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Best Diet to Improve & Maintain Brain Health | Dr. Tommy Wood & Dr. Andrew Huberman

Huberman Lab Clips16:31Added Aug 31, 2026

Dr. Tommy Wood and Dr. Andrew Huberman discuss the role of nutrition in brain health and dementia prevention, emphasizing the synergistic relationship betwee...

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  1. Diets for Dementia Prevention

  2. 00:00in these studies, these large-scale uh
  3. 00:02trials, uh what was the diet
  4. 00:04intervention? Can we distill it down to
  5. 00:06some things that um everyone should do
  6. 00:09or ought to consider?
  7. 00:10Most interventions in the sort of um
  8. 00:15cognitive and psychological space are
  9. 00:16focused on some version of the
  10. 00:18Mediterranean diet. Um there's uh the
  11. 00:22mind diet, um Mediterranean intervention
  12. 00:25to prevent neurogenerative delay. It
  13. 00:27came out of the Rush U memory and aging
  14. 00:30project and it's basically just a
  15. 00:31version of the um Mediterranean diet
  16. 00:34kind of focused on um dementia
  17. 00:37prevention and the way they initially
  18. 00:39created it was they looked at foods that
  19. 00:41people ate more or less of and created a
  20. 00:44score and those who had a higher score
  21. 00:45tends to you know had a lower risk of
  22. 00:47later de dementia. It wasn't an
  23. 00:48intervention when it was when it was
  24. 00:49first um developed but that was kind of
  25. 00:52the version. It's kind of combination of
  26. 00:54the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet
  27. 00:56which is um like a a anti-hypertension
  28. 00:59blood pressure treatment type diet. So
  29. 01:02it's uh you know seafood, vegetables,
  30. 01:04berries, whole grains, that kind of
  31. 01:07stuff.
  32. 01:08Not too much uh saturated fat or animal
  33. 01:10protein.
  34. 01:10Yeah. And so this is very similar to the
  35. 01:12diet they used in the SMIS trial which
  36. 01:14was the first randomized control trial
  37. 01:15in depression that showed significant
  38. 01:17improvements in in mood symptoms. I
  39. 01:20think the the principles are useful, but
  40. 01:22there's not necessarily a huge amount of
  41. 01:23evidence to say that like this is the
  42. 01:25way that you you should or you have to
  43. 01:28eat uh to maintain cognitive health.
  44. 01:30There was actually um a big trial of the
  45. 01:33of the mind diet. It was published in
  46. 01:35the New England Journal of Medicine a
  47. 01:37couple of years ago and they compared uh
  48. 01:39the mind diet to standard caloric
  49. 01:42restriction. Um and actually they saw
  50. 01:44similar benefits in both in both groups.
  51. 01:46There have been big observational
  52. 01:47studies that have looked at how much
  53. 01:49their diet looks like a Mediterranean
  54. 01:51diet. And those whose diets look more
  55. 01:53like Mediterranean diets, yes, they have
  56. 01:55a lower risk of dementia. Of course,
  57. 01:56right, this is observational data,
  58. 01:58right? So, it's not you can't say it's
  59. 01:59causal. But what's interesting in some
  60. 02:02of these studies, there was a big one
  61. 02:03that came out of the UK bio bank was
  62. 02:05that they um took out individual uh
  63. 02:09foods or food components of the
  64. 02:10Mediterranean diet to see if that
  65. 02:12changed the relationship between the
  66. 02:14Mediterranean diet and dementia risk.
  67. 02:16And there was no food or you know olive
  68. 02:18oil or food group or you eating more or
  69. 02:21less meat that changed the relationship
  70. 02:23between the Mediterranean diet and
  71. 02:24dementia risk. So what that tells me is

  72. Nutrient Density & Whole Foods

  73. 02:26it's much more about whole foods.
  74. 02:29they're nutrientdense rather than
  75. 02:32avoiding any you have to eat you have to
  76. 02:36consume lots of olive oil right or you
  77. 02:38have to restrict meat because if those
  78. 02:41things are eaten in the context of all
  79. 02:42this other stuff it's really that bigger
  80. 02:44context of diet quality and nutrient
  81. 02:47density that really matters so the the
  82. 02:51parts of diet that I think about are the
  83. 02:55you know there's three so there's energy
  84. 02:57there's nutrients and then there's
  85. 02:58overall dietary pattern. So, one of the
  86. 03:02confounding things about that trial I
  87. 03:03told you about the mind diet versus
  88. 03:05caloric restriction is you're like,
  89. 03:06well, the mind diet should win out,

  90. Caloric Intake & Brain Volume

  91. 03:08right? How does caloric restriction do
  92. 03:10just as well? And in the kind of average
  93. 03:14population,
  94. 03:15we tend to have some issues with
  95. 03:18metabolic health and have been in a
  96. 03:21state of chronic energy excess for some
  97. 03:23period of time. There's been some very
  98. 03:24nice studies that have looked at brain
  99. 03:26aging and brain volume or brain reserve
  100. 03:30um across different populations. There
  101. 03:32was um there was uh one group that
  102. 03:34looked at different um tribes in
  103. 03:37Bolivia, the Bolivian Chiman who are
  104. 03:38hunter gatherer group, the Metan who are
  105. 03:41kind of an intermediate group between
  106. 03:43sort of the Chiman and like a standard
  107. 03:45kind of industrialized group and then
  108. 03:47industrialized humans in the US and
  109. 03:49Europe. And what they found is there's
  110. 03:50kind of this um bell-shaped curve
  111. 03:52between energy availability and brain
  112. 03:55volume. And in general, brain volume,
  113. 03:57right, the more the better, right, we
  114. 03:59think. And so if you're chronically
  115. 04:01calorically restricted, your brain is
  116. 04:03smaller um because you just don't have
  117. 04:05the resources to invest in, you know,
  118. 04:08the structure um and to maintain it. At
  119. 04:11the other end, you see the same thing.
  120. 04:12So if you're chronically in a chronic
  121. 04:14state of chloric excess, you also tend
  122. 04:16to have a smaller brain on average. And
  123. 04:18this is related to metabolic disease um
  124. 04:21you know and you know potentially and
  125. 04:24what comes with it um higher levels of
  126. 04:26inflammation high blood pressure things
  127. 04:27like that that we know can negatively
  128. 04:29impact the brain. [snorts] So the most
  129. 04:31important thing and I think this is
  130. 04:32where some of the benefits of caloric
  131. 04:33restriction happened in that in that
  132. 04:35trial compared to the mind diet was that
  133. 04:38you know people's cognition improved
  134. 04:40just because they decreased their energy
  135. 04:42intake to a point that was you know more
  136. 04:45you know was essentially kind of what
  137. 04:47their brain kind of needed or you know
  138. 04:49kind of supported their overall physical
  139. 04:51health which then affects you know
  140. 04:52cognitive health and and brain volume
  141. 04:54and and brain function. So the first
  142. 04:57thing to do is to make sure that you're
  143. 04:58eating enough but not too much right and
  144. 05:01that's very simplistic but like energy
  145. 05:03is really critical energy availability
  146. 05:05not too low not too high then the next
  147. 05:07thing that you need is there is is

  148. Critical Nutrients for Cognitive Function

  149. 05:10nutrients we know there are several
  150. 05:12critical nutrients for related to
  151. 05:14cognitive function and risk of dementia
  152. 05:16um the ones that we have the best
  153. 05:17evidence for are vitamin D iron omega-3
  154. 05:20fatty acids uh the B vitamins uh
  155. 05:23involved and the B vitamins involved in
  156. 05:24methylation so particularly B12 and
  157. 05:26folate also potentially B6 and
  158. 05:28riboflavin although that might depend a
  159. 05:30little bit more on on the individual.
  160. 05:32Then there are some other nutrients that
  161. 05:34you know have some pretty good evidence
  162. 05:35for them. So many of the antioxidant uh
  163. 05:38polyphenols things that you get from
  164. 05:40berries, coffee, tea, chocolate, the
  165. 05:42carotenoids that make things orange,
  166. 05:44yellow and red. Um lutein zeazanthin
  167. 05:47aazanthin if it comes from seafood
  168. 05:49that's that's what makes shrimp and
  169. 05:50salmon pink. Um and then you know some
  170. 05:53other aspects like dietary fiber seems
  171. 05:55to have you know some some benefits as
  172. 05:57well.
  173. 05:57Not magnesium.
  174. 05:58So magnesium is absolutely absolutely in
  175. 06:00there in there too. Um and in general I
  176. 06:03think um and the so magnesium uh zinc um
  177. 06:08then there's some of the structural
  178. 06:10lipid components things like choline and
  179. 06:11ethanolamine that you might get from um
  180. 06:14nuts and seeds or eggs. They have some
  181. 06:17slightly less you like less evidence.
  182. 06:20you really when you're looking at um
  183. 06:23brain changes over time and dementia
  184. 06:24risk, but they certainly do seem to be
  185. 06:26related to to cognitive function. So,
  186. 06:28there are some studies that show that
  187. 06:29those who have lower magnesium intakes
  188. 06:31tend on average to perform less well on
  189. 06:34some some cognitive function tests. So,
  190. 06:36all of those do seem to be important. I
  191. 06:39have two questions about nutrients and
  192. 06:42brain health in [clears throat] short
  193. 06:43and long term. And they have to do with
  194. 06:45interactions between nutrients,
  195. 06:47which at least to my understanding are
  196. 06:49rarely explored.
  197. 06:50You know, you'll see studies of
  198. 06:51supplementing omega-3 or having people
  199. 06:53eat some fatty fish or or less and so
  200. 06:56on, but rarely in the presence or
  201. 06:58absence of some other vitamin that, you
  202. 07:01know, that can potentially impact the
  203. 07:04same pathways. So there's synergy.
  204. 07:05There's also, you know, necessity.
  205. 07:08So that could impact results. The other
  206. 07:11piece is on what time scale are these
  207. 07:13nutrients needed and on what time scale
  208. 07:16are they metabolized? So maybe to just
  209. 07:18kind of drill into the second question
  210. 07:19first. So you know I'm not out here as

  211. The Role of Dietary Supplements

  212. 07:22like the defender of supplements, but
  213. 07:24I've been taking supplements in various
  214. 07:26forms and eating whole foods and eating
  215. 07:28as generally healthily. You know, less
  216. 07:31so when I was younger, but still pretty
  217. 07:32healthy and more so as I get older. But
  218. 07:36here's where my brain goes. Wait, whole
  219. 07:40food is great, but let's say dark leafy
  220. 07:44greens have a bunch of things in them
  221. 07:46that are fundamentally important for
  222. 07:48brain and bodily health. Great. And they
  223. 07:50have fiber, etc.
  224. 07:52How many times a week am I eating dark
  225. 07:54leafy greens? Let's say I do Monday,
  226. 07:56Tuesday, Wednesday, I'm great. But then
  227. 07:57I'm traveling on, you know, Thursday,
  228. 07:59Friday. Should I be just supplementing
  229. 08:00Thursday, Friday? Am I good until the
  230. 08:02next week? I think one of the reasons
  231. 08:04why eating really well, I think everyone
  232. 08:08knows what that means, not enough
  233. 08:09calories, not too many, mostly whole
  234. 08:11foods, etc., enough vegetables, fruits,
  235. 08:14and high quality protein and quality
  236. 08:18fats.
  237. 08:19I think the reason why supplements still
  238. 08:21become enticing to me, maybe even
  239. 08:24necessary, is because you can take them
  240. 08:26every day very easily.
  241. 08:28So, you can make sure that you're in
  242. 08:31range and maybe above range. So, let's
  243. 08:34take one of these things, okay? Omega-3
  244. 08:36fatty acids. I I believe that the data
  245. 08:40are pretty compelling. They can be
  246. 08:41helpful for health, maybe even brain
  247. 08:43health. Certainly, I believe that. But
  248. 08:46let's say the early part of my week is
  249. 08:48omega-3 rich and the later part of my
  250. 08:50week is omega-3 poor.
  251. 08:53Am I good? Versus, you know, spreading
  252. 08:56it out across the week. It just becomes
  253. 08:58difficult to eat in a truly healthy way.
  254. 09:01I if uh if it's the case that it has to
  255. 09:03be consistent every 24 hours. So what do
  256. 09:06we know?
  257. 09:07So again I think we're often tempted to
  258. 09:10over complicate this and try and think
  259. 09:14oh you know I have to hit all these
  260. 09:15things at this interval and if I can't
  261. 09:18do that then I have to supplement. And
  262. 09:21in reality we probably have more buffer
  263. 09:24in the system than than we realize. So

  264. Omega-3 Absorption & Storage

  265. 09:27um omega-3 fats is a really good
  266. 09:28example. your adapose tissue, your fat
  267. 09:32tissue is a depo, you know, it kind of
  268. 09:36stores excess omega-3s. I actually wrote
  269. 09:38a paper on this with a colleague of
  270. 09:40mine, Rory Heath, a few years ago. The
  271. 09:42longchain omega-3s that we have in our
  272. 09:44in our fat stores um may help to explain
  273. 09:48why supplementation does or doesn't work
  274. 09:50in some of these trials because
  275. 09:52some people just have more kind of
  276. 09:54hanging around. And if you eat more than
  277. 09:56you need on one day,
  278. 09:58um especially in a state of caloric
  279. 10:00excess, um that's going to be stored in
  280. 10:02your fat tissue. And then when uh you're
  281. 10:05sleeping or when you uh initiate uh
  282. 10:08lipolysis, the breakdown of fat. So
  283. 10:09particularly during periods like you're
  284. 10:10doing exercise, those then get released
  285. 10:13and they the brain then has access to
  286. 10:15them. So there's some studies that um
  287. 10:17show that when you this relates to the
  288. 10:20form of the omega-3s as well. So many
  289. 10:22people will tell you that you have to
  290. 10:23take omega-3s in the phosphoipid form uh
  291. 10:26which is like a a special it's a special
  292. 10:28supplement. Um you can get it from
  293. 10:30krill. Um and the the form is with that
  294. 10:34the fat is attached to like a a
  295. 10:36phosphoipid head group just like it
  296. 10:38would be if it was sitting in in a cell
  297. 10:39membrane and there's a specific pathway
  298. 10:41for those to get into the brain.
  299. 10:44It's only krill or it's fish oil also.
  300. 10:45Uh no. So fish tends to be the
  301. 10:47triglyceride form uh which is your
  302. 10:49glycerol and then three fatty acids
  303. 10:51attached.
  304. 10:52When you compare a single dose of
  305. 10:55phospholipid versus triglyceride form
  306. 10:58then more of the phosphoipid form gets
  307. 11:00into the brain. Some of this you most of
  308. 11:01this comes from rodent studies. But
  309. 11:04what's interesting is if you supplement
  310. 11:05over several days, it all kind of comes
  311. 11:08out in the wash because the triglyceride
  312. 11:09form um cycles through the adipose
  313. 11:12tissue as a depo and then it gets
  314. 11:14released and the brain can then use it.
  315. 11:16So if you're going to take just one day
  316. 11:19of supplement and you want to get as
  317. 11:21much of that omega-3 in your brain, yes,
  318. 11:22you should take the we think we should
  319. 11:24you should take the phosphoippid form.
  320. 11:25But the form that comes in seafood,
  321. 11:27which is primarily the trig trigide
  322. 11:29form, is regulated through the body's
  323. 11:32fat stores. So, this is a really long
  324. 11:34way of me telling you if you eat some
  325. 11:36fish early in the week, you don't then
  326. 11:37have to supplement later in the week as
  327. 11:39long as you got kind of enough. And
  328. 11:41especially if you've consistently eaten
  329. 11:43seafood across your entire life because
  330. 11:44you probably have a bit of a depo. And
  331. 11:47so, what you see in several
  332. 11:51trials where they've given omega-3s to
  333. 11:54decrease dementia risk or improve
  334. 11:56cognitive function. So, many studies of
  335. 11:59like that have been done. There was
  336. 12:00actually a very recent one that just
  337. 12:01came out of of USC where they gave
  338. 12:04omega-3s for a long period of time. They
  339. 12:06measured omega-3 levels in the in the
  340. 12:08CSF, right, in the spinal fluid of these
  341. 12:10people to show that this the omega-3s
  342. 12:12were getting into the brain. They didn't
  343. 12:13see any changes in terms of cognitive
  344. 12:15function or um brain structure on an MRI
  345. 12:18scan. So, everybody's like, well,
  346. 12:19omega-3s don't work. But when you kind
  347. 12:21of squint at the data and and they
  348. 12:24didn't quite give me the data that I
  349. 12:26wanted. But when you look at it, those
  350. 12:27the people in the trial just didn't seem
  351. 12:29that omega-3 deficient in the first
  352. 12:31place. So, right, if this isn't
  353. 12:33something that you need more of to start
  354. 12:35with, giving a load more of it isn't
  355. 12:37going to make that much of a difference,
  356. 12:38right? And this is the case for all of
  357. 12:41these different supplements. So, the
  358. 12:44best advice if you have access to it is
  359. 12:46to test your levels. Test your vitamin D
  360. 12:48levels. test your hemoglobin and iron
  361. 12:50levels, test your omega-3 levels, test
  362. 12:52your homocyine levels, which is as is a
  363. 12:54marker of B vitamin status, which we
  364. 12:55know is a a risk factor for cognitive
  365. 12:58decline dementia as well. So, if um if

  366. Testing Nutrient Levels for Risk

  367. 13:02you can test your levels and it shows
  368. 13:04that you need more and yes, there are
  369. 13:06the the normal ranges that you have on a
  370. 13:08blood test are not necessarily the same
  371. 13:10as the risk ranges. So um homoyine is a
  372. 13:14good example. A normal range for
  373. 13:15homocyine which goes up if you need uh
  374. 13:18some of these methylation dependent B
  375. 13:20vitamins. The normal range might go up
  376. 13:22to like 15 or 16. But we know that risk
  377. 13:25is definitely elevated above 13 and is
  378. 13:28probably elevated above sort of 10 to
  379. 13:3011. So what your target range really
  380. 13:34might be is is probably lower than what
  381. 13:35the normal range might be. But we have
  382. 13:38very good evidence that if you then
  383. 13:40supplement when somebody is above that
  384. 13:43range and you bring that down, you see
  385. 13:45significant improvements in in cognitive
  386. 13:47function or slowed cognitive decline.
  387. 13:49That is particularly the case for
  388. 13:52omega-3s and B vitamins that lower
  389. 13:54homocyine. And so this is the
  390. 13:55interactions that you were talking about
  391. 13:57earlier and this is the best one that we
  392. 13:58know of although I'm sure there are many
  393. 14:00more. Like I said, there are lots of
  394. 14:02trials that have given omega-3s or have
  395. 14:05given u B vitamins to lower homocyine
  396. 14:08and just haven't seen much of an effect.
  397. 14:09And everybody goes, "Oh, well, they
  398. 14:10don't work." But there are now at least
  399. 14:12three randomized control trials that
  400. 14:14have shown that omega-3 status and B
  401. 14:16vitamin status interact and they're
  402. 14:18dependent on one another. So, if you
  403. 14:20give uh B vitamins to somebody who has
  404. 14:22elevated homocyine, you bring down their
  405. 14:24homocyine, but they have poor omega-3
  406. 14:26levels, you don't see any benefit. And
  407. 14:29[snorts] that's been shown in two
  408. 14:30trials. It was originally shown in the
  409. 14:31Vitocog trial that was run out of the
  410. 14:32University of Oxford. Um it was then uh
  411. 14:35replicated in the Broof uh trial. Then
  412. 14:38the other side has also been shown.
  413. 14:40There was a in the Omega AD trial they
  414. 14:42showed that supplementing with omega-3s
  415. 14:45didn't result in any benefit if people
  416. 14:46had elevated homocyine. So that's just
  417. 14:50one example and you can imagine like you
  418. 14:52kind of said there are probably lots of
  419. 14:53these and if we're not you know going
  420. 14:55into a study actually looking like well
  421. 14:58what nutrients does this person need and
  422. 15:01then supplementing with them um you you
  423. 15:04you're not going to find any effect.

  424. Multivitamins & Cognitive Health

  425. 15:05You're like you shouldn't be surprised
  426. 15:06when there's a when when the study
  427. 15:08doesn't show anything. potentially the
  428. 15:10one
  429. 15:12recent um example of kind of
  430. 15:18just giving a broadbased kind of set of
  431. 15:21nutrients with a multivitamin that
  432. 15:23seemed to work fairly well was the
  433. 15:25Cosmos study people may have heard of.
  434. 15:27It was thousands of people of older
  435. 15:30adults um and they were given either a
  436. 15:31multivitamin or a a flavoronoid
  437. 15:33supplement.
  438. 15:33It's like a sententrum type vitamin.
  439. 15:35Yeah, it was it was Centrum silver,
  440. 15:36right? The most basic multivitamin, just
  441. 15:39100% of the recommended daily allowance,
  442. 15:41not like no multi no like massive doses
  443. 15:44of anything.
  444. 15:45And in [snorts] that study, those who
  445. 15:46got the mil got the multivitamin saw,
  446. 15:49you know, changes in cognitive function
  447. 15:50that suggested some like some some
  448. 15:52improvements and but that was literally
  449. 15:54just covering the bases, right? No
  450. 15:56massive doses, the most basic
  451. 15:58multivitamin. So in the kind [snorts] of
  452. 16:00general population, I think you could
  453. 16:02say that something like that is probably
  454. 16:04a reasonable strategy. But what they
  455. 16:06also showed was that um supplementing
  456. 16:08with this antioxidant cocoa flavonol was
  457. 16:11only beneficial in those who tended to
  458. 16:12have a poor quality diet to start with.
  459. 16:14Right? So they just weren't getting many
  460. 16:16of these kind of compounds from their
  461. 16:17diet. If you're drinking a lot of
  462. 16:18coffee, eating a lot of berries, seeing
  463. 16:20a lot of fruits and vegetables, you
  464. 16:21probably don't need it cuz you're
  465. 16:22already getting it. [music]
  466. 16:31[music]
Best Diet to Improve & Maintain Brain Health | Dr. Tommy Wood & Dr. Andrew Huberman — Transcriptly