Try This – 4 Big Shares for Your Week

Try This community, I’ve got some really good shares for you this week. 

High level: 

1. If you use a red-light device, check this out!

2. The connection between this vitamin and Alzheimer’s. 

3. If you’re worried about plastics in your body, I’ve got good news for you. 

4. Why your oral health is critical for your brain.

Let’s get into it.

Number 1: Red-Light Therapy Calculator

Ever wonder why some people swear by red light therapy and others say it did nothing for them?

A big part of the answer is simple: most people are using their devices wrong. They're too far from the device, not using it long enough, or guessing the dose instead of measuring it.

That's why I love this free website I came across recently called Red Light Timer.

It’s a simple website where you plug in a few key details: your device’s light strength (irradiance), how far you are from the device, and what you’re trying to improve—whether that’s skin health, recovery, pain, or something else.

From there, it gives you a personalized protocol based on the existing research, including exactly how long you should be using your device.

This is one of those tools that helps you get more out of something you’re already doing, without spending more money or adding complexity.

If you’re investing time into red-light therapy, it’s probably worth spending two minutes making sure you’re actually doing it right.

Note: Almost all manufacturers list the device’s light strength on their website. If you can't find it, just shoot them an email and ask.

Number 2: Midlife Vitamin D Levels Linked to Lower Brain Tau Decades Later

Speaking of light and health, here’s a super interesting study I came across recently!

A new study out of the University of Galway followed nearly 800 people for 16 years, and the findings are worth paying attention to.

People who had higher vitamin D levels in their 30s and 40s showed measurably lower deposits of tau proteins later in life. FYI, tau is one of the two key proteins at the center of Alzheimer's disease pathology.

This is exactly the kind of data point that fits the bigger picture we keep coming back to: dementia isn't a disease you suddenly develop in your 70s. It's something your brain has been building—or resisting—for decades.

Important to note that we've had experts like Dr. Roger Seheult on to talk about how vitamin D isn't just about supplementation. It's often a proxy for how much sunlight someone is actually getting.

Another interesting question came up in our conversation: Could healthy, regular sun exposure help people lower their Alzheimer's risk through multiple mechanisms at once—vitamin D being just one of them?

I’m definitely curious what later research will show. 

Number 3: Reduce Plastic Exposure in Seven Days

We've talked a lot about the long-term dangers of plastic chemicals in the body. But how often do we get real-world data showing that simple swaps can actually move the needle? A new Australian study published in Nature Medicine just gave us some.

Researchers ran a seven-day randomized trial with 60 adults, swapping out food, kitchenware, and personal care products for low-plastic alternatives. The results were striking. 

In just one week, the groups who changed their food and kitchenware saw urinary BPA fall by nearly 60 percent, with other common phthalates dropping by 37–53 percent. Total bisphenols were down roughly half across the food intervention groups.

One honest caveat: DEHP metabolites didn't budge—they actually trended upward. Researchers suspect DEHP (widely used, toxic plasticizer added to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products to increase flexibility) bioaccumulates in fat tissue and releases slowly, meaning a week isn't enough to clear it out. Not every plastic chemical flushes out quickly.

But the bigger message is encouraging. For many of the most common plastic chemicals we're all carrying around, your body can clear a meaningful amount in a single week if you change what your food is stored in and cooked with. Canned goods and plastic-packaged foods drove the strongest signals, so that's the easiest place to start. Oh, and get rid of your plastic cutting boards too!

Number 4: Another Study Connecting Gum Health to Alzheimer’s Risk

Your mouth and your brain are more connected than you think.

A new paper in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease adds another data point to something we've been talking about on the podcast for years: What's happening in your mouth may be influencing what happens in your brain decades later.

The study is observational, meaning it can't prove cause and effect, but the direction of the signal is consistent. Chronic gum disease appears to meaningfully raise Alzheimer's risk, and the mechanism researchers keep pointing to is inflammation.

Gum disease isn't just a dental inconvenience. It's a chronic bacterial infection. When bacteria like Porphyromonas gingivalis take hold under your gumline, the inflammatory response doesn't stay local. Inflammatory molecules travel through the bloodstream, and P. gingivalis and its toxic byproducts have actually been found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. The working theory is that chronic oral inflammation is one more input feeding the neuroinflammatory cascade that drives dementia.

The reason this keeps coming up is that the intervention is almost absurdly simple. Brush, floss, and get regular cleanings. Treat bleeding gums as a signal worth acting on, not ignoring.

If you've been putting off your next dental visit, consider this your nudge. And if you are in the LA area or looking for a second opinion from an amazing dentist, I recommend Dr. Rouzita Rashtian. If you aren’t in LA you might find a great dentist here.

That’s it for now. See you next week for more shares. 

Much love,
Dhru Purohit 

P.S. If you’re in the LA or SoCal area, join me for a conversation with Cynthia Li, MD, to discuss her new book, The Medicine of Flow: Harmonizing Your Inner State for Effortless Healing.

Most of us have been taught that better health requires more effort — more discipline, optimization, and willpower. In The Medicine of Flow, Dr. Li offers a different path.

Drawing from her own healing journey, modern science, and ancient wisdom, she reveals how embodied flow — a state of deep internal coherence — allows the body to restore itself, as if effortlessly. I’m excited to host a conversation about this book with Dr. Li at DIESEL bookstore in Brentwood, and I would love to meet you, too. Learn more here. 

The information in this newsletter is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice; please consult a qualified healthcare professional before making any health-related decisions.