As you well know, it’s been quite the year, capped off by a very unusual Presidential campaign. I’m not going into the weeds to tell you how to vote or get into messy policy issues, but I will point out some core differences in each candidate’s relative cognitive weakness. I base these differences on my interest and knowledge in the field of neuroscience and neurobiology.
Our Neurotoxic Modern Diet
Let’s start with President Donald Trump. I’ve already written several blog posts speculating that he has a form of food-induced brain dysfunction that I call Carbohydrate Associated Reversible Brain syndrome or CARB syndrome. This disorder is triggered by long-term exposure to highly processed food that includes this toxic triad:
- Excessive fructose mainly from added sugar.
- Excessive high glycemic carbohydrates mainly from grains.
- Excessive omega 6 fatty acids mainly from vegetable oils.
Of course, this describes pizza and most other modern dietary delights. This type of food appears to be neurotoxic, and it can alter your brain function in a negative direction over time. We have noted 22 symptoms that seem to be associated with CARB syndrome. Over time these symptoms can subtly alter brain function and interfere with a person’s ability to function in multiple settings. If you go through the 22 symptoms list, it’s fairly easy to identify many of them in President Trump. People with CARB syndrome tend to see the world somewhat differently than people with normal brain function, and their reaction to events in the world is sometimes out of kilter. President Trump is a brilliant and talented individual, but many observers tend to wonder about his statements and behavior.
If you assume that President Trump has CARB syndrome, I find it a bit scary that he has access to that button that will start a nuclear war. Each day he makes countless decisions that can affect your life for the better or worse. When CARB syndrome is in control, worse tends to dominate. It’s common knowledge that Trump lives on a diet of highly processed food. If I had the chance to treat President Trump using the protocol outlined in my book “Brain Drain,” I think he would be unbeatable as a candidate. If he calls, I will treat him for free, and the free world will be saved!
Biden’s Obvious Cognitive Problems
Now let’s move on to Joe Biden. To most people, it’s fairly evident that Biden has some memory and brain function issues. Although I can’t formally diagnose someone I haven’t personally evaluated and treated, I can give you my opinion about the disorders that seem to fit his public behavior. This topic is somewhat complicated, and even the experts don’t entirely agree on all the details. Most brain specialists recognize that 40-50% of people over the age of 60 will experience some degree of mild memory loss. The mildest form is termed “age-associated memory impairment” (AAMI). This condition is very mild, and it doesn’t influence most areas of a person’s life. Short-term memory is less likely to stick and make it into long-term memory when you have this condition. My impression is that Biden’s problems go beyond this condition.
A more advanced form of memory impairment is “mild cognitive impairment” (MCI). This disorder is characterized by more obvious memory problems that can potentially interfere with a person’s ability to function. The prognosis for this disorder is somewhat mixed. Some will improve over time, whereas others will stay the same, and some will progress to full-blown dementia. Dementia affects these three key areas of brain function:
- Language.
- Memory.
- Decision-making.
These changes make it fairly obvious to other people around you that there is something seriously wrong with your brain function. The topic of dementia is also very complex, and the experts can’t even agree on the subcategories of dementia. This list of the ten forms of dementia is reasonably inclusive and clinically useful.
- Alzheimer’s disease.Vascular dementia.
- Lewy body dementia.
- Parkinson’s dementia.
- Mixed dementia.
- Frontotemporal dementia.
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).
- Huntington’s disease.
- Normal-pressure hydrocephalus.
- Posterior cortical atrophy.
- Korsakoff syndrome.
The Complex Clinical Picture of Dementia
Diagnosing someone with one of these disorders is a very complex clinical process beyond this blog post’s scope. It is my impression that, at a minimum, Biden has age associated memory impairment, and I fear that he may be slipping towards some form of dementia. If that is the case and he is elected as President, we will be in for a very long four (or less) years. It’s almost impossible to predict what someone with early dementia will say or do because their brain function is not normal. At least two previous Presidents likely had some form of dementia. Woodrow Wilson had a major stroke likely leading to vascular dementia, but this was largely shielded from the public. Later in his life, Ronald Reagan developed classic Alzheimer’s disease, and it’s possible he had early dementia while still President.
Hope For the Best, But Be Prepared For the Worst
Regardless of your political perspective, I assume you want a President who has optimal brain function. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen in the strange world of 2020. Time alone will inform us what our level of anxiety and fear should be regarding this election. All we can do now is hope and pray for the best possible outcome, whatever that turns out to be.
