#496 95-Year-Old Scientist Reveals the Nutrient Behind Human Brain Evolution - Dr Michael Crawford

Professor Michael Crawford is a renowned scientist and Director of the Institue of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition in Imperial College London. He’s known for his research demonstrating the essential role of omega-3s specifically DHA in brain development and human evolution. He’s been pioneering this research since the 70s and he’s 95 years old himself.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:00 How Dr Crawford started researching DHA and omega-3s

04:00 Relationship between DHA and brain structure across species

07:00 How DHA drove the evolution of the human brain

12:20 Did humans evolve because of hunting land animals or consuming seafood

16:10 How a waxy fatty layer covering human babies makes us so different from other land animals

19:50 Bon Charge sponsorship

20:50 How the early stages of human brain evolution might have looked like

24:20 Why did DHA allow our brains to develop so well

27:20 Declining IQ and brain health conditions

31:00 Behavioral disorders and DHA

34:05 Iodine and other nutrients for brain development

36:55 Dr Crawford’s amazing cognition at the age of 95

39:20 How much DHA would people need per day

41:40 Is fish high in heavy metals

46:40 Omega-3s from meat

50:20 Plant-based omega-3s

51:20 Bottleneck for cranial capacity for land animals

54:55 Supplementing vs eating seafood

56:20 Omega-6 vs omega-3s

57:30 What needs to be done for fixing nutrition

01:03:30 Can you catch up with lost brain development

01:06:00 Are omega-3s easily oxidized

01:07:35 Advice for young researchers

01:10:05 Dr Crawford’s book

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