Monday, April 28, 2014

Vitamins Offer Hope for Alzheimer's


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INFORMATION there for you to learn from. It's the type
of information that not only saved my life...It also has
given me a better quality of life.



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By  Dr. Mercola


    In the United States, Alzheimer's disease is currently at epidemic proportions,
with 5.4 million Americans including one ineight people aged 65 and over living
with the disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association's 2011 Alzheimer's
Disease Facts and Figures.

    By 2050, this is expected to jump to 16 million, and in the next 20 years, it
is projected that Alzheimer's will affect onein four Americans, rivaling the
current prevalence of obesity and diabetes.

    There is still no known cure for this devastating disease, and very few
treatments. Alzheimer's drugs are often of little to no benefit at all, which
underscores the importance of prevention throughout your lifetime.

    Research repeatedly suggests the best hope for patients lies in prevention
through optimal diet, exercise and staying socially and mentally active. As
recently reported by Forbes

        [A] new study in Science suggested that last year’s ‘breakthrough
pharmaceutical, bexarotene (Targretin) a cancer drug that had initially
received wide publicity for helping break up the plaques in Alzheimer’s
doesn’t seem to do this very well at all, and can have significant adverse side
effects for the patient.

        ‘Something happened in that initial report either something technically
or otherwise, which we can’t put our hands on at this point in time, study
author Sangram Sisodia told US News & World Report. ‘Something is seriously
wrong.’

    While memory loss is common among Westerners, it is NOT a "normal" part
of aging. Research has shown that even mild "senior moments" are caused by
the same brain lesions associated with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of
dementia. These cognitive changes are by no means inevitable!

    People who experience very little decline in their cognitive function up until
their deaths have been found (post-mortem) to be free of brain lesions, showing
that it's entirely possible to prevent the damage from occurring in the first place.
At the end of this article, I share my best tips for maintaining healthy brain
function well into old age.

    In recent years, researchers studying natural compounds have offered new hope.
For example, two recent studies suggest that compounds in cinnamon, as well as
vitamins B12, B6, and folate may delay the onset and/or slow progression of the
disease.

The Promise of Cinnamon and Vitamins in the Fight Against Alzheimer’s Disease

    The first study in question, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease,
found that cinnamaldehyde and epicatechin, two compounds found in cinnamon,
have an inhibitory effect on the aggregation of a particular protein called tau. Tau
plays a large role in the structure and function of neurons.

    But while a normal part of cell structures, this protein can begin to accumulate,
forming neurofibrillary tangles that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. Both
compounds were found to protect tau from oxidative damage that can lead to
dysfunction.

    Donald Graves, adjunct professor in UCSB's Department of Molecular, Cellular,
and Developmental Biology and co-author of the study explained the protective
process to Medical News Today

        "'Take, for example, sunburn, a form of oxidative damage. If you wore a hat,
you could protect your face and head from the oxidation. In a sense this
cinnamaldehyde is like a cap. While it can protect the tau protein by binding to its
vulnerable cysteine residues, it can also come off,' Graves added, which can ensure
the proper functioning of the protein.

    It’s interesting to note that there’s a high correlation between type 2 diabetes
and Alzheimer's disease. Some even believe Alzheimer’s may be a form of brain
diabetes. Insulin and insulin receptors in your brain are crucial for learning and
memory, and it’s known that these components are lower in people with
Alzheimer’s disease.

    In addition to the above findings, cinnamon has also been found to
have beneficial effects on blood glucose management in type 2 diabetics. This is
one of the reasons I include cinnamon in my healthy coconut candy recipe.

B Vitamins Again Show Promise in Alzheimer’s Prevention

    The other study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
found that vitamins B6, B12, and folic acid may help slow the progression of the
disease, confirming and supporting previous studies. As reported in the featured
article

        The fact that B-family vitamins may play a significant role in dementia, or more
specifically in warding it off has been consistently illustrated. What is news from the
current study, however, is that high-dose B-vitamin treatment in people at risk for
the disease slowed shrinkage of whole brain volume,  and especially reduced
shrinkage in areas known to be affected in Alzheimer’s disease.

    The 156 study participants, all of whom were over the age of 70, were diagnosed
with mild cognitive impairment. This, along with midlife hypertension, midlife
obesity and diabetes, is a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s. One group of
participants received a placebo while the other received high-dose B-vitamin
treatment consisting of:

        0.8 mg folic acid
        20 mg vitamin B6
        0.5 mg vitamin B12

    It is important to note that vitamin B12 comes in many forms and it is typically
injected because it is not absorbed well by most people, especially in the elderly who
need it most. This is due to it being one of the largest vitamins known. The most
common form is cyanocobalamin but a better from would be methylcobalamin. A
better alternative to B12 injections would also be sublingual sprays, which are
absorbed very similarly to the injections.

    The treatment effectively slowed shrinkage of the whole brain volume over the
course of two years. It also reduced, by as much as seven-fold, the cerebral
atrophy in certain brain regions that are particularly vulnerable to damage
associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Another major boon: The supplements cost
less than 50 cents a day and are readily available in pharmacies and health-food
stores. In the placebo group, higher homocysteine levels at baseline were associated
with faster atrophy in these same regions. According to the researchers

        We... show that the beneficial effect of B vitamins is confined to participants
with high homocysteine... and that, in these participants, a causal Bayesian network
analysis indicates the following chain of events: B vitamins lower homocysteine,
which directly leads to a decrease in gray matter atrophy, thereby slowing cognitive
decline.

        Our results show that B-vitamin supplementation can slow the atrophy of
specific brain regions that are a key component of the AD process and that are
associated with cognitive decline.

    Dr. A. David Smith, professor emeritus of pharmacology at Oxford University,
founding director of the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing, and
senior author of the study told Bloomberg News that this B-vitamin treatment is the
first and only disease-modifying treatment that’s worked. We have proved the
concept that you can modify the disease. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to
anyone who understands that without proper nutrition and exercise, your brain will
be increasingly vulnerable to damage with age...

Vitamin B Cocktail Already Used for Dementia Prevention in Sweden    Three
years ago, the same group of researchers showed that the atrophy rate in patients
whole brains was reduced by about 30 percent in those taking the vitamin cocktail.
The atrophy rate was even higher 53 percent in those who had elevated
homocysteine levels, a benefit that was reconfirmed in the featured study.

According to Bloomberg

        The studies, known as Vitacog, were funded by seven charities and government
agencies and vitamin maker Meda AB of Solna, Sweden. Smith is an inventor on
three patents held by Oxford University for B vitamin formulations to treat
Alzheimer’s disease... Vitamin B12 is found in liver, fish and milk and folic acid in
fruit and vegetables. Deficiency of folate and B vitamins is already linked to
dementia...

        Doctors in Sweden began measuring homocysteine in people who report
declining memory about two years ago, said [Johan] Lokk [professor and head
physician in the geriatric department at Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden,
who wasn’t involved in the study]...

        Swedish patients with high homocysteine are given folic acid and B vitamins,
even if they aren’t deficient. ‘We think the increased homocysteine level could be
deleterious to the brain, Lokk said. ‘We wanted to be on the offensive in diagnosing
and treating patients. In our opinion, it is harmless and cheap.

General Anesthesia Could Increase Risk of Dementia in Elderly by 35 Percent

    Related research suggests that being exposed to general anesthesia can increase
the risk of dementia in the elderly by as much as 35 percent. The research was
presented at the annual congress of the European Society of Anesthesiology (ESA).
As reported by Medical News Today

        Postoperative cognitive dysfunction, or POCD, could be associated with
dementia several years later. POCD is a common complication in elderly patients
after major surgery. It has been proposed that there is an association between
POCD and the development of dementia due to a common pathological mechanism
through the amyloid ß peptide. Several experimental studies suggest that some
anesthetics could promote inflammation of neural tissues leading to POCD and/or
Alzheimer's disease (AD) precursors including ß-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary
tangles.

    Participants aged 65 and over were followed for a total of 10 years. Participants
exposed to at least one general anesthetic over the follow-up had a 35 percent
increased risk of developing a dementia compared to those who were not exposed
to anesthesia.

According to lead researcher Dr. Francois Sztark

        "These results are in favor of an increased risk for dementia several years after
general anesthesia. Recognition of POCD is essential in the perioperative
management of elderly patients. A long-term follow-up of these patients should be
planned."

Thank You  Dr. Mercola



                  Continued on 4/30/14


 God Bless Everyone & God Bless The United States of America.

Larry Nelson
42 S. Sherwood Dr.
Belton, Tx. 76513
cancercurehere@gmail.com

Have a great day...unless you have made other plans.

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