It’s not surprising that two big pharmaceutical companies would recently throw in the towel on testing their highly-touted Alzheimer’s drugs. The silver bullet approach doesn’t work for multi-factored chronic diseases like Alzheimer’s. Instead, the silver buckshot approach is needed to combat the 36 or more causes of Alzheimer’s.
While JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, warns against the “pseudo-medicine” of Alzheimer’s supplements, 21st Century Functional Medicine doctors are seeing reversals of cognitive decline. These doctors are getting to the root causes of chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s and addressing those causes.
Newly published research proves 100 patients enjoyed significant, measurable symptom reversal using the protocol developed by Dr. Dale Bredesen, making a huge gain over the initial 19 success stories.
Currently, thousands of people practice Dr. Bredesen’s Protocol, which he describes in his book, “The End of Alzheimer’s”. The treatment involves being tested for three dozen Alzheimer’s risk factors, resulting in an individualized treatment, which includes lifestyle changes like diet, exercise and fasting.
Dr. Bredesen states that the brain is actually producing amyloid as a protective response to several different problems. These can be from systemic inflammation, whether from the gut or from infection such as Lyme Disease. This production of amyloid can also be a result of insulin resistance or mold that produces neurotoxins. Joseph Pizzomo’s book, “The Toxin Solution: How Hidden Poisons in the Air, Water, Food, and Products We Use Are Destroying Our Health–AND WHAT WE CAN DO TO FIX IT,“ is a great resource and program to follow for those who are combating toxins.
The three main causes of amyloid buildup are the 3 subtypes of Alzheimer’s:
– Chronic inflammation from infections, leaky gut, or poor dentition
– Decrease in nutrients, hormones, or trophic support (growth factors in your brain)
– Toxic substances such as metals, mold, or mercury found in dental work or tuna fish
These are all underlying factors and people typically have more than one – usually between 10 and 25. It’s not enough to tell a patient they have Alzheimer’s. The doctor needs to order the proper tests to determine why the patient got Alzheimer’s.
When scientists conduct a trial to find a treatment for a particular disease, they want to look at one thing only. But that’s not the way this disease works; this is why so many single drug trials for Alzheimer’s have failed. The idea of going after something so complex with one drug actually makes no sense.
Dr. Bredesen states that maintaining a healthy gut is critical to avoiding Alzheimer’s and many other chronic illnesses. Many of us suffer from leaky gut and don’t realize it. The best way to prevent inflammatory diseases is through good nutrition. We eat too much in the way of grains, dairy, and the biggest one of all, simple carbohydrates, sugars. These three factors tend to inflame the gut and make it leaky. So the very things you are eating are leaking into your bloodstream. Foods with high fructose corn syrup are causing insulin resistance like Type 2 Diabetes and are increasing the risk for Alzheimer’s.
Instead, a diet that is plant rich with healthy fats like avocados and smaller amounts of meat (pastured chicken and grass fed beef) will be beneficial. It’s important to heal the gut and use probiotics, prebiotics and eat fermented foods like sauerkraut.
There is a cognitive reserve and this reserve can be increased with brain training. We know the brain is neuroplastic (able to change and heal itself) and this neuroplasticity continues throughout our lifetime.
The current scourge is Alzheimer’s just as Leprosy was the scourge in Biblical times and Polio in modern times. This is the beginning of the end of the Alzheimer’s scourge. Dr. Bredesen’s book, “The End of Alzheimer’s – The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline,” has been translated into 28 languages and shows how this is now possible.
 |
 |
