-Daniel Amen, M.D., PhD [PBS program and book]

Dr Amen, MD, PhD, has done thousands of SPECT brain scans of healthy and unhealthy brains

Actually an old technology, using radioactive isotopes, that shows a dynamic, not static, image

Isotopes in the blood are absorbed by different brain sections, depending on blood flow

Much aberrant behavior can be explained by physical damage or malfunction of the brain

Difficult or impossible to behave properly or effectively if brain is not functioning right

Unhealthy brains look like swiss cheese—black holes for all the dead sections of the brain

Worst damage is from drugs, alcohol, caffeine, smoking, toxic fumes

Other: Heredity, brain injury, heart disease, overweight, diabetes, depression, A.D.H.D., cancer treatment, sleep apnea, cosmetics, lack of physical and brain exercise

Scans show proof brain cells can be regenerated with proper treatment

Brain can grow new cells, adapt for dead ones, and grow new synapses among existing cells

Also possible to correct brain function by various types of remedies, including diet, supplements, psychotherapy, and medication [which may be temporary or may need to be permanent]

General Rules to improve the brain, reduce brain loss, and encourage growth of new cells:

Protect your brain physically: Avoid potential injury, get enough sleep, avoid brain toxins

Drugs, alcohol, caffeine, smoking, toxic fumes, cosmetics

Eat brain foods: Lean protein, salmon, tuna, turkey, complex carbs, vegetables, lots of water, blueberries, broccoli, decaf green tea, oatmeal, oranges, spinach, walnuts, vitamins, iron

Exercise your brain: Learn something every day – work it hardat new things for 15 minutes

Exercise your body: Aerobic workout that requires coordination and results in heavy sweating

Coordination exercises the brain; sweating rids the body of built-up toxins

Amen recognizes five sections of the brain [Note: These are somewhat arbitrary classifications, based on his brain scans, diagnoses, and pragmatic treatments. His “fixes” listed below do not include his recommended medications. Amen compares a couple of brain areas to a car, so a complete metaphor has been developed, as a memory aid, and is included in italics under each brain section outline.]

1. Prefrontal Cortex: The “Executive”. [30% of human brain; very small in animals]. The part that makes us human: Forethought, impulse control, maturity, empathy, cooperation

If underactive: Poor judgment, short attention span, weak conscience, lack of persistence, thrill junkie. A.D.D. or A.D.H.D. [Note: I would also assume sociopathy]

To fix: Recognize problem and consciously compensate, focus on what you want, write out detailed goals and read them daily, exercise 4 times weekly, eat high protein/low carb diet, fish oil.

[Prefrontal Cortex is the Driver.It is the executive, responsible for decisions and judgment. Depending on its condition, it may or may not display responsibility and prudence.]

2. Limbic section: Bonding and Mood control. Processes emotions, happiness, pain, libido.

If overactive, negative emotions are heightened: Depression, negative attitudes, low self esteem, anger, guilt, low [or excess] libido, low energy, ANTS [automatic negative thoughts]. Bipolar.

To fix: Practice “anteaters” [Challenge negative thoughts- argue with yourself], write 5 things each day you’re grateful for, exercise [it’s usually better than drugs for clinical depression], eat high protein diet, fish oil, expose self to pleasant smells, have social and physical contacts.

[Limbic is the Accelerator. It is responsible for energy, moods, and emotion. It makes the car go, and determines its speed: too fast, too slow, or correct.]

3. Cingulate section: Adaptability. Changes focus and shifts attention among various thoughts and behaviors, encourages cooperation, sees options, detects errors.

If overactive: Worry, over-focus, micromanage, hold grudges, argumentative, perfectionist, rigid, tend to addictions, get stuck on thoughts / attitudes / behaviors, road rage. O.C.D.

To fix: Consciously set up options, increase Serotonin [e.g. a high-carb snack], get up and move to distract yourself, exercise, low protein/high complex-carb diet.

[Cingulate is the Gear Shifter. [Amen came up with this.] It changes focus and adapts. It looks for and evaluates options to fit appropriate needs and circumstances, or gets stuck in one gear.]

4. Basal Ganglia: Anxiety level and muscle control. Modulates, coordinates and integrates emotions and movements.

If overactive: Leads to fearfulness, panic attacks, conflict avoidance, “freezing” in emergencies, headaches, low or excess motivation, poor coordination, tics. Parkinson’s.

To fix: Kill the ANTS, breathe deeply from the stomach, meditate daily, learn to deal with conflict, eat high protein/low carb diet.

[Basal Ganglia is the Brakes. [It sets anxiety level, so Amen calls it the “Idle speed adjustment”]. It causes the car to slow down when caution demands, or come to a screeching halt or lose control.]

5. Temporal Lobes [left and right]: Memory and temper. Determines learning, emotional stability, and social skills.

If overactive or underactive: Aggression [external or internal], violent thoughts, oversensitive or paranoid, emotional instability, moody, poor temper control, difficulty reading / understanding / learning / remembering, difficult recognizing faces, difficult word recall, can’t read body language and verbal tones, poor social skills, poor rhythm.

To fix: Create and remember great experiences, sing, dance, listen to classical music, get enough sleep.

[Temporal Lobes are the Navigator. They are responsible for memory, learning,  and temper.  With Prefrontal direction and Cingulate input of options, they can set and follow the route, if functioning properly, or get lost, if not. In combination with an overactive Cingulate and weak Prefrontal, they can cause road rage if thwarted.]

Serious aberrations usually result from brain damage or defects in multiple sections

Even these have shown remarkable response to diagnosis and prescription based on SPECT scans

Usually requires a multi-drug “cocktail”. Examples:

Criminal and violent behavior usually shows a brain scan that includes:

Decreased Prefrontal activity [less “executive”authority], increased Cingulate activity [stuck on negative thoughts], markedly increased or decreased left temporal lobe activity [short fuse], increased activity in the Basal Ganglia or Limbic system [anxiety and moodiness.]

Suicidal behavior usually demonstrates a multi-issue brain scan similar to violent behavior:

Decreased activity in the Prefrontal Cortex, increased Cingulate and Left Temporal Lobe.

Alzheimer’s can be reversed if caught in very early stages

Normal, as age, to lose 85,000 brain cells per day. To some extent this can be slowed.

Early signs of Alzheimer’s: Difficulty smelling strawberries, pineapple, lemons, natural gas

To fix: Avoid brain toxins, exercise body 4 times weekly, exercise brain every day, eat brain foods, sleep enough and well.

[The book also has an excellent chapter on the effects of brain physiology on intimate relationships, which is not included in this outline.]

 

Comments:

The book is very well organized and written [one of the very few, unfortunately]. I think the book is substantially correct, and valuable, subject to certain questions and caveats:

Like all books of this type, there is a tendency to identify personally with far more of the discussed conditions than could possibly be the case!

Is there a “chicken v egg” issue? I.e., does the aberrancy in the brain cause the behavior, as Amen insists, or does the behavior, continued over a period of time, cause the aberrancy? Some of both? Just because two phenomena occur together does not prove one necessarily caused the other, or even that they are necessarily related [tho, in this case, there seems to be enough data at least to support the latter].

Since this is Amen’s hobby horse, does he see thru an exaggerated focus? Does he see more than is really there?

If you accept Amen’s findings as absolute “gospel”,then there is a very limited basis for free will or for personal responsibility for misbehavior, or even for crime and sin. It gives virtually everything an excuse in brain physiology. Amen embraces this idea. [Perhaps that should make it easier to forgive others!]

Amen’s recommended “home remedy” fixes, which are listed above in the outline [a Twinkie for an overactive Cingulate, for example], seem a little like spitting at a forest fire.

Amen does make a good case for medication [Suggested medications are not included in this outline]. I have always thought that mental dysfunction is far, far overmedicated, particularly by Psychiatrists, who are western civilization’s version of witch doctors. If little Johnny is hyper, for example, give him Ritalin or some other chemical lobotomy—it’s so much easier than being an effective parent or counselor and providing proper discipline and guidance. American kids are 6 times more likely to be doped than British kids. But Amen’s diagnoses are different. They are based on very specific diagnoses of very specific problems, with the expectation, supported by evidence, of a very specific positive outcome.

There is one practitioner in South Sound: Robert Sands, MD, 3609 S 19^thSt, Tacoma. 253.752.6056

 

T Colin Campbell PhD

Introduction

America’s health is failing: 2/3 are overweight, 15 million have diabetes, 100 million have high cholesterol, the war against heart disease and cancer is being lost, young people increasingly are contracting “adult” diseases

[Note: PBS had a program on dealing with the 1/3 of American kids who are fat. As recommended by the National Pediatric Association, all children older than 2 will be tested annually for cholesterol, and appropriate drugs prescribed.]

Dr Campbell spent 40 years studying diet at the most advanced research levels:

Genes are implicated, but do not cause diseases: they predispose contracting them

Animal proteins in the bloodstream are the common trigger

Good diet is the single most powerful weapon against disease

Live longer and healthier, arrest and reverse disease, look younger and have more energy, lose weight, increase mental acuity, avoid doctors. The price: Eat right

Heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, autoimmune diseases, etc. can often bereversed

People who eat theleast animal protein, and the most natural plants, get the least disease

Plants need to be in their whole, unrefined state

People who eat themost animal protein [the “American” diet] get the most disease

Dairy foods, particularly cow’s milk, greatly increase risk of disease

Atkins and South Beach diets are deadly: Sacrifice long-term health to short-term loss

Diseases of Affluence

Compared to less“advanced” cultures, Americans are dying from diseases of affluence

Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke, alzheimers, obesity, MS, osteoporosis, etc

The same diet that is good for one of these is good for all the others

If a vegetarian diet seems “impractical”, how “practical” is obesity, disease, surgery, etc?

Heart disease

In one study, 77% of Americans in their 20s had serious signs of incipient heart disease

A test was made of 18 people who had suffered, collectively, 49 serious coronary “events”

They were all put on a plant-based diet, with no drugs or surgery

In 11 years there was only 1 event, an angina attack—from a patient who stopped the diet

[By comparison, American medicine’s solution is to recommend ½ an aspirin a day]

Obesity

2/3 of American adults are overweight; half of those are obese—and it’s growing [a pun]

The first thing visitors from other countries notice is how heavy Americans are

Permanent weight loss results from a whole food, plant-based diet, with reasonable exercise

People who eat all they want lose 10-17 lbs in 3 weeks

Diabetes [costs America $130 billion each year]

Diabetics are subject to getting all the other “affluent diseases”, as well as many others

Type 1 [5 – 10% of diabetics] begins in childhood or adolescence

Body cannot produce insulin because pancreas destroyed

An autoimmune disease that has been linked to infant feeding of cow’s milk

Genes predispose, but casein is the “trigger”. Slowly-decreasing danger continues to age 14

Type 2 used to be called “adult onset”, but is occurring in younger and younger people

Pancreas produces insulin, but it doesn’t do its job. Often results from obesity

Diet is crucial to diabetics: Reduce animal proteins and increase whole, unrefined plant food

Deaths from diabetes are reduced by this diet from 20.4/100,000 to 2.9/100,000

After 3 weeks on a vegetarian diet, Type 1 diabetics lowered insulin medication up to 40%

Most Type 2 diabetics can stop insulin entirely [24 of 25 in one study]

Cancer

All studies show more cancer in societies eating more animal protein

Many chemicals are carcinogens, but they usually act as a trigger only from animal proteins

In lab tests, rats were fed aflatoxin, a cancer-causing chemical

Rats who had 20% protein, from cow’s milk, all got cancer; if 5% protein, none did

20% animal protein is what Americans consume as a typical diet

In the test, cancer could be turned on/off, by feeding/witholding animal protein!

All forms of cancer are subject to the same effects of diet, both pro and con

E.g., Breast cancer is linked to high levels of female hormones, increased by animal protein

Genes only predispose the disease, not determine it. A plant-based diet counters the causes

[Note: a recent study showed vitamin D can arrest, and even reverse, cancer]

Autoimmune Diseases

Includes Hyper/hypo-thyroid, MS, arthritis, lupus, type 1 diabetes, Crohn’s disease, etc.

250,000 Americans newly diagnosed each year

The body attacks itself, often triggered by a virus

More prevalent farther from equator, with use of cow’s milk and less Vitamin D

If caught in early stages can be reversed; can be slowed if caught later

When this book was written, 18 of 19 people on the National Academy of Science’s Food and Nutrition Board represented the meat, dairy, and egg industries

They label research about diseases and causes “controversial” to keep them from the public

Similar to how the connection between smoking and lung cancer was obfuscated for years

They spend $100s of millions each year to thwart findings they don’t like

They control the recommendations of the Academy, which are adopted by our Government:

Recommend up to 35% of calories from protein [no other authority recommends more than 10%], up to 35% from fat, up to 65% from carbs, and up to 25% from refined sugar!

Based on their “findings” the following is an adequate diet:

Breakfast: Fruitloops with skim milk, package of M&Ms, fiber and vitamin supplements.

Lunch: Cheeseburger. Dinner: 3 slices pepperoni pizza, 16 oz. soda, sugar cookies

These standards are used for all Government-financed programs, including school lunches

Good Nutrition Principles:

Nutrition is the combined activities of many foods, in complex chemical interactions

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Supplements cannot substitute for good diet

Vitamins D and B12are the only supplements recommended. Do not overdose on D

There are no animal nutrients that are not better provided by plants

Genes do not determine disease on their own. Nutrition determines whether they are activated

Good nutrition, to a large extent, can control the effects of noxious chemicals

The same nutrition that prevents disease can stop or even reverse it

The same nutrition good for one disease is generally good for all others

Eat all you want of whole, unrefined plant foods [precluding white flour, refined sugar, etc]

Eat only a minimum of other foods, but don’t obsess about it

Even after a month you will feel better, and begin to lose weight

THE WORD OF WISDOM  [1833]

D&C89:7  And, again, strong drinks are not for the belly, but for the washing of your bodies.

8 And again, tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and is not good for man, but is an herb for bruises and all sick cattle, to be used with judgment and skill.

9 And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly.

10And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—

11 Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving.

12 Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;

13 And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.

14 All grain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life, not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth;

15 And these hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger.

16 All grain is good for the food of man; as also the fruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground—

17 Nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain.

18 And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;

19 And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;

20 And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.

21 And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them.  Amen.