How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski

“Today we discuss many topics, including GLP drugs, how they work, how they impact hunger, and how they impact things like longevity, cognition, and drives in general. As you'll soon see, Dr.”

“But we also have this obesity epidemic, which seems to be partially mitigated by the GLP drugs. But there's a lot to this whole thing that we call hunger and food and appetite and weight and all of that.”

“And today you'll educate us about all of it. But to start things off, because it's on everybody's mind, what are the GLPs? What is this glucagon-like peptide one in its natural form in the body? And then perhaps we can talk about the drugs that increase their levels, because either everyone's taking one of these now, coming”

“know is taking one. So GLPs are here. In its natural form, it's an incretant hormone. So it's secreted from the distal intestines around food ingestion.”

“future. So we're kind of left with anecdotal reports in that zone. I also hear about some non-weight loss-related benefits of the GLPs. In fact, I know people who are of healthy body weight who are taking quote-unquote microdoses or even full doses in order to glean what they claim are some of the benefits on cognition, on energy.”

“This is somewhat of a controversial topic in our field of research. The first generation of GLP-1 drugs, so 2005 to 2012, we collected some preclinical evidence in rodents suggesting that a large part of the mechanism of action for food intake suppression was through brain action.”

“And it looks like some of the early generation of GLP-1 drugs readily get into the brain and some of the newer ones less clear. Maybe it takes a little bit longer, but the jury's still out.”

“also seems to be a strong component. I know you've worked in these areas, but as a way of getting directly there, I'm very curious how the GLPs are actually suppressing hunger. Let's assume that it doesn't get into the brain, that these drugs aren't getting into the brain.”

“receptors that are expressed on the vagus nerve. So that's one mechanism through which GLP-1, both the GLP-1 drugs as well as our physiological GLP-1, may be producing this feeling of satiation.”

“There's a lot to uncover in that area still. What's the evidence that the vagus nerve is crucial for the action of GLPs in suppressing hunger? If you do a selective lesion to the sensory vagus nerve as it comes up from the GI tract to the brain and then inject GLP-1, it's not effective in reducing food intake.”

“Some are taking even more aggressive measures. And now there's the discussion about the GLPs. It's like maybe these will improve longevity of brain function or improve memory. So I don't think it's too much of a leap to just chop it up around this topic.”

“Yeah. And we, and most, many people try not to. There's also, I've been reading about this, that with the advent of the GLPs, we are entering perhaps the first time in nearly 75 years where we might start to see thiamine deficiencies and micronutrient deficiencies in a like fully modernized culture because people aren't eating enough.”

“So it could be that we end up with a large population of people who are kind of skinny fat because of the loss of muscle with the GLPs. They're not exercising plus micronutrient deficient. And in terms of hippocampal function, it seems like that would be maybe as bad as obesity.”

“That's not a concern that I have, but part of the reason for that is that people don't take, in general, they don't take these GLP-1 drugs for a long period of time. A majority will discontinue treatment within two years of starting because their side effects are caused by the side effects.”

“Another reason for discontinuation in elderly populations, there's lean mass loss, which is, I'm not saying that GLP-1 drugs preferentially reduce lean mass.”

“is that some people will do that. And many, many people are just, they're looking for a pill or a solution. And the GLP seem to have provided a solution at least to the weight piece. But I'm, it doesn't seem that they've provided a solution to the nutrient piece. And that has me concerned, frankly.”

“I mean, this is one of the most common sets of questions that I get around the issues we're talking about today, just incidentally, like, should I be taking GLPs? Like, what about, you know, what should I eat when I'm taking a GLP? You know, can I micro-dose it? Can I go off it?”

“GLP-1 drugs. It was a few other ones that have kind of fallen out of favor because the GLP-1 drugs are the most effective. But yeah, there was a period of time and probably largely due to the FenFen issue where pharmaceutical companies were not interested in developing obesity drugs thought at this point, 40 over 40% of U.S.”

“There's some in my yearbook. I believe I have some as well. It's stevia, right? So it would be a low-calorie, quote-unquote, natural sweetener, although there's some manufacturing to take it from a plant to like a drink or a food, but different than like sucralose, et cetera, of course.”

“Do you recall which those? Yeah, we had stevia, ACE-K, and saccharin. Saccharin is not one that's common in human beverages and foods these days, but it's one that rodents like quite a bit.”

“Sweet and low. Sacrifice is one of them. Yeah. And nowadays, stevia, aspartame, and sucralose seem far more common. I realize it's one study. Thank you for clarifying that it's preclinical, meaning animal study.”

“We don't see this with taste alone. So if the animals consume stevia, a non-nutritive sweetener, we don't see the acetylcholine release patterns in the hippocampus. So it is, we haven't done it the other way around where we infuse the nutrients without taste.”

“it seriously. I've got a family member who right now is taking a very high dose spectrum of antibiotics because they unfortunately had a sepsis type situation.”

“Like it, with some exceptions, there's, have you heard of C. diff? No. So this is like an intestinal issue where generally from people in a hospital who are taking antibiotics, antibiotics deplete bacteria and they'll deplete good and bad bacteria.”

“And parents want their kids to be healthy and adults want to be healthy. I don't think anyone wants to feel sick. So, provided it was safe, I would love to eat a bowl of blueberries that had like 10 times as many polyphenols. I would pay more for those blueberries.”

“I try to eat healthy, and I notice that I really love and crave blueberries and I keep mentioning them, and other foods. But if I eat healthy foods and I like the way they taste, I find that I crave those foods, and I don't tend to crave other foods, presumably because I'm sated.”

“now they're probably more widely known for their weight loss capacity in the present day. But they started off as diabetes treatment. My understanding is that the GLP-1 drugs, so Ozempic, Wegovy, and on and on, that they increase levels of GLP-1 a thousand-fold more than we ever experience now.”

Also filed under GLP-1 Agonists

“So the drugs would get into the brain, activate receptors. Whether these newer generation of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wagovi are getting into the brain, it's less clear. Really? Again, controversial. So some studies will, mostly preclinical, exclusively preclinical, will tag the peptides with a fluorescent molecule and try to look at where it accumulates in the brain.”

Also filed under GLP-1 Agonists

“Late last year, there was a really interesting set of videos that were authenticated. The discussion was: should food stamps be allowed to be used to purchase soda? And someone from the American Heart Association was asked on this panel, what do you think?”

“To me, that seems a little bit like a movie that I'm hoping isn't real. But in the end, I think they took soda off the list of things that could be purchased with these stamps. I believe that's the outcome because there was enough social pressure because of social media and this just went wild.”

“their weight loss capacity in the present day. But they started off as diabetes treatment. My understanding is that the GLP-1 drugs, so Ozempic, Wegovy, and on and on, that they increase levels of GLP-1 a thousand-fold more than we ever experience now.”

Also filed under GLP-1 Agonists

“through brain action. So the drugs would get into the brain, activate receptors. Whether these newer generation of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy are getting into the brain, it's less clear. Really? Again, controversial. So some studies will, mostly preclinical, exclusively preclinical, will tag the peptides with a fluorescent molecule and try to look at where it accumulates in the brain.”

Also filed under GLP-1 Agonists

“So I don't know which of the three camps that that puts me in, but I consume Coke Zero regularly. Yeah, it's good. Yeah, it tastes great. It tastes great. It tastes great. Yeah. So I guess then the takeaway in my mind is people will have to decide whether they want to be in the experimental or the control group, given what they know.”

“They think of it as pleasure. Most people, thanks to Analemke's book, Dopamine Nation, now, and the book The Molecule of More, which is also excellent, in my opinion, that dopamine is about craving, wanting, motivation, at least as much and probably more than it is about pleasure.”

“Yeah, that's it. That was enough of a barrier. We'll move to reinforcement in a moment. But you reminded me of the 90s when the FenFen drugs were released, Fenfluramine. These were supposed to be blockbuster drugs, kind of like the GLPs. But they were basically stimulants, right?”

“sugar fermented foods. So sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, you know, all these incredible foods that we know really support the gut microbiome. And so they're doing that and feeling better. But of course, they're destroying their gut microbiome intentionally every day at the same time.”

“sugar fermented foods. So sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, you know, all these incredible foods that we know really support the gut microbiome. And so they're doing that and feeling better. But of course, they're destroying their gut microbiome intentionally every day at the same time.”

“Some are trying to manage blood glucose using metformin or berberine, neither of which I do, I should be clear. Some are taking even more aggressive measures. And now there's the discussion about the GLPs.”

“Yeah, it was the advent of margarines and processed foods really came in. Olestra. Oh, yeah. Fortunately, I never had an Olestra chip. I wasn't interested in the leakage. Yeah, that's it. That was enough of a barrier.”

“I'm forgetting the name we'll put in the show note caption who is a laboratory up at UC Santa Barbara who's looked at supplementation with omega-3s during pregnancy and brain size and function in human offspring it seems like the omega-3s the polyphenols enough”

“sugar fermented foods. So sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, you know, all these incredible foods that we know really support the gut microbiome. And so they're doing that and feeling better. But of course, they're destroying their gut microbiome intentionally every day at the same time.”

“I'm sure there are, but I'm not aware of them. I'm not deeply familiar with them, but I believe that semaglutide may be FDA approved in some populations of teenagers, but I don't remember the specific parameters for that.”

Also filed under GLP-1 Agonists

“Okay. Thanks for clarifying why I always wondered. When I was growing up, sacrum was always on the table in restaurants. Sweet and low. Sacrifice is one of them. Yeah. And nowadays, stevia, aspartame, and sucralose seem far more common.”

“They think of it as pleasure. Most people, thanks to Analemke's book, Dopamine Nation, now, and the book The Molecule of More, which is also excellent, in my opinion, that dopamine is about craving, wanting, motivation, at least as much and probably more than it is about pleasure.”

“There's some in my Yerba. I believe I have some as well. It's Stevia, right? So it'd be a low calorie, quote unquote, natural sweetener, although there's some manufacturing to take it from a plant to like a drink or a food, but different than like sucralose, et cetera, of course.”