Today we talk with Maura Davies about Hurricane Harvey and animal displacement, we talk with Dr. Mike Fenster about the PURE study, we talk with Dr. Gabe Mirkin about aspartame, and we talk with Autumn Warren about how to feed the brain in your belly.Maura Davies, VP of Communications at the North Texas SPCA talks about how the SPCA and many other groups are coming together to help the animals.Here are a few questions she answers:

1. What has it been like seeing all the destruction?
2. Why would any pet owner leave a pet chained up outside?
3. How many pets have been rescued?
4. How can we help/where is the biggest need right now?

Dr. Mike Fenster talks about the PURE Study and the results of a high fat diet. Here is a summary of the results:A new study, The PURE Study, examined ~ 135,000 people from 18 countries for 7 years, and showed as I wrote about in The Fallacy of The Calorie (and touch upon in my upcoming book, Food Shaman: The Art of Quantum Food) that high fat intake (33% reduction in early mortality)—including saturated fat (24% reduction in early mortality)—was associated with a reduced risk of early mortality.The researchers also found that high carbohydrate intake was associated with an increased risk of mortality, although the data do not discriminate between processed and unprocessed carbohydrates.PURE co–lead author Dr Mahshid Dehghan (McMaster University) said: "The upper levels of saturated fat intake in our study (mean 10%–13% of dietary energy) was associated with a significantly reduced mortality compared with low levels of saturated fat, and very low saturated-fat intake appears harmful. Current guidelines that recommend total fat below 30% and saturated fat below 10% of energy intake are not supported by our data.”Just a few weeks ago, the American Heart Association issued a new "advisory" recommending minimizing intake of saturated fat and replacing it with polyunsaturated fat or carbohydrate. The PURE findings appear to be in direct contradiction to this advice.Imagine that...vindication tastes delicious!Dr. Gabe Mirkin talks about the dangers of aspartame. Here are his notes.Aspartame and saccharin continue to be blamed for a wide variety of ills, even though research has shown them to be safe if eaten in reasonable amounts.Aspartame, marketed as Nutrasweet, has been the target of an intense negative internet campaign claiming that it causes many diseases, including lupus and multiple sclerosis. However, researchers on these diseases discount any connection.John Olney, a respected scientist at Washington University in St. Louis, feels that aspartame causes brain tumors, but there is no solid data (2). He reported that the incidence of brain tumors has increased from 1975 to 1992 (4), when aspartame was first introduced, but a report in the Journal of the National Cancer institute found no increase in brain tumors.Aspartame breaks down into two chemicals, formaldehyde and phenyalanine. Formaldehyde is a known cancer-causing agent. One study from Spain shows that breakdown products of formaldehyde accumulate in the body (3), but most studies find formaldehyde in the test tube and are unable to find it in living tissue. Most studies show no effect on IQ or personality (1).Autumn Warren, creator of Ether Elixir, talks about how to feed the brain in your belly using probiotics!