Peat Archive

Ray Peat emphasized that the brain is the most metabolically active organ and therefore the most vulnerable to metabolic insufficiency. He challenged several dogmas: that brain cells don't regenerate (they do), that the brain runs only on glucose (it benefits from ketones and fructose too, but glucose is primary), and that serotonin is a 'feel-good' neurotransmitter (he considered it primarily a stress and inflammation mediator in the brain).

Peat's approach to brain health centered on maintaining high cerebral metabolic rate through adequate thyroid function, glucose supply, progesterone (which is neuroprotective), and avoiding excitotoxins, PUFAs, and excessive serotonin. He viewed Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other neurodegenerative diseases as manifestations of the same metabolic failure that causes aging and cancer.