How to Prevent Memory Problems

Raena Morgan: Hi, I’m Raena Morgan with iHealthTube. We are visiting with Dr. Parris Kidd. Welcome Dr. Kidd. Dr. Parris Kidd: Thank you, Raena. Raena Morgan: He is the author of a very exciting book, especially for us aging baby boomers. It’s called PS: Nature’s Brain Booster. Let’s talk about our aging population Dr. Kidd, and PS, and how can that help people who are having the memory decline, the dysfunction in memory. Dr. Parris Kidd: Well, it’s really scary, isn’t it Raena? Raena Morgan: It is—very scary. Dr. Parris Kidd: And, pretty much everybody we talk with will say, “Oh, I’m not the brain I used to be, and I can’t remember this, and I keep forgetting that, and so on. There is a certain rate of what we could call normal decline, but that decline is actually a lot less than people may think. There are people who are in their 90s and who function very, very well. So I don’t know how much of this we can really call normal. The statistics indicate— Raena Morgan: Yes, I was wondering about the studies? Dr. Parris Kidd: The studies indicate that by the age of 60, fully half of all us are having pretty major problems that are increasing our risk for dementia. Raena Morgan: Okay, is it possible—and this is really germane to our age—is it possible to roll back the clock, especially with something like PS? Dr. Parris Kidd: Well, I’m really hoping so Raena, and we have a lot of double blind trials on PhosphatydylSerine, PS. It’s not a panacea, but the trials do indicate—and many of these are very well designed and controlled double blind trials—these trials do indicate that PS can slow that decline that begins to be noticed around the mid 40s or 50s. And, in particular, there’s one trial by Dr. Thomas Crook, who is a world authority on cognitive decline. Dr. Crook’s team found, using very, very precise measures, that some people that have this abnormal decline, some people over 50 who have this abnormal decline, can actually gain between 8 and 12 years of function, they can gain back function in things like recognizing names, recognizing faces, remembering telephone numbers and in word recall. On those types of measures, which Dr. Crook’s group has really refined, they found that a sub group of people, the people who were worse off, were able to regain quite a bit of function. Raena Morgan: Okay, is memory decline a biological function? Dr. Parris Kidd: Actually, that’s a very good question, Raena. It is not a biological dysfunction in the sense that there is no program for mental decline. There are no genes that program mental decline; there is no clock that’s ticking. What’s really happening, to the extent that we scientists can understand it, is that as we go through life and develop cumulative damage, and cumulative aftereffects of the type of lifestyle that we lead, the type of diet that we have, having exercise or not having exercise, physically and mentally, both physical and mental exercise. And, these sort of have an impact on our brain organization, and so, as the decades go by, we’re either holding steady, if we’ve been taking really good care of ourselves, or we’re losing at a pretty rapid rate. Raena Morgan: Then you’re saying there are environmental factors, it’s not just age related? Dr. Parris Kidd: There are many, many environmental factors, both lifestyle factors and factors from outside the body, such as the very obvious problems with organic pollutants, heavy metal pollutants. You know, mercury is, of course, an organic pollutant. Those types of things, which are widespread in industrialized countries—those things can really take a toll on the brain. Raena Morgan: All right, but it is possible to roll back the clock? Dr. Parris Kidd: It is possible to roll back the clock, and we need to take PS. There are other nutrients we can take such as the B vitamins, which are sometimes taken for granted but do make a huge difference, the essential minerals, other brain nutrients that help to rebuild such as GlyceroPhosphoCholine, GPC, acetylcarnitine, the omega 3s. Raena Morgan: Okay. Dr. Parris Kidd: And, I’m actually working on putting together a combination of nutrients so that we can get an optimal, total health type of rebuilding of the brain. Raena Morgan: Well, that’s excellent Dr. Kidd. Thank you for visiting with us. Dr. Parris Kidd: Thank you very much, Raena.