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Sigma Nutrition Radio

#595: Neuroplasticity and Reducing Risk of Cognitive Impairment – Dr. Majid Fotuhi

Sigma Nutrition Radio

Danny Lennon

Nutrition, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 633 Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2026

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Conversations about brain health have been dominated by a competing mix of fatalism and over-promising, with aging framed as inevitable decline and "brain optimisation" sold through weak evidence.

So how should we think about cognition across the lifespan?

In this episode, we explore the idea that neuroplasticity does not disappear in adulthood, but instead continues to respond, for better or worse, to repeated behaviours and exposures. Much of what is labelled age-related cognitive decline may in fact reflect an accumulation of modifiable risk factors.

We also dig into how to critically evaluate brain-health claims and how lifestyle pillars such as exercise, sleep, diet, stress reduction and cognitive training fit into a coherent framework.

The discussion extends to emerging multimodal intervention programs, their promising signals and their clear limitations, and to a broader, multifactorial view of Alzheimer's disease that moves beyond a narrow amyloid-centric model. Finally, we examine the role of genetics, including ApoE4, and why genetic risk does not equate to biological destiny, even later in life.

Dr. Majid Fotuhi is a neurologist and an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins Mind/Brain Institute. He earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed a Ph.D. in neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University. That was followed by internship and neurology residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Timestamps

  • [03:41] Understanding neuroplasticity
  • [05:22] Risk factors for cognitive decline
  • [07:07] Evidence-based interventions for brain health
  • [09:37] The five pillars of brain health
  • [10:42] Dr. Fotuhi's multimodal program
  • [19:09] Measuring cognitive function
  • [24:43] The role of amyloid and tau in Alzheimer's
  • [27:53] Genetics and lifestyle in brain health
  • [30:03] Debunking myths and overhyped claims
  • [36:08] Key ideas segment (premium subscribers only)

Related Resources

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello and welcome to Sigma Nutrition Radio. My name is Danny Lennon. You are listening to episode

0:05.7

595 of the podcast. You're very welcome. And today we're going to be talking all the concepts

0:12.3

of cognitive impairment, cognitive decline over time, and some of the lifestyle-related factors that

0:18.4

could be able to reduce some of that risk and to improve

0:23.7

cognitive-related outcomes. To discuss this topic, I'm going to be talking with Dr. Majid Fatuhi,

0:29.4

who is a neurologist and a researcher and is currently an adjunct professor at the John Hopkins

0:35.7

Mind Brain Institute. He holds a medical degree from

0:39.7

Harvard Medical School and has also completed his PhD in neuroscience at John Hopkins. That was

0:45.3

followed by his internship and neurology residency there as well. He has published research on a

0:51.4

wide range of topics including neuroplasticity and things looking at things

0:55.0

from a molecular level all the way up to cognitive aging in patients. As part of his clinical

1:00.4

practice, he also developed a multidisciplinary program and they have also published a couple of

1:07.1

studies evaluating the results of that multimodal program of which we will discuss

1:11.9

today, which looks at five different pillars that relate to different lifestyle aspects,

1:17.0

put together and evaluating some cognitive outcomes.

1:20.8

We will be discussing those.

1:22.1

I will also link to the particular publications in the episode page.

1:26.8

So wherever you're listening right now, if you click through in the description box,

1:30.5

you can find a link to the episode page, which will list all the mentioned research papers,

1:35.1

as well as anything else that is relevant to today's episode.

1:39.4

If you are a Sigma Nutrition Premium subscriber, you will get a set of detailed study notes to accompany

1:45.1

the episode as well as a full edited episode transcript. You will also be getting the key ideas

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