Alzheimer's Prevention?
What if Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive impairment could be reversed or prevented? In my last few blogs I have been writing about Dr. Dale Bredesen’s new book “The End of Alzheimer’s Program”. He discusses the many lifestyle factors that contribute to the progression of dementia and ways to address them. There have been hundreds of patients who have seen reversal of their symptoms by following the ReCODE protocol that Dr. Bredesen developed. But despite this, there is still a predominant message and belief that there is no treatment or hope for Alzheimer’s disease.
What I am reading:
I read an article recently that supported Dr. Bredesen’s findings that there are ways to prevent and reverse this disease. The article was published in The Lancet volume 396, issue 10248, p413-446, August 08, 2020. The article title is “Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the Lancet Commission”. In 2017, the Lancet Commission identified 9 risk factors for dementia that could potentially be changed to modify risk of developing dementia. They are: lower level of education, high blood pressure, hearing impairment, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes and low social contact. Three more have now been added: excessive alcohol intake, traumatic brain injury and air pollution. The conclusion from this article is that these 12 risk factors account for about 40% of worldwide dementias. Therefore, it is possible to prevent some of these dementias with lifestyle modification.
Lifestyle changes are sometimes difficult and results are not typically immediate. As of today there are no medications that have shown significant benefit in reversing Alzheimer’s disease. As Dr Bredesen explains, since there are at least 36 factors that influence the development of Alzheimer’s, there will most likely never be one drug that will be effective. A roof with 36 holes will not be fixed by a single patch.
And here is another study from Australia that looked at an eight week program of dementia education and lifestyle changes including diet, exercise and cognitive engagement. They found that these interventions significantly improved cognitive performance and reduced the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in seniors with pre-dementia conditions. The BrainHQ app (Posit Science) was used for the brain exercise component. This study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society. ( 09 September 2020) https://doi.org/10.1111/jags.16762
The interventions in this study included four educational modules about dementia and lifestyle risk factors, Mediterranean diet, physical activity and cognitive engagement using online brain training (BrainHQ). The Australian National University-Alzheimer’s Disease Risk Index ( ANU-ADRI) was used to evaluate lifestyle risk factors. You can take this test yourself at https://anuadri.anu.edu.au. Other assessment tests were also used for cognition. (listed in the article) They concluded that improvements in lifestyle risk factors for dementia can lead to improvements in cognitive function in a short time frame in a population who were experiencing cognitive decline.
So what do you do with all this information? Where do you start? If you are in your twenties or thirties, look at your lifestyle habits and see if there are things that you could improve to help support a healthy brain and body. As we get into our forties and beyond, it is possible that our brain function has started to show some decline, even if we are not aware of it. We are all exposed to toxins on a daily basis, the incidence of chronic illness has been on the rise, even in younger people, and the amount of processed food that we are surrounded by is incredible. Dr. Bredesen also has a program called PreCODE designed for those of us in middle age(or later) who are not currently symptomatic but may have the early biochemical and physiologic changes that put us at more risk for dementia. PreCODE is for optimizing our brain function and preventing dementia. PreCODE includes labs, a comprehensive report, a BrainHQ account, access to cognitive assessment tools, access to the list of trained practitioners including physicians, nurse practitioners and health coaches, an online community and more. The cost is an annual subscription model that is detailed on the website: https://www.apollohealthco.com ($39.95 monthly plus cost of blood draw)
I have not yet subscribed to PreCODE but I am definitely curious about where I stand with regard to my brain function! I did take the online test mentioned above from the Australian National University and learned about lifestyle risks. I did start a strength training program so looking forward to a stronger body!
What I am excited about:
I recently enrolled in the ReCODE training that Dr. Bredesen offers for health care practitioners! There is so much helpful information and I look forward to passing along what I learn!
Podcasts I am listening to: some medical and some other
Health related
Bulletproof Radio-Dave Asprey
Broken Brain-Dhru Purohit
Ben Greenfield Fitness Feel Better Live More- Dr. Chaterjee, MD
The Energy Blueprint- Ari Whitten
The Drive- Peter Attia, MD
Revolution Health Radio- Chris Kresser
Wild Health
Doctor’s Farmacy-Mark Hyman, MD
Inspiring:
Unlocking Us- Brene Brown
The Porchcast- Kristin Sweeting
I hope you found this helpful and feel free to share with anyone who may be interested. Thanks for reading!