Brain Spanner

Bryce Wylde, author of Brainspanners: What Have You Done for Your Brain Today?, discusses his prescription for Alzheimer’s prevention.

- CHRIS MANN

Homeopath and functional medicine nutritionist Bryce Wylde was determined to get to the root cause of his beloved mom’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2018. “It turns out my mother had a toxic form due to environmental exposure,” he says. “She grew up on a sheep farm that used a lot of pesticides, and she was exposed to some heavy metals that we found. It gets complicated, but once we understood and determined the underlying issue we were able to better address it.”

The Toronto-based associate medical director at P3 Health became inspired to feed and detox his own brain to reduce his disease risk, and then to incorporate such “brain-centric” strategies into his clinical practice. “I started getting excited about the brain and looking at brain diseases and how to apply functional medicine to different states,” says Wylde.

This “deep dive” also led him to pick the brains of other leading health experts— including doctors Mehmet Oz, Andrew Weil, Daniel Amen, Bill Sears, Julian Bailes, and Dale Bredesen—in interviews for his tip-filled new book Brainspanners: What Have You Done for Your Brain Today? Brain span is “one step up from health span,” says Wylde. “You live the longest life possible with good health and full brain function. A brainspanner is someone who jumps on board to do just that.”

Everyone Wants to Know …

BN: How did your experience with your mom’s Alzheimer’s influence your interview with Dr. Oz about his family risk with the disease?