http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART03001/Three-Reasons-to-Eat-Turmeric.html

Related Topics
Healthy Turmeric Tea

f you would like to try it, here’s a recipe. Feel free to experiment with the ingredients and flavorings until you find a combination that suits your taste:

• Bring four cups of water to a boil.
• Add one teaspoon of ground turmeric and reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes.
• Strain the tea through a fine sieve into a cup, add honey and/or lemon to taste.
• http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/discovered-indian-spice-reduces-alzheimers-symptoms-by-30

Preliminary clinical studies show curcumin helps reduce beta amyloid plaque in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s (and prevent plaque buildup in people who don’t have the disease).

This plaque is the key to understanding — and preventing — the disease. As the NY Times recently reported:

The disease is defined by freckles of barnacle-like piles of a protein fragment, amyloid beta, in the brain. So, the current thinking goes, if you block amyloid formation or get rid of amyloid accumulations — plaque — and if you start treatment before the disease is well under way, you might have a chance to alter its course.

According to Terry Lemerond, founder and president of Europharma, “Most brain researchers and Alzheimer’s specialists believe that preventing or reducing beta amyloid plaque in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease is important. Beta amyloid plaque interferes with proper brain function and contributes to dementia.”

D- A caregiver friend of mine says, with the approval of the spouse, she has been giving turmeric in regular doses to a woman with Alzheimer’s. The woman has now started using full sentences, a thing she has not done in years!

http://www.vegsource.com/news/2012/12/neal-barnard-md—-go-vegan-to-avoid-alzheimers-video.html

10 Foods That Prevent Dementia & Alzheimer’s

By Hayley Hobson

When I was 14 years old, my grandfather died of Alzheimer’s disease. I remember the years leading up to his death and how quickly his mind wore away.

I’d accompany my father to the hospital and be shocked to watch my grandfather drinking imaginary tea from an imaginary tea cup, talking to himself, and not recognizing his son at all.

I don’t have many memories from my childhood but these are definitely some of the worst.

I watch my 3 year-old whose memory is utterly fantastic, not clouded at all by all of the toxins and pollutants that have begun to fog my own brain. And as I watch her, I cannot imagine not knowing who she is 30 or 40 years from now.

Alzheimer’s and dementia are some of the scariest and most emotionally-triggering degenerative diseases. But they are easier to prevent than previously thought.

If you have a family history of one of these diseases or are worried about what they may do to you as you age, one of the first things you can do is modify your diet.

Here are 10 foods you should add into your diet that can help improve your mind:

1. Leafy greens. Some ideas: kale, spinach, collard and mustard greens. These foods are high in folate and B9, which improve cognition and reduce depression.

2. Cruciferous vegetables. Broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, brussels sprouts and kale contain folate and have cartenoids that lower homo-cysteine (an amino acid linked with cognitive impairment).

3. Beans and legumes. These foods contain more folate, iron, magensium and potassium that can help with general body function and neuron firing. They also contain choline, a B vitamin that boosts acetylcholine (a neuro transmitter critical for brain function).

4. Whole grains. Good bets include quinoa, kammut and gluten-free oats (not bread and cereal)

5. Berries and cherries. These fruits contain anthocyanin that protects the brain from further damage caused by free radicals. They also have anti-inflammatory properties and contain antioxidants and lots of vitamin C and E.

6. Pumpkin, squash, asparagus, tomatoes, carrots and beets. These vegetables, if not overcooked, contain vitamin A, folate and iron that help with cognition.

7. Omega 3s. People whose diets contain daily omega 3s have been shown to have 26% less risk of having brain lesions that cause dementia compared with those who do not. These fatty acids help the brain to stay in top shape. You can get your omega fatty acids from fish, flax seeds, olive oil (not safflower or olive oil) or by taking a good quality omega 3 supplement.

8. Almonds, cashews, walnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts and pecans. All of these nuts contain omega-3s and omega-6s, vitamin E, folate, vitamin B6 and magnesium.

9. Sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. These seeds contain zinc, choline and vitamin E.

10. Cinnamon, sage, tumeric anc cumin. Theses spices can all help to break up brain plaque and reduce inflammation of the brain which can cause memory issues.

In addition to eating the foods listed above, you’ll want to decrease the risk of illnesses that can make your brain age such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes and hypertension.

Other things to avoid are the toxins in your food, water, soil and environment, unnecessary stress, caffeine, sugar, drugs, alcohol and sugar.

Encourage healthy decisions, conscientiousness, positive peer groups, a clean environment, exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, 8 hours of sleep, stress management and gratitude.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

Published February 5, 2013 at 7:06 AM

http://www.alternet.org/food/alzheimers-caused-too-much-sugar-how-american-diet-bad-our-brains-our-bodies?akid=9402.237677.NwFx5-&rd=1&src=newsletter711283&t=3&paging=off

Yet another reason to load up on fruit and veggies—and work to wrest federal farm policy (which encourages the production of cheap sweeteners and fats)—from the grip of agribusiness.

September 14, 2012  | 

Eating Fish Once A Week Lowers Risks Of Alzheimer’s Disease
via Guide to Herbal Remedies by Carla Fiscina on 12/2/11

Some things not raw are still healthy!

http://guide2herbalremedies.com/eating-fish-week-lowers-risks-alzheimers-disease/

Four Tablespoons of This “Brain Food” May Prevent Alzheimer’s

Posted By Dr. Mercola

| December 13 2010 | 28,201 views

Watch these videos featuring Dr. Mary Newport to learn about an amazing discovery which could potentially be a “cure” for Alzheimer’s and memory loss: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/12/13/can-this-natural-food-cure-or-prevent-alzheimers.aspx

Sources: http://articles.mercola.com/themes/mercola/images/bullet.gif Coconut Ketones July 22, 2008

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

In the video above, Dr. Mary Newport discusses ketone bodies, an alternative fuel for your brain which your body makes when digesting coconut oil, and how coconut oil may offer profound benefits in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.

This is truly remarkable news, and I urge you to watch Dr. Newport’s video in its entirety to get her full story. If her theory is accurate, this could be one of the greatest natural health discoveries in a long time. Backing up her claims is the remarkable recovery of her own husband

.

Bear in mind however that contrary to Dr. Newport, I personally do NOT support using drugs to treat Alzheimer’s, and based on his condition believe enrolling him in a vaccine study is completely contraindicated and ill advised.

That said, I believe Dr. Newport may have stumbled upon a powerful natural strategy to help prevent and treat Alzheimer’s, and that’s what I want to address here.

“Brain Starvation” is a Hallmark of Alzheimer’s Disease

One of the primary fuels your brain needs is glucose, which is converted into energy.

The mechanism for glucose uptake in your brain has only recently begun to be studied, and what has been learned is that your brain actually manufactures its own insulin

to convert glucose in your blood stream into the food it needs to survive.

As you may already know, diabetes is the condition where your body’s response to insulin is weakened until your body eventually stops producing the insulin necessary to regulate blood sugar, and your body’s ability to regulate (or process) blood sugar into energy becomes essentially broken.

Now, when your brain’s production of insulin decreases, your brain literally begins to starve, as it’s deprived of the glucose-converted energy it needs to function normally.

This is what happens to Alzheimer’s patients — portions of their brain start to atrophy, or starve, leading to impaired functioning and eventual loss of memory, speech, movement and personality.

In effect, your brain can begin to atrophy from starvation if it becomes insulin resistant and loses its ability to convert glucose into energy.

It is now also known that diabetics have a 65 percent increased risk of also being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and there appears to be a potent link between the two diseases, even though the exact mechanisms have yet to be determined.

It seems quite clear however that both are related to insulin resistance – in your body, and in your brain.

Alternate Brain Food Can Stop Brain Atrophy in its Tracks

Fortunately, your brain is able to run on more than one type of energy supply, and this is where coconut oil enters the picture.

There’s another substance that can feed your brain and prevent brain atrophy. It may even restore and renew neuron and nerve function in your brain after damage has set in.

The substance in question is called ketone bodies, or ketoacids.

Ketones are what your body produces when it converts fat (as opposed to glucose) into energy. And a primary source of ketone bodies are the medium chain triglycerides (MCT) found in coconut oil!

Coconut oil contains about 66 percent MCTs.

The benefits of ketone bodies may also extend to a number of other health conditions, according to Dr. Newport

:

“Further, this is a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclero­sis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), drug resistant epilepsy, brittle type I diabetes, and diabetes type II, where there is insulin resistance.

Ketone bodies may help the brain recover after a loss of oxygen in newborns through adults, may help the heart re­cover after an acute attack, and may shrink cancer­ous tumors.”

Medium chain triglycerides (MCT) are fats that are not processed by your body in the same manner as long chain triglycerides. Normally, a fat taken into your body must be mixed with bile released from your gallbladder before it can be broken down in your digestive system.

But medium chain triglycerides go directly to your liver, which naturally converts the oil into ketones, bypassing the bile entirely. Your liver then immediately releases the ketones into your bloodstream where they are transported to your brain to be used as fuel.

In fact, ketones appear to be the preferred source of brain food in patients affected by diabetes or Alzheimer’s.

“In Alzheimer’s disease, the neurons in certain areas of the brain are un­able to take in glucose due to insulin resistance and slowly die off, a process that appears to happen one or more decades before the symptoms become apparent,” Dr. Newport states in her article

.

“If these cells had access to ketone bod­ies, they could potentially stay alive and continue to function.”

The Ketonic Diet – Why Avoiding Grains Also Protects against Neurodegeneration

Another way to increase ketone production in your body is by restricting carbohydrates.

This is what happens when you go on a high fat, high protein, low carbohydrate diet: Your body begins to run on fats instead of carbohydrates, and the name for this is ketosis.

This is also why you don’t starve to death when you restrict food for weeks at a time, because your body is able to convert stored fat into ketones that are used as fuel instead of glucose.

Consuming medium chain triglycerides such as coconut oil is a better option, however, because the ketones produced by ketosis are not concentrated in your bloodstream, but are instead mostly excreted in your urine.

MCTs and Alzheimer’s Research

The mechanism of this MCT-ketone metabolism appears to be that your body treats MCTs as a carbohydrate and not a fat. This allows the ketone energy to hit your blood stream without the normal insulin spike associated with carbohydrates entering your bloodstream.

So in effect coconut oil is a fat that acts like a carbohydrate when it comes to brain fuel.

Therapeutic levels of MCTs have been studied at 20 grams per day. According to Dr. Newport’s calculations

, just over two tablespoons of coconut oil (about 35 ml or 7 level teaspoons) would supply you with the equivalent of 20 grams of MCT, which is indicated as either a preventative measure against degenerative neurological diseases, or as a treatment for an already established case.

Remember though that people tolerate coconut oil differently, and you may have to start slowly and build up to these therapeutic levels. My recommendation is to start with one teaspoon, taken with food in the mornings. Gradually add more coconut oil every few days until you are able to tolerate four tablespoons.

Coconut oil is best taken with food, to avoid upsetting your stomach.

You Also Need Dietary B12 for Optimal Brain Health

According to a small Finnish study recently published in the journal Neurology

, people who consume foods rich in B12 may also reduce their risk of Alzheimer’s in their later years. For each unit increase in the marker of vitamin B12 (holotranscobalamin) the risk of developing Alzheimer’s was reduced by 2 percent.

However, I strongly disagree with the dietary advice published by CNN Health

on this topic, which included fish and fortified cereals.

Fortified cereals

are most definitely NOT a good source of dietary B vitamins. They also have inorganic iron added. This is the worst type of iron to use as a supplement and it will raise already elevated iron in those that don’t need it, like most adult men and postmenopausal women.

Elevated iron levels will actually increase your risk of Alzheimer’s

Additionally, most fish are today so contaminated, I cannot recommend increasing consumption of fish either. One exception would be sardines, which are high in B12 and small enough to typically be less contaminated, compared to larger fish.

Instead, your ideal dietary sources of B12 vitamins would include:

· Liver from organic calf

· Wild caught salmon

· Organic, grass-fed beef

· Lamb (which are typically grass-fed even if not specified as organic)

· Organic, free-range eggs

Vitamin B12 is present in natural form only in animal sources of food, which is one of the reasons I advise against a strict vegetarian or vegan diet. The few plant foods that are sources of B12 are actually B12 analogs. An analog is a substance that blocks the uptake of true B12, so your body’s need for the nutrient actually increases.

There are many well-documented cases of brain abnormalities

in strict vegetarians, resulting from vitamin B12 deficiency

.

Foods to AVOID to Keep Your Mind Sharp

Meanwhile, besides incorporating ketone therapy (coconut oil), as either a preventative step or as a treatment, there are other steps you can take to help minimize your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease decades from now.

For instance, it’s important to know what foods to avoid, in order to protect the health of your brain.

These four foods in particular can be pinpointed as enemies of optimal brain health:

1. Sugars, especially fructose — Excessive sugar and grain consumption are the driving factors behind insulin resistance, and the strategies that protect your brain are very similar to those for avoiding diabetes.

There is simply no question that insulin resistance is one of the most pervasive influences on brain damage, as it contributes massively to inflammation, which will prematurely degenerate your brain.

Ideally, you’ll want to restrict your total fructose consumption to below 25 grams a day. This includes refraining from eating too many fruits, if you normally eat a lot of them. If you consume more than 25 grams a day of fructose you can damage your cells by creating insulin and leptin resistance and raising your uric acid levels.

Berries tend to be lower in fructose, and wild blueberries, for example, are also high in anthocyanin and antioxidants, and are well known for being beneficial against Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases.

2. Grains – Even whole, organic grains will convert to sugar in your body and spike your insulin levels.

Ideally you’ll want to devise a nutritional plan geared to your specific nutritional type to maximize your health benefits, as grain carbs are far more detrimental to some than others. I believe this is essential to everyone’s health, and I’m very pleased to now be able to offer the full online nutritional typing program for free

. We’ve previously charged $29 for this test, so please do take advantage of this free offer

.

3. Artificial sweeteners – Aspartame

, for example, is an excitotoxin that can literally destroy your brain cells. There are many studies showing the dangers of aspartame

. For example, one study published in 2000

found that aspartame shortens the memory response, impairs memory retention and damages hypothalamic neurons in mice.

And the results from a 2002 study published in the journal Nature

suggest that aspartame may cause mental retardation, although the mechanism by which it does that is still unknown.

Other animal studies have linked aspartame to brain damage and brain tumors

, even in low doses. I believe aspartame and other artificial sweeteners are dangerous to your health in so many ways, I even wrote an entire book on this topic called Sweet Deception

.

4. Soy — Unfermented soy

products are another common food that should be avoided if you want to maintain healthy brain function.

One well-designed epidemiological study linked tofu consumption with exaggerated brain aging. Men who ate tofu

at least twice weekly had more cognitive impairment, compared with those who rarely or never ate the soybean curd, and their cognitive test results were about equivalent to what they would have been if they were five years older than their current age.

What’s more, higher midlife tofu consumption was also associated with low brain weight. Shrinkage does occur naturally with age, but for the men who had consumed more tofu showed an exaggeration of the usual patterns you typically see in aging.

Dr. Kaayla Daniel has written an excellent book, The Whole Soy Story

, which covers the health dangers of soy in great depth and I highly recommend it to anyone still under the illusion that soy is a health food.

Additional Guidelines to Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease While Combating Diabetes at the Same Time

Clearly, the best-known “treatment” for Alzheimer’s disease is prevention, not drugs

.

There is no question that insulin resistance is one of the most pervasive influences on brain damage as it contributes massively to inflammation, which will prematurely degenerate your brain — just as it destroys the rest of your body and contributes to degenerative and chronic diseases of all kinds.

As a general rule for optimal physical and mental health, you’ll want to keep your fasting insulin levels below 3.

Interestingly, normalizing your body’s insulin and leptin levels will typically help raise your production of brain insulin, which is a good thing.

In addition to the dietary recommendations already discussed above, the following seven guidelines can further help you prevent Alzheimer’s disease and keep your mind sharp as you age:

1. Optimize your vitamin D levels

through safe sun exposure, a safe tanning bed and/or vitamin D3 supplements.

2. Take a high-quality animal-based omega-3 fat. I recommend consuming high quality krill oil

to meet the optimal amount of omega-3 fats needed to achieve good health and fight Alzheimer’s. I recently did an interview with Dr. Rudi Moerck

, an industry expert, which goes into great detail as to why I am strongly recommending krill.

3. Exercise. You probably know that exercise is good for your cardiovascular system

, but studies have found that exercise can also protect your brain

, thereby warding off Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

According to one study

, the odds of developing Alzheimer’s were nearly quadrupled in people who were less active during their leisure time, between the ages of 20 and 60, compared with their peers.

Similar to a healthy diet, regular physical activity is one of those actions that can significantly improve many aspects of your physical and emotional health. For the elderly, simple activities such as walking

and lightweight training would likely provide benefits. For those who are younger, more strenuous exercise will radically improve the benefits.

4. Avoid and remove mercury from your body. Even trace amounts of mercury can cause the type of damage to nerves that is characteristic of the damage found in Alzheimer’s disease.

Dental amalgam fillings

are one of the major sources of mercury, however you should be healthy prior to having them removed. Once you have adjusted to your improved diet, you can follow my mercury detox protocol

and then find a biological dentist

to have your amalgams removed.

Other sources of mercury include most seafood

, thimerosal-containing vaccinations

and flu shots

, which contain both mercury and aluminum.

5. Avoid aluminum. Aluminum has been widely associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Your main sources of exposure are likely through drinking water

and antiperspirants

.

Aluminum cookware may also be a source of exposure. Although aluminum pots are probably less problematic than the sources mentioned above, I personally would not use aluminum cookware.

6. Challenge your mind. Mental stimulation

, such as traveling, learning to play an instrument or doing crossword puzzles, is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer’s. Researchers suspect that mental challenge helps to build up your brain, making it less susceptible to the lesions associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

7. Avoid anticholinergic drugs

. Drugs that block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, have been shown to increase your risk of dementia. These drugs include certain night-time pain relievers, antihistamines, sleep aids, certain antidepressants, medications to control incontinence, and certain narcotic pain relievers.

A recent study found that those who took one drug classified as a ‘definite anticholinergics’ had a four times higher incidence of cognitive impairment. Regularly taking two of these drugs further increased the risk of cognitive impairment.

Final Thoughts on Combating Alzheimer’s with Coconut Oil

The damage done to your brain from the wrong foods and from unbalanced insulin and leptin levels actually begins decades before you show any of the telltale signs of Alzheimer’s. So it’s vitally important to make healthy decisions now, before you unwittingly do decades of damage to your brain and nerves that you may not be able to reverse.

If you undertake a coconut oil or MCTs therapy protocol, be sure to start slow with the oil, and always take it with food to minimize stomach discomfort. If it takes you a few weeks to work up to the four tablespoons of coconut oil required for a therapeutic dose, that’s normal. Not everyone can tolerate so much coconut oil in a single dose right from the start.

The coconut oil or MCTs should also be taken in the morning, as it takes a minimum of three hours for the oil to convert to ketones and reach your brain. Repeating the dose of four tablespoons of coconut oil twice a day may be beneficial for those already suffering from pre-Alzheimer’s or Alzheimer’s conditions.

With 15 million cases of Alzheimer’s predicted in the United States by the year 2050, you can help ensure you are not one of the victims of this tragic disease by taking steps now to take charge of your health.

The Best Kept Secret for Avoiding Alzheimer’s…
Posted By Dr. Mercola | November 19 2010 | 11,397 views
People who consume foods rich in vitamin B12 could be at lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers analyzed blood samples from more than 270 individuals who showed no evidence of dementia. They tested for levels of vitamin B12 and for levels of homocysteine, an amino acid that has been linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, and then tracked the study participants for seven years.

Each unit increase in vitamin B12 reduced the risk of developing Alzheimer’s by 2 percent.

According to CNN:

“The relationship between vitamin B12 and Alzheimer’s risk is ‘complex’ … B12 levels, particularly holotranscobalamin levels, likely play a contributory role.”

You may not realize it but we are clearly in the middle of an Alzheimer’s epidemic. According to the Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report for 2009, 5.3 million people in the U. S. have the disease, and it has become the sixth leading cause of death in this country.

In the next 20 years it is projected that Alzheimer’s will affect one in four Americans. If that turns out to be true, it would then be more prevalent than obesity and diabetes is today!

Can you imagine? The social and economic ramifications of this would be mindboggling. There’s no doubt we must start paying careful attention to this issue now in order to reverse the trend.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is frequently the prelude to Alzheimer’s. MCI currently affects around 16 percent of people over the age of 70, worldwide, and about half of all people diagnosed with MCI deteriorate into Alzheimer’s disease within five years.

Whereas MCI typically does not interfere with daily life, Alzheimer’s is a different story altogether. It’s a ‘mind-wasting’ disease that can shatter entire families. Worse yet, there are very few treatments and there is no known cure.The primary treatment strategy currently employed by conventional medicine is drugs. Unfortunately, drugs such as Aricept, Exelon and Reminyl, may do more harm than good. This class of drugs is known to provoke slower heart rates, significantly increasing your chances of getting a permanent pacemaker, as well as increasing your risk of hip fracture.

That leaves you with just one solid solution, and that is to prevent it from happening to you in the first place.

Fortunately, this is within your power. I’m convinced that it is highly unlikely that I will ever develop Alzheimer’s, for example, because my lifestyle prevents it, and I’ll share my best recommendations at the end of this article.

But first, let’s take a look at what researchers have discovered about the importance of B vitamins to help prevent this disease.

Dietary B12 for Optimal Brain Health

According to a small Finnish study recently published in the journal Neurology, people who consume foods rich in B12 may reduce their risk of Alzheimer’s in their later years.

For each unit increase in the marker of vitamin B12 (holotranscobalamin) the risk of developing Alzheimer’s was reduced by 2 percent.

However, I strongly disagree with the dietary advice published by CNN Health, which included fish and fortified cereals.

Fortified cereals are most definitely NOT a good source of dietary B vitamins. They also have inorganic iron added. This is the worst type of iron to use as a supplement and it will raise already elevated iron in those that don’t need it, like most adult men and postmenopausal women. Elevated iron levels will actually increase your risk of Alzheimer’s

Additionally, most fish are today so contaminated, I cannot recommend increasing consumption of fish either. One exception would be sardines, which are high in B12 and small enough to typically be less contaminated, compared to larger fish.

Instead, your ideal dietary sources of B12 vitamins would include:

* Liver from organic calf
* Wild caught salmon
* Organic, grass-fed beef
* Lamb (which are typically grass-fed even if not specified as organic)
* Organic, free-range eggs

Vitamin B12 is present in natural form only in animal sources of food, which is one of the reasons I advise against a strict vegetarian or vegan diet. The few plant foods that are sources of B12 are actually B12 analogs. An analog is a substance that blocks the uptake of true B12, so your body’s need for the nutrient actually increases.

There are many well-documented cases of blindness and brain abnormalities in strict vegetarians, resulting from vitamin B12 deficiency.

Results Using Synthetic B Vitamins are Mixed…

I want to mention two additional studies published this year, mainly because they illustrate the mixed results achieved with vitamin B supplements (as opposed to a vitamin B-rich diet).

An Australian study published in September investigated whether or not supplements, as opposed to food, could help older men improve their cognitive function. All the study participants were hypertensive men over the age of 75.

The men received either folic acid along with vitamin B6 and B12, or a placebo for two years. Their cognitive function was evaluated for another eight years thereafter.

In this case, the vitamin supplementation had no impact on cognitive function, and did not reduce the risk of dementia. The authors concluded:

“This study provides Class I evidence that vitamin supplementation with daily doses of 400 μg of B12, 2 mg of folic acid, and 25 mg of B6 over 2 years does not improve cognitive function in hypertensive men aged 75 and older.”

Contrast this with another recent study published in PLoS One, in which the participants received very high doses of B vitamins. This two-year long clinical trial was the largest to date to investigate the effect of B vitamins on mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which, as I stated earlier, is a common precursor to Alzheimer’s.

The vitamin pills, which are so potent you can only obtain them with a prescription, contained:

* 800 micrograms (mcg) folic acid — US RDA is 400 mcg/day
* 500 mcg B12 (cyanocobalamin) – US RDA is only 2.4 mcg/day
* 20 mg B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride) — US RDA 1.3-1.5 mg/day

In this study, the participants who received the vitamin supplements had half the rate of brain atrophy (shrinkage) associated with dementia, compared to those who did not receive supplementation. And those with the lowest B12 levels had a six-fold greater rate of brain volume loss compared with those who had the highest levels!

According to one of the co-authors:

“This is a very dramatic and striking result. It’s much more than we could have predicted… It is our hope that this simple and safe treatment will delay development of Alzheimer’s in many people who suffer from mild memory problems.”

So, although the verdict is still out on whether or not you can prevent Alzheimer’s using supplements, it certainly makes good sense to make sure you’re getting plenty of complex B vitamins through your diet.

What You Need to Know About Vitamin B12 Supplements

That said, should you decide to boost your B12 intake with a supplement, please be aware that oral or sublingual B12 tablets do not work very well, so you may be wasting your money.

Injectable B12 is considered the gold standard, but sublingual sprays are just as effective as the injectable versions. They’re also more convenient, not to mention less painful to use.

Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s

Researchers have determined that the primary genetic risk factor is the presence of the Apo lipoprotein E epsilon4 (APOE e4) allele, which is more common among Africans, Inuits, Amerindians, Northern Europeans than southern Europeans.

But genetics cannot account for the vast majority of Alzheimer’s cases.

There is definitely something else affecting us and inducing these devastating effects…

Although we do not have definitive “proof” of what, specifically, causes Alzheimer’s, a number of factors have been linked to an increased risk of dementia, and we know enough about those to in turn make educated recommendations for preventing this type of brain deterioration.

Following are a number of risk factors associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. For further information about each of them, please follow the links provided:

Health conditions:

* Obesity, especially increased belly fat
* Insulin resistance and diabetes – Diabetics have up to 65 percent higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease
* Elevated uric acid levels
* High blood pressure
* Thyroid dysfunction
* Intracellular T3 (immune system cells) deficiency
* Heart disease

Nutritional deficiencies:

* Vitamin D deficiency
* Elevated homocysteine levels due to vitamin B6, B12 and folate deficiencies
* Insufficient omega-3 fats
* Vitamin E deficiency

Environmental toxins:

* Aluminum toxicity
* Mercury toxicity
* Fluoride
* Copper toxicity
* Electromagnetic fields and cell phone radiation — Henry Lai and Narendra Singh’s research on the effects of cell phone radiation on rats’ brains found DNA breaks associated with cancer and Alzheimer’s.

Of these factors, the one I believe is perhaps the most important is insulin resistance. Some are even referring to Alzheimer’s as the third form of diabetes.

A close tie would be vitamin D deficiency, which is also rampant across the world and underlies many chronic diseases, including dementia according to recent findings.

As for insulin resistance, it’s a major factor in elevating your blood pressure, as well as for gaining excess weight; elevating your lipids, blood sugar and uric acid levels; and developing heart disease – all of which are risk factors for dementia.

So, if you are producing too much insulin, you’re going to be at risk for all of these health problems—along with brain atrophy and Alzheimer’s as well.

Once you begin to see the spiral cause and effect relationships between these common health problems and nutritional deficiencies, it becomes easier to understand how you can prevent nearly ALL disease, including something as tricky as Alzheimer’s.

Preventing Alzheimer’s – Naturally!

While effectively preventing associated health risks, such as obesity, insulin resistance, high blood pressure and heart disease, these simple lifestyle changes can also help keep your brain in optimal working order well past your 60′s.

*

Coconut oil – According to Dr. Mary Newport, D.M, whose husband was stricken with Alzheimer’s disease, coconut oil may be KEY for not only preventing, but even reversing this disease. Certain cells in the brains of those with Alzheimer’s become increasingly unable to use their primary energy souce, glucose. Without fuel, these brain cells die, contributing to the mental degeneration. But there’s an alternative source of energy, known as ketones. Your body produces ketones naturally when you deprive it of carbohydrates (which further supports the recommendation to eliminate sugar and grains from your diet!), but you can boost ketone production by consuming medium-chain triglycerides, such as coconut oil.

Dr. Newport made this connection when she discovered that the ingredient in a promising Alzheimer drug was nothing more than simple coconut oil-derived medium-chain triglycerides! Beneficial results were obtained at a dose of about 20 ml (4 teaspoons).
*

Optimize your vitamin D levels through safe sun exposure, a safe tanning bed and/or vitamin D3 supplements.
through safe sun exposure, a safe tanning bed and/or vitamin D3 supplements.
* Eat a nutritious diet, rich in folate. Ideally you’ll want to design your diet around your nutritional type. Everyone, however, regardless of nutritional type will want to avoid fructose as much as possible.

Strict vegetarian diets have been shown to increase your Alzheimer’s risk, whereas diets high in omega-3′s lower your risk. However, vegetables, without question, are your best form of folate, and we should all eat plenty of fresh raw veggies every day.
* Eat plenty of high-quality animal based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil. I recommend avoiding most fish, however, because although fish is naturally high in omega-3, most fish stocks are now severely contaminated with mercury.

High intake of the omega-3 fatty acid DHA helps by preventing cell damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease, thereby slowing down its progression, and lowering your risk of developing the disorder. Researchers have also said DHA “dramatically reduces the impact of the Alzheimer’s gene.”
* Keep your fasting insulin levels below 3. There is no question that insulin resistance is one of the most pervasive influences on brain damage, as it contributes massively to inflammation, which will prematurely degenerate your brain.
* Avoid and remove mercury from your body. Dental amalgam fillings are one of the major sources of mercury, however you should be healthy prior to having them removed.

Once you have adjusted to following the diet described in my optimized nutrition plan, you can follow the mercury detox protocol and then find a biological dentist to have your amalgams removed. Please be careful as you could be jumping from the frying pan into the fire like I did if you see a conventional dentist to do the exchange. ONLY see a high quality biologically trained dentist, or your health could be seriously affected.
* Avoid aluminum, such as antiperspirants, non-stick cookware, etc.
* Exercise regularly. According to one study, the odds of developing Alzheimer’s were nearly quadrupled in people who were less active during their leisure time, between the ages of 20 and 60. I would strongly recommend reviewing the Peak Fitness Technique for my specific recommendations.
* Avoid flu vaccinations as most contain both mercury and aluminum!
* Eat plenty of blueberries. Wild blueberries, which have high anthocyanin and antioxidant content, are known to guard against Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases.
* Challenge your mind daily. Mental stimulation, especially learning something new, such as learning to play an instrument or a new language, is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer’s. Researchers suspect that mental challenge helps to build up your brain, making it less susceptible to the lesions associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
* Avoid anticholinergic drugs. Drugs that block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, have been shown to increase your risk of dementia. These drugs include certain night-time pain relievers, antihistamines, sleep aids, certain antidepressants, medications to control incontinence, and certain narcotic pain relievers.

A recent study found that those who took drugs classified as ‘definite anticholinergics’ had a four times higher incidence of cognitive impairment. In those who were not carriers of the specific gene, APOE ε4 allele which I mentioned earlier in this article, the risk was over seven times higher.

Regularly taking two of these drugs further increased the risk of cognitive impairment.
* Ginko Biloba. Interestingly, studies have demonstrated that ginko biloba is effective in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. One study published in 2006 found that the herb works just as well as Aricept (donepezil) in treating mild or moderate Alzheimer’s-related dementia. It’s important to realize that ginko biloba will not cure the underlying problem, however but it is certainly safer to use compared to conventional drugs.

Protect yourself from Alzheimer’s disease with cinnamon
by Jonathan Benson, staff writer

(NaturalNews) Degenerative mental diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia continue to ravish the lives of millions around the world. And to make matters worse, the financial burden of caring for dementia patients now tops one percent of the entire world’s gross domestic product (GDP). But there are ways to help prevent and treat serious mental decline, including simply eating lots of cinnamon.

Dr. Richard Anderson, a diabetes expert from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, discovered several years ago that cinnamon helps to stabilize blood sugar levels by improving the quality of insulin in the body. But more recently, he found that cinnamon also helps to stop the formation of Alzheimer’s disease, the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S.

When eaten with food or taken in extract form, cinnamon helps block the formation of “tau filaments” that are associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease. In tests, cinnamon actually disassembled and eliminated these filaments from within cells, effectively reversing the effects of the disease.

So how much is best to take? According to Dr. Anderson, getting 1000 milligrams (mg) of cinnamon a day is optimal. However a recent Fox News report suggests that people might benefit from taking even more. That report indicates that people can take up to a teaspoon a day of cinnamon for good health.

Since cinnamon is a food and not a drug, it is safe to consume even higher amounts than these if you choose. But it is important to obtain non-irradiated cinnamon in order to get the maximum therapeutic benefits from it. If you are unsure whether or not the cinnamon you buy is irradiated, it is best to contact the manufacturer to verify.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/he…

http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/pu…

(NaturalNews) Degenerative mental diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia continue to ravish the lives of millions around the world. And to make matters worse, the financial burden of caring for dementia patients now tops one percent of the entire world’s gross domestic product (GDP). But there are ways to help prevent and treat serious mental decline, including simply eating lots of cinnamon.

Dr. Richard Anderson, a diabetes expert from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, discovered several years ago that cinnamon helps to stabilize blood sugar levels by improving the quality of insulin in the body. But more recently, he found that cinnamon also helps to stop the formation of Alzheimer’s disease, the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S.

When eaten with food or taken in extract form, cinnamon helps block the formation of “tau filaments” that are associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease. In tests, cinnamon actually disassembled and eliminated these filaments from within cells, effectively reversing the effects of the disease.

So how much is best to take? According to Dr. Anderson, getting 1000 milligrams (mg) of cinnamon a day is optimal. However a recent Fox News report suggests that people might benefit from taking even more. That report indicates that people can take up to a teaspoon a day of cinnamon for good health.

Since cinnamon is a food and not a drug, it is safe to consume even higher amounts than these if you choose. But it is important to obtain non-irradiated cinnamon in order to get the maximum therapeutic benefits from it. If you are unsure whether or not the cinnamon you buy is irradiated, it is best to contact the manufacturer to verify.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/he…

http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/pu…

B Vitamins Help Memory Problems

via Psych Central News

by Traci Pedersen on 9/13/10

B Vitamins Help Memory ProblemsTaking certain B vitamin supplements on a daily basis can cut in half the rate of brain shrinkage in elderly people suffering from mild memory problems, reveals a new Oxford University study.

Approximately 1 in 6 elderly people over the age of 70 has mild cognitive impairment, experiencing troubles with memory, language or other mental functions, but not enough to interfere with everyday life.

About half of people with mild cognitive impairment will go on to develop dementia – mainly Alzheimer’s disease — within five years of diagnosis.

Certain B vitamins — vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and folic acid — control levels of homocysteine in the blood, and it is known that high levels of this amino acid are linked to an increased risk for Alzheimer’s.

So a team from the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing (OPTIMA) set out to discover whether supplements of these B vitamins could slow down the higher rate of brain shrinkage, or atrophy, as seen in mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s.

The study observed 168 volunteers aged 70 or over with mild memory problems. Half of these volunteers took high-dose B vitamin tablets for two years while the other half took a placebo tablet. The scientists evaluated disease progression in this group by using MRI scans to measure the brain atrophy rate over a two-year period. The findings are published in the journal PLoS ONE.

The researchers found that the brains of those taking folic acid, vitamin B6 and B12 supplements shrank at a rate of about 0.76 percent a year, while those in the placebo group had a mean brain shrinkage rate of 1.08 percent. People with the highest levels of homocysteine benefited the most, showing atrophy at only half the rate of those on placebo.

“It is our hope that this simple and safe treatment will delay the development of Alzheimer’s disease in many people who suffer from mild memory problems,” said Professor David Smith of the department of pharmacology at Oxford University, a co-leader of the trial.

Along with studying the rate of brain shrinkage, the scientists also evaluated cognitive test scores, discovering that those with the slowest rate of shrinkage scored the strongest in cognition.

The team suggests that, since brain atrophy is more rapid in those who begin with mild cognitive impairment and then later develop Alzheimer’s, it is possible that the vitamin treatment could hamper the development of the disease. Clinical trials to test this should now be carried out, they add.

“These are immensely promising results but we do need to do more trials to conclude whether these particular B vitamins can slow or prevent development of Alzheimer’s. So I wouldn’t yet recommend that anyone getting a bit older and beginning to be worried about memory lapses should rush out and buy vitamin B supplements without seeing a doctor,” said Smith.

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, which co-funded the study, said, “These are very important results, with B vitamins now showing a prospect of protecting some people from Alzheimer’s in old age.”

“The strong findings must inspire an expanded trial to follow people expected to develop Alzheimer’s, and we hope for further success.”

“We desperately need to support research into dementia, to help avoid the massive increases of people living with the condition as the population ages. Research is the only answer to what remains the greatest medical challenge of our time.”

Professor Chris Kennard, chair of the Medical Research Council’s Neurosciences and Mental Health Board which co-funded the study, said, “‘This MRC-funded trial brings us a step closer to unraveling the complex neurobiology of aging and cognitive decline, which holds the key to the development of future treatments for conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.”

“The findings are very encouraging and we look forward to further research that is needed in order to test whether B vitamins can be recommended as a suitable treatment.”

This two-year randomized clinical trial is the largest to study the effects of B vitamins on mild cognitive impairment, and one of the first disease-modifying trials in the Alzheimer’s field to have successful results in people.

Source: University of Oxford