Even small increases in blood sugar caused by a diet high in carbohydrates can be detrimental to brain health. Recent reports in medical literature link carbohydrate calorie-rich diets to a greater risk for brain shrinkage, dementia and Alzheimer's disease, impaired cognition, and other disorders. David Perlmutter, MD, best-selling author of Grain Brain, explores this important topic in a provocative interview in Alternative and Complementary Therapies from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Alternative and Complementary Therapies website.

Dr. Perlmutter, a board-certified neurologist and fellow of the American College of Nutrition, has just been appointed Editor-in-Chief of a new peer-reviewed journal, Brain and Gut, that will debut in summer 2014. The journal will publish leading-edge research dedicated to exploring a whole systems approach to health and disease from the intimate relationship between the brain and the digestive systems.

In the interview "Rethinking Dietary Approaches for Brain Health," Dr. Perlmutter says, "We live with this notion that a calorie is a calorie, but at least in terms of brain health, and I believe for the rest of the body as well, there are very big differences between our sources of calories in terms of the impact on our health. Carbohydrate calories, which elevate blood glucose, are dramatically more detrimental to human physiology, and specifically to human health, than are calories derived from healthful sources of fat."