Alzheimer’s Disease Reversed For the First Time

[kpete]

Alzheimer's disease (AD) affects more than 5 million Americans; worldwide, it affects more than 30 million people. It is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, after heart disease, cancers, chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke and accidents.

In a recently published paper, Dale Bredesen at the Buck Institute showed that 9 of 10 patients participating in a program showed reversal of cognitive impairment associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Six of the 10 study participants had had to leave work, or were struggling at their jobs, due to AD; after going through the program, all were able to return to work or to continue working at better performance levels.

This is the first time time that anyone has shown it possible to reverse memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s – so much so that 6 of the 10 patients who had left work or were struggling due to memory impairment were able to return to work or to keep working with improved performance.

To quote from the Abstract:

The first 10 patients who have utilized this program include patients with memory loss associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), or subjective cognitive impairment (SCI). Nine of the 10 displayed subjective or objective improvement in cognition beginning within 3-6 months, with the one failure being a patient with very late stage AD. Six of the patients had had to discontinue working or were struggling with their jobs at the time of presentation, and all were able to return to work or continue working with improved performance. Improvements have been sustained, and at this time the longest patient follow-up is two and one-half years from initial treatment, with sustained and marked improvement. These results suggest that a larger, more extensive trial of this therapeutic program is warranted. The results also suggest that, at least early in the course, cognitive decline may be driven in large part by metabolic processes.

http://impactaging.com/papers/v6/n9/full/100690.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/26/1354144/-Alzheimer-s-Disease-Reversed-For-the-First-Time

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Link?

Thanks.

[kpete]

3. slow

this a.m.

thanks for having my back,
peace,
kp

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. Do you have a link for this?

I would like to forward it. Thanks!

[L0oniX]

4. If we would invest just one years worth of military funding into research ...what could be done.

[enough]

5. Fascinating: Almost the entire protocol is things we can do for ourselves.

See the linked paper for the exact protocol.

Below is a less specific summary of recommendations from the dKos link:

Here we go with the list, with the caveat that certainly one should consult one’s own physician, concerning doses, contraindications, and concerns specific to your personal brain and body issues:

1. Eliminate or greatly reduce simple carbohydrates and processed foods from your diet, including sugar, grains and other starches, since they can stir up inflammation in the brain.
2. Add probiotics to your diet
3. Take 5,000 IUs of Vitamin D3 daily.
4. Take a good multivitamin daily.
5. Take Vitamin B6 daily.
6. Take Vitamin B12 daily.
7. Take CoQ10 daily.
8. Add fish oil to your diet.
9. Take coconut oil daily.
10. Exercise rigorously, 30 to 45 minutes, 5 days a week
11. Sleep 8 hours a night.
12. Fast for a minimum 3 hours between dinner and going to bed.
13. Fast a minimum 12 hours between dinner and breakfast
14. Take turmeric daily. Consider taking Ashwagandha and Bacopa monniera daily.
15. If you eat meat, make it chicken, non-farmed fish, and occasional grass-fed beef.
16. Floss your teeth at least twice daily.
17. Meditate daily - adequate sleep and exercise improve blood flow to the brain and instigate neuron generation.
18. Hormone replacement therapy is indicated for women who have a hormonal imbalance that may be affecting brain function.

[Logical]

8. Thanks for this!! nt

[panader0]

13. I'm never gonna make it.....

I only got four out of 18.

[Fred Friendlier]

14. The Crackpot Diet

Seriously, depending on which lunatic you trust, these simple steps will reverse Alzheimer's, cure cancer, prevent autism, keep your immune system so healthy that you can safely skip your immunizations, and bring your dog back from the dead. I would be more annoyed at these purveyors of false hope to the desperately ill, except that we are never going to be rid of the cranks and quacks:

”Socialism,” George Orwell famously wrote in The Road to Wigan Pier (1936), draws towards it ”with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, ‘Nature Cure’ quack, pacifist and feminist in England.” His tirade against such “cranks” is memorably extended in other passages of the book to include “vegetarians with wilting beards,” the “outer-suburban creeping Jesus” eager to begin his yoga exercises, and ”that dreary tribe of high-minded women and sandal-wearers and bearded fruit-juice drinkers who come flocking towards the smell of ‘progress’ like bluebottles to a dead cat.”


[Yo_Mama]

17. This is an actual experiment that showed measurable results and I believe them to be true.

Vasculitis is implicated in multiple disorders, and the protocol given will sharply reduce blood sugar fluctuations and small vessel spasming in most individuals. This, along with adequate protein and daily exercise, improves blood flow to tissues. Over time, there is a very definite improvement.

This is close to an experimental program we are following with some diabetic patients, and the improvement in mental and physical function is dramatic.

We started to develop it because some patients with heart problems need beta blockers, but do terribly on them. The only thing we could come up with when looking at this group was that they had abnormal blood sugar curves, and there were indications that they always had (most weren't diabetics, so it was genetic). Beta blockers will all reduce the ability of the body to respond to blood sugar fluctuations.

I suspect that marginal loss of mental function is causing a decline in compensatory function in the AD patients, and I don't find it surprising at all that this protocol would improve their functioning after seeing patients develop dementia quite rapidly on beta blockers and then reverse the condition when the stabilization program was started and the beta blocker dosage was reduced and altered to allow better parasympathetic function in these patients.

Doing tests on healthier subjects, we find that by altering the balance of minerals in their system we can observe very similar changes.

[Logical]

22. LOL, not a science type person I assume. nt

[spanone]

23. who are the socialists you speak of?

[Hekate]

24. Who are these "socialists" of whom you speak, and WTF do they have to do with this?

Quoting one of George Orwell's nastier screeds doesn't contribute anything to the discussion of this study.

[pnwmom]

25. There is nothing "crackpot" about a diet that is low in simple sugars

and processed foods, both of which have been connected to inflammation.

[Warpy]

31. You do realize that Orwell was reacting to the Fabians

and not to a socialist economic system, right?

Their heyday was a little before his time but he certainly knew all about them. Fabian Societies still exist worldwide, although they've weeded out most of the dietary crackpots and clueless socialites and have gotten quite a bit more practical when it comes to promoting creeping socialism. In Orwell's day, the memories of the early movement were still strong.

I agree that this is a fad diet and that large scale testing with meticulous record keeping of actual diet plus weekly cognitive testing is in order before he announces anything about curing Alzheimers.

Color me deeply skeptical about this.

[randome]

38. Oh, you'll be fun during your stay here.

What's wrong? You bored?
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]

[spanone]

43. a crackpot post. hit and run....oooh, verry scary.

[5X]

49. Orwell was in favor of socialism and in this work

was playing the devil's advocate in parts of it. More than likely in the quotes you provide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_to_Wigan_Pier

[duhneece]

15. Similar to suggested MS protocal

And for anyone with demyelinating as shown on MRI; mine may indicate the Trigeminal Neuralgia I have. No one seems clear on that. Do I feel better because it works when I follow it or because the feeling better is a placebo effect? ??? For me personally, it doesn't matter, but for others in the future, of course it does. We need double blind, controlled tests.

[Ramses]

16. i should be dead by now

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. They are saying this is nutrient related...

That is what I am hearing, that our current lifestyle, on average, is harmful.
which makes sense.
The markets are overloaded with heavily processed foods, and the plants we eat are grown, mostly, in dead soil, which is laced with multiple pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers instead of natural fertilizers.

[Warpy]

29. Guess I'll just have to get demented

This has every current dietary fad listed, a couple of which would kill me fairly quickly.

Programs like this one tend to pin my bullshit meter, a very good one. None of the dietary stuff will actually harm you, so you might as well do it if you want to.

Just realize that genetics trump most environmental factors, including diet. These dietary recommendations are benign, they just won't do much of anything.

I'm not sure the blanket approval of HRT for women is any saner than blanket approval of dosing men with testosterone. Both have been linked to early heart disease and other disease processes. The better idea is to listen to Mother Nature on this one. Forgetfulness and mood swings in menopausal women have been linked to sleep deprivation, something that can be treated without HRT and should be.

Other than the hormones for women, this isn't bad advice. It's just unlikely to protect you from senile dementia of various kinds if that's programmed into your genes.

[LittleGirl]

36. Sorry

but your conclusions are wrong and you should read my post below this reply.

Diet is key. Whole foods have reversed my disease. REVERSED and I am in Remission.

[Warpy]

52. Science trumps anecdata

Claims need to be tested and the results have to be reproduceable.

When that happens, get back to me or it's just more wheat grass and spirulina, two other health panaceas that let sick people down when remissions were over.

[AllyCat]

66. Study indicates in the conclusion that it is anecdotal but warrants more research

Does not make it "unscientific". Clearly, the researcher was gathering data in a scientific manner. Since when are whole, unprocessed foods faddish?

[Logical]

54. Maybe you are already. nt

[LittleGirl]

35. Good.

This is what I've been taught lately. I have been researching my auto-immune disease and these are the things that are recommended to reverse my disease. I do all but 3 of these things and in one year, I am in remission.

[randome]

46. Just curious: why all but three?

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Everything is a satellite to some other thing.[/center][/font][hr]

[LittleGirl]

47. just a random 3 that I haven't done yet

Like taking CQ10. I take many supplements and don't take that one. I eat most food cooked from scratch and avoid gluten, dairy, soy, sugar and processed foods. I am allergic to corn, eggs, dairy, gluten, pecans etc.

edit: to add, I don't meditate either.

[randome]

39. The sad thing is that most people won't bother with this list.

Too addicted to food and too addicted to lethargy and procrastination. That bit about flossing seems self-evident and yet few people bother. Most people's mouths are slow-running compost heaps dumping garbage into the bloodstream, some of which makes its way to the brain.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]

[Vinca]

41. Call me a skeptic, but if you decide to try it be alert to adverse reactions to supplements.

My husband and I took an assortment of vitamins/supplements - including many of those listed - for quite a long time and we are pretty certain they contributed to a hospitalization he had earlier this year for a scary, scary condition called "Transient Global Amnesia." It only lasts about 24 hours, but those are some of the most frightening hours you, as a person observing a loved one, will ever experience. The patient won't remember any of it either while it's happening or after it has happened. His doctor said people don't realize that something you can buy over-the-counter at a natural foods store can do so much harm. Keep in mind the majority of these things are unregulated and manufactured in China. Who knows what's in them.

[randome]

42. There's a danger that healthy, younger people will jump on this list now. And they shouldn't.

Not without a doctor's okay and their own research. You make a good point.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]You have to play the game to find out why you're playing the game. -Existenz[/center][/font][hr]

[madokie]

64. I asked my doctor about taking supplements

and he said that if my blood work shows I need too then he would advise me to but since my blood work doesn't he doesn't.

[Vinca]

65. I still take 3 things in small amounts for specific reasons and because I know they're effective.

My husband only takes Vit. D now to ward off winter depression. I think we originally started the regime that got my husband into trouble to try to prevent the things that come with aging, including Alzheimer's. My prime suspect for causing the problem was lutein. After this happened I checked every single thing we had been taking for reports of any side effects. I was stunned. These things need a watchdog.

[ladyVet]

63. I agree with those things, except for maybe #18.

Perhaps a limited course of hormonal therapy would be okay. Just my personal belief, I'm not a doctor.

I've just begun using turmeric in cooking, and learning about other uses. Always been a big proponent of vitamin and herbal supplementation, though I can't afford it right now. I found a multi-vitamin I'd tucked away, so I'll take that and hope I can get more later.

Something I'd add (and I haven't read the main article, so it may be mentioned there) is to eliminate all chemicals and artificial stuff from your life as much as possible. Use natural cleaners for home and body, watch out for additives in everything, get rid of aluminum cookware, and so on. Cooking from scratch isn't much slower or more difficult than using prepackaged foods, and you will know what you're putting in your body.

[elleng]

6. 'Dr. Bredesen’s study upends the current hypothesis of the origins of AD.

The current view is that Alzheimer’s is a disease caused by the accumulation of sticky plaques in the brain. But Bredesen’s work shows evidence that AD stems from an imbalance in nerve cell signaling. And It indicates that at least the early stages of cognitive decline may be driven by metabolic processes. In other words, “you are what you eat” is a fair summary of reality. Further, what and how you eat today will affect your cognitive as well as physical health.
The following summary is a lay person’s takeaway of the events in the brain that lead to AD, per Bredesen. The healthy brain generates some electronic signals that have the specific tasks of improving nerve connections and storing memories. Other signals break down memories, losing information. (This might be useful if you want to clear the space occupied by a list of dead presidents, which knowledge you no longer want to retain. But alas, the memory breakers do not select, saying that some memories have lost their usefulness, whereas other memories, such as the poem you had to memorize for graduation exercises in the 6th grade, have value.) There is a balance of memory makers to memory breakers that favors memory making in the healthy brain. But in a brain affected by Alzheimer’s disease, the breakers begin to outnumber the makers, by suppressing nerve connecting signals.

Dr. Bredesen’s study results should be interpreted with a lot of caution, primarily because of the small size of the study group, and because the participants had a range of diagnoses, resulting in different interventions. But the basis of his work was the idea that there are multiple risk factors leading to AD, and therefore, a multiple factor approach, rather than administration of one drug or another, would show beneficial results. In fact, this theory seems to be right, given that 9 out of 10 patients recovered mental functions, and 6 of the 10 returned to work with improved functioning.

Dr. Bredesen’s multiple factors include diet, exercise, sleep, stress reduction, and brain training, commonsensical in the broad view. But he has identified 36 separate elements of a therapeutic system for patients, many of which are surprising to more traditional western medicine.'

[Yo_Mama]

19. It's not just that - it's also that some people have genetics that are very sensitive to glucose

We know it's genetic, because when we test healthy close relatives, many of them have sharply abnormal blood sugar curves.

Anyway, over the long term, if these patients have fluctuating blood sugars, their microvascular system shuts down circulation to tissues, especially muscle/peripheral tissues. Then, even if the patients test out for normal levels of necessary minerals and proteins in their blood, the problem is that the nutrients aren't getting through in adequate amounts to their tissues, so nerve damage can occur and the Krebs cycle is disrupted. This sets up a downward spiral as glucose uptake is further impaired, creating greater blood sugar fluctuations and more microvascular dysfunction.

Further, when we reverse the blood sugar fluctuations in these patients through essentially treating them for Type II diabetes even though they don't have it yet, we can see the mineral levels in their blood drop suddenly as the starved tissues get better blood flow and start to take the nutrients up again.

The end result - which we did not expect - is sharply improved mental function, which indicates that circulation to parts of the brain is being shut down in the process and then that state is reversed when the fundamental cause is addressed.

I am almost sure that these mutations are all conserved because most of them allow people to live for a long time in a semi-starving state. Also, some of them appear to be born in a hyper-insulin state.

[Mustellus]

7. A pill that will cure Republicans ?????

kidding.


Well, sort of.

And it is good news.

[TeeYiYi]

9. k+r ...nt

TYY

[blackspade]

10. Amazing!

[LongTomH]

11. A major breakthrough. especially for anyone with a family history that includes Alzheimer's

[NJCher]

12. Grains, grains, grains

Eliminate or greatly reduce simple carbohydrates and processed foods from your diet, including sugar, grains and other starches, since they can stir up inflammation in the brain.

I used to have horrible memory problems, but after having dropped grains from my diet, I find my memory vastly improved. In fact, it is now rare for me to forget something, whereas it used to be I forgot things all day long. My world was organized around my memory problems. No longer.

In addition, after dropping all breads and other starches, like rice and white potatoes, I found that joint stiffness went away. This had plagued me for 20 years. The big surprise for me is that I thought that as I got older, I'd feel it. Nope, the exact opposite. I feel better than I ever have!



Cher

p.s. I also dropped sugar. Also all processed foods. And I try to stay away from any food that's been genetically modified.

[Yo_Mama]

21. This isn't true for everybody - the underlying genetics is different.

But there are more than 10% of the population in the US who need to eat like you do to remain healthy.

[pnwmom]

27. True. And not everybody gets Alzheimers.

But for those who have it in their families, this is something to talk to their doctors about.

[LittleGirl]

37. Same here !

When I eat sugar now, I get heart palps, high blood pressure, a headache and irritability. My body aches went away as well. My disease is now in remission after eating foods cooked from scratch. High five!

[blondie58]

18. This is awesome!

It is such a cruel disease. Thank you for posting this!

[Hekate]

26. Bookmarking. Thanks, kpete.

[progressoid]

28. Wow!

[silverweb]

30. Wonderful, very hopeful news!

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Dementia of the Alzheimer's type runs strong on one side of my family, while the other side stays sharp well into their 80s and early 90s. Sometimes I think I'm starting to slip, and nothing scares me more than the prospect of having my mind go before the body goes.

This is a kind of checklist that pretty much anyone can use. I'm already doing rather well on diet and some of the supplements, but definitely a slacker in the exercise department; that's going to change in short order.

Thanks so much, kpete, for finding and posting this! Definitely going to share it with other family members who have the same fearsome worry I do.

[pugetres]

32. Type 3 Diabetes

The research has been ongoing for nearly a decade and it is great to know that information is now going mainstream.

[Boreal]

33. When I read this

Two things immediately went through my mind:

Big pharma ain't gonna like

Shills will show up to ridicule anything natural and sure enough, they already had, lol.

Amazing how anyone thinks they can be taken seriously when claiming eating healthy unprocessed foods and getting exercise is "crackpot" and a "fad". Or maybe it's the supplements that piss 'em off.

[evirus]

45. Complex problems rarely have simple solutions, if they did reagonomics would have worked.

If the solution was as simple as eating right why did it take this long to find it?

[Boreal]

58. Because the med-pharma mafia

Has worked for decades to discredit anything natural in order to peddle their for profit "treatments".

[evirus]

62. Do you realize how asinine that sounds?

The ability to turn a profit from a specific corse of malicious action is not evidence of committing said malicious action.

Frequently ins science, especially relating to "medical breakthroughs" things simply fail to pan out, it happens all the time not because of some monolithic conspiracy but because small scale exploratory results run real close to the "dumb luck" coincidental confirmation. Add onto this the fact that news quickly spreads about these small results (media has always been bad at accurately reporting on science) and you get a lot of people thinking that there's now way for this not to pan out, even though people more familiar with how science works can give laundry lists of reasons for skepticism.

For example the sample size is hopelessly small.

[Helen Borg]

34. No control group?

Also, could it be due entirely to losing weight? There are so many components to the program. At times, one can almost feel the specific lobbying groups behind some of them.... In sum, interesting, but serious clinical trials are needed to now if it's true or not.

[randome]

44. The mega-doses of some vitamins may be unhealthy for those without Alzheimer's.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Everything is a satellite to some other thing.[/center][/font][hr]

[Tommymac]

50. Right - best is for everyone to check with their Dr. Now with the ACA more than ever can.

Too bad we didn't try to pass single payer when we had the chance and a majority on the Hill.

Anywho, regular checkups are a must. My Dr. was a bit taken aback last physical when I told her I was substituting some natural supplements for one or two of the BigP(harm)™ chemical cocktails that were previously subscribed , but she came around and approved them after I gave here some printouts from a reputable website where I buy them that had their proper usage and contraindications, etc. (Don't wanna seem to shill for them in public so no name in this post.)

She had also previously prescribed a daily dose of B12 and B6 plus D as I was low in them - the first two have an effect on neuron transmissions - I have a tendency to be bi-polar and since I have been taking them I have not had the violent mood swings I used to have. So I believe there is a lot of reality in this article. Just sayin'.

[1StrongBlackMan]

48. posted to for later

[Gothmog]

51. Thank you for posting

I hope that this research leads to an effective treatment

[xchrom]

55. how do you reverse swiss cheese?

i guess i'm missing something -- because Alzheimer's has a pretty dramatic physical effect on the brain.

it isn't the same brain as it was pre-Alzheimer's.

[Paula Sims]

56. After my husband's heart surgery, his cardiologists told him that Atkins wasn't wrong. . .

My husband had to have his mitral valve repaired and although he had no blockages, we did discuss diets. His cardiologists (no, not Dr. Oz) told him that grains/starches/sugars are the real causes of clogged arteries. Why? Because they are starches and starches are sticky and cause things to stick to them -- hence the clotting. No -- eating more than you need isn't right either, but if you really read Atkins and his original philosophy, it's really the healthier option -- especially with all the genetic modifications in grains.

I just cleaned out our pantry and got rid of the old grains (weren't using them anyway) and started a menu for the New Year. It's not easy but it's probably best for us.

Paula

[appalachiablue]

60. Do you know of Drs. Dean Ornish and Caldwell Esselstyn? Both advise diet of many veg, fruits,

light or no animal protein, few carbs and exercise. Bill Clinton went on the Dean Ornish program several years ago, seems to have helped him.

[Paula Sims]

61. Because of generic reasons, I have to eat meat

My body doesn't diget/absorb other proteins, but except for that, the issue is similar. The difference is that Atkins pushed the non-starchy carbs, low fruits (again, the sugar stuff) and the meat to satisfy you but not fill you up to Thanksgiving level fills.

My dear late Father said it so well -- we each have to see how our bodies responds to things because nothing is 100% guaranteed to work on 100% of the population. Daddy was so smart.

Paula.

[loyalsister]

59. I would be less skeptical of a different headline

"Small study suggests some symptoms that indicate Alzheimer's can be alleviated or slowed"
"Reversal" makes it sound like snake oil to me. There is no indication that a significant number of people would see these and a lasting reversal until double blind studies are conducted and replicated.
There are promising suggestions and it is always good to improve one's diet, but words like "reversal" and "cure" are red flags that suggest someone is selling something and offering false hope.