Wellness Unmasked: Understanding the Impact of Microplastics on Brain Health

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode Title: Wellness Unmasked: Understanding the Impact of Microplastics on Brain Health
Release Date: May 27, 2025
Host: Dr. Nicole Safire
Guest: Dr. Paul Safire, Endovascular Neurosurgeon
Produced By: iHeartPodcasts

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1. Introduction to Brain Health and Dementia

Dr. Nicole Safire opens the episode by addressing the rising prevalence of dementia globally. She highlights that approximately 55 million people are living with dementia worldwide, with projections suggesting this number could double in the next 20 years. Dr. Safire emphasizes that dementia is not a one-size-fits-all condition, noting the existence of various types beyond the commonly known Alzheimer’s disease.

Key Points:

• Dementia Prevalence: 55 million globally, expected to double.
• Demographic Disparities: Nearly two-thirds of Americans with dementia are females. Additionally, Black and Hispanic men are twice as likely to develop dementia compared to their white counterparts, potentially due to socioeconomic factors and higher incidences of cardiovascular diseases in these populations.

Notable Quote:

“By the age of 85, nearly half of people living have some sort of cognitive decline and also dementia. It's just the fact of life.”
— Dr. Nicole Safire [04:25]

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2. Cardiovascular Disease and Its Link to Dementia

Dr. Safire discusses the significant role cardiovascular health plays in brain health. She explains how conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity can impair blood flow to the brain, leading to micro-infarcts and increasing the risk of strokes, which in turn elevate the likelihood of developing dementia.

Key Points:

• Blood Flow Issues: Poor cardiovascular health leads to reduced oxygen supply to the brain, causing tiny areas of brain tissue to die.
• Stroke as a Culprit: Strokes can result in severe cognitive decline, sometimes without immediate noticeable symptoms if the infarcts are small.

Notable Quote:

“If you're decreasing oxygen to the blood, so decreasing blood flow to the heart, you have a heart attack. If you decrease the blood flow to the brain, you have these infarcts or these areas that start dying.”
— Dr. Nicole Safire [08:00]

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3. The Emerging Threat of Microplastics

Introducing a novel risk factor, Dr. Safire delves into the pervasive presence of microplastics in our environment. She cites studies indicating that individuals with dementia have 10 times the amount of microplastics deposited in their brains compared to those without.

Key Points:

• Definition: Microplastics are tiny plastic particles found in air, water, and food.
• Health Implications: Studies suggest a correlation between microplastics and increased brain inflammation, potentially contributing to Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
• Mechanism: Microplastics may deposit in atheromas within blood vessels, narrowing them and leading to reduced blood flow and increased stroke risk.

Notable Quote:

“When you have plastic being deposited in your brain, I might be going out on a limb here, but I don't think that's very healthy for your brain.”
— Dr. Nicole Safire [09:30]

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4. Expert Insight: Dr. Paul Safire on Microplastics and Brain Health

Dr. Nicole Safire introduces her husband, Dr. Paul Safire, an endovascular neurosurgeon specializing in strokes, aneurysms, and brain tumors. Their conversation provides an in-depth exploration of how microplastics impact brain health.

Key Points:

• Microplastics in Atheromas: Dr. Safire explains that microplastics are found within the plaques that cause atherosclerosis, leading to narrowed blood vessels and increased risk of stroke.
• Ischemic Strokes: The process involves clots or debris (including microplastics) blocking blood flow to parts of the brain, resulting in cell death.
• Brain Tumors: Emerging research suggests a potential link between microplastics and aggressive brain tumors like glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), although causation in humans is not yet established.

Notable Quotes:

“Microplastics are pervasive, right? They're everywhere—from the deep sea to the cells within our body.”
— Dr. Paul Safire [16:00]

“Strokes are like heart attacks, but for the brain. It's a brain attack.”
— Dr. Paul Safire [20:00]

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5. Addressing the Rise in Dementia and Brain Tumors

The discussion shifts to whether the observed increase in dementia and aggressive brain tumors is due to better diagnostic tools or an actual rise in incidence.

Key Points:

• Diagnostic Advances: Increased use of MRIs and other imaging techniques has led to higher detection rates of brain conditions.
• True Increase: Dr. Safire posits that while diagnosis has improved, the longer lifespan and accumulation of microplastics likely contribute to a genuine rise in brain health issues.
• Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM): Despite advanced treatments, GBMs remain highly aggressive with limited progress in improving survival rates over decades.

Notable Quote:

“The problem is that these are such aggressive tumors. And once you're stricken with it, it really is... it's a travesty.”
— Dr. Paul Safire [34:00]

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6. Practical Steps to Reduce Microplastic Exposure

Dr. Safire outlines actionable strategies to minimize microplastic exposure in daily life:

Key Recommendations:

• Kitchenware: Replace plastic containers with glass or stainless steel to avoid heating plastics.
• Water Filtration: Use high-quality water filters to reduce microplastics in drinking water.
• Clothing Choices: Opt for organic cottons and reduce the use of synthetic fabrics when possible.
• Avoid Bottled Water: Limit consumption of single-use plastic bottles which can leach microplastics, especially when exposed to heat.
• Fresh Produce: Choose fresh over packaged produce to reduce plastic ingestion.
• Cutting Boards: Use non-plastic cutting boards, such as cedar, to minimize plastic particle contamination in food.

Notable Quote:

“You have to stop heating food in plastic containers. We're all guilty of sticking some plastic container in the microwave.”
— Dr. Nicole Safire [35:50]

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7. Enhancing Brain Health Through Lifestyle Choices

Beyond reducing microplastic exposure, Dr. Safire emphasizes holistic approaches to bolster brain health:

Key Recommendations:

• Social Engagement: Regular interaction with friends and family helps maintain cognitive function.
• Mental Stimulation: Engage in activities like puzzles, learning new languages, or skills to challenge the brain.
• Physical Exercise: Regular physical activity increases blood flow to the brain, supporting overall brain health.
• Adequate Sleep: Ensuring sufficient sleep is crucial for cognitive function and preventing decline.
• Brain-Friendly Diet: Incorporate superfoods and natural herbs such as rosemary, sage, ginkgo biloba, and ginseng. Foods rich in omega-3s like salmon and walnuts are also beneficial.
• Minimize Toxin Exposure: Reduce exposure to other environmental toxins, including air pollutants and heavy metals.

Notable Quotes:

“Living your life. You want to look back and say, I did the best things I can.”
— Dr. Paul Safire [40:00]

“If you have plastic being deposited in your brain, I might be going out on a limb here, but I don't think that's very healthy for your brain.”
— Dr. Nicole Safire [09:30]

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8. Conclusion: Embracing Baby Steps for Brain Health

Dr. Safire and Dr. Safire conclude the episode by reiterating the importance of small, consistent changes to mitigate the risks associated with microplastics and enhance brain health. They acknowledge that while it's impossible to eliminate all risks, each step taken contributes to overall well-being.

Key Takeaways:

• Incremental Changes: Adopting gradual lifestyle adjustments can significantly reduce microplastic exposure and improve brain health.
• Holistic Approach: Combining environmental changes with healthy lifestyle choices creates a robust defense against cognitive decline.
• Acceptance: Understanding that not all factors can be controlled emphasizes the importance of enjoying life and maintaining a positive outlook.

Notable Quote:

“You can kind of do, you know, it's like an onion. Peel the layers back, try and decrease your exposure over time.”
— Dr. Nicole Safire [43:00]

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Final Thoughts

This episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show provides a comprehensive analysis of the emerging concerns surrounding microplastics and their impact on brain health. Through expert insights and practical advice, listeners are empowered to take proactive steps towards minimizing risks and enhancing their cognitive well-being.

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Disclaimer: The information provided in this summary is based on the podcast transcript and should not be considered medical advice. Consult a healthcare professional for personalized recommendations.

Transcript

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[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Welcome to Wellness unmasked with Dr. Nicole Safire. I'm your host, board certified physician, mom and forever truth seeker. Today I want to dive right into a very important topic that everyone is constantly asking me about and by the way, I'm always asking myself and my friends and my colleagues about it as well. It's brain health. At this point, everyone knows someone who is living with dementia because it really is that prevalent. People all around us now, there are many different types of dementias. We're not going to get into that. Alzheimer's being the most common. When we talk about dementia, it's not one size fits all. Not two presentations are exactly the same. And in fact, sometimes people don't even realize that they have maybe some mild dementia. They're just living life, thinking, maybe I have a little bit of brain fog, but let's dive right in. Dementia is incredibly prevalent. About 55 million people worldwide are living with it. In the next 20 years, that number is probably going to double. Now, the question is, is that number doubling because we have an increased prevalence and incidence of dementia, meaning more people are being diagnosed with it, and this should be raising red flags, or is it the fact that we have an aging population? Well, it's a really good question. If you really look at the numbers, it looks like actually our dementia is incidence over the last five to ten years is slightly decreasing, meaning a smaller percentage of the population is being diagnosed with dementia. However, we have more cases of dementia, more prevalence of dementia, because we have an aging population. So take it as what you will. For me, I would think that with our innovation, our technology, and everything that we have today, that we should be seeing fewer cases of dementia, statistically significant fewer, not just, you know, 1 to 4 percentage points. Why isn't it 10% decrease, 20% decrease? Well, I suspect that's because of our lifestyle factors. And you know what? The data backs me up on that, too. So nearly 2/3 of Americans with dementia are actually females. That's right, ladies. You are more likely to get dementia than your husband. And why is that? Well, there's a lot of theories, but I definitely point to a lot of our hormones. The hormones in our bodies certainly negatively impact us, especially when it comes to autoimmune diseases and cancer and other things. So why not? Why wouldn't it also influence our dementia risk? We also are at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. And we know that cardiovascular disease directly is linked to dementia risk. So that's another reason for us. There are also some racial disparities as well. Black men, Hispanic men, are twice as likely to have dementia than, say, a white man is. And that's pointed to maybe some socioeconomic factors. Also higher incidences of cardiovascular diseases in those populations compared to white men, maybe it's because of decreased access to care, maybe it's lifestyle, hard to say. But those are the statistics. And I want to make sure you have that by the age of 85, nearly half of people living have, have some sort of cognitive decline and also dementia. It's just the fact of life. Our body is aging and so is our brain, and therefore you will start to have some cognitive decline. Now, don't worry. There are some things that we have gotten from research that show there are ways to decrease our dementia risk, and we're going to get to that. But at first, I want to talk about why are we seeing maybe some more dementia? What is it in our lifestyle that's potentially leading to dementia? Well, I've already mentioned a really big one that is cardiovascular disease. So if you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, you're overweight, all of these things increases your risk of dementia because you have tiny blood vessels. And you have larger blood vessels too, in your brain. So if they are sick, unhealthy, just like your vessels in your body, just like leading to your heart, you have to imagine that the ones going to your brain are dealing with the same sickness. They're having the same blood flow issues. When you have decreased oxygen to the brain, you can have micro infarcts, meaning tiny little areas that are dying. So, yeah, of course that's gonna lead to dementia risk. I mean, the big one is a stroke. It's essentially. It's essentially when you talk about the brain, the brain is like your heart. Your heart supplies blood to the body, but your brain is what keeps you alive. So if you're decreasing oxygen in the blood, so decreasing blood flow to the heart, you have a heart attack. And areas of your heart can die. If you decrease the blood flow to your brain, you're decreasing the oxygen in the blood. Therefore, you have these infarcts or these areas that start dying. A huge one is a stroke. Sometimes it can be lethal, just like a heart attack can be lethal. Sometimes it can leave you with severe physical and mental incapacities. And sometimes you don't even realize they're happening because they're so tiny. But over time, those tiny little infarcts kind of convalesce together and really make it that your brain starts having cognitive decline, AKA dementia, ischemic dementia, microvascular dementia, all that, what we're talking about right now, is incredibly common. Also, social isolation, if you are not being social, if you're not being social with your family, your friends, your colleagues, that also leads to an Increased risk of dementia. We are humans, we are social beings. We are meant to interact with other people. If you don't do that, your brain suffers. Another thing that's starting to emerge, and you've heard me talk about this if you've seen me on tv, microplastics. I don't like talking about it because it scares people. But the reality is microplastics are everywhere. Now, what are microplastics? There's these tiny little particles of plastic, and they're really everywhere. They're in the air because they've become aerosolized. They're in our water, they're our drinking water. They're in our foods, especially those ultra processed foods. And in fact, there's been studies. They looked at postmortem studies on humans. Essentially after someone died, they looked at their brain, and people with dementia had 10 times the amount of microplastics deposited in their brain, specifically the frontal lobe. That's where your decision making and your personality, that's where that's all controlled from. So patients with dementia had significantly higher levels of microplastics deposited in their brain. Does this mean that the microplastics contributed to that inflammation in the brain and maybe have led them to have Alzheimer's and dementia? It's possible. We have animal studies suggesting that the microplastics in the brain are causing inflammation. Again, these are some correlations, not actual causation in human trials. But let's be honest, guys, if you have plastic being deposited in your brain, I might be going out on a limb here, but I don't think that's very healthy for your brain. Absolutely not. You're also finding microplastics in the vessels in your body, too, leading to narrowing of the vessels, leading to decreased blood flow. Safe to assume it's probably happening in the brain as well. So I want to talk about microplastics. I want to talk about brain health. I could ask a million people to come on and talk about this, but I figured I would bring on an actual expert, someone who is an endovascular neurosurgeon. And that's just a fancy way of saying that he specializes in the blood vessels in the brain when it comes to stroke, aneurysm, brain tumors, and all of that. I just so happen to be married to him, Dr. Paul Safire. And in our household, brain health is incredibly important because he sees every single day what can happen if you are not prioritizing your brain health. So I want to bring in my husband, Dr. Paul Safire. Board certified Endovascular Neurosurgeon and we're going to talk a little bit more about microplastics and brain health.

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[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Okay, well, I like to talk about studies and I like to dissect a lot of research, but I am not an expert in everything. But the good news is I'm actually married to an expert in everything that we're talking about right now. So you hear me say a lot of times cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death, especially here in the United States, especially amongst women. But when people hear me say cardiovascular disease, they immediately think that that just means heart health, you know, heart attacks. But part of that whole cardiovascular disease spectrum are strokes. And one of the things that I was blown away by in the last month, which I've mentioned, is microplastics are actually being linked to an increased risk of stroke. Stroke and cardiovascular disease was already the number one cause of death amongst American females, but now all of a sudden, microplastics are being linked to it, too. So is that also increasing our risk of death? Good news, I'm married to. This is Dr. Paul Safire. He is an endovascular neurosurgeon, which means that his specialty is, yes, he's a neurosurgeon, so he operates on the brain and the spine, but his actual niche is when it comes to stroke, aneurysms, and brain tumors. So excellent topic to bring in. My husband, Dr. Paul Safire, welcome to Wellness Unmasked.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Thank you for having me. By the way, can I just say that you're doing an excellent job.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Thank you.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Not only just this, but everything. I get a lot of compliments. Not from just a lot of my patients, who are a huge fan base, but also many hospitals. They're big fans. So bravo to you and everything that you're doing here.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Well, hopefully they have subscribed and they're listening to this podcast because I can tell you that this is going to be an important one. So I'm going to call you Paul because to call you Dr. Safire, I don't want to get confused because I'm the Dr. Safire of wellness on Mass. It's very confusing.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Should I call you Dr. Safire?

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Yeah, if you wouldn't mind. So, so quick question. So, honestly, I talked to you about this the moment I read about this study, you know, you know, I have been a little bit wary of the microplastics. Even in our own kitchen, I've started saying we have to do what we can to reduce our exposure to microplastics. Look, we're not going to go live in a glass bubble because that's probably the only way to truly rid ourselves of exposure to microplastics.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Not a plastic bubble.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Not a plastic bubble, but a glass bubble. But here's the question I have for you. What really is the link to microplastics and brain health? Is it. Is it. Is it all hype or is there something behind this?

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Great question. Well, unfortunately, microplastics are pervasive, right? They're everywhere. Right now that we're finding microplastics in the deep sea, to the cells within our body and everything in between. And that's very unfortunate. What this one study recently discovered was that for patients who unfortunately suffered a stroke, there was a higher percentage of patients that had microplastics within the atheroma or the plaques within the blood vessels that were causing stroke. So atherosclerotic disease, when you're talking about cerebrovascular disease, buildup of plaque, junk, you know, all the bad stuff within the blood vessels and creates the blood vessels to become more narrow. There's a higher deposit of those plastics.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Which, by the way, for most people, that's essentially when you eat yucky, fatty foods and all of that, when we talk about clogging your arteries, that's what atheromas are and stuff. But what they're finding is in these atheromas are not just junk from the.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Food, but what specifically these little deposits of plastic, these microplastics, are within it, which is. Were they quite awful? There's a component of the plastic, these hydrocarbons, which we talked about earlier, you know, they are these sort of chemical byproducts that are, that are related to the manufacturing of these plastics, are essential to how these plastics are made. And it's, you know, you need. You need them to build these plastics, but unfortunately, they don't biodegrade. And they're, you know, we're ingesting them either you know, passively or actively, and they, they filter through our body, and they don't go anywhere. They stay within our bodies. They br. They break down to these small, microscopic little particles and they get, you know, incorporated into these plaques and these build up the junk. And it creates a lot of problems, not just for cerebrovascular disease.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Well, hold on. So. So we make this plaque. The plaque is from the junk we eat. Now we're finding out that there are microplastics in it. But what's the big problem? What happens when you have these plaques?

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Well, what happens when you have these plaques? So there's a. There's a lot of similarities between the heart disease and the brain disease. In fact, I tell a lot of my patients, when you have a stroke, that's like a heart attack, but for the brain, brain attack is another sort of synonym, synonym that we use. Right. So what happens when you get these plaques is buildup of junk within the blood vessel. It narrows the blood vessel. Blood flow can't get through. And then sometimes what happens is not only is the blood flow not able to get through, but these plaques, they break apart and these little flecks of debris get pushed upstream, so to speak, and they travel in the bloodstream and they get lodged in the small blood vessels that in this case, lead to the brain. Brain. And it plugs up a blood vessel that's in the brain, and that part of the brain is starved with oxygen, and then it dies irreversibly.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

So that's. That's an ischemic stroke, meaning you're not getting enough blood flow to the brain. That piece of brain, unless someone intervenes immediately, is going to die. And that's the same thing that can happen with a heart attack?

[Dr. Paul Safire]

That's correct. It's very similar to heart attack. Again, we say a heart attack and a brain attack are almost the same exact thing.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

So you're an endovascular neurosurgeon. Most people don't really know what that means when it comes to treating strokes, which, as you say, is synonymous and kind of parallels to how you can treat heart attacks these days. What is your niche? Like, what can be done when someone is having the stroke?

[Dr. Paul Safire]

So sometimes if you. If you're having a large stroke and you fall within a certain time period where we can actually intervene or treat that.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

What's that time period?

[Dr. Paul Safire]

So it varies, you know, and a lot of people. That's coming to question. That's a whole nother topic, which I don't take.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

You know, those academics, they love to argue what that. What that magical hour is.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

We can talk about four and a half hours. We can talk about six. We can talk about eight. We can talk about time. Doesn't matter. Nonetheless, let's just say that you fall within a time frame that we can treat that stroke. Sometimes a doctor like myself, can go in and perform a procedure again, very similar to what the cardiologist can do for the heart. But what I can do is oftentimes go through the artery and the wrist with a very thin but long tuber catheter using X rays, guide that all the way up to the blood vessels that lead through the heart up to the brain. Get in there and try to grab that clot, try to grab that blockage and pull it out.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

You know, that whole thing. When you see the commercials for a plumber and they love to show, like those long, windy pathways.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Just called formerly Dr. Paul, now just Paul, a plumber. But that's okay. That's okay.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Let me. Can I finish my thought?

[Dr. Paul Safire]

I went to a lot of school.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

What we're discussing here, it's not rocket science, okay? We're just talking brain. It's not rocket science. Let's just talk about. So you know when you see those plumbing commercials and they show you those super windy pipes and they're like, oh, there's a clog there. But all of a sudden they have this massive clog buster that all you have to do is pour it down the drain and it goes right to where that clog is and mag. That clot disappears. That is what Dr. Paul Safire is describing. Except it's not as simple as just injecting a medication into a patient and all of a sudden this clot goes away. Although they do try to do that. There's a lot of.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

The medication is called Drano. No, I'm joking. That's not true at all.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

All right, let's not. We're not injecting people with Drano. Just like, we don't ever expect anyone to swallow bleach or anything like that. Not saying that.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

That's obviously in jest, but what we're saying is.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

So what Paul is saying is he actually either through a vessel in the wrist or even sometimes in the groin, he goes in there with a tiny little catheter and strings it all the way to the brain. Do you know how many twists and turns it takes to get there? It's not like it just goes magically by itself, but they do use X rays to get all the way to the brain. He identifies the clot and he's able to actually use a basket device and pull that clot down. And sometimes they give medication to dissolve that clot. It's really quite remarkable because when you think of brain surgery, you think of that massive surgery where you have to take off half of the Skull. And it's incredibly invasive. And don't get me wrong, he does that all the time. But there's this very small niche where you can have brain surgery and all you have is a little nick in your wrist and it's, it really does save your life. I mean, that's a whole nother episode we could talk about.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

It is crazy how much, you know, medicine in general, specifically my field, has evolved. If you think about it, I graduated med school at.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

We don't like to age ourselves on 12th century.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

We don't literally, I started to think, when I think did. And in that 25 years since I graduated medical school, there's been a tremendous century. Four of us, thank you very much. My children like to help me out as to how old I am. But in those 25 some odd years that I've graduated, there's been a tremendous evolution, not just in my field, in every field, but especially in my small little microcosm, my small little niche in this, in this place, a tremendous evolution. And specifically with stroke care. So what we're doing today, we weren't doing yesterday. And by the way, tomorrow, who knows what we're going to be doing so.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Well, I mean, to be continued, we will see what happens tomorrow. But I can tell you what's happening right now in terms of stroke care, also aneurysm treatments and even brain tumors. It's quite remarkable. But I really want to get back to microplastics. So this study showed that microplastics are in the plaques which are leading to it being broken off, being shot off into the brain, potentially causing strokes, heart attacks and other things. But microplastics aren't just being linked to strokes, especially when it comes to brain health. There was that one study that showed, of course, it was a post mortem study and they looked at the cadavers and in the cadavers, the brains actually had the brains of dementia patients. Those who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's had a higher risk of deposits of microplastics in their brain. What's your thought of these microplastics causing an increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer's and all the other sores? Because let's be honest, it seems like it's getting a lot more common than it was before.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Well, I mean, I'm not surprised by that for sure. You know, we just talked about how strokes are related to these microplastics. There are many different types of dementia, certainly poor blood flow, microvascular ischemic dementia. That's probably most Common, probably the most common. You know, essentially globally, or the entire brain is deprived of blood flow, even on this.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

I'm sorry to interrupt you, but is that because of our diet and our lifestyle? Like, why is our brain not getting enough flow?

[Dr. Paul Safire]

I mean, there's that. You also have to keep in mind that in the 20th century, from the beginning to the end of the 20th century, we've doubled our life expectancy, right. From 1900 to the year 2000, we went from an average life expectancy 40s to 70s.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

But actually, interestingly, in the last two decades, it hasn't increased anymore. We really kind of hit a plateau.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Plateau.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

It almost started to.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

To dip. But my point though is that we're living longer and so we're seeing more long term effects of aging, especially in the brain. Apropos that we're having more long term effects of deposits. Right. So.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

So it's junk in our body.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

These junks, these deposits don't go anywhere. So if you were only to live to say, 45 years old, right. Back in 19, certainly microplastics weren't around then, but let's just say that they were. You only have 45 years worth of deposits. Those plus don't go anywhere. They just get in your brain. They don't go anywhere. Now if we're living to our 70s, maybe 80s in some instances, right. We're having that much more. Almost double the length of time these deposits can build up. So therefore the consequences of it are ramping up. Right. It's exponentially increased. So that I think is what we're seeing. We're seeing a lot of those effects because we are living longer. Medicine in general, we have medicine for, for heart disease, blood pressure, diabetes and so on and so forth. That people are surviving all these other, you know, medical issues that would have, you know, crippled them earlier and taken their life. And now we're seeing the long term effects in our brain.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Well, and also remember that last, you know, decades and decades ago, they would have probably said like, oh, we have that old crazy uncle or the old crazy sister, very disabled. They were just crazy. Maybe their brain was suffering.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Correct. Of course, people just had senile dementia. What is senile dementia? Just you getting old and you have dementia. Well, that's maybe not right. The more we know, literally we can segregate all these different types of dementias. And there are some that maybe we can treat with surgical interventions or medical therapy. Some, unfortunately, we can't. But I think that ultimately what we're seeing is the effects of lifestyle and, and all these deposits, long term deposits, because we're living longer and we're living a better life. What we want to be when we're 60 years old today in 2025 is not what. When I was, in 1985, when I was a kid, a six year old person is not the same person.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Yeah, that's true. Well, since you brought up senile dementia, I feel like this is a great opportunity. And by the way, you don't have to answer this. Wellness Unmasked is all about whatever you want to talk about. Joe Biden, former President Joe Biden. He was president for four years. We saw him as vice president under President Barack Obama. We saw him for decades as a senator and also in the public eye. Did you have an opinion on how he was doing? I mean, I was publicly outspoken about, I felt that he was declining cognitively and I felt that it was very important that he submit to a cognitive evaluation. Did you have any opinions that you want to share?

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Well, certainly, I think that it, you know, to, you shouldn't hide from a.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

You may have caught him off guard.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

You may have caught me a little bit off guard. And that's. But that's okay. That's okay. So look, let's just, let's just be honest. You know, cognitive decline in function, that, that happens, that happens a lot. It is permissive and maybe, maybe we don't talk about it enough. And I think that if a lot of people embrace in the sense that we say that we recognize that our loved ones are suffering from these issues, that again, maybe we can meet it earlier rather than being dismissive and institute treatment, even if the treatment isn't medicinal. We can't undo the effects of whatever the culprit of that dementia is, but we can modify the living environments for that person. Now it's hard to do for the president United States in arguably the most, one of the most powerful people, if not the most powerful person in the free world, you can't really modify their living environment so much. A lot to do with that. However, for the rest of us that are normal, you know, normal folk, if we see a loved one that's suffering from the signs and symptoms of dementia, you know, maybe we don't put them in an environment that exacerbates their constantly changing and evolving look, I mean, the president United States one day in Turkey, the next day you're, you're, you're all the way in the Middle east, the next day you're back in, in, in Rome and then back into New York.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

City, wherever, or on the beach of Delaware.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

My point is you're traveling all over the place. You're in a constant evolving situation. You're, you're seeing hundreds of people a day. I'm sure you're dealing with a lot of, you know, revolving faces, environments. That's hard. If you are facing cognitive decline, that's only going to exacerbate that. You're only going to make those symptoms worse. So, you know, if it were my loved one, I would try to keep them in a relatively stable environment. Again, the President of the United States. You can't be in a stable environment in the sense that you're, you have to constantly move around. You're. You're seeing so many things. Again, we hopped the rails a little bit, you know, and I apologize for that. So. But yes, there definitely were some issues.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

All right, well, so I appreciate that. I do think that President Biden unfortunately was showing signs of early cognitive decline early on in the presidency, and it kind of rapidly progressed. And I agree with you. I think it was a very stressful situation. And if it were my loved one, I would probably have had him in a different situation. But, you know, that is of the past.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

I think you need. Yes, the point that I was trying to make is you need to admit to it rather than shrink away from it or hide it.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Hide it. That's a big question. But that's not what we're going to talk about today. So back to microplastics, which, you know, I think we all are exposed to. Before I get your advice on something, I also saw something that microplastics, again, I hate saying all this research, but microplastics shown to be in the atheroma plaques, which you mentioned, which are leading to heart attacks and strokes. Also we're seeing in dementia patients. They also have mentioned in gbms, those glioblastoma multiform, which I'll let you talk about, you're the expert. Are very aggressive primary brain tumor. Former Senator John McCain actually died from it. We've also seen other people died from it. And it's becoming a little bit more of a public topic because John McCain's daughter, Megan McCain talks about it. Brings awareness, honest opinion. Do you think there's a rise in incidence and prevalence of these aggressive brain tumors? Because the research is saying that it's possibly linked to microplastics. Do you buy it?

[Dr. Paul Safire]

I think that there definitely is a rise of the incidence. The question is why? Right. So we in 2025, as compared to 20 years ago or certainly 40 years ago. We have certainly more easy access to advanced imaging, MRIs and so on.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

So can I say something as a radiologist there? I just want to defend this a little bit, because people. That is a very common argument. Oh, we are diagnosing more, which is true, by the way, especially when it comes to, like, brain tumors, skin can. I'm not, sorry, brain tumors, but breast cancers, skin cancers, not very aggressive lung cancers. We're doing all these screening tests, were finding these early cancers. Maybe people would have died from them, maybe they wouldn't have. But GBMs, come on. GBMs are rapidly aggressive. People die from them. So how can we say, oh, we're just finding more? Were they just being misdiagnosed because they just died and we didn't know why they died? Like, it's not like, oh, they were diagnosed with a GBM early, we intervened and then they lived. Because even if we intervened, intervene early with GBMs.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

That's a great point. I think maybe, maybe the concept of brain tumors in general being diagnosed. Right. So maybe the more advanced ones that are symptomatic, we would have potentially caught all those at the same time frame. To your point, if you're having symptoms, you're getting an mri, whether or not you can get an MRI literally around the corner, or you had to go to the corner of your state, because back 40 years ago, there weren't that many MRI machines capable of doing brain imaging in general. I think that MRI imaging of the brain and the nervous system is just so much more commonplace and that we are finding a lot more issues. However, the malignant brain tumors, the really scary ones. So you keep saying, Kept saying the name gbm, glioblastoma, glioblastoma multiforme. You know, that's mentioned that a lot. That is the brain cancer, when we talk about brain cancer. And almost that's where the cancer starts in the brain.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

It's not like it went from the breast or the pancreas or wherever, and it went to the brain, but it starts in the brain.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

And that is inarguably one of the worst cancers to have, in the sense that our treatment options for them, while we do a lot of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, and a lot of those techniques continue to evolve. We've made shockingly little headway unfortunately, in the past several decades for these patients. And my heart goes out to all my patients that I treat with them. You know, we have great strides, you know, surgical. Our surgical technique has improved. So we can treat tumors that maybe before that we weren't able to treat, so on and so forth. But the problem is that these are just such aggressive tumors. And unfortunately, once you're stricken with it, it really is. It's, it's. It's really. It's a travesty. It wreaks havoc on the family patient, obviously, you know, it's tough. So where are they coming from? That's a huge question. This concept of microplastics and, you know, the hydrocarbons and the vinyls and all these things, that's something that's been discussed since the 1980s all the way around.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

And we're still consuming products, food, drinks, everything around us.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Yes, that again, the hydrocarbon. That has been something that I remember reading that was, you know, when I was in medical school in the 90s, was a lot of area of investigation, and a lot of people thought that maybe there was a correlation with that. And again, like a lot of things like heart disease, right, you may have obesity or high cholesterol or high blood pressure or poor genetics, and then you may have all those factors and you may not actually end up having heart disease, or you may have none of them and have heart disease. What's the magic, you know, the magic combination that leads to having a medical condition that's. That's a great.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

I know a lot of correlation.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

It's a lot of correlation. And sometimes for people, it's just hitting 1, 2 and 3, and then unfortunately they succumb to something. So I do think that there probably is a lot to that. Is that to say that people didn't have GBM back in the 1500s? Of course they did. Right.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Of course.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

I mean, these are things that happened back then. Unfortunately, again, people didn't live that long. Right. If the average life expectancy was 40 years old and the average age of onset for GBM is between the age of 40 and 50 or 60, well, you could see that maybe you didn't see as much. Okay.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Okay. So we can't avoid microplastics. In total, there are some things we can do to reduce it, and I'll talk about them a little bit. But for you, I want to hear about specifically, what do you institute in our household? And what do you say to your family, your patients and your friends and your family? What can you do to preserve brain health? We can't avoid everything. We can't at all. We know that you and I both live in this and work in this world where you can do everything right and bad things can still happen. But there are Some things that you can do to reduce your risk. So when it comes to brain health, if you had a few tips for us, what should we all be doing to try and preserve our brain health?

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Well, I think the. The first thing I'd say is sort of the. The synopsis at the end, which is healthy living, man. I mean, that sounds. It sounds kind of silly and very almost, you know, you know, we get.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

It, we get it.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

But. But it's true. Healthy living, whatever. And also, I do tell my patients, whatever is healthy for your heart is healthy for your brain. Right? So all the common sense things. Should you stop smoking, should you drink less alcohol, should you exercise more, should you lose some weight, should you eat less red meat and have a more balanced diet and have more fiber and some healthy, natural. Natural foods and organic foods and organic products rather than processed foods. Absolutely. All that stuff is a given. And it's kind of like when you're in school, we could all read more, we could all study more, we could all exercise more, so. And so forth. Yes, we can all improve on that in that regard. But definitely the natural organization you and I talked about in raising our family and our kids about having a better lifestyle in our house, we tried very much. We have all the organic eggs in our house right now. Chickens. I mean, you're the chicken mama. You're raising those babies. And we have all these eggs, which.

[California Psychics Representative]

Are fantastic, by the way.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

We also, you know, to your credit, we have a huge garden right now. We have a lot of natural supplements. We've got things that are great with the natural herbs, the natural vegetables, which are fantastic. Rosemary is, is. Is a huge one. I'm a huge Rosemary fan.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

We love rosemary. Rosemary's all over our property.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

I think I may have introduced you to rosemary, however, back in the day.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Okay, that's true.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

14 years ago.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Admit that that was all you.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Yeah, I think so. I think that that may be true. But certainly a lot of the additional supplements that maybe we're not harvesting in our house, but you can find ginkgo biloba, the ginseng. Those are great. You know, you. Actually, to your credit, you started a national supplement line, the Dropper X, which is phenomenal. I take it. Our kids take it. A lot of my colleagues have also sworn by it there. You know, when. When you were forming that product line, one area that I, I kind of mentioned to you was, what about brain health?

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

I know that obviously wasn't on my radar when I. When you hear me talk about, like, natural herbs, having an Autoimmune disease. I always think about, you know, systemic inflammation and pain. I feel that a lot. I also feel some angst sometimes. So I was all about decreasing that systemic inflammation, which I guess goes along with brain health. Obviously, if you're talking about decreasing your body's inflammation, you also want to decrease your brain. But I never specifically thought about, well, what's good with your brain? But thank goodness I married a brain surgeon, because all of a sudden, he's like, you're focusing on a lot of the peripheral stuff.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

I'm just pull.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

By the way, I'm sorry, you're Paul. I'm Dr. Sass on this episode. But it was very interesting to me because I was always about, like, I have to focus on my pain and the peripheral body. And my husband's always said to me, he's like, your body is worth nothing if your brain isn't healthy. And that took a minute for me to really. To really digest. But he's right. Like, we're always focused on how can we get our body looking good. Going to the gym for some plastic surgery and Botox and all of these skincare lines and dyeing our hair and getting our nails done. Not that you do that, but I may do that. But if your brain is not healthy, what was all of that for? And so we have really done a 180 in the Sapphire household and doing everything we can to make sure our brain is as healthy as possible. It doesn't mean that we're not going to succumb at some point to some level of dementia or, God forbid, one of these brain cancers. But as long as we know that we're doing what we can to decrease that risk, that's really the best you can do. And the biggest thing for us is also make sure you're living your life.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Absolutely. I mean, so anything can happen to anyone. Right. And you want to make reasonable, rational decisions and choices. So that way, when you look back and you say, oh, shoot, something, you know, something maybe unforeseen or unfortunate happened to me, you never want to look back. At least my perspective is you never want to look back and say, well, I could have done this better. I shouldn't have been smoking those cigarettes. I shouldn't have been drinking so much alcohol.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Should have eaten more blueberries.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

More blueberries. Fantastic. I should have exercised a little bit more. Right. You know, you want to say, you know what? I did the best things I can. If you do all these things right, and then God forbid something unfortunate happens to you, that's life. I know that sounds almost trivial to say that and almost dismissive, and I don't mean to sound that way, but that's true. Anything can happen to anybody at any point. So you want to look back and say you made the best choices, the best decisions that you can going forward. So that way, if unfortunately, something happens to you, you don't think to yourself, well, shoot, I could have changed things.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

And which, by the way, this is not medical advice whatsoever. But at the end of the day, we all work for a living and we all try to save as much as we can. And that's why trying to enjoy every aspect of your life is more important than anything. And so whether it's just staying at home, playing charades, playing Monopoly, going on a trip, but spending that quality time with your friends and your family, whatever it is that makes you happy and brings you that peace is probably the best advice that I could ever give someone. We could all do everything right, Go to the gym, eat right, get all of your screening exams. We are not in charge of our future. So just make sure you are enjoying every bit of your life.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

That's right. Absolutely.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

That's why I enjoy you.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Oh, Ellen, I enjoy you, too.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

All right. Well, Dr. Paul Safire. Paul, please call Dr. Nicole Safire's husband. Thank you so much for coming on. I truly your advice regarding brain health is invaluable. Obviously, we've adopted into our household. It's changed the way I think of a lot of things. And I'll be honest, the microplastics things really scares me. Yeah, but it's one of those things, just like knowing that there are gene mutations that I can't do anything about that can lead to disease. I can do what I can to reduce microplastic exposures in our house, but I will never keep our family completely safe from them. So anything that we can do to try and live a healthier life, we're working towards. It's baby steps.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

It all lines up.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

I still will have water out of a plastic bottle occasionally, and I feel bad about that, but, you know, it's baby steps. We're getting there.

[Dr. Paul Safire]

Yeah. It all adds up. Thank you for having me.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Thanks for being on. You're listening to Wellness en Masse. We'll be right back with more.

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[California Psychics Representative]

California Psychics we know that sometimes you can wake up thinking.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

I don't know if I'm in the right career ew or the right relationship.

[California Psychics Representative]

But whatever your life dilemma at California Psychics will give you the guidance you need to feel certain about your life choice. And because we only connect you with the very best, we guarantee if your reading isn't life changing, it's free. California psychics. Visit CaliforniaPsychics. Visit CaliforniaPsychics.com today for limited time offers.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

All right, well, our conversation probably went off the rails here or there once or twice during that interview, but that's what happens when you're married to your guest. You have a lot to talk about, but I think the bottom line and the real take home points that I take from when I talk to him about what we can be doing best for our brain health is first of all, when it comes to microplastics exposure, there's no way to completely avoid microplastics. They're absolutely Everywhere at this point, unless you go and live in a bubble. And by the way, it would have to be a glass bubble. Couldn't even be a plastic bubble. And you're completely isolated from the world. I mean, maybe on top of a mountain in Nepal, I don't know. And you're probably going to be exposed to some level of microplastics. But the good news is there are some things that we can do to reduce that exposure. So maybe not be exposed to as much microplastics and things that in our household that we're really trying to focus on. And by the way, it takes some work. You don't have to do everything all at once. You can kind of do, you know, it's like an onion. Peel the layers back, try and decrease your exposure over time. You have to stop heating food in plastic containers. We're all guilty of sticking some plastic container in the microwave, heating it up. Try to use glass or stainless steel. We have converted our Tupperware, we've gotten rid of the plastics and we have moved on to the glass ones. That was our first step here in the Sapphire household. You also want to filter your drinking water because the harsh reality is there are microplastics in our drinking water. And while even filtering your drinking water probably won't get rid of all the microplastics, it'll certainly get rid of some. So every little bit counts. You want to maybe try to limit the use of your synthetic fibers and fabrics. We haven't really done that here. One, because I don't know exactly which ones I should be doing away with. And second, we already have so much of that in our household. What am I going to do? I'm going to throw away all of our clothes and start afresh. I don't have that kind of money, so I'm not doing that. But that's something you certainly could do. And going with the organic cottons and without those synthetic fibers, that's one thing you can do. Also avoid bottled water. Think of those single use plastic bottles. It's sitting in plastic, obviously, especially if it warms up, whether it's in your car, it's been on a pallet somewhere and it gets heated, that's probably going to cause some of the microparticles, microplastics from the bottle to go into the water. So maybe you should do that. Also your packaged produce. If you get packaged produce, it's usually wrapped in plastic. There's even some that say, oh, it's microwave safe. Cont. These bags come in they're plastic bags. Try to get fresh produce if you can. Those are some of the things that we're doing here in our household. We've also changed our cutting board away from like the plastic cutting boards. We've gone to a real cedar cutting board. It's a shame because we never want to get it dirty or mess it up because it's such a pretty cutting board. But that's what it's for. I mean, it gives it some character if you actually chop on it and stuff. So those are some things we're doing to decrease our exposure to microplastics in our household. But also when we talk about overall brain health, there are some things you can do. Yes, age is the most important risk factor when it comes to dementia risk and cognitive decline. But there are some things that you can do to try and decrease those risks as well, because lifestyle certainly plays a role in whether or not we get dementia. First things first. As I mentioned, make sure you're being social. Talk to your friends, play games. I started mahjong last year. It's hard and I love it. But I'm not only with my friends, I'm socializing. But I'm also focusing on using my brain by learning something new. I mean, yes, sometimes our day jobs are challenging. Mine certainly is. But if it's the same thing over and over and over, you're not really challenging your brain the way your brain needs. So some of the best things you can do, Doing puzzles every single day, learning a new language. I know that sounds crazy, but you tap into different areas of your brain. If you try and learn a new language, you need to exercise regularly. You're going to hear me say that at nauseam. But when you exercise, you're increasing blood flow to your body and part of that is increasing blood flow to your brain. You want to maximize your brain blood flow. That makes sense. That's how you get oxygen to your brain. You also want to make sure you're getting adequate sleep. Sleep deprivation is directly linked to cognitive decline and not full mental performance. So prioritize your sleep as well. Eat a brain friendly diet. Here in our household, we are all about superfoods and natural herbs. You actually heard my husband mention some natural herbs. I did put together my favorite liquid blend of natural herbs for brain health. Rosemary, sage, ginkgo, biloba, ginseng. These are all great for brain health. You can also take some choline as well. It also helps in terms of making sure your brain is healthy. We like blueberries and salmon. High in omega 3s and even walnuts. It's kind of funny, you know, the little walnuts. What does that look like to you? If you look at a mini walnut, does that look like anything to you? It looks like a mini brain, so just think of that walnut brain. So grab some walnuts because they're good for your brain. And lastly, you also want to minimize your toxin exposure. We already talked about microplastics, but it goes on from there. Air pollutants, heavy metals, all of that. Anything you can do to kind of live your healthiest, cleanest life. That's what I recommend. And it's hard to completely eliminate risks everywhere. It's just not the world we live in, but every little bit. And so it's all about baby steps for me and my family. And that's what I recommend to you. Thanks for listening to Wellness unmass on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow Wellness unmasked with Dr. Nicole Safire and start listening on the free iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast and we'll catch you next time.

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[California Psychics Representative]

At California Psychics, we know that sometimes you can wake up thinking.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

I don't know if I'm in the right career, ew or the right relationship.

[California Psychics Representative]

But whatever your life dilemma at California Psychics, we'll give you the guidance you need to feel certain about your life choices. And because we only connect you with the very best, we guarantee if your reading isn't life changing, it's free. California psychics. Visit CaliforniaPsychics. Visit CaliforniaPsychics.com today for limited time offers.

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