Preventing Alzheimers Disease with Nutrition & Nutrition for Treating Alzheimers Dementia
What are medical researchers saying about PREVENTING Alzheimers with nutrition?
What are scientists saying about TREATING Alzheimers with nutrition?
• The role that nutrition plays in PREVENTING Alzheimers is better known than the role of nutrition and nutritional supplements in TREATING Alzheimers’s disease and Alzheimers dementia. (vascular dementia)
• Medical scientists are reporting nutritional intervention to be a key element for SLOWING and MANAGING Alzheimers disease and dementia.
Treating Alzheimers Disease with Nutrition
There are both population (epidemiological) and experimental studies with animals showing that nutritional intervention can improve BOTH "neuronal plasticity" AND "function."
• Scientists, are saying that nutrition can be used to “stimulate synapse formation” and effectively REDUCE Alzheimer Disease “neuropathology,” and as a result, “modify the disease process,” especially during the early phases of Alzheimer Disease.
• Researchers are also determining which nutrition is best able to “COUNTERACT specific aspects of the neurodegenerative and pathological processes in the brain.”
(Eur J Pharmacol. 2008 May 6;585(1):197-207. Epub 2008 Mar 4. van der Beek EM, Kamphuis PJ.)
What Nutrition Treats Alzheimers Disease?
What nutrition, according to researchers, will slow the progression of Alzheimers Disease?
Folic Acid:
• several B-vitamins including folic acid
• “Folic acid and polyunsaturated fatty acids improve cognitive function and prevent depression, dementia, and Alzheimer's disease” (Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2008 Jan;78(1):11-9. Epub 2007 Nov 28).
Omega-3 Fatty Acids:
•
Omega-3-fatty acids
protect against dementia. Also early symptoms of mild Alzheimer disease seem to be inhibited.
(ReviewOmega-3 fatty acids and neurological injury. Omega-3 fatty acids and dementia. Palmblad J, et all. J Neurochem. 2006]
• Scientists report that because Essential Fatty Acids, EFA’s “suppress inflammation, augment healing, and are of benefit in the PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT of conditions such as depression, coronary heart disease, stroke and Alzheimers Disease. Hence, supplementation of EFAs could reduce burden of these disease(s).”
(Can Essential Fatty Acids Reduce the Burden of Disease(s)? Lipids Health Dis. 2008 Mar 18;7:9.)
Antioxidants & the Master Antioxidant:
Antioxidants: such as vitamins E, C and the protective MASTER ANTIOXIDANT -- glutathione GSH -- which can be improved in the brain with cysteine rich protein. (taking a glutathione pill does not work)
Why is GSH important against Alzheimers Disease?
• Glutathione (GSH) deficiency contributes to "oxidative stress" and therefore appears to play a key role in the pathology of many diseases.(Glutathione in Health and Disease. Dr. Patricia Kongshavn, MSC, Ph.D. January 2005)
• "Adams and his research team found that glutathione GSH levels diminished in the area of the brain involved in short-term memory (hippocampus)" of Alzheimers patients.
• “Jenner and his co-workers found a similar decrease of glutathione in the areas of the brain involved in higher intellectual functioning (the cerebral cortex)” of people with Alzheimers.
(Alzheimer’s Disease by Dr. Jimmy Gutman, MD, FACEP, from the book, “GSH, Glutathione, Your Key to Health”)
Dr. J. Gutman, a glutathione expert, warns that taking a glutathione (GSH) pill does NOT work, and even intravenous is NOT very effective.
• The best way, he explains, is to take the nutritional pre-cursors for the body to make it or a NUTRACEUTICAL that has been proven to improve glutathione throughout the body and in the brain.
Get your FREE COPY of “Raising Your Glutathione (GSH) Naturally” by Dr. Gutman:
Why does India have a very low rate of Alzheimers disease?
Researchers have traced the fact that very few people in India get Alzheimers to the anti inflammatory action of Turmeric -- the spice that gives curry its yellow color.
Scientists say that the active ingredient in Turmeric -- curcumin -- can be used:
“as a useful adjunct in the TREATMENT of neurodegenerative illnesses characterized by inflammation, such as Alheimers Disease, because of the involvement of curcumin in restoring cellular homeostasis and rebalancing redox equilibrium.”
(Immun Ageing. 2008 Aug 13;5:7.Racchi M,et all. )
Get Recommendation for Curcumin & Omega 3 Supplements:
ABC's of Preventing Alzheimers Disease with Nutrition
WHAT TO EAT TO PREVENT ALZHEIMERS?
• Eat whole, unrefined foods with natural fats, especially fish, nuts and seeds, olives and olive oil; and to
• minimize foods that disrupt insulin and blood sugar balance.
Researchers at the The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA warn of a connection between high calorie intake, metabolic syndrome and Alzheimers Disease.
They give clinical and epidemiological evidence showing that lifestyle factors, especially nutrition, may be crucial in controlling AD, explaining that:
"Unhealthy lifestyle choices lead to an increasing incidence of obesity, dyslipidemia and hypertension--components of the metabolic syndrome. These disorders can also be linked to Alzheimers Disease."
• They recommend to those at risk for Alzheimers Disease -- e.g. with a family history or features of metabolic syndrome, such as obesity, insulin insensitivity, etc.-- to avoid foods and beverages with added sugars.
Are there differences in the diet of people who get Alzheimers and those who don’t?
Japanese researchers compared the diets of a group of people with Alzheimers disease or with vascular dementia, to the diet of those of the same age who were free of the disease.
What were these differences?
• Female patients especially, consumed significantly LOWER amounts of fish and green vegetables.
• Calculation of nutrients showed ABSOLUTE DEFICIENCIES of Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, multiple vitamins, and minerals.
• Those with Alzheimers had EXCESSIVE INTAKE of Omega 6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and relative deficiencies of multiple vitamins including antioxidants, vitamin C and carotene, and the vitamin B group.
The researchers explain that these dietary imbalances would cause chronic inflammation, and oxidative stress, thereby increasing the chances of Alzheimers disease and Alzheimers dementia. (vascular dementia)
(Otsuka M, Yamaguchi K, Ueki A, Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2002 Nov; 977: 155-61)
Top Nutrition for Preventing Alzheimers Disease:
Research for preventing Alzheimers generally agrees on the following:
VITAMIN B and the OMEGA’s
• Both folic acid and polyunsaturated fatty acids e.g. fish oil have been found to improve cognitive function and prevent depression, and dementia. • The neuroprotective action of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids against neurodegenerative diseases has been well documented.
ANTIOXIDANTS C, E and GSH
• Antioxidants also play a key role in preventing Alzheimers, counteracting the oxidative stress that causes damage to the arteries and to the brain.
Particularly vitamin C, E as well as the Master Antioxidant glutathione GSH have been shown to prevent damage from “oxidative stress.”
Links for Preventing Alzheimers Disease and Alzheimers Dementia