Abram Hoffer, MD, PhD: “Research suggests to me that if everyone started on a good nutritional program supplemented with optimum doses of vitamins and minerals before age fifty, and remained on it, the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease would drop precipitously.”
Andrew Saul PhD: “FACT: More than half of nursing home beds are occupied by AD patients.FACT: Alzheimer’s disease is the number 4 killer of Americans, causing over 100,000 deaths each year in the USA alone. 80% of all senility is Alzheimers. A few lifestyle changes and you will not get it.ARTICLE Written, published by Phillip Day and Posted by Anita Sands Hernandez at HOLISTIC ARCHIVE
Mental
impairment problems are devastating
our cultures today and yet this has not
always been so. Clearly, nutritional,
hydration and toxicity issues are at
the fore. As many as a third of all
hospital beds in the UK are taken up
with geriatric patients suffering a
host of disorders, a large
proportion of them
institutionalised because of
senility. The cost to healthcare runs
to billions. It is projected that
within 20 years, the rising costs of
caring for millions of dementia
patients will become a critical
factor in most industrialised
economies, if not already, yet the
important, even obvious questions are
not being asked:
- Is the patient eating organic, whole, non-pesticide-laden foods?
- Is the patient consuming modern, semi-dwarf wheat (high gluten) on a regular basis?
- What percentage of the patient’s diet comprises animal products?
- Is
the majority of the patient’s diet
cooked? No Vit C?
- Is the patient nutritionally deficient?
- Is the patient drinking up to 2 litres of clean, fresh water a day?
- Is the patient vitamin-D-deficient? What is their 25 (OH) D serum level?
- Does the person drink alcohol on a regular basis?
- Does the patient already have diabetes, or evidence of chronic inflammation, chaotic blood sugar levels, sugar cravings and insulin resistance?
- Has the patient any mercury amalgam fillings?
- Has the patient an elevated plasma homocysteine level?
- Is the patient on any psychiatric medication, which might be giving the appearance of senility or slow cognitive ability?
- Has
the patient a history of using
benzodiazepines or other
sleeping pills? They DEHYDRATE.
- Does the patient suffer from food allergies/lactose intolerance?
- Has the patient any evidence of yeast or fungal infections?
- Does the patient live in a toxic environment?
- Does
the patient eat junk food and
drink sodas? Like TRUMP? dozens a
day?
- Has the patient been mentally unchallenged for an extended period of time?
- Does
the patient use aluminum deodorant?
Cooking skillets?
Memory problems – potential causes
Several factors influence memory:
- Use it or lose it!
- Abnormal blood sugar levels (glucose intolerance)
- Dehydration and lack
of salt.
- Impaired blood supply to the brain due to LDL plaque
- Gluten poisoning through the roll-on effects of eating toxic, modern, semi-dwarf wheat
- Mercury poisoning via dental amalgams
- Abnormally high levels of the amino acid homocysteine
- Fatty, cholesterol-laden blood due to heavy consumption of animal products (chicken, beef, pork, eggs, milk, butter, fish, etc.)
- Vitamin D deficiency
- Poor nutritional intake (cooked and processed foods), especially minerals such as zinc, manganese and magnesium, and vitamins, especially the ‘B’ group, and essential fatty acids
- Toxicity, specifically aluminium1 via aluminium cookware, aluminium foil, antacids, douches, buffered aspirin and anti-perspirant deodorants 2
- Food allergies
- Toxins
Use it or lose it!
In my view, retirement is the single most damaging thing for a person, when they are persuaded to end their productivity and bow out of the work ethic until they die. It is in the nature of humans to produce and be mentally active. Depression, listlessness and despair often set in when brains are put in mothballs and the person vegetates in front of the TV. By this time, most have stopped exercising regularly.
In Health Wars, I take a look at cultures who routinely live past 100 and remain active. If you are 70–80, start looking for another career! Think of the skills and knowledge you have amassed that could be of benefit to others. If your brain is busy, well fed and well exercised, it is a happy brain, and so you will be too.
Give us this day our daily bread…?
Modern, semi-dwarf wheat has been found profoundly to influence neurological processes. It has been implicated in depression, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s dementia by means of the roll-on effects of the rapid sugars released upon consumption of wheat products. Advanced glycation end products are formed when glucose reacts (glycates) with proteins to form irreversible, metabolically inactive tissue. Dr William Davis, author of the bestselling Wheat Belly, writes:
“In Alzheimer’s
dementia sufferers, brain AGE [advanced
glycation end products] content is
threefold greater than in normal
brains, accumulating in the amyloid
plaques and neurofibrillary
tangles that are characteristic of
the condition. In line with the marked
AGE
formation in diabetics, dementia
is 500% more common in people with
diabetes.…” (who are carbaholics)
“In one particularly disturbing Mayo Clinic study of thirteen patients with the recent diagnosis of celiac disease, dementia was also diagnosed. Of those thirteen, front lobe biopsy (yes, brain biopsy) or post-mortem examination of the brain failed to identify any other pathology beyond that associated with wheat gluten exposure. Prior to death or biopsy, the most common symptoms were memory loss, the inability to perform simple arithmetic, confusion, and change in personality. Of the thirteen, nine died due to progressive impairment of brain function. Yes: fatal dementia from wheat.” 3
Modern high-yield, semi-dwarf, hybridised wheat is a far cry from the bread of the ancients, which was a cross between einkorn and wild goatgrass known as emmer wheat. Today’s wheat has 50% more gluten and is impregnated with gliadin, an opiate which aggravates appetite. The carbohydrate amylopectin-A, so prevalent in modern wheat, metabolises more efficiently into producing elevation in blood sugar than even sucrose. The glucose-insulin fat production cycle is thus enhanced, causing the layering of visceral fat around the body and effortless obesity. And still the cry goes out, “Eat more healthy whole-grains”! Dropping wheat from the diet can produce spectacular weight-loss and transformations in health, especially in the elderly.
Cooked animal product diets
Heavily cooked animal-product diets produce thick, cholesterol-laden blood, increase hormone and insulin levels and create serious problems for the elderly.4 Animal products consume pancreatic enzyme resources in digestion, especially trypsin and chymotrypsin, which de-mask cancer cells. Cooking kills enzymes and wrecks the nutrition in the food. That diet itself may be a major contributor to Alzheimer’s is gaining traction in science circles. Dr Joseph Mercola reports:
“In a recent animal study, researchers from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island were able to induce many of the characteristic brain changes seen with Alzheimer’s disease (disorientation, confusion, inability to learn and remember) by interfering with insulin signaling in their brains.
Faulty insulin (and leptin, another hormone) signaling is an underlying cause of insulin resistance, which, of course, typically leads to type 2 diabetes. However, while insulin is usually associated with its role in keeping your blood sugar levels in a healthy range, it also plays a role in brain signaling. When researchers disrupted the proper signaling of insulin in the brain, it resulted in dementia.” 5
This connection between cognitive impairment and insulin resistance caused some scientists in 2005 to label Alzheimer’s Disease ‘Type-3 diabetes’ when they discovered that the pancreas is not the sole producer of insulin in the body. The brain also produces the sugar-metabolising hormone for the proper service and protection of brain cells. That excessive intake of food sugars is the chief cause for insulin and leptin resistance in type-2 diabetics is well known. It is therefore not a stretch to surmise that the same behaviour could now be having an identical effect in ‘type-3 diabetics’ (i.e. ‘brain insulin resistance’) in causing cognitive impairment. The risks of developing Alzheimer’s Disease are already known dramatically to increase if a patient already has diabetes.
It’s also worth noting that the disease itself was first described in 1906 and named after the German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Dr Alois Alzheimer. Which implies that the condition had not been generally recognised prior to the onset of industrial food processing and canning. Perhaps it’s not called Caligula’s Disease, King Alfred’s Disease or Shakespeare’s Disease because the condition only develops in individuals partaking in excessive sugar intake from an industrialized, processed, corrupted food supply served up in aluminium cans – a trend not previously possible in history. If true, then Alzheimer’s may be expected to increase in incidence each year as the processing and corruption of food proceeds apace, and that’s before we consider the impact of genetically modified food on global health:
HOW HEALTHY LIFESTYLE CAN PREVENT HALF OF
ALL
ALZHEIMER’S
CASES AS A MILLION EXPECTED
TO
SUFFER FROM DISEASE WITHIN A DECADE
Half of all Alzheimer’s disease cases could be prevented by lifestyle changes such as exercise, eating healthily and not smoking, claim researchers. They say hundreds of thousands of patients could potentially avoid the devastating illness by simply changing bad habits.
Around 820,000 people in Briton suffer from dementia, of whom half have Alzheimer’s, and this is expected to rise to a million within the next ten years. For the first time, scientists have calculated the extent to which certain lifestyle traits – including lack of exercise, smoking and obesity – all contribute to the disease.6
This Daily Mail article goes on to report that The Alzheimer’s Society predicts that by 2021 there will be more than a million Britons living with dementia and this will rise to 1.7million by 2050. Researchers cite growing evidence that the disease may be partly caused by unhealthy diets, smoking, high blood pressure and cholesterol since these cause damage to blood vessels in the brain, leading to death of brain cells.7
Adopting THE FOOD FOR THOUGHT LIFESTYLE REGIMEN is very effective in getting the body-chemistry changes you need, fast. 100% plant-based diets are renowned for clearing the body out (2–3 bowel movements a day if consumed raw), and normalising insulin levels and insulin resistance in a hurry (see Diabetes).
Blood supply to the brain
Another cause of Alzheimer’s is thought to be a restricted blood supply to the brain. In Health Wars I devote two chapters to the heart and cardiovascular system, showing that heart disease in almost all its forms may be traced back to dehydration, lack of exercise and nutritional deficiencies, including an early form of scurvy.
Scurvy occurs when collagen breaks down in the body. Collagen is a tough, elastic, fibrous material the body uses to clad arteries, veins and capillaries, as well as organs and the skin, to give them structure. Collagen is a lot like the steel girders you see when builders are erecting a new skyscraper. Each collagen fibre has been calculated to be far tougher and stronger than an iron wire of comparable width. Cooked diets destroy vitamin C. In the absence of adequate nutrition – specifically vitamins C, E and the amino acids lysine and proline – collagen begins to dissolve. When sailors went off to sea and eschewed their usual diet of fruits and vegetables for more non-perishable foodstuffs during long voyages, scurvy set in within weeks as the collagen dissolved and the sailors literally fell apart. The cure was to recommence consumption of living, whole fruits and vegetables rich in the nutrition required to repair collagen and nourish the whole body.8
Atherosclerosis
With heart disease, the process is much slower, sometimes taking years to develop, since very few in the western world today suffer from vitamin C depletion. Like scurvy, a chronic vitamin C deficiency causes a weakening of the arterial walls, necessitating a healing process in the form of lipoprotein(a) fats, which the body attempts to use to bond the thousands of tiny breaches in the arterial walls.
These lipoproteins are Nature’s perfect Band-Aid. They are extremely sticky and form the majority of the atherosclerotic deposits associated with advanced forms of heart disease today. Cardiovascular medicine, unaware or willingly ignorant of the underlying nutritional deficiency causes of atherosclerosis, focuses attention on vilifying the lipoprotein’s LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol content as one of the primary causes of heart diseases, when it is in fact the healing (survival response) precursor, brought on by a chronic vitamin C deficiency and dehydration. Today the drug industry has mobilised a multi-billion-dollar business of anti-cholesterol drugs, which have wrought devastating results in cardiac patients, necessitating a further $20 billion drugs program to combat all the side-effects.9
Most people have accumulated Lp(a) in their arteries after age 50, bringing on the usual problems with sticky blood (dehydration), thrombosis, atherosclerosis and high blood pressure (dehydration). Strokes too are caused when Lp(a) clogs the brain artery, impairing vital blood flow to the brain. And it is here that our interest in memory loss can also be focused. Impaired blood flow to the brain will cause death or partial paralysis. Patrick Holford writes:
“When cells are starved of oxygen, they switch to a more primitive mode of operation called anaerobic respiration. The cells begin to divide and spread – unless they are nerve cells…. Nerve cells can’t regenerate. So what happens to them? They just stop working. The result is senility.”10
The homocysteine angle
Raised plasma levels of the amino acid homocysteine are linked to brain shrinkage and Alzheimer’s/cognitive impairment. Formerly an obscure element of metabolic chemistry, the amino acid homocysteine has been attracting attention over the past few years as a major implicator in heart disease, problem pregnancies and cognitive problems. Medical journalist Jerome Burne comments:
“Researchers at Oxford University found that the mild memory problems suffered by healthy people stopped getting worse when they took a B vitamin supplement.
About one-and-a-half million people in the UK suffer from age-related memory loss, or ‘mild cognitive impairment’. It starts gradually — forgetting keys, wondering what you came into the shop to buy — but half of those affected will progress to Alzheimer’s and dementia within five years. Until now there has been no way to slow down memory loss.
The people in the Oxford University trial were taking a single pill containing three types of vitamin B (folic acid and vitamin B6 and B12) all in doses far in excess of the recommended daily amount (RDA). The pill contained 0.8 mg of folic acid (twice the RDA), 0.5 mg of B12 (250 times the RDA) and 20 mg of B6 (12 times the RDA).”11
It remains unclear exactly how homocysteine affects the brain in this way but researchers have found that those patients with homocysteine levels in excess of 13 ?mol/L who took the combination vitamin B supplement reduced brain shrinkage by up to 50%, while those with normal levels of the amino acid (below 9 ?mol/L) were unaffected. These B vitamins have long been known to reduce or ‘remethylate’ homocysteine into methionine. Professor Helga Refsum, co-author of the study and a leading homocysteine researcher at the University of Oslo, remarks:
‘‘Everyone agrees that a healthy, balanced diet is the best way to prevent many chronic diseases like diabetes, heart attacks and Alzheimer’s…. If you don’t take [in] B vitamins you are going to have a faster rate of brain atrophy.’12
Dr Andrew Mccaddon is a GP in Wales who uses higher levels of the B vitamins than even the Oxford study:
“It takes about three years from the time memory problems start for people to go to the doctor, so some of my patients have already progressed to Alzheimer’s when they come to see me. I find the vitamins help them.”13
Vitamin D deficiency
The Vitamin D Council writes:
“In a cross-sectional study, vitamin-D-sufficient Alzheimer’s patients had significantly higher Mini-Mental State Examination scores as compared to vitamin-D-insufficient ones, indicating a relationship between vitamin D status and cognition in patients…. Vitamin D has a significant biochemistry in the brain. Nuclear receptors for vitamin D exist in the brain and vitamin D is involved in the biosynthesis of neurotrophic factors, synthesis of nitric oxide synthase, and increased glutathione levels—all suggesting an important role for vitamin D in brain function.”14
Of course, we know that lack of sunlight in the winter can bring on seasonal affective disorder. Less well known is that if the elderly do not get sufficient sunlight around the noon-time hours (11am – 2pm), this can have serious ramifications for their mental and emotional health over the long-term.15 In reporting that vitamin D-3 has also been found integral to the process of removing amyloid plaque deposits from the brain – a key implicator in AD – Professor Tetsuya Terasaki remarked in a media statement:
“Vitamin D appears to increase transport of amyloid beta across the blood brain barrier (BBB) by regulating protein expression, via the vitamin D receptor…These results lead the way towards new therapeutic targets in the search for prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.” 16
How about this study:
LOWER VITAMIN D COULD INCREASE RISK
OF
DYING, ESPECIALLY FOR FRAIL, OLDER ADULTS
CORVALLIS, Ore. – A new study concludes that among older adults – especially those who are frail – low levels of vitamin D can mean a much greater risk of death.
The randomized, nationally representative study found that older adults with low vitamin D levels had a 30 percent greater risk of death than people who had higher levels.
Overall, people who were frail had more than double the risk of death than those who were not frail. Frail adults with low levels of vitamin D tripled their risk of death over people who were not frail and who had higher levels of vitamin D.
“What this really means is that it is important to assess vitamin D levels in older adults, and especially among people who are frail,” said lead author Ellen Smit of Oregon State University.17
So if vitamin D is such a fabulous all-rounder, how come the orthodoxy has failed to embark on a fully-fledged vitamin D promotion campaign? The answer is a question of drug income and ‘information sovereignty’. The doctor will tell you what’s good for you, don’t think you can a) do anything for yourself or b) find life-saving information anywhere else.18
Published RDA levels of D-3 intake are woefully inadequate (200–400 IU/day). In fact, adults use around 3,000 – 5,000 IU of D-3 a day, yet are ever told the nonsense that ‘the sun is dangerous’. Those particularly vulnerable to vitamin D deficiency are dark-skinned races living in northern latitudes; the aged; pregnant women; Muslim women who wrap themselves up according to their custom, and those who make a point of avoiding the sun or staying indoors. Physicians should suspect vitamin D deficiency in the above cases as a matter of first resort as well as in those who live above the 520 N. parallel. All Alzheimer’s patients should be tested to determine their vitamin D serum level via a 25-hydroxy D test and optimised accordingly (See A Guide To Nutritional Supplements – Vitamin D-3).
Vitamin E deficiency
Studies on vitamin E have also proved interesting. Dr Joseph Mercola reports:
“At present, an estimated 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease. In the next 20 years, it is projected that Alzheimer’s will affect one in four Americans. A recent study found that 2,000 IU of vitamin E per day helped delay the loss of function, such as planning and organizing, in Alzheimer’s patients.
It’s important to realize that modern medicine has very little to offer in terms of treatment, so prevention is paramount. Research suggests the best hope is in prevention focusing on diet, exercise, and staying mentally active. Avoiding fructose and gluten appears to be of critical importance, as is making sure you’re getting plenty of healthful fats. Fasting can also be beneficial for the prevention of Alzheimer’s.” 1
1 www.mercola.com, 14th January 2014
Dehydration and lack of salt
Estimates put the brain’s content at up to 80–83% water. Mineral salts, fats and other nutrients are indispensable to the brain’s proper functioning yet amazingly most care homes and retired adult facilities do not place any emphasis on proper water and salt intake.
In The Essential Guide to Water and Salt, Dr F Batmanghelidj points out that we lose our thirst sensation over age 65. This is compounded by the fact that most of us have been confusing the thirst sensation for hunger for decades and probably suffer overweight and blood sugar problems as a result. A person can easily enter their seventies chronically malnourished, dehydrated and severely vitamin-D-deficient, exhibiting symptoms which are interpreted by the doctor as ‘a disease of the elderly’ – i.e. constipation, slow cognitive performance, arthritis, osteoporosis, urinary tract infections, high blood pressure, asthma, and elevated triglyceride and cholesterol levels. All are also symptoms of dehydration and the consequences of the body’s drought management procedures. Here’s what happened at one care home in Suffolk, England, when management suggested some changes to residents’ water intake:
“Staff at The Martins care home in Bury St Edmunds started a ‘water club’ for their residents last summer. Residents were encouraged to drink eight to 10 glasses of water a day, water coolers were installed, and they were each given a jug for their room. They report significant improvements in health as a result — many fewer falls, fewer GP call-outs, a cut in the use of laxatives and in urinary infections, better quality of sleep, and lower rates of agitation among residents with dementia.
“It’s been fantastic. The whole home buzzes now; there isn’t that period after lunch when everyone goes off to sleep.”
For Baroness Greengross, a cross-bench peer, it reinforces a conviction she has had for some time now — that many old people simply are not drinking enough, and it is harming their health.”19
Dr Batmanghelidj states:
“The primary cause of Alzheimer’s is chronic dehydration of the body. In my opinion, brain cell dehydration is the primary cause of Alzheimer’s disease. Aluminium toxicity is a secondary complication of dehydration in areas of the world with comparatively aluminium-free water (although in the technically advanced Western societies, aluminium sulphate is used in the process of water purification for delivery into the city water supplies!). One of my medical friends took this information to heart and started treating his brother who has Alzheimer’s disease by forcing him to take more water every day. His brother has begun to recover his memory, so much so that he can now follow conversation and not frequently repeat himself. The improvement became noticeable in a matter of weeks.”20
How about this study:
MINERAL WATER ‘HALTS SCOURGE OF ALZHEIMER’S’
Drinking
a litre of mineral water every day can
prevent and even reverse the
devastating memory loss of
Alzheimer’s disease, it is claimed. (A
LIter is a quart)
British
scientists believe that
silicon-rich water can
dramatically alter the course of
cognitive decline in sufferers by
removing toxic aluminium from their
bodies. It has long been known that
aluminium has some link to the
development of the killer brain
disease. (Tooth paste, acid foods in
alum foil, deodorants that enter
body thru armpit re just a few examples
of how we are being continually exposed
to aluminum: Food:
Aluminized baking powder is used in a
wide range of consumer baked goods, and
aluminum
is added to highly-processed cheese
products to "improve"
melting qualities. A single serving of
frozen cheese pizza has 14 mg, according
to a 2005 study published in the journal
Food Additives and Contaminants)
High concentrations of the neurotoxin have been found in “plaques” in Alzheimer’s patients’ brains…. Now, researchers at Keele University have found that drinking water packed with silicon “significantly reduced” levels of the neurotoxin in the body of victims.21
The two high-silicon brands recommended in the article are Volvic and FIJI Water, though the study was carried out using Spritzer, a mineral water sold in Malaysia.
Aluminium and toxic metals
Another common finding in premature senile dementia is an entanglement of nerve fibres. When these nerve clusters are found in the frontal and temporal regions of the brain, they are frequently saturated with aluminium.22 Many theories abound on how this aluminium has accumulated. Aluminium can be taken into the body through the water supply, sodas (the can), cooking pots and utensils, toothpastes (the tube), aluminium foil packaging, food cans and antacids. Interestingly, a person who has unknowingly suffered dehydration for most of their life will probably have suffered oesophageal reflux (heartburn) too, for which they have taken antacids for decades – another route for aluminium into the body.
Detoxification regimens, such as those covered in this book (also in Food For Thought and Health Wars), will assist the body in ridding itself of unwanted accumulations of heavy metals. Chelators, natural substances which attach themselves to toxic elements and escort them out of the body, are used to remove aluminium. Excess amounts of the following metals are known memory disruptors and inhibitors:
Lead: leads to hyperactivity and aggression. Taken in from traffic fumes and industrial pollution. Chelated (i.e. removed) using vitamins C, B1 and zinc.
Aluminium: leads to memory loss and senility. Derived from pots, pans, cooking utensils, antacids, etc. Chelated using zinc, silicon and magnesium.
Cadmium: leads to aggression and confusion. Derived from cigarettes. Chelated (i.e. removed) with vitamin C and zinc.
Copper: leads to anxiety and phobias. Derived from water piping. Chelated with zinc.
Mercury: leads to headaches and memory loss. Derived from pesticides, some vaccinations and mercury amalgam dental fillings. Chelated with selenium.
Food sensitivities
Those with memory impairment problems may also be suffering from the effects of food sensitivities, as discussed earlier (see Allergies). These can also be a symptom of vitamin D deficiency, poor immunity and chronic, unintentional dehydration. An allergy test may determine an underlying, treatable food allergy problem, which may be contributing to the patient’s condition.
Virgin coconut oil
The health benefits of virgin coconut oil have been well covered in the nutrition press over the past five years while the mainstream media has been demonising ‘saturated fat’ as the leading killer of mankind. Yet a number of studies on Pacific Islanders, who derive 30–60% of their calorific intake from coconut oil (a fully saturated fat), reveal nearly non-existent levels of cardiovascular disease,23 while supposedly health-promoting ‘low-fat’ hydrogenated butters marketed nightly on TV have become the problem. The salient issue is that naturally occurring plant-based medium-chain saturated fats have a number of health-promoting effects going for them while long-chain, artificially saturated fats, manufactured through the hydrogenation process,24 have severe, artery-clogging potential and should be avoided at all costs.
Virgin coconut oil has an important part to play in human health, especially with the sick and elderly. Coconut oil is comprised 50% lauric acid, a naturally occurring saturated fat which the body converts to monolaurin, a potent antibiotic, antifungal and anti-protozoal. The only other prolific source of lauric acid on Earth is breast milk. Two-thirds of coconut oil is comprised medium chain triglycerides, a highly available source of immediate energy to the body without inducing excess production of insulin. Dr Joseph Mercola reports that coconut oil stimulates metabolic rates, accelerates healing and assists in weight loss and physical performance – something the athletic world has recognised for years. Coconut oil stimulates the thyroid gland, also assisting in weight loss. Dr Mercola has a word to say on coconut oil safety too:
“The medium-chain fats in coconut oil are considered so nutritious that they are used in baby formulas, in hospitals to feed the critically ill, those on tube feeding, and those with digestive problems. Coconut oil has even been used successfully by doctors in treating aluminum poisoning.25
Coconut oil is exceptionally helpful for pregnant women, nursing moms, the elderly, those concerned about digestive health, athletes (even weekend warriors), and those of you who just want to enhance your overall health.”26
www.naturalnews.com reports:
“A doctor’s husband made a remarkable reversal of his serious Alzheimer’s problem by ingesting coconut oil daily. Dr. Mary Newport had her husband Steve get off the pharmaceutical Alzheimer’s drugs as his condition just kept worsening with them, along with added negative side effects…. Steve’s condition has improved greatly since coconut oil was included in his diet.”27
Metabolising medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) via the liver produces ketones, now known to help protect against AD and even reverse symptoms.28 Dr Mary Newport’s husband applied to be included in an Alzheimer’s drug trial but was too late to participate. Instead his doctor wife, Mary, researched the drug and discovered it contained a synthetic version of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs).29 The only problem is, the pharmaceutical version was only active for three hours in the body compared to coconut oil’s eight. Two to three tablespoons of coconut oil taken during the day provides the required intake of MCTs. Dr Mary Newport has a comprehensive website containing all the information at www.coconutketones.com/. Naturally, none of this will be found on the Alzheimer’s Association website for economic reasons.
Pellagra
As discussed in the section on Schizophrenia, an old nutritional problem called pellagra is haunting us still. Pellagra is a niacin (B-3) deficiency which will result in the five ‘D’s – dizziness, diarrhoea, dementia, dermatitis and death. Vitamin –B3 is essential for oxygen utilisation in the body. It is incorporated into the coenzyme NAD (nicotinamide adenosine dinucleotide). Low amounts of B-3 will invariably bring on symptoms that can be interpreted as dementia, Alzheimer’s, etc.
Boosting the memory
So those suffering memory impairment have a veritable arsenal of nutritional weapons at their disposal.30 The neurotransmitter acetylcholine is the brain hormone responsible for memory retention. Experiments done at Palo Alto Hospital in California showed that drugs which boost production of acetylcholine produced ‘super-memories’. Natural nutrients, however, can effectively boost acetylcholine production. These are choline, glutamine, DMAE (a nutrient found in fish), and its salt, Deanol. Pyroglutamate is also excellent, and many ‘memory’ supplements on the market today contain a mix of these nutrients, which work better when used synergistically with a great improvement in diet.
Take action !
- DIET: COMMENCE THE FOOD FOR THOUGHT DIETARY REGIMEN, ensuring that 80%-plus of food consumed is organic high-fibre plant dietary, 80%-plus eaten raw. The more plant foods and the more raw, the better. Remove grains where possible from the diet and include at least a cupful of traditionally fermented cultured vegetables each day
- DIET: Remove all wheat, barley, rye and oats from the diet. Be diligent in this. Wheat is in everything
- DIET: Embark on a comprehensive veggie juicing program with three glasses of varied juices a day
- DIET: Small meals, consumed often
- DIET: Reduce meat and eliminate dairy intake. Avoid pork
- DIET: Cut out ingestion of sucrose and refined, high-glycaemic carbohydrate foods. Add 3 — 6 tablespoons of virgin coconut oil per day to the diet
- HYDRATION: Commence hydrating the body to the extent of half the patient’s bodyweight in ounces of water per day (viz: a 160 lb male can drink 80 oz of water a day, which is approximately 10 glasses). Volvic, FIJI Water or other high-silicon-content bottled water is known to help chelate aluminium 1
- HYDRATION: Half a teaspoon (tsp) of Himalayan salt is recommended per 10 glasses of water. Maintain over the long-term
- DETOXIFICATION: Remove all toxins and damage triggers from environment and lifestyle (harmful personal and household products, chemicals, smoking, drugs, SUGAR)
- DETOXIFICATION: Detoxify the body and kill overgrowths of fungi, yeasts and parasites
- RESTORE NUTRIENT BALANCE: COMMENCE THE BASIC SUPPLEMENT PROGRAM, ensuring:
- Test homocysteine plasma levels via your GP. If above 13 ?mol/L, take a high potency vitamin B supplement comprising at least 0.8mg of folic acid, 0.5 mg of B-12 and 20 mg of B-6.2 This supplement is good insurance as you age in any case; Credence does a high potency B complex product to match these specifications.
- Optimise vitamin D levels to 150 nmol/L (60 ng/ml). A 25-hydroxy D test via your GP or www.vitamindtest.org.uk (mail order test kit service) can be obtained at the same time as the above test for homocysteine (see A Guide to Nutritional Supplements: Vitamin D-3 before taking)
- Optimise iodine in the body. An iodine-loading test is advised. Supplementation is via Lugol’s Iodine Solution (15%) or Iodine Plus tablets (12.5 mg). Commence with 12.5 mg per day for adults for one week, then increase to 50 mg per day thereafter for two months, then review. Important: read Lynne Farrow’s excellent book on the subject, The Iodine Crisis (www.credence.org). Also read A Guide to Nutritional Supplements: Iodine before taking.
- Vitamin C complex, 25 — 30 g, spread throughout the day (see A Guide to Nutritional Supplements: Vitamin C before using)
- Vitamin E (natural d-alpha tocopheryl), 1,000 – 2,000 IU per day can be taken if currently suffering dementia. 3 For prevention, 800 – 1,000 IU per day
- Krill oil, 3 g per day 4
- Magnesium citrate, 400 — 800 mg per day 5
- Resveratrol, 500 mg per day 6
- Astaxanthin, 3 — 4 x 4 mg per day
- Avoid where possible drugs, radiation scans and intrusive ‘diagnostic’ testing
- Regular exercise is very important. Not just walking! Get the heart rate up with cycling, stair-climbing, hill-climbing, etc. for at least 30–40 minutes a day (see Exercise) 7
- Spend at least 40 minutes a day outdoors between 11am and 2pm. Get the required sun to pinken the skin. Do not burn
- Play memory games and stay intellectually active
- Avoid isolation and loneliness
- Be happy and stress-free
- REGULAR REST: Maximise melatonin production by reviewing sleeping and lighting arrangements – very important (see A Guide to Nutritional Supplements: Melatonin)
- EARTHING:
Spend five minutes a day barefoot on
grass or a beach to allow a flow of
antioxidant-acting free electrons
into the body (see A Guide to
Nutritional Supplements:
Earthing) LIE DOWN on the
ground and inhale the power of earth.
Excerpted
from book THE ABC's OF DISEASE
by Phillip Day --- EACH URL BELOW IS
CLICKABLE
1 Martyn, C N, Barker, D J, Osmond, C, Harris, E C, Edwardson, J A and Lacey, R F “Geographical relation between Alzheimer’s disease and aluminum in drinking water”, Lancet, I (8629): 59–62, 14th Jan 1989; McLachlan, D R, Kruck, T P and Lukiw, W J “Would decreased aluminum ingestion reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease?” Can Med Assn J, 1st Oct 1991
2 Jackson, J A, Riordan, H D, and Poling, C M “Aluminum from a coffee pot”, Lancet, I (8641) 781–782, 8th April 1989
3 Davis, William Wheat Belly, Rodale, 2011, pp.136,173
4 Research at www.ravediet.com
5 “Alzheimer’s may be caused by poor diet”, www.mercola.com, 24th September 2012
6 Daily Mail, 19th July 2011
7 See also http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/09/24/poor-diet-causes-alzheimers-disease.aspx?e_cid=20120924_DNL_art_2
8 Here we see another example of a seemingly intractable medical condition which killed millions having its complete resolution in dietary changes.
9 Sellman, Sherill, Hormone Heresy, GetWell Int’l, Inc. 1998; also Seaman, Barbara, The Doctors’ Case against the Pill, Hunter House, USA, 1995, p.7
10 Pfeiffer, Carl & Patrick Holford, Mental Illness – The Nutrition Connection, op. cit., p.176
11 Daily Mail, 14th September 2010
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 www.vitamindcouncil.org; Evatt ML, Delong MR, Khazai N, Rosen A, Triche S, Tangpricha V “Prevalence of vitamin d insufficiency in patients with Parkinson disease and Alzheimer disease”, Arch Neurol. 2008 Oct;65(10):1348–52
15 www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Low-vitamin-D-status-associated-with-cognitive-decline-Study
16 Shingo Ito, Sumio Ohtsuki, Yasuko Nezu, Yusuke Koitabashi, Sho Murata, Tetsuya Terasaki “1?,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 enhances cerebral clearance of human amyloid-? peptide(1–40) from mouse brain across the blood-brain barrier”, Fluids and Barriers of the CNS, 2011, 8:20, 8th July 2011
17 http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2012/jul/lower-vitamin-d-could-increase-risk-dying-especially-frail-older-adults
18 An example is UK cancer specialist Karol Sikora making the following contemptible statement. Daily Mail, “Sorry, but there’s no such thing as a diet that cures cancer”, 1st January 2013
19 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7466457.stm: “How Care Home Keeps Elderly Healthy” , 23rd June 2008
20 Batmanghelidj F and P Day The Essential Guide to Water and Salt, Credence, 2008
21 Daily Express, 12th October 2012
22 Martyn, C, et al, “Geographical relation between Alzheimer’s disease and aluminium in drinking water”, Lancet, 14th January 1989
23 Prior IA, Davidson F, Salmond CE, Czochanska Z “Cholesterol, coconuts, and diet on Polynesian atolls: a natural experiment: the Pukapuka and Tokelau Island studies”, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1981;34:1552–1561
24 Hydrogenation is an industrial process whereby natural fats are heated and hydrogen atoms added to produce a plasticised, thickened, rancid oil. Consuming this mess damages human health while benefiting industry in terms of viscosity and the supermarket in terms of shelf-life.
25 KG Nevin and T Rajamohan “Beneficial effects of virgin coconut oil on lipid parameters and in vitro LDL oxidation”, Clinical Biochemistry, September 2004; 37(9): 830–835
26 http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/10/22/coconut-oil-and-saturated-fats-can-make-you-healthy.aspx#_edn2
27 www.naturalnews.com/030373_coconut_oil_Alzheimers_disease.html
28 GF Cahill, Jr and RL Veech “Ketoacids? Good Medicine?”, Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association , vol. 114, 2003; RL Veech “The therapeutic implications of ketone bodies: the effects of ketone bodies in pathological conditions: ketosis, ketogenic diet, redox states, insulin resistance, and mitochondrial metabolism”, Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids , 70 (2004) 309–319; Y Kashiwaya, T Takeshima, N Mori, K Nakashima, K Clarke, and RL Veech “D-b-Hydroxybutyrate protects neurons in models of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease”, PNAS May 9, 2000, vol. 97, no. 10, 5440–5444
29 www.anh-usa.org/coconut-oil-and-alzheimer%E2%80%99s-disease/
30 See A Guide to Nutritional Supplements
31 Daily Express, “Mineral water ‘halts scourge of Alzheimer’s”, 12th October 2012
32 Credence has a high-potency B complex supplement specifically formulated to these therapeutic levels – see www.credence.org
33 “Omega-3 supplements may slow a biological effect of aging”, Research and Innovation Communications, Ohio State University, 1st October 2012
34Garrison, Jr Robert H and Somer, Elizabeth Nutrition Desk Reference. New Canaan, CT: Keats, p 78–79; 106; 210–211, 1990; Weiner, Michael A “Aluminum and dietary factors in Alzheimer’s disease”, J Orthomolecular Med, 5(2):74–78, 1990
35 “Could A Compound Found In Red Wine And Red Grapes Change The Course Of Alzheimer’s Disease?”, Medical News Today, 14th May 2012
36
Daily Mail, “Even gentle exercise
can help protect the brain and
memory in old age”, 21st
February 2012