Kat Toups, MD - Functional Medicine Psychiatry & Dementia

01/08/2026

ZOOM BROADCAST on EVANTHEA DEMENTIA STUDY RESULTS

Friday 1/9 at 2 PM PST

Doctors Dale Bredesen and Ann Hathaway and I will be doing a live broadcast to discuss our groundbreaking Precision Medicine dementia study results.

The recording will be posted afterward on the Apollo Health page and website. I can repost that when it happens.

it would be great if you could share this with people who might be interested in learning more about the study and the exciting results we got.

We want more people to know that we can reverse dementia and not just slow it down like the other medications and treatment modalities thus far.

Every single patient in the active treatment arm in the study at my site got better, and all but one were testing completely normal by the end of the study.

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Here's the link to the recording:

https://youtu.be/n62LpnSYaeo

The Evanthea randomized clinical trial has concluded, and the cognitive improvements exceed anything previously published. Come hear the discussion about what is next, and what features led to such positive results, as Dr. Ann Hathaway and Dr. Kat Toups join Dr. Bredesen on Friday, January 9th at 2....

01/03/2026

This is fascinating! See my comments below.

A published medical case report described an 82-year-old man with Alzheimer’s disease who had experienced a steady cognitive decline for five years. At baseline, his Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score was 20/30, consistent with mild dementia. His symptoms included memory loss, confusion, low mood, and reduced social engagement. He was taking standard Alzheimer’s medications (donepezil and memantine), which had not stopped disease progression. He later underwent a single f***l microbiota transplant (FMT) using stool from his cognitively healthy wife — the procedure was performed to treat recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection, not dementia.

Two months after the FMT, clinicians documented a marked cognitive change: his MMSE score increased to 26, placing him back in the normal range. By six months, his score further improved to 29, with sustained gains in memory, mood, and social interaction. Notably, he was again able to remember his daughter’s birthday, engage more actively in conversations, and show improved affect. No Alzheimer’s medications were changed during this period, leading the authors to suggest that altering the gut microbiome may have directly influenced brain function via the gut–brain axis, while emphasizing this was a single human case report, not a proven treatment.

PMID: 32600151

01/01/2026

Happy New Year, everyone! 🎉

I'm excited to announce that we got the PrePrint publication out on our latest randomized Precision Medicine Dementia study yesterday.

You can get an idea of the groundbreaking results we got by looking at the graphs in the paper, particularly the final Forest Plot graph (shown below). That one shows the magnitude of the effect size of our study compared to a couple of the main anti-amyloid medications (like 7 times the effect size as Lecanemab!), as well as several studies on lifestyle interventions.

As many of you know, this has been a labor of love and my passion for a number of years now, and I've served as the Principal Investigator on both of our multimodal Precision Medicine dementia trials. I'm so excited that the results of this randomized trial replicate our first proof concept trial, and are even better than the first one!

My sincere hope is that these findings will motivate and empower more people to work on changing the trajectory of their cognitive decline. And even more importantly, for people to believe that these are variables that we can control, and they can address these proactively to prevent the cognitive decline in the first place.

https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202512.2694



12/25/2025

I absolutely agree with this – for most people, Dementia is a process that has been brewing over years and probably decades.

An ounce of Prevention…

We're getting better and better at reversing dementia if we can catch things before it's too late.

(Stay tuned for the pre-print publication of our latest Precision Medicine multi-modal clinical trial by the end of 2025. Our results were even better than our proof of concept trial.)

But everything we learn about Reversing Dementia should be considered for preventing it in the first place.

11/11/2025

The Healing Dementia Summit starts Wednesday 11/12 and runs for 12 days.

My talk is on Day 3 (Friday 11/14) and we covered a lot of ground in this interview:

Mold, Infections, and Hormone Loss: The Hidden Triggers of Dementia Most Doctors Overlook

But don't miss Dale Bredesen and Judy Benjamin on Day 1. Judy Benjamin was Dale Bredesen's patient zero (the first patient using his methodology to reverse dementia). To celebrate reversing her dementia 13 years ago, she founded the Alzheimer's Survivors Foundation (ASF), and walked across America from San Diego to Saint Augustine, Florida to raise awareness that Alzheimer's survivors exist!

This would be a feat at any age, but it's almost unthinkable that Judy has done this at age 81! Judy finishes her epic walk on Saturday 11/15.

Judy's interview is going to feature lots of fantastic drone footage of her walk!

There are many other excellent topics being covered at this summit, including things like dental infections, EMFs, Long Covid and the brain, and photobiomodukation (PBM).



Beyond the No-Cure Narrative—21 Experts Share Complementary Approaches to Reverse Cognitive Decline

10/27/2025

I'm honored to have been a consultant and the research director for this groundbreaking program, and beyond thrilled with the excellent results.

Our mission is to help people with chronic depression get well, and not just manage their symptoms with medication and psychotherapy.

09/28/2025

4 free hours of CME on Metabolic Psychiatry.

09/06/2025

Reversing Cognitive Decline and Dementia with Precision Medicine

I finally got around to uploading a talk with slides to my YouTube channel that I gave at The Forum for Integrative Medicine's annual 2025 conference.

It's fast and furious with so much to cover in only an hour, but it's a pretty detailed overview for people that are interested in this topic.

NOTE: This is shared with permission of The Forum for Integrative Medicine. They kindly allowed me to share this for educational purposes, so it's ok if you want to share it.

Dementia is not an inevitable one-way decline. In this talk from the Forum for Integrative Medicine Annual Conference (April 4, 2025), Dr. Kat Toups presents...

09/01/2025

CHAT GPT - ENHANCING LONGEVITY

QUESTION I ASKED:
What are the best validated things to enhance longevity, including diet, lifestyle, supplements, mindset, and gadgets/technology?

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Longevity research spans clinical trials, epidemiology, and geroscience. Below is a concise, evidence-based framework covering the domains you asked about: diet, lifestyle, supplements, mindset, and technology/gadgets.

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🔑 Best Validated Longevity Strategies

🥗 1. Diet
• Mediterranean or Whole-Food Plant-Forward Diet
• Rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, olive oil, and fish.
• Associated with reduced all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and cognitive decline.
• Supported by large cohort studies and randomized trials (e.g., PREDIMED).
• Protein & Caloric Balance
• Adequate but not excessive protein; plant and fish sources favored.
• Avoid chronic overnutrition; mild caloric restriction (without malnutrition) improves metabolic health and longevity in many models.
• Low Ultra-Processed Foods & Added Sugars
• Strongly linked to lower risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease.

⸻

🏃‍♀️ 2. Lifestyle & Habits

A) Physical Activity
• Most powerful lifestyle intervention for longevity.
• 150–300 min/week moderate aerobic activity plus 2+ days/week resistance training.
• HIIT and strength training both extend healthspan (cardio + muscle + mitochondrial resilience).

😎 Sleep
• 7–9 hours, consistent schedule.
• Poor sleep linked to higher mortality, dementia, and cardiometabolic disease.

C) Avoid Toxins
• No smoking, minimal alcohol.
• Environmental toxin reduction (mold, heavy metals, excess air pollution).

D) Social Connection
• Strong social ties = one of the most consistent predictors of longevity (Blue Zones, Harvard Study of Adult Development).

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💊 3. Supplements (with strongest evidence)

(Note: benefits depend on baseline status; more ≠ better)

• Vitamin D (if deficient): lowers risk of mortality, bone disease, possibly infections.
• Omega-3 fatty acids (EPA/DHA): support cardiovascular and brain health; meta-analyses show modest reduction in CVD risk.
• Creatine: safe, improves muscle mass/strength, cognitive support.
• Magnesium: linked to reduced CVD, metabolic syndrome; supports sleep and insulin sensitivity.
• Probiotics/Prebiotics: may improve gut health and immune resilience, though strain-specific effects.

🔬 Emerging / longevity-focused compounds (promising but less proven in humans):
• Metformin (in diabetics: reduced cancer, CVD, all-cause mortality; TAME trial ongoing in healthy aging).
• Rapamycin / Rapalogs (strong in animal models; human trials just beginning).
• NAD+ precursors (NR, NMN): early human data show improved metabolic markers, but clinical outcomes not proven.

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🧠 4. Mindset / Psychological Factors
• Sense of Purpose (Ikigai / Meaning in Life): strongly correlated with lower mortality and dementia risk.
• Stress Management & Emotional Regulation: chronic stress accelerates biological aging (via cortisol, telomere shortening, inflammation). Practices: mindfulness, CBT, yoga, breathwork.
• Optimism & Resilience: studies show optimistic individuals live ~10% longer on average.

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📱 5. Technology & Gadgets
• Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGM): useful for optimizing diet and glycemic stability, even in non-diabetics.
• Wearables (Oura, Apple Watch, WHOOP, Garmin): track sleep, HRV, activity, early warning of arrhythmia or illness.
• Blood Pressure & VO₂ max monitoring: home BP monitors; VO₂ max (via wearables) is one of the strongest predictors of mortality.
• Saunas / Heat Therapy: regular sauna use linked with lower cardiovascular mortality and dementia risk (Finnish cohort studies).
• Cold Exposure (cold plunge/cryotherapy): increases norepinephrine, brown fat activity, and may improve metabolic flexibility—human outcome data still early.

⸻

🧾 Summary Table

Domain -- Best Validated for Longevity

Diet
Mediterranean / plant-forward, caloric balance, minimal ultra-processed foods

Exercise
Aerobic + strength training, HIIT

Sleep
7–9 hrs, consistent schedule

Social
Strong connections, community

Supplements
Vitamin D (if low), omega-3s, magnesium, creatine

Mindset
Purpose, optimism, stress management

Gadgets
CGM, wearables, sauna, HRV tracking

⸻

✅ Bottom line:
The strongest, most proven longevity boosters are consistent exercise, plant-forward nutrition, adequate sleep, strong social ties, stress management, and not smoking.

Supplements and tech can help optimize these, but they’re secondary to the basics.

08/20/2025

Vitamin D optimization is such easy and low hanging fruit to reduce your risk of dementia and so many other diseases. Vitamin D is really a hormone, and it affects multiple target organs and physiologic processes.

I have tested every patient of mine for the last 14 years, and only two patients had sufficient levels without supplementation.

One had something genetic happening – no one could figure out why her levels were consistently high.

The other was a swimming instructor in San Diego, so she was out in the sun every day in this southern latitude. But she had to supplement in the winter because the levels dropped too low.

I think it's important to target the dosing of the vitamin D supplementation to the patients blood levels. Some patients are fine on 2000 IU or 5000 IU, and other patients need 10,000 IU. 

I generally shoot for a level of 50 to 80.

07/02/2025

We've learned the importance of care and proper balance of the oral microbiome, as gum disease can potentially double your risk for Dementia.

Now there's a new study (link in the article to the study paper) that found the Stella Life homeopathic herbal mouthwash has selective antimicrobial effects that lets the good oral bacteria flourish, while eradicating the harmful strains of bacteria.

The other commercial mouthwashes tested eradicated all the bacteria – good and bad. This is not a desirable effect!

I used these Stella Life products for two recent dental surgeries and found them to be helpful.

BTW: I read the original study paper and there is no conflict of interest with the investigators and the Stella Life company. 😊

Researchers have found a natural mouthwash that seems to kill off nasty germs while nurturing friendly microbes.

06/18/2025

Hooray!

I hope I other companies become motivated to do the same thing.

Kraft Heinz said it will remove artificial dyes from its U.S. products by end of 2027 and stop making new products that contain the dyes.