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BY DONNA CARUSO

Mark Hyman, MDHealing the Broken Brain Syndrome

In his previous book, The UltraSimpIe Diet (Pocket Books, 2007), MarkHyman, MD, called himself a "medical detective," a practitioner of therapidly emerging field of functional medicine, which searches for the under-lying cause of illness instead of merely treating the symptoms. Now, in hisimportant new breakthrough book, The UltraMind Solution: Fix Your BrokenBrain By Healing Your Body First (Scribner, 2008), Dr. Hyman calls himself an"accidental psychiatrist," a physician whose efforts to help people find andeliminate the causes of their physical disorders have led to the surprisingdiscovery that his treatments often cure their mental problems as well.

In an exclusive interview with Life Extension magazine. Dr. Hyman, whois the founder and medical director of the UltraWellness Center in Lenox,Massachusetts, talks about his remarkable findings. He explains howproblems of the brain, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disease, atten-tion deficit disorder (ADD), Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, andmood swings can be prevented, improved, or even cured by his innovativeprogram of diet, nutritional supplements, exercise, meditation, and lifestylechanges. Dr. Hyman's findings are a harbinger of a new approach to dealingwith what he calls "broken brains," representing a more natural, healthy, andeffective method that might one day make traditional psychiatric medicationand treatment obsolete. >>

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Why Functional Medicine?Referring to the widespread incidence and

exorbitant cost of treating mental disorders, Dr. Hymanexplains that, "Functional medicine is a map or modelfor addressing a chronic disease epidemic whichaffects over half of Americans and costs 80% of ourhealth care dollars." He says that while conventionalmethods are effective for acute illness, they simplydo not do the job with chronic disease. "We need tochange access to health care and create improvedcoverage for our population," he adds, "But we have tochange the type of health care we have access to."

Dr. Hyman says that functional medicine grows outof Western science and predicts, "It will reinvigorateprimai-y care medicine and provide success, wheretoday there is mostly failure, in addressing theepidemic of chronic conditions like heart disease,diabetes, obesity, autoimmune disease, digestiveproblems, and brain and mood disorders."

He does not reject scientific medicine and, infact, the future of scientific medicine is functionalmedicine. Dr Hyman also distinguishes functionalmedicine from alternative or integrative medicine.The key difference lies in functional medicine's focuson finding the root causes of an individual's healthproblems, as opposed to a focus on prescribingalternative treatments such as acupuncture or biofeed-back for conventional symptom-based diagnoses.

The aim, he says, "Is to navigate through the mazeof chronic disease and understand the very few basicthings that can go wrong, that can cause a myriad ofsymptoms and be easily corrected by addressing theroot. So if you have depression because you have avitamin B12 deficiency, or you have a food allergy oryou have mercury poisoning or your thyroid is not

functioning properly or you've had some psychologi-cal trauma, each one of these things is different andneeds a different treatment."

The Epidemic ofEmotional Disorders and Their Causes

"We have 1.1 billion people in the world with moodproblems or cognitive disorders," explains Dr. Hyman.

"One in 10 Americans is on antidepressants, one in 10children are on stimulant medication, and one in fourpeople will be affected by major depression duringtheir lifetime. Today, we have a chance to fundamen-tally address the causes. This has never really beenpossible before, because we never understood howbiology works and how it all fits together"

As he explains in The UltraMind Solution, "There areonly a few, common underlying mechanisms respon-sible for all disease. Our diet is becoming increasinglytoxic, our environment is increasingly toxic, we havesignificant nutritional imbalances and deficiencies,and we're under constant stress. The results weighon us day after day after day." He adds that while wecannot escape exposure to all environmental toxins,we can avoid many in food, water, and pesticides.

"The average person consumes a gallon of neuro-toxic pesticides a year," Dr. Hyman remarks, "Andthere are 3,500 different additives put into our foodsupply."

In his new book, he explains that the old idea thatthe blood-brain barrier acts as an impenetrable shieldagainst harmful elements is no longer sufficient. "WhatI found," he says, "Much to my surprise, was that when1 treated people for problems with insulin, or when Itreated food allergies or when I got people detoxedfrom heavy metals, their mental problems also went

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away. Their mood got better, their depression lifted,their dementia reversed. There were children witliautism wiio began to talk again and others I treatedfor asthma or allergies who suddenly found tht irattention deficit disorder (ADD) went away. They wentfrom having brain chaos to having healthy inner brainfunction. And I said, 'Wow, what's going on here?'"

Does Everyone Need Supplements?Dr. Hyman writes that if people "eat wild, fresh,

organic, local, non-genetically modified food grownin virgin mineral- and nutrient-rich soils that has n(>tbeen transported across vast distances and storeifor months before being eaten... and work and liv;outside, breathe only fresh unpolluted air, drink onWpure, clean water, sleep nine hours a night, move thei •bodies every day, and are free h^om chronic stresson;and exposure to environmental toxins," then, perhaps,they might not need supplements.

For the rest of us, whom he considers to be all o)us, supplements are an absolute necessity His booklists daily nutrients that he considers basic for evei yone, including vitamins A, Bl, B2, B3, B6, B12, CD, E, K, carotenoids, biotin, choline, and inositol;maciominerals calcium, chloride, magnesium, phos-phonis, potassium, sodium, and sulfur; trace mineralscopper, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum,selenium, vanadium, zinc, boron, chromium, andsilicon; essential amino acids tryptophan, meth-ionine, phenylalanine, threonine, valine, leucine,isoleucine, and lysine; and essential fatty acidslinoleic acid, gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), alpha-linoleic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), anddocosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

"Think of nutrients as fertilizer for your brain,"Dr. Hyman says. "Think of them as little helpersthat improve communications and connections." Hebelieves that approximately 80% of us will do welland maintain a healthy brain on basic supplements(combined with a healthy lifestyle and diet), includinga high-quality multivitamin; calcium and magnesium;vitamin D3, omega-3 fatty acids; problotics; and themethyiation factors folie acid, B6, and B12.

Better Diet, Better BrainDr. Hyman has a simple two-fold approach for

improving both brain and body: take out the badstuff and put in the good stuff. He pinpoints a fewdietaiT elements as causes of major mental and physi-cal problems, urging us to eliminate them from ourmenu: gluten and dairy, which he calls "staples of ourAmerican diet;" sugar and high-fructose corn syrup;trans or hydrogenated fats, which he calls "markers ofpoor quality food;" and artificial sweeteners.

The UltraMind SolutionFunctional medicine aims to heal chronicdisease by finding and addressing the rootcauses of illness.

In his new book 7776 UltraMind Solution,Dr. Mark Hyman describes how a functionalmedicine approach incorporating diet,nutritional supplements, exercise,meditation, and lifestyle changes canhelp heal brain problems such as depression,anxiety, bipolar disorder, attention deficitdisorder (ADD), and more.

A brain-healthy diet includes abundantfresh vegetables and fruits, beans, wholegrains, nuts, and lean protein, whileminimizing or avoiding high-fructose cornsyrup, trans or hydrogenated fats, artiiicialsweeteners, gluten, and dairy.

In addition to a healthy diet, most will benefitfrom nutritional supplements includinga multivitamin, calcium and magnesium,vitamin D3, omega-3 fatty acids, probiotics,and methyiation factors (such as folie acidand vitamins B6 and B12.)

Other key strategies for promoting brainhealth include avoiding toxic elements infood, water, and the environment; practicingdaily stress management; and achievingand maintaining hormonal balance.

Targeted nutritional supplements mayoffer further support for conditions suchas anxiety, depression, memory disorders,and ADD.

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"Hidden food allergies are a major unrecognizedepidemic in the twenty-first century," he asserts,adding that most of us fail to make the connectionbetween what we eat and what we feel.

"Optimal nutrition is the most important factor inkeeping your brain healthy," says Dr. Hyman. "Feedingyour brain is not something most of us know howto do." He explains that most doctors know little ornothing about proper nutrition, something that isslowly beginning to change, as il becomes moreevident that "vitamins and minerals are so essentialfor brain function and health."

Pinpointing carbohydrates as "the single mostimportant food for long-term health and brainfunction," Dr. Hyman advises eating "real, wholefood as it comes from the earth," including freshvegetables, fruit, beans, whole grains, nuts, seeds,herbs, and spices, and lean animal protein such as fish,chicken, and eggs.

Ideally, should we eat only organic food? "It'spreferable," he responds, "But not necessaiy If it's achoice of eating organic or getting off gluten and dairy,get off the gluten and daiiy" He also advises eatingfood that is as low as possible in pesticides, and rec-ommends checking the website of the EnvironmentalWorking Group (ww'w.ewg.org), which lists the latestfigures on amounts of pesticides in foods.

Environmental ToxicityDr. Hyman is especially aware of the dangers of

environmental toxins because early in his career, heworked in China for a year and was exposed on adaily basis to air polluted with coal dust and mercury.

When he began to experience many symptoms of a"broken brain," after returning home, such asinsomnia, exhaustion, depression, anxiety, andmemory loss. Dr. Hyman was finally diagnosed withmercui"y poisoning and went through a course oftreatment before recovering. Based on this personalexperience, the connection between brain disordersand environmental toxins became very clear.

Realizing that such problems are far morecommon than most of us realize. Dr. Hyman advisesthe following: "Filter your water, stay away fromlarge, predatoiy fish, try to eat organic food wheneverpossible, and find out the levels of pesticides in thefood you eat." The higher up the food chain you go,the greater the likelihood of toxins, so he recommendseating low on the food chain—for example, sardinesrather than swordfish.

Important Lifestyle FactorsAs part of his program. Dr. Hyman emphasizes

the need to confront the harm that daily stress doesto our minds and bodies (which includes increasinglevels of Cortisol), and to be proactive in diminishingthis contributor to "broken brains." He mentions theimportance of a good night's sleep, noting findingsthat Americans are sleep-deprived, which can have apowerful effect on brain function. As an example, hepoints to indicated links between sleep deprivationand Alzheimer's disease.

He also recommends regular meditation, whichimproves mood and cognitive function, yoga, deepbreathing, laughter therapy, biofeedback, making love,hypnosis, and exercise, and advises everyone to do atleast one every day.

NutrigenomicsNot too long ago, il was thought that you are born

with certain genes and you are simply stuck with them.Now, we are beginning to explore the world of "geneexpression," finding that we can often control the wayour inherited genes manifest themselves. Dr. Hymanñnds this discovery both challenging and significant.

"There's a whole new emerging science called nutrig-enomics," he says, "And it's extremely exciting to seethat changes in the diet can have exlraordinaiy effectson changing the way your genes are working or notworking." He cites a recent study that put two groupsof obese men and women on diets with identicalcalories, but different sources of carbohydrate:one group ate wheat, oats, and potatoes, while thesecond group ate lye and pasta. "Rye has unique prop-erties called phytonutrienls," he explains, "And theyactually improve insulin sensitivity." After 12 weekson these diets, the scientists looked at DNA expression

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patterns and found that about 60 genes that promoleobesity, inflammation, oxidative stress, and diabeti'swere turned on in the group that ate wheat, oats, ardpotatoes, while the group that ate rye and pasta hadmoro tlian 70 genes that did the reverse."

Dr. Hyman points to this study as importantevidence that we can use food and nutrients as medi-cine, and use them very effectively for the preventionof manv health disorders.

StayingYoungBalancing hormones is also a part oí D \

Hyman's program. He notes that in the US, thereare tliree big epidemics of hormonal imbalance:too much insulin (from sugar intake); too mucfCortisol and adrenaline (fiom stress); and noienough thyroid hormone. He says that all threeinterconnect and affect our sex homiones.

"I believe that most of the symptoms of agingwe see are really symptoms of abnormal aging ordysfunction that are related to imbalances in our corebody systems," he concludes. Dr. Hyman recommendsbioidentical hormones, which he says can be

"life-saving" when used correctly.

How the Doctor Stays WellAs a physician who is strongly motivated to solve

medical puzzles. Dr. Hyman has paid close attentionto his own health since his bout with mercurypoisoning. "I have the unique benefit of knowing myparticular genetic potholes," he says, "And I also knowI had chronic fatigue and work very hard, so I take anumber of supplements to help me deal with that."

Dr. Hyman's personal supplement program includesthe following:

• Multivilamin• Fish oil• Vitamin D3• Magnesium• Coenzyme Q10• Acetyl-L-carnitine• Methylating nutrients

(such as vitamins B6, B12, and folie acid). '

Dr. Hyman's overall Wellness plan? "I keep mygut healthy, keep myself free of toxins, and keep mymitochondria healthy. I exercise at least four or fivetimes a week, get enough sleep, eat whole, real food,keep m\ sugar intake at a minimum, enjoy alcohol asa treat once in a uhile, and make sure I hit the pausebutton every day or two."

A Life With GoalsIn The VltraMind Sohition, Dr. Hyman writes,

"My goal for all of you is to live your life as youwere meant to live it—a life full of energy, vitality,pleasure, and íiappiness." Noting that, "The brain isnot disconnected from the rest of the body as manypractitioners of conventional medicine would haveyou belie\e," he hopes to change the way we treatmental problems and help us reahze thai the causesoften lie in places where we haven't been looking:our diet, nutrient deficiencies, and toxins that haveinvaded our bodies

"The future of medicine is personalized treatment,not 'one size fits all,"' he explains. In his campaignto bring the principles ol functional medicine to awider population, Dr. Hyman recently met with sena-tors from the working group on health care reform inWashington. He hopes the results will be evident in thenew administration's approach to health cai'e.

"I told them that we have to keep up with the rest ofthe developed nations, in which we are 19th out of 19in all health care outcomes," he says. "We have to stoppharmaceutical advertising on television, we have tostop junk food marketing to children, because 40% ofthe time, when patients are in their doctors office andrequest something they saw on television, they get it.The government has to protect us from that and I thinkit's a critical issue that has to be deah with.

"The other thing is that we need to retrain ourdoctors and train a new generation of doctors to thinkand practice in a way where drugs will be one tool, butnot the only tool. I'm concerned about using the righttool for each person al the right time. ' Dr. Hyman addsthat, "Our goal in medicine should be to find the rightmedicine' for each person, without prejudice, whether

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it is a drug, a nutrient, diet change, detoxification, ahoiTnone, exercise, or exorcism!"

In addition, Dr. Hyman has been helping to trainphysicians in functional medicine. "The Institute forFunctional Medicine has trained over 1,000 practitio-ners, including 50 academic physicians and fellowsfrom 20 major medical schools who are going throughthe program," he explains."We have research projectsstarting at Hanard and we're putting together acertification program in functional medicine." ForDr Hyman, spreading the word through books,lectures, seminars, and meetings is the easy part.

"The hardest part of being a doctor is helping peopleconnect to why they want to heal," he says. In thispursuit. Dr. Hyman tries to understand each individ-ual, what that person wants, what is important to Mmor her, and what provides "meaning and purpose."

In his latest book, Dr Hyman offers a new andrevolutionary way of seeing brain disorders in apositive, encouraging format that is readily accessibleto anyone willing to try it. He constantly reminds usthat we need to forget the old idea that the cause of a

"broken brain" is totally within the brain and can only

be helped through psycho-therapy and drugs. He tellsus that we need to thinkin a new way and realizethat most of these difficul-ties are caused by biologi-cal imbalances that canbe corrected. "What youdo to your body you do toyour brain," Dr. Hymansays. "Heal your body andvou heal your brain." •

Dr. Mark Hyman is the founder and medicaldirector of the UltraWellness Center in Lenox,Massachusetts. He is the author of numerous booksincluding The UltraMind Solution, The UltraSimpIeDiet, and UltraMetabolism.

If you have any questions on the scientificcontent of this article, please call a Life Extension

Health Advisor at 1-600-226-2370.

Dr. Hyman's Nutritional Recommendations

DepressionNutrients that support the synthesis of serotonin

or norepinephrine help promote happiness andwell-being:

• Omega-3 fatty acids• Tryptophan• Phosphatidylcholine• Phosphatidylserine• Vitamins B6, Bl 2, and folio acid• Tyrosine• Magnesium• S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe)

Memory DisordersNutrients that increase acetylcholine may

help support memory, learning, and focus:• Vitamin B5• Choline• Phosphatidylcholine• Phosphatidylserine" Glycerophosphocholine• Huperzine A• Ginkgo biioba

AnxietyNutrients that increase the inhibitory neuro-

transmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)help promote relaxation and may soothe anxiety:

• GABA (as a dietary supplement)• Theanine• Taurine• Inositol•Vitamins B3, B6, and B12• Magnesium• Valerian' Passionflower• Hops

ADDNutrients that support the synthesis of

dopamine, eplnephrine, and norepinephrine helppromote focus, concentration, and motivation:

• Tyrosine' Omega-3 fatty acids• Phosphatidylcholine• Phosphatidylserine• Vitamins B6, B12, and folie acid

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