22: Why Everyone Needs to Pay Attention to Cognitive Decline (and How To Reverse It)

In this episode of the Thyroid Pharmacist Healing Conversations podcast, Dr. Izabella Wentz speaks with James Maskell, author, speaker, and healthcare entrepreneur, who is affectionately called “the Ryan Seacrest of Functional Medicine,” and is the leading voice in spreading awareness of the impact of integrative medicine. 

James has created a number of organizations to scale access to health focused care, and is a thought leader who has been featured at the World Health Organization, TEDMED, HuffPostLive, and TEDx. 

James shares the critical issue of cognitive decline in light of his personal experiences with his father's rapid decline, which turned out to be reversible. The podcast explores the interconnectedness of environmental factors, community support, and innovative approaches to reversing cognitive decline, highlighting the importance of awareness and proactive measures for maintaining brain health.

Tune in to discover valuable insights about cognitive health, including:

• Rapid cognitive decline can often be triggered by infections or environmental toxins, such as mold exposure. In James Maskell’s personal story, identifying and removing his father from a moldy environment led to a dramatic improvement in cognition.

• Cognitive decline is no longer just an issue for the elderly; it's increasingly affecting people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. Environmental factors, infections, metabolic inflammation, and even the stressors of recent years have contributed to earlier onset cognitive issues.

• A new software platform is being developed to help functional medicine doctors more easily diagnose and reverse cognitive decline. By organizing patient lab data and identifying patterns, this technology aims to simplify complex cases and make root cause medicine more accessible.

• Cognitive decline is often driven by six main root causes: metabolic inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction and nutrient depletion, hormonal imbalances, chemical toxins, chronic infections and biotoxins, and vascular issues. Addressing these systematically can lead to significant recovery and prevention.

• Preventing cognitive decline starts decades before symptoms appear. Proactive testing, lifestyle changes, and addressing early functional imbalances around age 55 — or even earlier — can dramatically shift brain health outcomes later in life.

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For the full list of resources and products mentioned in this episode, and to get the full episode transcript, see complete show notes here. https://thyroidpharmacist.com/articles/podcast/