Plasmalogens: The Missing Link in Brain Health, Fatigue, and Neurodegeneration?

• What if a little-known brain fat could play a major role in fatigue, brain fog, and neurodegeneration? Dr. Zimmerman introduces plasmalogens and why they’ve become a key focus in complex neurological cases.
• Plasmalogens quietly protect brain, nerve, and heart cells—until levels drop. Learn how aging, inflammation, and chronic conditions may accelerate their loss and what that means for symptoms and disease progression.
• Emerging research links low plasmalogens to conditions like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, MS, and neuropathy. This episode explores what the science suggests—and why waiting years for “perfect data” isn’t an option for those suffering now.
• Why supplementation isn’t as simple as “take more.” Dr. Zimmerman breaks down absorption challenges, precursor strategies, and why dosing must be individualized.
• Plasmalogens aren’t a magic bullet—but when stacked with the right neurological and immune support, they may change the trajectory. Discover how they fit into a true brain-body, systems-based approach.

This episode is a must-listen if you’ve tried “everything” and are still searching for answers that actually move the needle.

Transcript

The brain is the most important organ that we have. It defines who we are and what we can become. But what happens when our brain doesn't seem to be cooperating with us? Maybe it's our symptoms, chronic fatigue, brain fog, headaches, dizziness, mood issues, or it's even worse and you are diagnosed with a neurodegenerative condition such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, or multiple sclerosis. What are the things that can be done? Because really in the world of medications, there's not a lot out there. And even if it helps an extent, it doesn't really do a lot. And then on the natural health side, you go to any search engine and you find thousands upon things that people consider worth trying, even though the results aren't that great. So what I'm going to share with you is something about plasmalogens. Plasmalogens, as you're going to see, we're going to go through, there's actually a decent bit of research on these over the past twenty years, and they quickly become one of my go-tos when we're looking at neurodegenerative conditions because of how impactful they are. So what should you know about plasmalogens? So what are these? Well, when you look around each and every cell, right? So let's imagine, okay, for this instance, right here where I've got my cursor, right? We see the ball, the outside of the ball, that is, let's call that the cell membrane, okay? That membrane protects the inner components of that cell. so if you have a strong membrane then now when that cell interacts with toxins infections blood sugar changes and other things that cell is going to come out of that interaction better but what happens if that cell membrane is not intact as it should be well now when you have that same interaction you get a negative outcome and in many instances that cell is damaged or it even dies when we're looking at neurological tissue so let's just take that with us now when we look at that cell membrane the cell membrane is made up of what's called phospholipids when people think of phospholipids they think about egg yolks and things in that arena Now, a subset of phospholipids are plasmalogens and plasmalogens make up anywhere from fifteen to twenty percent of cell membranes. This is specifically true when we look at nervous system and cardiovascular tissue. So your nerves, your brain, your heart, super, super important. Now, they're more than just that impacts eyes and other stuff. But once again, very critical. OK, even though they're only about twenty percent, They pack weight far beyond that. So as we said, right, these you see in the brain. Now, when we look at things like multiple sclerosis, they actually play an important role in helping with a fat that lines the nerves or the axons. And when you lose that fat, your brain cannot communicate as well as it should, leading to a lot of symptoms. So super important there. um heart lungs immune system okay and then these are synthesized within the cells now it should be noted that even though your body does make plasmalogens plasmalogen levels do naturally drop as we age specifically at around the age of sixty it starts dropping but if you have as we're going to discover anything neurodegenerative cardiovascular diabetes neuropathy and many many more actually lose your plasmalogens at an accelerated rate which is why plasmalogens i'm going to say have so much promise and they're not just hype because clinically i see what they can do when other things don't so who benefits from plasmalogens well as we said as we aging older then the levels go down. So really anyone above a certain age could benefit from some degree of plasmalogen support. Next, those who have a known diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, neuropathy, Parkinson's, or Alzheimer's, and then even metabolic issues. So heart disease, diabetes, neuropathy. And then honestly, those who just don't want to end up in a bad spot so even for me personally i still use plasmalogens often odd in my weekly and monthly routine they're not something i take every single day because my level shouldn't be depleted but i also want to make sure i've got a really robust level i don't want to ever slip to the bottom half of the range Because guess what? I'm not going to get dementia. So when we look at this, there's been a lot of research looking at plasmalogen levels and different diagnoses from Alzheimer's to Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis. So they are finding that there is a deficiency. And because of what these plasmalogens do, when they go down, we get more inflammation as a result. And then this inflammation drives, guess what? More inflammation and more cell death. But if you can quiet this down with plasmalogens, which plasmalogens, you know, in the research has shown to help reduce that inflammation, you now spare cell death, which is super important. And there are ways to supplement this. So let's start first with Parkinson's disease. Once again, Parkinson's disease has lower levels of plasmalogen. Okay. and the lower the levels go the worse the symptoms and the progression of the diseases next well the reason why as we've said when plasmalogens go down you don't protect yourselves in those areas as well as you should and they die in accelerated rate now there has been some research on using plasmalogens in parkinson's and seen some improvements Now, more research and all this definitely still needs to be done. But also at the same time, if you have Parkinson's, you don't really have time. You don't have ten years for a new study to come out showing something. So we have to grab the things that look beneficial in the research, apply it in clinical life. Right. So I got to apply to my clinic. Other providers have to provide in their clinic. And that's our job. to say, hey, we've done this over a year. Here are the things that the research shows work and we verify it in our clinic. And here are the things that, you know what? It just wasn't that big of a deal, which is why we are talking about plasmalogens because they do work really well. Next, there's been a decent bit of research on Alzheimer's disease and loss of plasmalogen and even using plasmalogen levels as a way to predict who will get Alzheimer's disease. So once again, reduces inflammation as a result. Your brain does a better job of clearing amyloid beta and your neurons are healthier. They connect better. They've even done some research which showed plasmalogen treatment did help with cognitive function. What about multiple sclerosis, right? So neuro... Multiple sclerosis for many is a neurodegenerative condition. It's autoimmune for everyone who has it, where the fat around your nerve gets attacked and destroyed by your immune system. Well, the thing is, when that happens, your nerve cells, your nerves don't communicate with as well as they should. Your brain cells don't communicate as well. And so we've got to get that back. So there is research that shows reduced levels of plasmalogen levels as well. Now, on the other side, there are certain types of plasmalogens that can be used to restore that function. So very promising with what it can do. Now, how do we really get plasmalogens? Well, throughout most of our life, it's really just going to be through the foods we eat. animal sources, and then fish, right? When we look at the pure plasmalogens that people are taking, there's a lot of research done on scallop-derived plasmalogens. But as you can see, some of these plasmalogens, they're just not really taken in the best. And there's more research coming out. So personally, what we use is we use plasmalogen precursors that the body will then do the final step And it will be something that the body can then use. This is done with many medications as well. You'll take the medication that's not active. Your body's going to ultimately convert it into what it needs to be. We see the same thing with plasmalogens. So they get converted and that actually helps with absorption and utility. So as a whole, plasmalogens, honestly, I first heard about them probably four or five years ago, didn't really pay much attention to it. And it's been in the past three years now where I really started diving on the research. I was like, wow, there's a lot of research coming out on plasmalogens from Alzheimer's to Parkinson's to multiple sclerosis. But beyond that, they're even doing diabetic neuropathy progression based on plasmalogen levels. Looking at eye you know so changes in your vascular in your eyes which diabetics get right as a result of their plasmalogen levels so they were kind of predicting how bad people are going to be off it and so the thought is well if your plasmalogen levels tank and we can use that as a predictor of how bad things are going to be if we get your plasmalogen levels back up can we undo some of that damage or at least change the rate of damage And so far, clinically, I tell you that does seem to be true. Now, we still need more research to give us a better idea of what type of dosing people are going to best respond to and everything. But right now, it still is very individualized on a patient patient basis where we do start with certain doses and then we go up or down based on what people are dealing with. Now. If you're familiar with what I do. So I'm Dr. Spencer Zimmerman. I'm a dual licensed nurse practitioner and doctor of chiropractic where I have an emphasis in focusing on neurology and immunology. And I basically come at it from a combined integrative approach. Anything we do, we try never to do an isolation unless that's literally the only thing someone needs. But when you have a neurodegenerative condition, we have to say, how well is the brain connecting? While MRIs and CT scans do have their benefits, which tell us about brain volume, multiple sclerosis, lesions, and things like that, which is super important, it doesn't necessarily show us function. So looking at eye movements and balance are critical when assessing function. Next, we have to understand that brain is impacted by other things okay so the health of the body impacts the health of the brain so what about your gut health what about your thyroid what about your hormones what about chronic infections and the list goes on and on and on and then lastly what's with your nutrition what about your lab work right so we really come out this from as comprehensive of a treatment plan as we possibly can because it's not enough to try to treat the brain you have to make sure the brain is supported and it's in a good environment for the healing and recovery that you want because could plasmalogens work if you do nothing else yeah possibly but if you want to increase that plasmalogens do what you want them to do then you stack the deck in their favor you make sure you've got blood sugar and hormones and everything appropriate that's where i then right love doing plasmalogens and then if you're anyone i've ever worked with from a neurodegenerative condition you know i'm really big i'm getting the immune system where it should be first and always give that the head start and then that's where i bring in the neurological rehab and therapy because once we get the immune system under better control it allows the brain to make those connections and to give individuals the greatest likelihood of the results they are looking for so I hope I was able to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish with this video. It's to introduce you into something that most people have never heard about, but it does have a lot of promise when it's used really well. And if you have other things you'd like me to cover in future videos, like always, comment and let me know. And if you'd like to work with me at my clinic, Peak Brain and Body in Wesley Chapel, you can always visit our website or give us a call. And we'd love to see how we can best help you get the health outcomes you would like.