. A fasting blood sugar level of 90-100 is considered "normal." But in addition to the featured research, other studies have also found that brain atrophy occurs even in this "normal" blood sugar range.

Neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter, MD insists that being very strict in limiting your consumption of sugar and non-vegetable carbs is one of THE most important steps you can take to prevent Alzheimer's disease for this very reason.

He cites research from the Mayo Clinic, which found that diets rich in carbohydrates are associated with an 89 percent increased risk for dementia. Meanwhile, high-fat diets are associated with a 44 percent reduced risk.

Download Interview Transcript

Sugar Lobby Threatens Organizations and Buries Science on Health Effects

Compelling research shows that your brain has great plasticity, which you controlthrough your diet and lifestyle choices. Unfortunately, the American public has been grossly brainwashed by the sugar and processed food industries into believing that sugar is a perfectly reasonable "nutrient" that belongs in a healthy diet.  

Without accurate information, it's certainly more difficult to make health-affirming choices. Newsweek5 recently ran an article revealing just how far the sugar industry will go to defend its market share:

"According to a new report6 from the Center for Science and Democracy... industry groups representing companies that sell sweeteners, like the Sugar Association and the Corn Refiners Association... have poured millions of dollars into countering science that indicates negative health consequences of eating their products.

For example, when a University of Southern California study from 2013 found that the actual high fructose corn syrup content in sodas 'varied significantly' from the sugar content disclosed on soda labels, the Corn Refiners Association considered paying for its own counter research.

A consultant suggested that the counter research should only be published if the results aligned with their goal of disputing the USC study: 'If for any reason the results confirm [the University of Southern California study], we can just bury the data,' the consultant wrote, according to the report."

According to the Center for Science report, the Sugar Association even threatened the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO had published a paper on sugar, recommending a 10 percent limit on added sugars, stating that added sugars "threaten the nutritional quality of diets."

The Sugar Association shot off a letter to the director general, warning him that, unless WHO withdrew the study, the Sugar Association would persuade the US Congress to withdraw the WHO's federal funding. The following year, when WHO published its global health strategy on diet and health, there was no mention of the offending sugar study.

The Sugar Lobby Deserves Blame for Fueling Chronic Disease Epidemics

Indeed, despite overwhelming evidence showing that sugar, and processed fructose in particular, is at the heart of our burgeoning obesity and chronic disease epidemics, the sugar lobby has been so successful in its efforts to thwart the impact of such evidence that there's still no consensus among our regulatory agencies as to the "factual" dangers of sugar...

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data,7 13 percent of the average American's diet is sugar. In the UK, a recently published report8 by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) recommends limiting your added sugar intake to five percent, in order to avoid obesity and type 2 diabetes. They calculate this to be the equivalent of 25 grams of sugar (5-6 teaspoons) per day for women, and 35 grams (7-8 teaspoons) for men.

This matches my own recommendations for healthy, non-insulin resistant individuals—with one key difference. I recommend restricting sugar/fructose consumption to 25 grams from ALL sources, not just added sugar. This includes limiting your non-vegetable carbohydrates as well. Crazy enough, the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition still recommends you get 50 percent of your daily energy intake in the form of starchy carbohydrates, which will undoubtedly and significantly raise your risk of insulin resistance. If you're insulin/leptin resistant, diabetic, overweight, or have high blood pressure, heart disease, or cancer, I recommend restricting your sugar/fructose consumption to a maximum of 15 grams per day from all sources, until your insulin/leptin resistance has been resolved.

Dietary Guidelines for Maintaining Healthy Brain Function and Avoiding Alzheimer's Disease

It's becoming increasingly clear that the same pathological process that leads to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes may also hold true for your brain. As you over-indulge on sugar and grains, your brain becomes overwhelmed by the consistently high levels of glucose and insulin that blunts its insulin signaling, leading to impairments in your thinking and memory abilities, eventually causing permanent brain damage.

Additionally, when your liver is busy processing fructose (which your liver turns into fat), it severely hampers its ability to makecholesterol, an essential building block of your brain that is crucial for optimal brain function. Indeed, mounting evidence supports the notion that significantly reducing fructose consumption is a very important step for preventing Alzheimer's disease. 

Because of the very limited treatments, and no available cure as of yet, you're really left with just one solid solution, and that is to prevent Alzheimer's from happening to you in the first place. As explained by neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter, Alzheimer's is a disease predicated primarily on lifestyle choices; the two main culprits being excessive sugar and gluten consumption.

Another major factor is the development and increased consumption of genetically engineered (GE) grains, which are now pervasive in most processed foods sold in the US. The beauty of following my optimized nutrition plan is that it helps prevent and treat virtually ALL chronic degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's. Dr. Perlmutter's book, Grain Brain, also provides powerful arguments for eliminating grains from your diet, particularly if you want to protect the health of your brain. In terms of your diet, the following suggestions may be among the most important for Alzheimer's prevention:

• Avoid sugar and refined fructose. Ideally, you'll want to keep your total sugar and fructose below 25 grams per day, or as low as 15 grams per day if you have insulin resistance or any related disorders. In one recent animal study, a junk food diet high in sugar resulted in impaired memory after just one week!9 Place recognition, specifically, was adversely affected.
As a general rule, you'll want to keep your fasting insulin levels below 3, and this is indirectly related to fructose, as it will clearly lead to insulin resistance. However, other sugars (sucrose is 50 percent fructose by weight), grains, and lack of exercise are also important factors. Lowering insulin will also help lower leptin levels which is another factor for Alzheimer's.
• Avoid gluten and casein (primarily wheat and pasteurized dairy, but not dairy fat, such as butter). Research shows that your blood-brain barrier, the barrier that keeps things out of your brain where they don't belong, is negatively affected by gluten. Gluten also makes your gut more permeable, which allows proteins to get into your bloodstream, where they don't belong. That then sensitizes your immune system and promotes inflammation and autoimmunity, both of which play a role in the development of Alzheimer's.
• Eat a nutritious diet, rich in folate, such as the one described in my nutrition plan. Vegetables, without question, are your best form of folate, and we should all eat plenty of fresh raw veggies every day. Avoid supplements like folic acid, which is the inferior synthetic version of folate.
• Increase consumption of all healthful fats, including animal-based omega-3. Beneficial health-promoting fats that your brain needs for optimal function include organic butter from raw milk, clarified butter called ghee, organic grass fed raw butter, olives, organic virgin olive oil and coconut oil, nuts like pecans and macadamia, free-range eggs, wild Alaskan salmon, and avocado.
Contrary to popular belief, the ideal fuel for your brain is not glucose but ketones. Ketones are what your body produces when it converts fat (as opposed to glucose) into energy. The medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) found in coconut oil are a great source of ketone bodies, because coconut oil is about 66 percent MCTs. In 2010, I published Dr. Mary Newport's theory that coconut oil might offer profound benefits in the fight against Alzheimer's disease. She has since launched one of the first clinical trials of its kind to test this theory.
Also make sure you're getting enough animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil. (I recommend avoiding most fish because, although fish is naturally high in omega-3, most fish are now severely contaminated with mercury.) High intake of the omega-3 fats EPA and DHA help by preventing cell damage caused by Alzheimer's disease, thereby slowing down its progression, and lowering your risk of developing the disorder.
• Optimize your gut flora by regularly eating fermented foods or taking a high-potency and high-quality probiotic supplement
• Eat blueberries. Wild blueberries, which have high anthocyanin and antioxidant content, are known to guard against Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases. 

Other Helpful Dietary Tips and Valuable Supplements

Another helpful tip is to reduce your overall calorie consumption, and/or intermittently fast. As mentioned above, ketones are mobilized when you replace carbs with coconut oil and other sources of healthy fats. A one-day fast can help your body to "reset" itself, and start to burn fat instead of sugar. As part of a healthy lifestyle, I prefer an intermittent fasting schedule that simply calls for limiting your eating to a narrower window of time each day. By restricting your eating to a 6-8 hour window, you effectively fast 16-18 hours each day. To learn more about intermittent fasting, please see this previous article.

Also be aware that when it comes to cholesterol levels and Alzheimer's, lower is NOT better. Quite the contrary. According to Dr. Perlmutter, research shows that elderly individuals with the lowest cholesterol levels have the highest risk for Alzheimer's. They also have the highest risk for dying. As he says, the war on cholesterol is fundamentally inappropriate and harmful.

Finally, there's a short list of supplement recommendations worth noting for their specific benefits in preventing and treating dementia. So, although your fundamental strategy for preventing dementia should involve a comprehensive lifestyle approach, you may want to take special note of the following natural dietary agents. These four natural foods/supplements have good science behind them, in terms of preventing age-related cognitive changes:

1. Gingko biloba: Many scientific studies have found that Ginkgo biloba has positive effects for dementia. A 1997 study fromJAMA showed clear evidence that Ginkgo improves cognitive performance and social functioning for those suffering from dementia. Another 2006 study found Ginkgo as effective as the dementia drug Aricept (donepezil) for treating mild to moderate Alzheimer's type dementia. A 2010 meta-analysis also found Ginkgo biloba to be effective for a variety of types of dementia.
2. Alpha lipoic acid (ALA): ALA has been shown to help stabilize cognitive functions among Alzheimer's patients and may slow the progression of the disease.
3. Vitamin B12: A small Finnish study published in the journal Neurology10 found thatpeople who consume foods rich in B12 may reduce their risk of Alzheimer's in their later years. For each unit increase in the marker of vitamin B12 the risk of developing Alzheimer's was reduced by two percent. Remember sublingual methylcobalamin may be your best bet here.

Lifestyle Strategies That Can Help Ward off Alzheimer's Disease

Lifestyle choices such as getting regular sun exposure and exercise, along with avoiding toxins, are also important factors when it comes to maintaining optimal brain health. Here are several of my lifestyle suggestions:

• Optimize your vitamin D levels with safe sun exposure. Strong links between low levels of vitamin D in Alzheimer's patients and poor outcomes on cognitive tests have been revealed. Researchers believe that optimal vitamin D levels may enhance the amount of important chemicals in your brain and protect brain cells by increasing the effectiveness of the glial cells in nursing damaged neurons back to health.
Vitamin D may also exert some of its beneficial effects on Alzheimer's through its anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties. Sufficient vitamin D is imperative for proper functioning of your immune system to combat inflammation that is also associated with Alzheimer's.
• Exercise regularly. It's been suggested that exercise can trigger a change in the way the amyloid precursor protein is metabolized,11 thus, slowing down the onset and progression of Alzheimer's. Exercise also increases levels of the protein PGC-1alpha. Research has also shown that people with Alzheimer's have less PGC-1alpha in their brains12 and cells that contain more of the protein produce less of the toxic amyloid protein associated with Alzheimer's. I would strongly recommend reviewing the Peak Fitness Technique for my specific recommendations.
• Avoid and eliminate mercury from your body. Dental amalgam fillings, which are 50 percent mercury by weight, are one of the major sources of heavy metal toxicity. However, you should be healthy prior to having them removed. Once you have adjusted to following the diet described in my optimized nutrition plan, you can follow the mercury detox protocol and then find a biological dentist to have your amalgams removed.
• Avoid aluminum, such as antiperspirants, non-stick cookware, vaccine adjuvants, etc.
• Avoid flu vaccinations as most contain both mercury and aluminum, well-known neurotoxic and immunotoxic agents.
• Avoid anticholinergics and statin drugs. Drugs that block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, have been shown to increase your risk of dementia. These drugs include certain nighttime pain relievers, antihistamines, sleep aids, certain antidepressants, medications to control incontinence, and certain narcotic pain relievers.
Statin drugs are particularly problematic because they suppress the synthesis of cholesterol, deplete your brain of coenzyme Q10 and neurotransmitter precursors, and prevent adequate delivery of essential fatty acids and fat-soluble antioxidants to your brain by inhibiting the production of the indispensable carrier biomolecule known as low-density lipoprotein.
• Challenge your mind daily. Mental stimulation, especially learning something new, such as learning to play an instrument or a new language, is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer's. Researchers suspect that mental challenge helps to build up your brain, making it less susceptible to the lesions associated with Alzheimer's disease.

 http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/07/24/sugar-brain-function.aspx

Governor Terry McAuliffe Announces Virginia is “All In” for Increasing Diversity in Clinical Trials

Clinical Trials (journal) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

RICHMOND - Governor McAuliffe today announced Virginia’s support for the “I’m In” campaign to encourage greater diversity of volunteers in clinical trials.  The “I’m In,” campaign launched by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the National Minority Quality Forum, seeks to raise awareness about participation in clinical trials among historically underrepresented populations through strategic outreach and partnerships. “I’m In” also supports the Forum’s Clinical Trial Engagement Network (CTEN) which enables prospective volunteers to connect with clinical trials and provides industry, physicians, researchers, and academic institutions with data to help focus clinical trial recruitment.

“This collaboration among many of the Commonwealth’s leading health care providers is a step forward in our effort to reduce harmful and costly health care disparities,” said Governor McAuliffe.  “By raising public awareness of the importance of patient volunteers for clinical trials and by improving our clinical trial infrastructure, Virginia will also be well-positioned to be one of the leading centers for biopharmaceutical research in the country.”

Clinical trials are important to the economy of the Commonwealth.  Over the last 15 years in Virginia, biopharmaceutical research companies have conducted more than 3,800 clinical trials of new medicines in collaboration with the state’s clinical research centers, university medical schools and hospitals.   Of these, more than 1,500 target the nation’s six most debilitating chronic diseases—asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, mental illnesses and stroke. 

Without the patients who volunteer to participate in clinical trials, the development of new treatments would not be possible. Yet, only a small percentage of Americans participate in clinical trials and Hispanics, Asians and African Americans are alarmingly underrepresented in clinical research.  Increasing diversity in clinical trials can help to ensure more effective medicines and treatments for patients across all ethnic and racial backgrounds.

This collaboration, which is still inviting new participants, will increase public awareness of the critical need for patients and other volunteers for clinical trials; raise the visibility of participating hospitals as clinical trial centers of excellence; facilitate infrastructure improvements through public-private partnerships; and establish Virginia as the first state in the union to demonstrate how the public, clinical sponsors, medical providers, and government, working collaboratively, can power a world-class medical research network that is sensitive to patient diversity.  

More information on the “I’m In” campaign can be found at http://www.joinimin.org

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Governor McAuliffe Announces Four Virginia Businesses Receive Awards for Research in Offshore Wind Power Development

RICHMOND, Va. - Governor Terry McAuliffe announced that four Virginia businesses have been selected for awards totaling $860,000 for research having a total value of more than $3 million that will give the Commonwealth a competitive advantage and accelerate the development of offshore wind power and its associated industry supply chain. 

·       Alstom Power Inc, a global industrial manufacturer with its North American Wind Power business headquartered in the metro Richmond area, offered $10,000 in contributed cost share and was selected for a $40,000 award to develop advanced controls that adjust ocean wind turbines to respond in real time to incoming waves, reducing wear and tear on the rotor and generator.

·       CoastalObsTechServices LLC of Virginia Beach offered $310,000 in cost share contributions and was selected for a $260,000 award to perform a 12-month wave measurement project and wave forecast modeling and validation to help mitigate the risk of construction delays and service vessel inaccessibility.

·       Timmons Group, a Richmond-based engineering and technology firm, offered to contribute $345,000 in cost share and was selected for a $250,000 award to develop a proof of concept for a commercial wide-area metocean and environmental monitoring program.

·       Virginia Electric Power Company, dba Dominion Virginia Power, offered $2 million in cost share contribution and was selected for a $310,000 award to advance geotechnical studies, including deep borings, which are essential to early project engineering analysis and currently lacking on the Outer Continental Shelf in the vicinity of the Virginia Wind Energy Area.

The four proposals were selected for first-round awards under a request for proposals that generated 20 responses for projects requesting a total of $4.83 million in DMME funding and which offered a total of $5.38 million in matching funds. The results from these research and development activities are expected to help lower costs and risks for commercial offshore wind power development.

In September 2013, Dominion Virginia Power won the commercial auction conducted by the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to develop wind power on just over 112,000 acres approximately 24 miles off Virginia’s coast. Wind power development in this area has the potential to produce enough electricity to power about 700,000 homes. 

Governor McAuliffe said that the gradual slope of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) off of Virginia, with relatively shallow water at offshore distances sufficient to minimize conflicts with commercial shipping and military training, and an excellent wind resource make the area ideal for wind power development. In addition, the Governor stated that Virginia is well positioned along the Atlantic coast to become the central hub to support wind power development planned in other states to the north and south. “Virginia is blessed to have a skilled work force, a heavy manufacturing and ship building base in Hampton Roads, and world-class port facilities that are second to none.”

BOEM characterizes Virginia’s planned wind energy development area on the OCS as a “frontier area.” Much data still needs to be gathered, such as information on sub-sea geology, waves and currents, and marine and avian species, before commercial development can begin.  Governor McAuliffe said “the projects selected for award today will help to fill some of these gaps. This research will build on past efforts and investments and is a key part of a broader strategy to ensure that the Commonwealth continues to be well poised and highly regarded by an industry and supply chain that can bring quality jobs and other benefits to Commonwealth citizens and businesses. Today’s awards are the latest examples of the Commonwealth encouraging and supporting private sector investments in offshore wind development. There is more to come. We’re ready for business.”

Studies Show Eating More Slowly Benefits Your Health and Waistline

 Veggie burger (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Dr. Mercola

"Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things will be yours." ~Swedish Proverb

Many scientific studies have explored the benefits of eating more slowly and chewing food longer. You may hear the distant echoes of your mother's admonishment to "slow down" as you plow through your lunch as quickly as possible—as though eating is an inconvenience, an intrusion into your day that keeps you from getting on with "more important things."

But maybe your mother was right. Perhaps you should slow down. After all, what is more important than nourishment? You can't accomplish anything of much importance without a well-nourished body and mind.

Slow Down Your Eating and You'll Eat Less, Study Shows

The latest study to illustrate the importance of slowing down your eating appeared in the January 2014 issue of Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.1Researchers found that you may consume fewer calories over the course of a meal when you eat slowly.

This study was different in that not only did it compare energy intake with eating speed, but it separated subjects into two groups: "normal weight" and overweight/obese.

Both groups consumed fewer calories during the meal when they ate slowly, but for the normal weight group, the difference was greater. The normal weight group consumed 88 fewer calories during the slow meal, and the overweight group consumed 58 fewer calories.

Researchers are pondering the difference between the two groups, wondering if the overweight participants may have eaten less than usual because they felt "self-conscious" during the study.

The important part, however, is that both groups consumed less simply by slowing down.2 Both groups also drank more water during the slower meals and felt less hungry at the end of those meals.

Another study3 in the November 2013 issue of the same journal had similar findings. Namely, increasing the number of chews before swallowing reduced food consumption in adults of all body sizes. An additional finding was that normal-weight people tend to chew more slowly in general than those who are overweight or obese.

Eating Slowly and Mindfully May Shrink Your Waistline

The research is clear: slowing down your meals does all sorts of good things for your body, including causing you to eat less. Eating slowly creates actualbiochemical changes that make you less inclined to overeat. Even if you aren't a research buff, I think you will appreciate the underlying message that comes through loud and clear from these studies.

Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, July 2, 20134	Eating more slowly leads to improved satiety (feeling fuller)
PLOS One, June 5, 20135	Prolonged chewing helps prevent diabetes
Appetite, March 20136	Prolonged chewing at lunch decreases later snack intake
The "Almond Study" (Press Release IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo in Chicago)7, 8	Almonds chewed 40 times were more fully absorbed and utilized by the body because the smaller particle sizes were more bioaccessible; larger particles (10 to 25 chews) resulted in larger particles being expelled from the digestive tract, undigested. The more you chew, the less is lost, including the healthy fats!
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, August 20119	Longer chewing results in fewer calories being consumed and more favorable levels of appetite-regulating hormones that tell your brain when to stop eating
Journal of the American Dietetic Association, July 200810	Eating more slowly decrease food intake, increased satiety in healthy women
British Medical Journal,October 21, 200811	Eating until full and eating quickly triples your risk of becoming overweight

How Can Eating More Slowly Do ALL of That?

Could reducing overeating really be this simple? Well, when you look at the complete picture, it does make sense. When you eat quickly, your body doesn't have the time to go through its natural signaling process, which involves a variety of hormones and feedback loops between your gut and your brain.

Hormones that tell you when you've had adequate food are produced while you're eating, but it takes a bit of time for this to occur. If you eat too quickly, you can easily overeat before your body has a chance to signal that you've had enough. According to the Harvard Health Blog:12

"Stretch receptors in the stomach are activated as it fills with food or water; these signal the brain directly through the vagus nerve that connects gut and brainstem. Hormonal signals are released as partially digested food enters the small intestine.

One example is cholecystokinin (CCK), released by the intestines in response to food consumed during a meal. Another hormone, leptin, produced by fat cells, is an adiposity signal that communicates with the brain about long-range needs and satiety, based on the body's energy stores.

Research suggests that leptin amplifies the CCK signals, to enhance the feeling of fullness. Other research suggests that leptin also interacts with the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain to produce a feeling of pleasure after eating. The theory is that, by eating too quickly, people may not give this intricate hormonal cross-talk system enough time to work."

How long does this process take? Scientists seem to agree that it takes your brain about 20 minutes to tell your body when enough is enough. Ghrelin, the "hunger hormone," is produced mainly by your stomach. Ghrelin appears to act on your brain's pleasure centers, making you reach for that second (or tenth) chocolate chip cookie because you remember how wonderful they taste. Lack of sleep increases ghrelin. Leptin opposes ghrelin by suppressing hunger and helps prevent overeating.

Of course, if you suffer from leptin resistance, you may not be receiving those satiety signals. But if you scarf down your food in five minutes, you will definitely NOT receive those satiety signals until it's too late—which is why you may suddenly find yourself feeling like an overstuffed Thanksgiving turkey. So, how do you optimize the dance of the hungry hormones? Eat more slowly. And the best way to do this is by chewing more. Of course, choosing nutritious whole foods and getting adequate exercise are important as well.

Chew on This

Most people chew and swallow their food without thinking about it—it's almost an unconscious reflex. Inadequate chewing shortchanges your nutrition, because digestion begins in your mouth. The chewing process (mastication) is actually an extremely important step in digestion, making it easier for your intestines to absorb nutrients from food particles as they pass through.

Carbohydrate and fat digestion begin in your mouth. Inadequate chewing causes foods to pass through your GI tract without being properly broken down—so nutrients are simply wasted. As you have already seen, chewing is important in helping you maintain a healthy weight due to its natural "portion control" properties. But chewing has other benefits as well:

• Signaling: Chewing sends vital signals to your body to start preparing for digestion; chewing starts the secretion of hormones, activates taste receptors, prepares your stomach lining for secretion of hydrochloric acid, and prepares your pancreas for secretion of enzymes and bicarbonate13
• Digestion: Your food gets more exposure to your saliva, which contains digestive enzymes necessary for the first phase of digestion; saliva also helps lubricate your food so its passage is easier on your esophagus14
• Pylorus: Chewing relaxes the pylorus, a muscle at the base of your stomach that controls the passage of food into your small intestine; saliva helps the pylorus to operate with ease
• Dental Health: Chewing strengthens your teeth and jaw, and helps prevent plaque buildup and tooth decay
• Bacteria: Chewing discourages food-borne bacteria from entering your gut on plus-sized food particles; overgrowth of detrimental bacteria in your gut may lead to gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, cramping, and other digestive problems

How Many Chews Is Enough?

As a culture, we chew less now than we used to because we're eating fewer whole foods and raw foods. If you consume a whole foods diet and eliminate processed foods, you naturally have to do more of the processing yourself (e.g., chewing).

In terms of optimal number of chews, recommendations are all over the board. Most studies seem to top out at 40 chews per bite. However, Horace Fletcher, aka "The Great Masticator" and founder of the chewing movement (if you can call it that), preached 100 chews per bite. This may be excessive for most people, but there's something to be said for taking your time, and chewing as long as you're comfortably able. I think it makes sense to not obsess over the number of chews, but simply chew until your food liquefies and loses all texture. Foodie and author A.J. Jacobs attempted to emulate the Great Masticator for just one week, and then documented his experience in a very humorous article entitled "An Overachieving Underchewer."15 Jacobs found that 100 chews "turned out to be insane," and he was (tongue-in-cheek) unsure of how to accomplish it "without asphyxiating."

However, when he cut his chew-number down to 50, although still challenged, he was able to experience the benefits. Initially his jaw hurt, but by the fourth day that had improved. After all, your jaw, just like any other part of your body, may be out of shape. By the end of his experiment, Jacobs claimed that foods tasted better to him, and he consumed smaller meals but was more satisfied. This crystallizes what scientists have been telling us for some time now.

Mindful Mastication: Nourishing Your Body and Soul

What about eating as a form of meditation? "Mindful eating" is a rapidly growing movement that not only focuses on slow eating, but turns food into, well... something akin to a "religious experience." The mindful eating trend has made its way into some big-time corporations. For example, the Google compound now schedules one lunch hour per month as a "mindful lunch hour."16

The practice has its roots in Buddhist teachings. Just as there are forms of meditation that involve sitting, standing, or walking in silence, many Buddhist teachers encourage their students to meditate while eating. It's about experiencing food more intensely—especially the pleasure of it. According to the New York Times, mindful eating:

"...Involves becoming aware of that reflexive urge to plow through your meal like Cookie Monster on a shortbread bender. Resist it. Leave the fork on the table. Chew slowly. Stop talking. Tune in to the texture of the pasta, the flavor of the cheese, the bright color of the sauce in the bowl, the aroma of the rising steam."

Dr. Jan Chozen Bays, author of Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food, says, "I think the fundamental problem is that we go unconscious when we eat." The remedy is simply "to eat, as opposed to eating and talking, eating and watching TV, or eating and watching TV and gossiping on the phone while Tweeting and updating one's Facebook status."

What's on your mind while you're eating may be as important as WHAT you're eating. Do you ponder the origins of your food, the farmers who brought it to you, the chicken that gave its humble life for your nourishment? It's a lot about gratitude.

Mindful eater converts report that it's harder than it sounds... putting down your fork and tuning inward isn't always easy. Of course,mindfulness can be applied to anything you're doing—eating is just one daily activity that may benefit from this approach. It is at least food for thought. The bottom line is, slow down, chew more... talk less. Savoring your food and everything it brings will undoubtedly benefit your mind, body, and spirit!

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