Boost Your Brain Health With Ayurvedic Wisdom

Shivani Gupta, PhD

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Heather Sandison, ND

It’s a pleasure. tell me about the Eastern Ayurvedic approach to brain health and where you would start if you were seeing a patient who had who was suffering from cognitive decline.

Shivani Gupta, PhD

Ayurveda is an ancient system of medicine from India that’s over 5000 years old. It has so much ancient wisdom to it. It teaches us preventive health. It teaches us about our mind, and body connection. Our dosha, how to detox, how to live?  So much around brain health, and the Ayurveda perspective would be prevention. Like how do we support gut health and build the gut digestive fire way earlier on in life so that we get to maintain that level of function and sharpness and cognition and everything that we want to have for our brain as we age? Then within the toolkit that we already have, we also have a lot of great tools where we reach into herbs and spices. We build what I call our custom mindful medicine chest, which is the tool kit that we can use to address these things. to me, brain health is how we build the gut’s digestive fire. How do we build that mind, body, and spirit connection back in?  How do we support the body in being healthy, reducing stomach inflammation, and improving our systems so that brain health is improved as the byproduct of the network?

Heather Sandison, ND

As you mentioned, even in your bio, inflammation can be one of these root causes that can throw off brain health. Certainly, we know that when there are infections or when there are toxins that are stimulating inflammation, maybe a step above inflammation is a root cause that can sometimes get out of control and lead to the production of misfolded proteins like amyloid plaques and tau proteins. Can you talk a little bit about your perspective of iron and of stopping that runaway train, that inflammation can become?

Shivani Gupta, PhD

I think we underestimate the impact of chronic low-grade persistent inflammation on the body we run through life.  I studied under a professor at MD Anderson Cancer Center, and he was the one who discovered that black pepper when added to the tumor increases the bioavailability by 2,000%. So when I was studying under him, I said,  what are we supposed to do as a society? We’re going to eat, are happy foods. We’re going to go through life. We’re going to have stress. We might not exercise perfectly. We said, look, we underestimate that inflammation is set off. It’s almost like light switches are turned on in our twenties for inflammation, poor sleep, poor diet, stress, and things like that. Then you move into your thirties. It’s still going on. We never turned off those light switches. The forties, and fifties.  

Suddenly in your fifties and sixties, you’re being diagnosed and you’re being told that you’ve got all these health issues when truly these cascades started much earlier and we just didn’t know that it was propagating in the backdrop.  So my message to everyone is we can do better. We can learn that this is an issue. We can understand that inflammation must be addressed.  then we can put those building blocks in place, those pillars of health. We can focus on sleep, we can focus on diet, we can focus on self-care, and detoxing.  I like to teach that the super spices are the new superfoods.  so when you reach into the Super Spices toolkit from Ayurveda that’s when you’re reaching into ashwagandha, probably the adaptogen and curcumin from turmeric.  I love talking about turmeric because when we use these spices, we can turn off inflammation in the body, and then we get to do the homework of maintaining the result with the lifestyle.

Heather Sandison, ND

You mentioned turmeric being important to take with black pepper because you get this added benefit, this potentiation if you will.  I’ve also said that it’s better with fat. Is that true?

Shivani Gupta, PhD

Yes. curcumin. There’s apples. There’s no apples-to-apples science between curcumin with black pepper and curcumin with a healthy fat. When I was doing my dissertation, I said, in this lifetime, I’d love to see that done. But we do see a lot of science that says either curcumin with black pepper added or curcumin with a healthy fat added is going to increase that absorption. So I tell a lot of people, just take your turmeric with your food because then you’re going to get that fat added in and that further absorption into the body.

Heather Sandison, ND

That’s amazing.  specifically, are there some of these? Ayurvedic herbs? I’m self-conscious of how I am pronouncing it because you pronounce it much more the way it’s meant to be. But I’m curious if there are ways that there are particular herbs from the ayurvedic practices that are helpful for cognition specifically.

Shivani Gupta, PhD

Curcumin itself. What if the entire tumor plant, only 3% of the Curcuminoids, and out of those three curcuminoids, the one curcumin is the most effective at reducing inflammation in the body?  So a lot of people reach out to me and say, I’m juicing my tumor, I’m sprinkling it on my chicken.  I’m like, guys, make sure whatever form you’re using it in, you’re using quirky,  black pepper or a healthy fat.  if you want a significant reduction in inflammation, you need to get that extract dose to create that significant change. But what’s cool is curcumin, which is a key component in Ayurvedic medicine. It’s noted for its potential to influence tau protein abnormalities, which is a significant factor in Alzheimer’s pathology. It’s believed to inhibit tau aggregation and reduce the Tau Phosphorylation. I could see the word in my brain and these processes are implicated in the formation of the Neurofibrillary triangles, which are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s.  so by modulating these different tau-related processes, curcumin may contribute to preserving our neural integrity and slowing down the cognitive decline that’s associated with the disease.  Kirkman’s is also believed to interact with the amyloid plaques. it’s a characteristic feature of which is a characteristic feature of Alzheimer’s. It potentially disrupts plaque formation in the brain and enhances the clearance of the amyloid proteins from the brain. this activity can mitigate the toxic effect of amyloid accumulation. 

I found that when I was doing my dissertation, I was surprised by how effective curcumin can be for neurocognitive disease.  I thought to myself, and seeing what I’ve seen. My grandfather had Parkinson’s. I’ve seen the advanced stages of diabetes run rampant in my family. What if we all just took curcumin way earlier, turned off those inflammatory processes, and supported the body?  then you asked about neurocognitive, even ashwagandha, which is an adaptogen, and people have ashwagandha. It has such powerful benefits,  like curcumin. It’s adaptogenic. It’s a neuroprotective herb. It helps reduce stress. If you’re anxious and stressed, it brings you down a couple of notches. If you’re depressed and having the blues, it lifts you.  So will every herb work? Everybody knows I wish it would. But I think when we’re suffering through these different times of life and trying to figure out what is the toolkit we need it. It’s great if you open up that toolkit into the natural solutions that are plant medicine from Mother Earth and that plant intelligence that exists that communicates so well with our body could astound you. That’s where I’m researching. Next, what can I add to curcumin to make it even more effective for Alzheimer’s and these different issues?

Heather Sandison, ND

 I’m curious, you mentioned that it surprised you some of what you learned in your PhD process. Is there anything else that stood out?  you’ve dedicated and invested a ton of time until learning about curcumin and turmeric and how to use them for their health benefits. I am just curious, even outside of Alzheimer’s or cognitive decline, was there anything else that surprised you in your work so much?

Shivani Gupta, PhD

I am a total nerd.  so when I was doing my PhD I had a section on diabetes, on obesity. It reduces us as it supports us when we’re trying to reduce visceral fat and have weight loss. Not that it’s like the weight loss tool, but if we’re inflamed, we’re not going to lose weight. we put ourselves in these cycles. Neurocognitive was a big one because I  want to keep my brain healthy over the long haul. Immune support. Kirkman’s a powerful antioxidant and it prevents oxidation. As a powerful anti-aging tool, a lot of people call this, who are in pain, they’ve got joint pain, their bodies hurt. It’s almost like we’re becoming a rusted tin man over time.  If we can prevent that oxidation and reduce inflammation of the knee, osteoarthritis or osteoarthritis, or rheumatoid arthritis applications of curcumin, I think are very powerful. It’s antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal.  so because it’s an immune modulator, a lot of people use it to hold their immune system up and support themselves because it’s going to reduce that inflammation. It supports the gut microbiome, which we know supports brain health because of its gut-brain axis. It extends it can help support extended telomeres. It helps with autophagy. it helps clear our bodies of all the old cells that our body loses. The ability to get rid of as we age helps us get rid of zombie cells.  so now, as I speak at more medical conferences and I’m embarking on clinical research, I learn even more all the time. It’s such an anti-aging tool and it’s very powerful pre-op and post-op.  so most of my body of work now is explaining to surgeons what’s prepared the patient for what’s coming and then it’s healing them faster and getting them off of pharmaceuticals sooner so that they can have fewer side effects.

Heather Sandison, ND

It hurts. Worry about the clinical work that you’re doing. You’re doing research.

Shivani Gupta, PhD

Yes. right now we’re embarking on a knee osteoarthritis trial because we already know that there is science that shows that curcumin is as effective as NZ for joint pain. Then we’re embarking on there’s a new study by the British Medical Journal that proves that curcumin is as effective as PPIs. all of the GI doctors can switch to using it. Then I have a group or we’re studying. Why is it that our genes and our whole body receive curcumin so well? Why? It’s a weird thing that it’s so well received. So this group and I worked together and we had a whole team called a Hackathon and we worked for a whole weekend, three days, and we discovered that curcumin with ginger is more effective for Alzheimer’s than just curcumin. We haven’t published the science yet. We still need to work on this. But because we found the correlation, now we’re going to see what else needs to be added to create a super formula to support this group. Because if we found that, maybe we could create a huge shift in the results that people see. That’s what gets me excited is like, what else can we discover? How can I share it? Whether I make a formula around it or someone else does, who cares? We just need the solutions out there so people get the help.

Heather Sandison, ND

How fun. That’s great.  you mentioned a couple of things like NSAIDs for joint pain in our population. As we get older, we have these aches and pains and they keep us from exercising.  that gets dangerous because of a sedentary lifestyle, whether it’s because of an injury, an old injury, or a new injury, or for whatever reason, when we end up being couch potatoes, it can have a huge impact on metabolism, on aging, on social isolation and of course, unclogging the function exercise is just jet fuel for the brain. So having blood circulating right is so important to be able to use curcumin instead of an end said that’s important because a lot of people will avoid them if they have GI beliefs or they’re worried about their liver. You don’t want to be on those consistently.  The same thing with people is they have their side effects as well and heartburn can be such a debilitating symptom to have. If you can help control that with something like curcumin or turmeric instead, that’s that’s fantastic. As people age, if they’re on PPIs, it reduces their immune function because they don’t have as much acid in the gut. It can perpetuate reflux because the lower esophageal sphincter will hang open. It also can reduce mineral absorption. There are a lot of side effects to long-term use. these are proton pump inhibitors that are used for heartburn. So having an alternative like this that’s effective and without the side effects is a huge win for people.  then the side effect is less oxidation and brain benefits.

Shivani Gupta, PhD

Less inflammation, and all the things that we want. why not give ourselves solutions that work and address our root cause issue at the same time? Like to me, it’s a no-brainer.

Heather Sandison, ND

When you think about holistically incorporating, are you better for whatever ailments? How do you coach patients in,  talking to their Western medical doctor or a conventional doctor, a naturopath, or acupuncturist, if they’ve got one of those on board, you can integrate all of these perspectives.

Shivani Gupta, PhD

I think it’s getting easier. I think more and more practitioners are getting it. I think the science of curcumin has exploded. It went from like 1000 to 16000 studies or something. As of last count, there’s so much more science being published so fast. It’s becoming less resistant to understanding that ashwagandha, curcumin, all these things could be used. But I also think that most people get it. Now that the lifestyle changes matter. We need to balance the gut. We need to optimize sleep, we need to address gut health. So fitting in the Ayurveda lifestyle, I think is the perfect meeting point between all the Western solutions, which I think many of them are phenomenal and we need them there into interventional that get in there and solve. I work with a lot of functional medicine doctors and integrative and holistic practitioners and I teach my clients look, they’re going to do their job, which is phenomenal. But to hold the result, you need this like an umbrella of Ayurvedic wisdom and knowledge and Ayurveda is going to show you how to live a lifestyle, to hold that result, to live without inflammation, to daily support the gut, to daily support brain health, to daily be grounded and balanced and live according to your Ayurvedic Dosha or Mind Body Constitution. We have a lot of tools and it’s just about getting those fires put out and then you have that energy and that space to add in the lifestyle shifts.

Heather Sandison, ND

I’ve always been so inspired and intrigued by the doshas, can you just give us a brief explanation?  We’re not going to do it justice in this amount of time we have set aside. But even just giving people a sense of what the doshas are and how are you that a practitioner would approach a patient?

Shivani Gupta, PhD

We always give everyone a dosha quiz. I have one on my website, which is my name, but I love everyone taking a dosha of the quiz and understanding which one you are. We are born with a combination of different elements. people are either vata which is more air ether, or there are pitta which is more fire water, or they are more kapha, which is earth. As we have different body types, we have different mind styles, we have different emotional spaces within us. So what’s cool is your dosha explains who and what you are. When you get way off balance, a lot of times it’s just a dosha balancing that needs to be used.  once you’re balanced within your dosha, you can leverage it because you understand how to constantly stay, calibrated, and energized and be grounded. I love teaching those shows because a vata, the person if you ground them, feels phenomenal and productive. A pitta, a person if you cool them down and cool the jets down, can be a very productive, successful person, and a kapha, a person who needs a lot of self-understanding. They’re more Mother Earth energy.  so you need to just support them to understand how to get in motion and stay in motion. And then when they’re ready to stop, they’re going to stop. That self-understanding and self-awareness can be very powerful.  also, as we’re going through different seasons of life, like women going through perimenopause, menopause, all these different set transitions, balancing your dosha could be the key to feeling like yourself again. I love that as well.

Heather Sandison, ND

These different doshas are approached in terms of the types of exercise and foods and herbs that you want to be leaning into as you run into bump into symptoms or as you hit transitions like menopause or as things come up along the way, stressful situations, whatever life throws at you. The first step, it sounds like, is taking the quiz. What do you recommend after that?

Shivani Gupta, PhD

Once you take the quiz and you understand dosha, I make lots of videos on the topic. People can always reach out to me for a consultation, but I like to just share this knowledge so we all can understand for ourselves what to do. Then I do whole group programs as well because once we understand how to balance our dosha, fix our sleep, fix our gut health, and go through that journey, then all of a sudden we shouldn’t need so many interventions in our life. That’s my goal, can we live a lifestyle that holds us disease-free, reduces inflammation, and also has us keeping our energy level brain health, and gut health for our entire lifespan? Because if we do just live according to the current programming and the current plan of life, all I see are people who manage disease for the last quarter of their lives. That’s what I’m trying to prevent. That’s what I saw in my family.  so that if we just use the super spice kit, if we use Ayurvedic wisdom, naturopathic wisdom, and these different tools, we can have an entirely different life experience. I plan to feel and look like this until the end.

Heather Sandison, ND

How fun and how inspiring. Tell us again, how can I listeners find out more about you?

Shivani Gupta, PhD

My website is shivanigupta.com. It’s my name is SHIVANIGUPTA dot com. My Instagram is @dr.shivanigupta and I’m on all the social channels as well.

Heather Sandison, ND

Thank you so much for the work you’re doing and for just your time attention, and expertise today.  sharing that with us. It’s been such a pleasure having you.

Shivani Gupta, PhD

Thank you. Thanks for having me.