Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia. It is a progressive disease beginning with mild memory loss and possibly leading to loss of the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to the environment. Alzheimer’s disease involves parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language.
An internationally recognized expert in the mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases, Dr. Dale Bredesen’s career has been guided by a simple idea: that Alzheimer’s as we know it is not just preventable, but reversible. Dr. Bredesen’s dedicated pursuit of the science that makes this a reality has placed him at the vanguard of neurological research.
Dr. Bredesen’s research explores previously uncharted territory in explaining the physical mechanism behind the erosion of memory seen in Alzheimer’s disease. Notably, he put much of his findings and research into the 2017 New York Times‘ Best-Seller, The End of Alzheimer’s. Not only can this dreaded disease be prevented, but it can be REVERSED. There are 4 stages of Alzheimer’s disease and why there’s no “one size-fits-all” when it comes to treatment. Common indicators of early onset dementia, having a “senior moment” is NOT a normal part of aging and typical treatment surrounding cognitive decline is considered “dangerous” and “old fashioned.”
The Bredesen Protocol is a multi-faceted, holistic, and functional approach used to enhance cognition and reverse cognitive decline. The treatments called for in the Bredesen Protocol are very individualized and have shown success in clinical trials of Alzheimer’s disease patients. Dr. Bredesen’s study followed a low-glycemic, low-inflammatory, low-grain diet. They eliminated all gluten and processed food from their diet, and increased their intake of vegetables, fruits, wild fish, grass-fed beef and organic chicken.
This diet and lifestyle approach recommends plenty of exercise, sleep, and herbs like Bacopa monnieri and ashwagandha,” Bredesen said. Additionally, he recommended daily supplements for those experiencing or at risk of cognitive decline, including vitamins B1, C, D, E and K, as well as omega-3 and Ubiquinol.
Alzheimer’s Amyloid Plaque Removal May Be Aided By Vitamin D And Omega 3. In a small pilot study, a team of US researchers has discovered how vitamin D3, a form of vitamin D, and omega 3 fatty acids may help the immune system clear the brain of amyloid plaques, one of the physical hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. Instead of therapeutics, this is programmatics. I believe that is the future of the treatment of chronic illness: programmatics. Second, this is going to be personalized. This is going to be a program for you based on what is driving your particular problem.
Dr Bredesen: Certainly, mitochondrial health is extremely important. I think everybody agrees with that, but this certainly goes beyond mitochondrial health because you need to look at a number of critical features such as things like metal homeostasis and proteostasis and insulin resistance, which have been the subject of a tremendous amount of research and, of course, specific inflammatory pathways.
Interestingly, there is some work from Milan Fiala, md, at UCLA suggesting that one can see certain cases in which there is inflammation, which, of course, everyone agrees with, but there are other cases in which the inflammatory markers are actually subnormal—actually below normal—so that there are many different components and, absolutely, mitochondria are important, as you well know. Even better data exist for their striking importance in Parkinson’s disease, especially complex 1. In Alzheimer’s and, of course, in health in general, mitochondria are important, but they are by no means the only target of the therapy.