Syft

Alzheimer’s Insights - Surprising Lessons from the Blue Zones and Time Travel

Surveys around the world consistently find Alzheimer's in the top one or two positions of most feared diseases. Typically, half of adults surveyed worry about developing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. Despite the massive public interest and enormous progress identifying molecular pathways linked to this neurodegenerative disease, pharmaceutical interventions over the past couple decades have failed spectacularly in slowing or halting the cognitive decline.  
 
Outside of a chemical cure for Alzheimer’s, the internet and social media are full of advice on colourful superfoods and sudoku puzzles as strategies to combat cognitive impairment. But could both camps be missing some key, largely unacknowledged, insights on modifiable factors, as they are being drowned out with all the noise?  
 
Many are aware of the role genes, cardiovascular health, smoking, etc play in determining one’s risk to Alzheiemer’s. Whilst these are important, they can be less impactful than a couple of unsuspecting factors working quietly in the background. Recognising and understanding these elements may change the way we view how the brain works and point towards often simple and non-invasive therapies. 
 
To do a deep dive into Alzheimer’s and dementia again we will go on the road less travelled and look at Mr Potato Head, time travel, pension fraud, x-ray vision, putting a red line through the blues zones and a historic lecture being usurped by a case of excessive masturbation.

Reframing Depression - Beyond Serotonin and a Broken Brain

The prescription of antidepressants, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, have grown exponentially since their launch in the 1990s. Today, one in seven Australian adults take an antidepressant. Medicine and culture’s current default mode is that a person who is distressed, or sad, has a chemical imbalance in their brain and this can be managed with medication. 
 
But do depressed individuals really have a chemical imbalance? Do antidepressants work above and beyond a placebo? Could any chemical imbalance even be a deliberate move by the body to help deal with the distress? What does blunting that with medication mean for the long term?
 
Also, if depression is a chemical imbalance restricted to the brain, what explains the myriad of physical comorbidities that frequently occurs with depression such as metabolic and cardiovascular disease? 
 
With claims of a mental health crisis and an epidemic of depression, perhaps its time to reframe depression and explore the new science that goes beyond a chemical imbalance to uncover other treatment options. 
 
To help reframe depression and understand new models and treatment methods we are going to look at radically honest sugar pills, lessons from man flu, ice hockey legend Wayne Gretkzy, Justin Beiber, and the amputation of an imaginary limb.

Is it better to be a blood sugar Optimiser or Satisficer?

It's well known that eating carbohydrates causes your blood glucose to rise and there is almost frenzied interest about how this can be unhealthy and lead to diabetes, weight gain, reactive low blood sugar, mood swings and more. Many people are mindful of their carbohydrate consumption, and the latest trend is healthy individuals using continuous glucose monitor devices to ensure near perfect blood glucose stability. 
 
Our bodies, however, possess regulatory mechanisms that keep our blood sugar within a reasonable range. Some argue that even erratic fluctuations within this range is normal and little conscious effort is warranted to dampen it. The question I want to explore is this: is it better to pursue optimal blood glucose, or take a more relaxed approach and aim for near enough is good enough?
 
Whilst this sounds like an innocent question, don't be fooled - this is a hot topic, and diet wars have been battling it out for decades by fierce campaigners. With emotions often at flash point in this topic, it is difficult to know what to follow. Amongst all the tribalism, I promise you this - this episode is not the usual discussion about carbohydrates; if they are good or bad or how much or little you should eat. Near the end we’ll explore a broader concept that has much wider implications than the diet wars and blood glucose. You’ll hear a new model that is relevant to countless aspects of health and wellbeing. This can help you take a step back from all the debate to consider a novel way to approach your body and health.
 
To help navigate these treacherous waters we are going to learn about guidelines from emergency plane landings, I’ll give you a chance to decipher what a talking children’s toy is barking at you, and we’ll hear from Shakespeare and Renaissance poets and philosophers to ringside boxing commentators. We’ll learn how a coin toss gave someone a shotgun ride to a Nobel Prize and will end with a plot twist that will put into question the concept of time itself. 

These are not the toxins you’re looking for: 5½ Jedi Mind Tricks to understand environmental chemicals

We often hear statistics that every year thousands of new synthetic chemicals are introduced into our everyday environments. We also often hear how many of these chemicals do not break down and accumulate in our bodies. Environmental chemicals can be seen like the dark side of the force from the Star Wars franchise - ubiquitous evil matter flowing through all of us, causing uncontrollable and irreversible destruction.
Environmental chemicals have been suggested to cause all sorts of conditions such as cancer, obesity, developmental issues, neurodegenerative disease and autoimmunity just to name a few. It can be depressing and overwhelming, particularly when considering there have been well proven cases of localised poisoning from industrial accidents or mismanagement. 
No surprise, many of us are suspicious that inescapable toxins are ravaging our health. Many yearn for a more ‘natural' and purer time than now, and put in considerable effort and money to live a clean and organic life. 
Is there nuance to this narrative? Can our minds and perceptions influence the fate of this script? Are all chemicals toxins? Are we all at the mercy of the dark side of the toxin force or can we cultivate a positive force to provide some physiological immunity? Can our conscious mind, like Obi-Wan Kenobi, convince the stormtroopers of our subconscious mind, that sometimes these really aren't the toxins it's looking for? Could other factors, which are more in our control, be impacting our health and wellbeing?
To find out we are going to learn about an Arithmetic Archbishop and a Pessimistic Pornstar. We are going to look at a man who in an attempt to use rocks to tell the time found himself seeing the Matrix. We are going to find out why Abraham Lincoln was so angry and learn about Erin Brochovich’s opportunity to make a sequel movie. And I'm going to potentially ruin some of your favourite pop songs with terrible puns.

Game of Microbes: Hope, Hype and Helminths

The microbiome has generated a lot of interest and subsequently a lot of hope and hype. Claims are plentiful that it's the gut microbiome that is driving your mood, memories, food choices, metabolism, weight and immunity, just to name a few. 
 
Just like the Game of Thrones, the cast in the Game of Microbes is wide and varied. Also like the famous George RR Martin series, the characters are complicated, you can seldom categorically say that any one microbe is either all good or all evil. Microbes are complicated. Finally, the microbiome has its own Dragons and even Whitewalkers - dead,  zombie-like organisms that can influence the fate of the gut of the seven kingdoms.   
 
So, is the gut microbiome the hottest thing since Khal Drogo riding semi naked on horseback or will it turn out to be as disappointing as the season 8 finale? 
To make sense of the Game of Microbes we are going to explore from bitcoin to the Beatles to bored vikings, from communism to the Aussie film the Castle, and from gunshot wounds to Groundhog Day. Lets sift through the information

Is Vitamin D the Cargo Cult of Sunshine?

Vitamin D is a popular nutritional supplement. There are numerous claims of its health benefits and hundreds of studies show that low serum level vitamin D is linked to all manner of diseases. But, there appears to be a paradox - clinical trials often show that restoring low serum vitamin D with supplementation provides little, if any, benefit.
Whats going on here? 
In this episode we are going to explore if vitamin D supplementation is the cargo cult of sun exposure. I explain what that means, and to do that we are going to look at how a monk was obsessed with peas, bizarre findings from Nicolas Cage movies, the potency of viagra and why Van Halen hated the sight of brown M&Ms.
Welcome to the Syft podcast. A show where we sift through the sea of information in areas such as health, nutrition, medicine and psychology in an attempt to get a better sense of what it all means. Using science and stories I aim to synthesise the information so you are up to date and informed on topics that matter to your health and wellbeing. We will learn from the lessons from the past but also be excited about innovation and therapies on the horizon.