Osteocalcin

Dr Isabella Cooper told me something about osteocalcin that stopped me dead. Your bones are growing new brain tissue. But only if your insulin lets them.

Picture this.Inside your bones, right now, cells are making a hormone most people have never heard of. It's called osteocalcin.

Osteocalcin travels from your bones to your pancreas and tells it how much insulin and glucagon to make. It even triggers your GLP-1 receptors, the same receptors that Ozempic and Mounjaro are designed to hit.

But that's not the astonishing bit.

Osteocalcin crosses the blood-brain barrier.

Once inside your skull, it does something no drug on the market can reliably do. It stimulates neurogenesis in the hippocampus. In Isabella's words: "IQ, brain power, very, very important."

Neurogenesis. The creation of brand new brain cells.

In the hippocampus. The part of the brain that handles memory and learning. The same part that Alzheimer's attacks first.

Your bones are making a hormone that grows new brain tissue. Let that land for a moment.

Here's the catch. Osteocalcin production requires low insulin.

When insulin is chronically elevated, osteocalcin is suppressed. The signal from your bones to your brain gets weaker. Fewer new brain cells. The hippocampus loses its ability to regenerate. And the slow slide towards dementia picks up speed.

Osteocalcin also triggers serotonin and dopamine. Mood. Motivation. Pleasure. Sleep. All of it partly depends on this hormone from your bones.

When insulin is high, osteocalcin drops. Serotonin and dopamine fall with it. Therefore depression, anxiety, and a flat-lined sense of motivation are often baked into the same biochemistry that drives dementia.

The good news. Insulin is something you can change. Cut the sugar spikes. Eat fibre first. Move your body. Build muscle to improve insulin sensitivity. Your bones will do the rest.