Sugar High! (Part 2)

 In this episode, we're joined by a Board-Certified Neurologist who breaks down what sugar does to our bodies and brains on a biological level. Learn how sugar impacts our reward pathways, fuels cravings, and makes overindulgence feel almost impossible to resist.

Tune in for an eye-opening conversation that will change the way you think about sugar and empower you to make healthier choices.

🎙️ Listen now on TLC Wellness RX!

Transcript

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Welcome back to another episode of Wellness RX and part two of Sugar High with special guest, Top Doc and Board-certified Pediatric Neurologist, Dr. Sono Patel. So get your paper and pen because class is back in session. Today, we will be discussing a very important topic: what sugar does to our brains. So I have a special guest here with me today, Dr. Sonia Patel. She is a double-boarded certified physician in child neurology and clinical neurophysiology. So she knows so much about how our brains work. She has an advanced fellowship training in epilepsy and extensive experience evaluating complex neurological concerns in children and teens. She is also CEO of Magnificent Minds, which is a neurology center in Bethesda, Maryland. So let's give her a warm welcome to Wellness RX. How are you today, Dr. Patak? I am doing great. Thank you so much for having me today, Dr. T. I love that nickname. And, you know, it's a pleasure to be here because just as we had been talking before, I think, you know, understanding how our body works really helps us uh make sure that we're in the best health possible. Absolutely. You are so right about that. So let's jump right into our discussion. I did a challenge recently in my office, and I challenged my staff to eliminate sugar from their diet just for a week. Now, one of my colleagues said, Absolutely, I'm not gonna do that. I will go with you, you know, to work out, but I'm not gonna do it. She just couldn't do it. My second colleague said, Okay, I can do it for a day. Okay, fine. And then the third one said, Yeah, I can I can take that challenge for a week. So we actually did it last week, and nobody made it for an entire day. I mean, they could not do it. So, my first question to you is what does sugar do to us biologically that just makes it so difficult for us to just say no? That's a great question because understanding what it does to our biology helps us hopefully reduce its intake. Yes. Although it seems like a tough challenge as you experienced the last week. Um, so you know, when we have sugar in our body, those carbohydrate molecules actually trigger a major release of neurotransmitter known as dopamine. Dopamine is what creates a sense of pleasure and a reward system. And it's similar, we see in the brain studies after taking in sugar, it's a similar release of dopamine after sugar as it is with things like addictive drugs. It literally are the same pathway in the brain. And so, you know, when we have that dopamine release, um, what we end up seeing is the same effects as drugs. That is really interesting. So the FDA currently recommends that an adult consume no more than 50 grams of added sugar per day, which is like 12 teaspoons. But they didn't even, they didn't say how much they should get in a total day. And children and adolescents is about 25 grams of added sugar a day, which is like six teaspoons. So, based on studies, what is the amount of sugar that could be considered to have an addictive effect on the brain? Yeah. So, you know, what we see are these, you know, simple carbohydrates cause more of that addictive dopamine transmission. And so, you know, when we separate out the carbohydrates, you know, there's complex carbohydrates. Those are carbohydrates that come from things like fruit or even vegetables have complex carbohydrates. Those don't cause those addictive drug type of neurotransmission from dopamine versus the simple sugars. And the simple sugars are, like you mentioned, teaspoons of sugar, things that are in, you know, the the um candy form of sugar versus our natural complex carbohydrate sugars that we think of that are in fruits and vegetables. I understand. And and I understand that there are four different dopaminergic pathways. Does sugar take a different pathway than, say, an addictive drug like cocaine or even tobacco or alcohol? Yeah, so there are. There's four different pathways that we know of. And it actually affects two out of the four pathways. So what we know is that things like drugs will actually affect all four pathways, whereas sugar at least affects two that we know of pathways at this time. So, you know, maybe not all four, but definitely two of the ones that we know are affected by drugs that you're imagining. So, like with any addictive drug, you know, one goes through these cycles of addictions and cravings and increased tolerance, which means they need more of the drug to create the same effect. Can sugar eventually lead to like a flat mood or depressed effect? Absolutely. So, this is where we talk about um terminology like a sugar crash. And that is a real phenomenon where you have this excess sugar and then you see this depletion, and because of that depletion, your body is continuously seeking more and wanting more of that reward. And so that's where we see, you know, during the sugar crash, fatigue, irritability, impaired cognitive function. We also even see things like brain inflammation when we have excessive sugar. And um, what we can see is excess inflammation that actually can lead to oxidative stress as well, that can accelerate brain aging and even lead to brain changes. Wow, that's interesting. Wow. In the news, uh, and I'm this was a paper done in Nature, and you probably heard that there's a correlation between type two and having higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Um what's the connection between the two and what is the pathophysiology? How does it how does it work? How does person who has type two is at risk for dementia or Alzheimer's disease? Absolutely. So again, going back to that oxidative stress that we see when we have excessive sugar. And what we see is that it actually can cause atrophy and brain shrinkage. And those are some of the mechanisms of action of how we end up having things like dementia, cognitive impairment, and ultimately disorders such as Alzheimer's. So it really is about, you know, the inflammation in the brain that excessive sugar first triggers, and then the subsequent oxidative stress that leads to that accelerated brain aging and brain atrophy and shrinkage that can cause some of these other disorders that we mentioned. Interesting pediatric endocrinologist, his name is Dr. Robert Luston, who is, I mean, he has been on this sugar tip, I would say, warning the public for the last 15, 20 years that sugar is in fact a toxin, and he equates it um the same as ingesting cyanide. And his theory behind it is that sugar at the cellular level uh causes uh mitochondria to produce less energy, and that lies the problem. So although cyanide will kill you quickly, we, you know, sugar is you know, is a slow poisoning, uh, which is which is an interesting fact. I don't know if you read his book called uh metabolic, which is a really good, which is a really good book. Um but that he he rela he relates it sugar to ingesting some of that, which is interesting. Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, an interesting fact is that um, you know, because the brain has so many neurons, uh it really is the most energy-demanding organ in our body. And it uses half of all the sugar energy in our body. So it's you know, mostly concentrated, the usage is concentrated in the brain. And when we see the sugar crashes, as we were mentioning, you know, what we see is that you know, we don't see that normal communication between the neurons. And because of that, when we have things like diabetes, um, and which is caused by these lower glucose levels, um, you know, what we can end up seeing is de a loss of energy for brain function and decreased cognitive ability. Wow. Wow, wow. Well, as a neurologist, what nutrients should Americans be consuming every day to maximize their brain health? Absolutely. That's a great question because at the end of the day, we want to know what things should we be doing. And one of the things that I always like to divide up our food groups into is, you know, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and then um fiber. And the reason is, you know, protein we need to elongate our sugar curves. And then the fat also helps elongate it so that we're not having highs and lows on our sugar curves. So what we want to do is, you know, use carbohydrates because as we talked about, they are very important for the brain, but try to keep it to the complex carbohydrates versus simple carbohydrates, and then use the protein and fat to elongate that sugar curve so you're not having excessive highs and lows. And then the fiber just helps us process all the carbohydrates, fats, and protein that we're ingesting. So I think all of those are really important um, you know, nutrients that can help support our brain health. And these are all great tips. Great, great, great tips. Well, you have really shared light on sugar and what it does to our brain, and have really stressed the importance of um protecting our brain health. Um and um I thank you so much for joining us on Wellness RX. And if any of our moms and dads have any questions, absolutely you can definitely get in touch with us on our Instagram, TLC Wellness RX. There's no such thing as a dumb question. Please come with questions. This is about making your life whole and complete. Um, and we are on a journey to really make sure that we try to get rid of some of these complex uh diseases that we're seeing. Um and I thank you very much, Dr. Patel, for being here. Thank you so much for having me, Dr. Thompson Chetams. I really appreciate the opportunity. Oh, this was so good. This was so good. Listen, look, I know we talked a lot about how sugar can negatively affect the brain. I know, I know. It's like, this is too much. What am I gonna do? I can't have this, I can't have that, I can't eat this, I can't, okay. Let me go into my cup, let me go into my cabinets, let me see what I got, let me see what I need to put in the trash. But listen, listen, listen. Do that. Yeah, I I I need you to go and do that. But there are foods and they're good foods, and I know people are like, oh, here she go again with the rabbit food. But it's nothing wrong with rabbit food. Rabbits are actually smart. But anywho, um, so I will I will say this. You know, when when God created the brain, he created something, and we said it we were very good, but it's such a beautiful specimen. It's such it's it's just so amazing, so many intricacies of the brain and what the brain can do and just how it controls everything. Um so we want to make sure we maintain that healthy brain. And the way to do that are through um phytonutrients, which are plant compounds, and they offer protection to your brain and your body. So, I mean, you need to give your brain love. I know sometimes it's like, you know, you're doom scrolling and things like that, and you're just forgetting everything. And the way to do that is actually to I always say, like I said before, eat the rainbow. And of course, we I know when you say taste the rainbow, eat the rainbow, you think about st um what are those things called? I don't even eat those things. Skittles. Yeah, skittles. No, no, no, no. We're talking about green, leafy vegetables. We're talking about red tomatoes and strawberries, and we're talking about oranges, we're talking about squash and bananas and purple sweet potatoes. Yes, oh, those are so good too, by the way. Um but we want to eat eat that, you know. So the best way to do that, and really get your get your green, um, get those greens going. I know some people are like, look, I'll give me some collisions and and don't here's the other thing. Don't overcook your stuff, please. Because that just takes all the nutritional value out of it. Make it make it a little firm. And I know there are people that are not able to chew that well, and I get it, I get it. You know, do what you need to do, but make sure you don't take out so many nutrients because what happens is that when you cook your food, when you cook your vegetables, it takes out a lot of those nutrients. And what you can do is you can actually put some raw veggies or some uh like let's say I love sauerkraut, so I do love eating those types of things. So I put that with my greens. I know it's cold, but I put that with my greens, and it helps, it helps out a lot. The other thing is that um when you're eating foods, and this is one of my favorite things, the Mediterranean diet is such a great brain diet. It really is. And um there's something called a mind diet. And what happens is that you're eating you're eating um foods that are rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, fish, you know, and those types of things. And and please make sure that your fish is wild caught, okay? I mean, that's another episode in itself of something totally different, but make sure it is wild cut. So here are the things, the foods that you eat for that mind diet, okay? Um, and you're gonna, it's more emphasis on the berries, on the leafy greens, um, on that fatty fish like salmon and and fermented dairy. Now, I myself cannot tolerate dairy, and I know that there are a lot of people out there that are not able to. Um, and that's okay. We can exclude those types of things. But things like green leafy vegetables and at least six servings per week. Um, and there are other vegetables, one of those servings per day. Um, berries, at least two servings a week, nuts. And here are the things about the nuts. I would focus more on your walnuts and your pistachios. And if you look at a walnut, a walnut actually looks like your brain. Ah, see? Um your olive oils. And I know it's a little difficult difficult to get pure and true unadulterated olive oil, but you can you need to do a little bit more research than to just grab any old olive oil off the cat off the um off the the the uh shelf. Um there's whole grains, you know, at least three servings per day and your fish. And I'm just letting y'all know. I know Friday can get y'all, oh it's Friday, it's fried fish day. Uh no fried fish. Let's bake it, let's broil it, you know. Um and then you have your beans and at least four for at least four meals per week and your poultry, not fried. Put away the fried chicken, put away the buffalo wings. Let's bake it. And preferably skinless. And I know y'all like that's the best part. No, mm-mm. Take that skin off of that, please. Just just do that. And that's only at least two meals per week. So if you can do that and and just consume more of the that that type of diet, that Mediterranean diet. And I will say this I love me some Mesa, Mesa restaurant, Mediterranean. I know some people like Kava. I'm, you know, that's that's your preference, but I'm a Mesa person. Um those things are so good, and it's good for your mind. Love on your mind, love your brain, and you only get one. So just remember sugar, it is okay. It's a sometimes food, but just think about some of the things that you put in your body, okay? Think about those types of sugars, okay? Think about all of that, but get your mind right. I'm just saying.