More great information on fish oil! In addition to recent reports that fish oil is a valuable and effective tool in the management of ADHD, heart arrhythmias, anxiety and inflammation, a new study found that omega-3s protect against an aging brain. Check out the video below.
Filed under Brain Health
Yesterday I wrote about how the American Academy of Pediatrics has changed the guidelines about how young (and old) a child could be diagnosed with ADHD. The new guidelines say that a child as young as 4 and as old as 18 may now be diagnosed with ADHD.
They went on to say that Ritalin and other drugs are good choices for treatment even for the youngest patients. To me this sounds like a terrible idea.
First and foremost, we must look at a child’s diet. A healthy diet is a big key to helping a child regulate his brain function. The problem in ADHD is that circuits in the brain that are responsible for attention, focus and other executive functions are under active. That is precisely why most of the medications that exist are stimulants. These stimulants speed up the processing in these brain regions and allow the child to function more normally. The problem is that they carry serious side effect profiles, some of them very dangerous.
So where, exactly, does diet fit into this? Good question. First, each and every child must begin the day with breakfast. Food provides the fuel that the brain uses to do its job! If there isn’t enough of the right kind of fuel, the child’s brain cannot function as well as it should.
And what is the right kind of food? Each child should begin the day with a source of protein and a little healthy sugar in the form of fruit. This will provide ample amounts of fuel so your child can make it until his next meal at lunch. Do not allow a child to eat sugary cereals or pop tarts or to skip breakfast. Those types of fuel (or lack thereof) only set the child up for a crash in blood sugar which deprives the brain of the vital energy it needs.
The rest of the day should be roughly the same. Be sure that your child eats protein and a fruit or vegetable every time he eats. Steer them away from sugary snacks and drinks. They have a negative impact on brain function.
A natural program to balance neurotransmitters in the brain is important. Neurotransmitters are specialized proteins that each nerve in the brain uses to communicate with its neighbors. The balance of them is important. In ADHD the focus has been on the neurotransmitters called dopamine and norepineprhine. Others, however, may play a role and include GABA, glutamate, PEA and serotonin to name a few.
The levels of these neurotransmitters in the brain is important. Levels that are too high or too low can cause the brain to function less than optimally. In my office we measure these neurotransmitters in a urine test and have found them very helpful clinically. If we find levels that are low, we can supplement to raise them. For example, dopamine is raised by increasing dietary levels of tyrosine (or its derivatives) and serotonin is raised by increasing dietary levels of tryptophan (or its derivatives). The process is relatively simple, but it is very effective. Through this process we are able to rebalance the neurotransmitter system and see improvements in behavior and attention.
This sounds very much like something out of a science fiction movie, but it is all based in neurology. In ADHD the brain is wired incorrectly. The circuits that we want to work are not efficient enough to produce balanced brain function. To change this we must provide a program of neurologic rehabilitation. It can be done many ways, but in our office we use a combination of home exercises that include eye exercises, balance exercises, light and sound therapy and proprioceptive feedback with an in-offfice therapy called interactive metronome or IM.
IM was developed in the early 1990s and is used to help children with learning and developmental disorders as well as adult neuro rehabilitation patients. IM is a neuro-motor assessment & treatment tool used in therapy to improve the neurological processes of motor planning and sequencing.
The IM program provides a structured, goal-oriented process that challenges the patient to synchronize a range of hand and foot exercises to a precise computer-generated reference tone heard through headphones. The patient attempts to match the rhythmic beat with repetitive motor actions. A patented auditory-visual guidance system provides immediate feedback measured in milliseconds, and a score is provided.
Over the course of the treatment, patients learn to:
I’ve used this program with many children and adults in my office and it works exceptionally well. It is a great option for patients who have been diagnosed with ADHD and other learning disorders.
There are many options for parents with children with ADHD. Medications are of course one of them, but there is no permanent benefit to taking them. As a matter of fact, 50% of children who take medications will still need them as adults. Rewiring the brain, dietary changes and rebalancing neurotransmitters has lasting and permanent effects. In my opinion, it’s the best way to go.
Filed under Brain Health
Unfortunately, your child’s pediatrician might agree. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently changed the age at which children could be diagnosed with ADHD. Now children as young as 4 and as old as 18 can be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This diagnosis now also includes the old diagnosis of ADD, a term that is no longer used.
This change has led to fears that with more diagnoses there will be more drug therapies applied and perhaps some of these will be diagnosed incorrectly. To me, these sound like legitimate fears.
The first problem I have is that the drugs approved for treating ADHD are dangerous and pose serious risks. On top of that, they have only been approved to be used in children 6 and over. No one has studied these medications on children younger. This is a major problem. We cannot possibly know what these powerful stimulants can do to a developing brain. These stimulants are, after all, a derivative of methamphetamine (basically speed!).
The guidelines are quick to point out that while Ritalin is an effective option, it should only be used once behavior modification has been tried unsuccessfully. The problem with that is I find many pediatricians are already too quick to write a prescription and move on to the next patient. In a health care environment where most physicians are strapped for time as it is, they are unlikely to take the time to describe how to implement a program of behavioral modification and are much more likely to recommend something quick and easy like Ritalin.
A child that is just 4 years old is still developing. Their brain is malleable and easily changed. On one hand this is a good thing. It means changes in their home life, behavioral modifications and therapeutic exercises have a great chance of working. On the other hand it means the potential for negative change associated with medications is greater as well.
I see many children in my office for neurobehavioral disorders like ADHD. I find I can recognize the hard signs in a 4 year of ADHD like breakdown in gait patterns, breakdown in eye movements or the persistence of primitive reflexes. These are easily corrected with a program of brain rehabilitation and does not require dangerous stimulants.
These guidelines seem to be a way to open a new market for pharmaceutical sales. As a matter of fact, the chairman of the committee who recommended the new guidelines, physician Mark Wolraich, is a periodic consultant to Eli Lilly, Shire Plc, and other pharmaceutical companies. Eli Lilly and Shire hold exclusive U.S. patents for atomoxetine (brand name Strattera) and guanfacine (brand name INTUNIV), respectively, both of which the report recommends for treating ADHD in adolescents.
Parents should not be fooled by these recent recommendations. Parents should seek drug-free alternatives for their children if they believe that they have ADHD. We just don’t know what these medications can do to a young brain.
Filed under Brain Health
Dr. Carrick and Sidney Crosby seated at a press conference.
If you follow the NHL at all, you know who Sidney Crosby is. He is arguably the best hockey player in the world. He is the face of the National Hockey league. He is not playing hockey at the moment.
At the beginning of this year, Crosby was leading the NHL in scoring. His team was playing well and was expected to make a deep run into the playoffs. Then two hits sidelined his season and possibly his career. These hits, which came just days apart from one another caused Crosby to have two concussions which he had a very difficult time recovering from.
His symptoms were so debilitating that he couldn’t watch TV, drive a car or even shop at the grocery store. He had post-concussive syndrome with a unique component. His vestibular system was affected.
The vestibular system is basically our balance center. It allows us to stay balanced in earth’s gravitational field. It tells the muscles of our neck, back and eyes how to respond to changes in position without conscious intervention. This is important because if we needed to think about staying balanced every time we changed position, we wouldn’t think about much else! Without our vestibular system, you and I could not walk, run or play. And we definitely could not skate at the level Sidney Crosby is accustomed to!
Sidney Crosby’s progress was moving exceptionally slow. It was so slow that people in the media began to question whether he would ever play hockey again. He had been seeing some of the most prominent neurologists and concussion experts in the world with little to show for it. Then, a chiropractor who works with many professional sports teams recommended that he go see Dr. Ted Carrick.
Dr. Carrick is a chiropractic neurologist and head of the Carrick Institute. In addition to being a chiropractic neurologist, he has a Ph.D in neurology. His focus is to help people functionally rehabilitate their brains when there has been injury. The results he has achieved with Crosby are quite amazing.
What do I mean, functionally rehabilitate? The brain has many, many functions. It is very powerful. Even small changes in the way the brain processes, interprets and executes function can cause symptoms. Despite this fact, when people have concussions they are told time is the only thing that can heal the brain. They are given no advice on how to rehabilitate their brain. We understand rehabilitation when someone sprains an ankle or tears and ACL. Those patients are given aggressive rehab programs to strengthen and heal their ankle or knee. Why wouldn’t we do this for someone with a brain injury?
This is what Dr. Carrick has done for Sidney Crosby and it is also what we do here in our clinic. We use the same techniques that Dr. Carrick is using on Crosby to help patients in our office every day. As a matter of fact, I have studied under Dr. Carrick and seen him lecture on these brilliant techniques many times. It is quite amazing.
So what exactly do we do? We use many different therapies designed to re-educate the brain and help it to more efficiently process the information it receives. If the information is processed correctly it can respond appropriately and that is when we begin to see symptoms of many brain disorders improve. The types of therapies vary depending on what and where the problem lies in the brian. But they range from eye exercises to sound and light therapy to balance exercises to general brain games. The list really is endless.
Dr. Carrick is hopeful the Crosby will begin playing shortly. The progress that Crosby has made with Dr. Carrick is astonishing, but it’s not a miracle, it’s neurology. I’m glad this type of rehabilitation is getting a little mainstream media coverage. In my opinion, it’s just the tip of the iceberg!
Filed under Brain Health
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Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, is an exceptionally common problem. As many as 2 million Americans experience this on a daily basis. It can range from very minor to annoying to debilitating.
Tinnitus is often associated with hearing loss. Prolonged exposure to loud noises is the most common cause of hearing loss. It is this loss of hearing that is actually causing the tinnitus. Say what? Hearing loss actually causes people to hear sounds that don’t really exist? Yes!
People often describe tinnitus as ringing in the ears. However, the list of sounds that are considered tinnitus is very long. Other sounds that people might perceive include ticking, clicking, whooshing and buzzing to name a few.
Recent research, published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest several new approaches to treatment, including retraining the brain, and new avenues for developing drugs to suppress the ringing.
As a chiropractic neurologist the above statement about retraining the brain got my attention. This is something that is near and dear to the heart of all chiropractic neurologists. We use techniques that retrain the brain every day. We use these techniques to help people with a wide variety of conditions ranging from anxiety to muscular imbalances and pain.
Traditionally, patients with tinnitus are told the problem stems from damaged hair cells inside of the ear. They are told it is these hair cells that are sending the wrong signals into the brain which interprets them as noise. Turns out, this is not true.
Because each hair cell is tuned to a different frequency, damaged or lost cells leave a gap in hearing, typically a specific frequency and anything higher in pitch. It is this gap which causes problems for the brain.
Chiropractic neurologists have been saying for a very long time that ringing in the ears is actually brain based. This new research supports this assertion. Below is information from coauthor of the recent study Shaowen Bao, adjunct assistant professor in the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at UC Berkeley
Experiments in the past few years have shown that the ringing doesn’t originate in the inner ear, though, but rather in regions of the brain — including the auditory cortex — that receives input from the ear.
Bao’s experiments in rats with induced hearing loss explain why the neurons in the auditory cortex generate these phantom perceptions. They showed that neurons that have lost sensory input from the ear become more excitable and fire spontaneously, primarily because these nerves have “homeostatic” mechanisms to keep their overall firing rate constant no matter what.
“With the loss of hearing, you have phantom sounds,” said Bao, who himself has tinnitus. In this respect, tinnitus resembles phantom limb pain experienced by many amputees. (From sciencedaily.com)
The neurons that have lost sensory input in the brain are the neurons that are responsible for the perceived noise that people hear. These neurons have undergone a process called transneural degeneration. To stabilize these neurons they need more input. But because they cannot receive it from the hair cells in the ear that are damaged, other areas of the auditory cortex must take over. This retraining of the brain takes time, but if performed diligently, the results can be phenomenal.
We know this is a possibility because the brain is plastic. That is, it changes in response to the stress and environmental input it receives. When a finger is amputated, for example, the region of the brain receiving input from that finger may start handling input from neighboring fingers.
Drug therapy is aimed at increasing the levels of the neurotransmitter GABA in the brain. GABA is the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter. In order to slow down the firing rate of these over excited cells, we must increase the levels of this inhibitory neurotransmitter. The good news is there are lots of natural therapies that work to raise GABA levels or drive GABA receptors in the brain.
One way is to use the amino acid taurine. I use it frequently. Another is a product called phenibut (Phen-i-bute). It is a natural GABA derivative that crosses the blood brain barrier and binds to GABA receptors. I also use this frequently in my practice. These supplements, however, I believe are temporary solutions. The permanent solution is to retrain the brain.
Tinnitus is a complicated and elusive condition, but we appear to be headed in the right direction in terms of research. Always remember, the brain holds the key!
Filed under Brain Health
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New genes have been discovered that seem to be linked to Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). AD currently affects over 5 million Americans and that number is expected to increase substantially by the year 2029.
This year the first baby boomers will reach their 65th birthdays. By 2029, all baby boomers will be at least 65 years old. Ninety-five percent of all AD is in people 65 and older.
The discovery of new genes linked to AD is a step in the right direction. Every bit of information that help scientists unlock the mystery of why this occurs puts us closer to being able to effectively treat AD.
Let’s pretend that we know every gene that is involved in the production of AD. Let’s also pretend a test that exists to specifically detect all of these genes in you. Would you want to find out? What would you do if you had all of the genes linked to AD?
The truth of it is, there is nothing you could do to change your genes. Your genes are your genes. They are there and you can’t remove them. What you can do, however, is change how they are expressed. Just because a person has a specific gene does not mean it has to be expressed. The expression of many of our genes is closely related to our environment. Diet, exercise, smoking, pollution and stress are just a few things that can negatively or positively affect the expression of our genes.
So back to my first question. What would you do if you had all the genes linked to AD? You can’t change your genes, but you can change your risk factors.
There are many known risk factor that increase the risk of AD, independent of your genetic potential. The number one risk is aging. Unfortunately, there isn’t much that can be done about that. We are all going to get older which is not necessarily a bad thing. It is much better than the alternative!
Known risk factors for AD that are controllable are as follows:
You will notice that these risk factors significantly overlap with one another. You will also notice that when you control one risk factor you will impact another. If you can control these risk factors in your life you will significantly reduce your risk of developing AD regardless of your genetic potential.
Cardiovascular health is perhaps the most important. Cardiovascular disease causes a chronic, low grade reduction in blood delivery to the brain. This is known as hypoperfusion. This hypoperfusion is responsible for protein synthesis defects that later result in the classic AD neurodegenerative lesions.
To keep your cardiovascular system as healthy as possible make sure you eat an anti-inflammatory diet and exercise. Fish oil is also something you should consider. Fish oil, which contains omega-3 fatty acids, has been shown to reduce cardiovascular disease mortality better than any other substance known.
Reduction of high blood pressure is also very important. When blood pressure is too high it fuels a kind of scarring linked to later development of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Controlling your blood pressure is actually very simple. You must maintain a healthy weight first and foremost. This, of course, means diet and exercise. Increasing waistlines mean more tissue and blood vessels for your heart to push blood through. This puts a strain on the heart and increases the resistance the heart must push against.
Keeping a healthy cholesterol profile is essential. However, the traditional tests from your doctor are probably not enough to tell whether you are at risk or not. Traditional tests examine total cholesterol, HDL (“good”), LDL (“bad”) and triglycerides. These are of some value, but they don’t tell the whole story. What you must find out is the particle size. In a nut shell, large and buoyant molecules of cholesterol are not as problematic as small and dense particles. Your traditional test does not distinguish between the two. Your traditional test might look very good, but a more advanced test may show that you are still very much at risk. See my blog entry from last summer for more detailed information.
Diabetes is also extremely important to control. Some references are referring to Alzheimer’s as Type III diabetes because of the biochemical similarities. Even being borderline diabetic raises the risk of developing Alzheimer’s or dementia by 70%! Diabetes’ hallmark is high blood sugar. This high blood sugar leads to a phenomenon called advanced glycation end products or AGEs. AGEs adversely affect the structure and function of proteins. In combination with oxidative stress brain function is easily affected. Advanced glycation end products have been found to be much more prevalent in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients than in healthy controls. This process begins early on in the course of Alzheimer’s and there is also evidence that AGEs assist in the formation of plaques seen in AD. Diet and exercise are the best ways to prevent diabetes and reduce your risk of AD.
While the study for a purely genetic link to AD will continue, a cure is likely many years away if one can even be found. What we can control, however, are our lifestyle choices that activate our genes. If we choose poorly, we are much more likely to activate unfavorable genes that cause disease. If we choose wisely, we are more likely to activate genes that are favorable and reduce our risk of further disease. The choice is yours. Make the right one.
Filed under Brain Health
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Exercise has long been known to increase brain function. Most of the research, however, focused on the benefits of purely cardiovascular exercises like running. New research shows that weight training has the same effect.
Conventional wisdom has stated that the benefits of cardiovascular exercise on brain function was from the significant increase in blood flow to the brain during aerobic type exercises. It was concluded that because weight training didn’t cause this to happen for extended periods of time, it would not have the same benefit.
The creation of new brain cells, or neurogenesis, is thought to be dependent on a spike of blood flow to the brain. In fact, running and other aerobic exercises have been shown to increase neuron production in the areas of the brain associated with memory and thinking in both mice and humans. However, this was thought not to apply to resistance training. That is changing.
“In a study presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in November, researchers from Brazil secured weights to the tails of a group of rats and had them climb a ladder five sessions a week. Other rats on the same schedule ran on a treadmill, and a third group just sat around. After eight weeks, the running rats had much higher levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (B.D.N.F.), a growth factor that is thought to help spark neurogenesis, than the sedentary rats. So did the rats with weights tied to their tails. The weight-bearing rats, like the runners, did well on tests of rodent learning and memory, like rapidly negotiating a water maze. Both endurance and weight training seemed to make the rats smarter.” (From The NY Times)
A similar study from Japan at the same conference came to the same conclusions.
“The animals that were assigned to the loaded wheels showed significantly increased levels of gene activity and B.D.N.F. levels within their brains. The higher the workload the animals managed to complete, the greater the genetic activity within their brains.” (From The NY Times)
The genetic activity is important. That’s precisely how the human brain adapts. It changes the expression of certain genes in order to respond to certain environmental input. That input may be in the form of exercise like weight training or it may be more cognitively based like learning to play the piano. Whatever the input may be, the brain changes in response to the activity being performed. This is a phenomenon called plasticity. And the brain remains plastic our entire lives! That means it can change right up to the day we die.
Just how does this resistance training increase brain function? No one knows for sure, but there are theories. The researchers propose that because weight training reduces many cardiovascular risk factors and does increase the strength of the heart it may also help the brain through similar mechanisms that aerobic exercise does.
I have another theory. Ninety percent, yes that’s 90%, of the input that comes into our brains during any given day comes from the receptors in our muscles and joints. That means that if we take into account all of the sensory input that our brains receive during the day – light, sound, touch, smell, proprioception – a full 90% of that input is coming from our muscles and joints. If the body requires that much input from our musculoskeletal system it must be important, right? It is. This input keeps the brain functioning normally and maintains the health of just about every type of neuron in the brain.
Resistance training makes this input more efficient. By training the muscles with weights they send more regulatory information to the brain and you also increase the amount of information coming from the joints. The stronger your muscles the more force is applied through your joints. This combination is a winning one in terms of brain function.
The best type of exercise program is one that includes both cardiovascular and resistance type training. People are often hesitant to start a weight training program because of lack of knowledge on how to properly do it. If you are concerned hire a knowledgeable trainer to show you how to do it. The benefits will far outweigh your hesitance to start.
Filed under Brain Health, Public Health
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Depression is a huge problem in the United States. The numbers are quite amazing. Approximately 20.9 million American adults, or about 9.5 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year, have a mood disorder. Depression is not just a disorder for adults, however. As many as one in 33 children and one in eight adolescents have clinical depression.
Depression is characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Unipolar depression, the most common mood disorder in the U.S., was first described by Hippocrates in the 5th century B.C. He believed that depression was caused by an imbalance in the four humors – blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Excess black bile caused depression according to Hippocrates. In fact, the Greek term for depression, melancholia, means black bile.
First and foremost a person that is depressed must make every effort to get healthy. This includes exercise and dietary changes. Junk in equals junk out. Period. If all one eats is McDonald’s value meals they are very unlikely to be healthy and much more likely to develop depression in my opinion. Did you ever see the movie SuperSize Me? A documentarian decides to eat nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days to see what happens. Not only did he fall apart physically but he developed depression! Now, this is just one case and is a bit anecdotal, but the result confirmed the hypothesis I made before I even saw the movie.
You must eat a healthy diet in order for your body to work properly and be healthy. For some reason modern medicine has separated the health of our body from the health of our minds. It is widely understood that to have a healthy body we need to eat nutritious foods. It is far less accepted that to have a healthy mind we need to have a healthy diet. Why is this the case? The food that we eat provides fuel to our bodies and to our brains. The same food nourishes our entire system, not simply our physical bodies.
Exercise is unbelievably critical. In fact, research has shown that the #1 cure for depression lasting less than 7 years is exercise. Exercise does many things for the body. It improves blood flow, is a great stress reliever and changes the chemical balance in the brain to name just a few. If you feel as if you suffer from depression and you do one thing for yourself this should be the one. It has long lasting benefits in terms of depression and helps get the rest of your body healthy as well.
There are several supplements that have been shown to reduce depression. I would not suggest trying them all at once. And I would suggest you consult a physician that is trained in functional medicine before you start a program.
If your problem is low serotonin this may help you. 5-HTP is short for 5-hydroxytryptophan. 5-HTP is the direct precursor in the body for serotonin. Taking it may increase your serotonin levels and improve your mood.
This is an herbal product that is used here in the U.S. to help with depression. It acts by affecting the serotonin system. I have found that it helps some, but not all depressed patients. It’s a popular depression treatment in Europe.
Short for the chemical name S-adenosylmethionine, it is pronounced “sammy.” This has worked well in my practice for many people. It is available over the counter in the U.S., but it’s used in Europe as a prescription drug to treat depression.
Diets higher in omega-3 fatty acids are known to protect people from depression. It also appears that consuming more omega-3s reduces the symptoms of depression. Consuming more in one’s diet is not likely to be enough. Most people will have to supplement their diet with the oil or capsules to gain the most benefit.
This is just a small sample of the things that one can do to naturally ease depression. People are most successful when combine exercise, diet and supplements together. It will give you the best chance of improving your mood and feeling happier and more alive.
Filed under Brain Health, Diet
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As of next year the first of the baby boomers will reach 65 years old and by 2029 all of them will be at least 65. This is significant because as we age certain diseases become more and more prominent. One of them is Alzheimer’s disease. This disease robs people of the faculties much too soon and causes heartache and financial hardship for families across the US.
About 24 million people worldwide are known to be affected with dementia. This number is expected to balloon to 84 million by the year 2040. These numbers include all forms of dementia, but up to 80% of dementia is caused by Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In the US alone 5.3 million American’s have Alzheimer’s Disease and 96% of them are over the age of 65. In just five years the number of Americans with Alzheimer’s will jump to 7.7 million and by 2050 the number is projected to more than double to 16 million. The numbers truly are staggering. As a matter of fact, AD has recently passed diabetes, yes diabetes, as the 6th most common cause of death in the US. As our population continues to grow older because people are living longer, the problem is likely to get worse. Current statistics show that just over 50% of people who are over 85 will go on to develop AD.
AD is also a very expensive problem for the United States. In 2005, total Medicare spending was $91 billion and the total US cost was $172 billion for AD. AD patients make up roughly 13% of Medicare enrollees but account for more than 1/3 of its spending. The problem will only grow as our population ages.
The best way to treat AD is to prevent it in the first place. There is very good research behind several nutritional supplements that can significantly reduce your risk of developing dementia as you age.
Here’s what one study found on vitamin E:
“Among MCI-AD patients, the longitudinal decrease in cellular vitamin E was associated with the deterioration in cognitive performance. These results suggest that accumulation of oxidative damage may start in pre-symptomatic phases of AD pathology and that progression to AD might be related to depletion of antioxidant defenses.”-J Alzheimers Dis. 2010 Aug 6.
So what does that mean. Basically what this study found was that among patients who has mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or AD, people with the lowest levels of vitamin E had poorest performance on mental testing. Oxidative damage is the process by which our brain tissue is broken down in AD. Vitamin E helps fight this process.
Another study concluded:
“In conclusion, high plasma levels of vitamin E are associated with a reduced risk of AD in advanced age. The neuroprotective effect of vitamin E seems to be related to the combination of different forms, rather than to alpha-tocopherol alone.”-J Alzheimers Dis. 2010;20(4):1029-37.
This is saying that higher levels of vitamin E in the blood were associated with a significant reduction in AD with advanced age. It also says that when taking vitamin E you should be taking a combination of forms, not a singular type. When you look at the back of your vitamin E supplement be sure that it says ‘mixed tocopherols.” That will provide you with the most benefit.
Vitamin D is the supplement of the hour right now. It is being studied by everyone and just about everyone has found that it is critically important for overall health. New research also shows it helps prevent AD.
“Vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency was associated with all-cause dementia, Alzheimer disease, stroke (with and without dementia symptoms), and MRI indicators of cerebrovascular disease. These findings suggest a potential vasculoprotective role of vitamin D.”-Neurology. 2010 Jan 5;74(1):18-26. Epub 2009 Nov 25
This study is telling us that vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency was associated with higher risk for dementia and AD. What this means is that even having levels that are slightly decreased (insufficiency) are associated with higher risk. Keeping vitamin D levels up not only is important for bone health, cancer reduction and fall prevention but also reduces your risk of AD. Pretty amazing stuff.
Another study on vitamin D found that:
“Clinical data suggest that vitamin D insufficiency is associated with an increased risk of several CNS diseases, including multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, seasonal affective disorder and schizophrenia. Overall, imbalances in the calcipherol system appear to cause abnormal function, including premature aging, of the CNS.”– Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2009 Dec;34 Suppl 1:S278-86
This study is particularly interesting in that it shows that low vitamin D levels are associated with an increased risk of several CNS or central nervous system diseases including AD. It also concluded that imbalances in the calcipherol, or vitamin D, system causes premature aging of the brain and central nervous system. Why is this problematic? Remember, the number one risk factor for AD is aging. If we can slow this process, particularly in the brain, we can slow the onset of AD. Vitamin D can do this for you.
“A plethora of in vitro, animal model, and human data, gathered over the past decade, highlight the important role DHA may play in the development of a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders, including AD. Cross sectional and prospective cohort data have demonstrated that reduced dietary intake or low brain levels of DHA are associated with accelerated cognitive decline or the development of incipient dementia, including AD.”-Clin Interv Aging. 2010 Apr 7;5:45-61.
DHA is a particular form of omega-3 fatty acid or fish oil. This study concluded that low intake of this particular fatty acid or low brain levels of it are associated with cognitive decline and accelerated development of AD. This is of particular interest because of all of the wonderful other benefits that omega-3’s give us. You can prevent or reduce the risk of many other diseases simply by supplementing with fish oil.
There was this study as well:
“Plasma DHA was associated with slower decline on BVRT (Benton Visual Retention Test) performances in ApoE-epsilon4 carriers only. EPA and DHA may contribute to delaying decline in visual working memory in ApoE-epsilon4 carriers.”-Neurobiol Aging. 2010 Jun 4.
This study was done on people who have the gene that is linked to an increased risk of AD. What it concluded was very exciting. Basically it found that the higher the omega-3 DHA was in the plasma the slower the decline in memory in people that were genetically predisposed to getting AD. That’s wonderful news! Many people think that their genetics are their destiny, but this study showed otherwise.
This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of research that is available on how to combat and reduce your risk of developing AD. What we did not touch on in this article is that keeping your heart healthy and controlling your blood sugar is of utmost importance. Do those things and take the supplements listed above and you can significantly reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Filed under Brain Health, Diet, Public Health
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