Written by Patrick Massey, M.D., Ph.D. Research from around the world suggests that the best approach to Alzheimer’s seems to be a healthy lifestyle including a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and regular exercise.
In June, the American Alzheimer’s Association held its annual international conference on preventing dementia. I gave a lecture on the benefit of herbs and dietary supplements for preventing and treating Alzheimer’s disease. Although I was prepared to be one of the few focusing on non-drug therapies, I was pleasantly surprised.
It seems that, around the world, there is a lot of thought and research on nontraditional therapies for Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease attacks the memory and cognition areas of the brain. The disease progresses over time, and in the late stage, a person is unable to perform even the most simple of tasks and needs constant supervision. Although rare before age 60, Alzheimer’s incidence doubles every five years after that until about age 85, when it affects almost one in two people.
It has been theorized that Alzheimer’s disease is the result of deformed proteins in the brain, called amyloid, and that it is irreversible. Research presented at this conference, however, indicated Alzheimer’s disease might be reversible to some degree or even prevented by simple lifestyle changes.
We know that heart disease, type II diabetes, high blood pressure and other diseases respond well to simple lifestyle changes such as a better diet, regular exercise and stress reduction. It could be argued that a significant percent of chronic diseases might actually be the result of lifestyle choices. Alzheimer’s could be added to that list.
At the conference, research from universities and medical centers from across the world emphasized that leading a healthy lifestyle significantly reduced the chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease. A diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables provides antioxidants that prevent nerve damage. Regular exercise increases blood flow to the brain, increasing oxygen and nutrients and removing toxins. Even meditation might strengthen areas of the brain that are most susceptible to the damage associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Changes in lifestyle might also benefit those already diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Research at the University of California-Irvine demonstrated that with 12 months of highly nutritious food and a mentally stimulating environment, old dogs with memory problems could perform memory tasks as well as younger dogs. This correlates with my research that intravenous vitamins also significantly improve memory and cognition in those with mild to moderate dementia.
There was one piece of research that I particularly found fascinating. We know that specific genes, like ApoEe4, increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. However, researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden showed that diet and regular exercise in those with the ApoEe4 gene reduced the risk of Alzheimer’s disease to slightly below that of the normal population. This indicates that simple lifestyle changes can affect the very DNA in our cells.
The answer to Alzheimer’s disease is not only better medications. The best approach seems to be deeply rooted in something for which we are completely responsible…healthy lifestyles.
Posted November 19, 2008.
