About this episode
Nutrition has a HUGE impact on your brain! Everything in your brain is something you ate, something you made from something you ate, or, in a few cases, something your mother ate. Nutrition impacts your mental and emotional health, the function of your five senses, and your conscious and unconscious control over your body movements. Join me as I lead you in a safari through the textbook, "Neuroscience," pointing out along the way all the interesting connections to nutrition. Listen in for part 1 on the basic cellular functions of neurons! This episode is brought to you by US Wellness Meats . I use their liverwurst as a convenient way to make a sustainable habit of eating a diversity of organ meats. They also have a milder braunschweiger and an even milder head cheese that gives you similar benefits, as well as a wide array of other meat products, all from animals raised on pasture. Head to grasslandbeef.com and enter promo code "Chris" at checkout to get a 15% discount on any order that is at least 7 pounds and is at least $75 after applying the discount but under 40 pounds (it can be 39.99 lbs, but not 40). You can use this discount code not once, but twice! This episode is brought to you by Ancestral Supplements' "Living" Collagen. Our Native American ancestors believed that eating the organs from a healthy animal would support the health of the corresponding organ of the individual. Ancestral Supplements has a nose-to-tail product line of grass-fed liver, organs, "living" collagen, bone marrow and more... in the convenience of a capsule. For more information or to buy any of their products, go to https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/ancestral To get all four episodes RIGHT NOW, ad-free, and with transcripts, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/masterpass . Use the code LITE10 to get 10% off. To make it easier to get the discount, use this link, which has the coupon already activated: https://masterpass.chrismasterjohnphd.com/cmj-masterpass/2200/buy?coupon=LITE10 In this episode, you will find all of the following and more: 00:37 Cliff Notes 14:55 The primary type of cell in the nervous system is the neuron. 16:32 Glial cells are the assistants of the nervous system. 17:22 Cells in the nervous system are polarized. 18:54 Mitochondria are typically only located at the synapse of neurons and in the middle of photoreceptors; creatine is important for transporting energy in a cell where ATP production is highly polarized. 26:43 Sources of creatine 28:13 Brief overview of how to support methylation 31:06 The polarization of astrocytes and the obligate need for glucose in the brain 37:33 Electrical signaling, resting membrane potential, depolarization, threshold potential, hyperpolarization, and the importance of sodium, potassium, and chloride 45:13 How to get enough sodium, chloride, and potassium in the diet 53:51 The sodium-potassium ATPase uses ATP to pump three sodium ions out of the cell and two potassium ions into the cell, so magnesium and all of the nutrients involved in energy metabolism are important. 58:44 How action potentials propagate 01:03:40 Myelin and the importance of cholesterol 01:06:53 Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome is a rare genetic disorder of cholesterol synthesis that results in neurological problems that are corrected by dietary cholesterol. 01:09:32 Calcium acts as a second messenger in the nervous system, and the cytosolic calcium concentration has to be kept very low for this to work, which requires ATP energy. 01:14:22 Other roles of calcium in the nervous system 01:15:34 Sufficient dietary calcium and ATP energy are needed to support the second messenger roles of calcium. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/053-nutrition-in-neuroscience-part Chris Masterjohn, PhD, is the Founder and Scientific Director of the mitochondria test Mitome .