Is there a cure for Alzheimer’s disease?

Alzheimer’s disease has remained a condition with no effective treatment or cure for decades. It takes away people’s minds and dignity, slowly and without any hope of getting any better.

It is therefore a very welcome ray of hope that the mechanics of Alzheimer’s are now much better understood and strategies to halt and reverse it have been proven effective.

The magic pill that many people would hope for does not yet exist, but what has been found successful is perhaps even better. In his book, The End of Alzheimer’s, Dr. Dale Bredesen, Professor of Neurology at UCLA who has been researching Alzheimer’s since 1989, details the causes and solutions to Alzheimer’s in great detail. The solutions come not in the form of pills, but from a wide range of lifestyle interventions.

Causes of Alzheimer’s Disease:

Bredesen lays out the root causes of Alzheimer’s in great detail. What’s most interesting is that Alzheimer’s is not in fact a fault in the brain, but the brain working correctly to protect itself from damage by shutting down neurons that are exposed to damaging factors. This is a normal defence mechanism and in normal circumstances would not be noticeable. However, when it becomes a major problem when our exposure to certain factors becomes chronic over many years, causing the brain to shut down neurons faster than it recovers, leading to a gradual shut down of the brains networks.

There are many specific threats that cause the brain to do this, but in summary it boils down to the following:

1. Inflammation
2. Nutrient deficiency
3. Toxic exposure

In addition to these three root causes, there is also a genetic factor whereby those with the ApoE4 gene have a multiplied risk.

It is important to note that any person suffering from Alzheimer’s might be exposed to one or more of these causes. In order to optimise the treatment, it is recommended to perform detailed tests to identify the exact factors in each case.

Solutions to prevent and reverse Alzheimer’s disease

As mentioned, there is no single intervention that can prevent, reverse and cure Alzheimer’s, but as a package there are a wide selection of lifestyle interventions that can help tackle the root causes. Below I have summarised the main points, but Bredesen goes into great detail in the book and it is well worth studying.

1. Diet – Eat whole foods mostly plants – particularly foods with a low glycemic index (GI) and fermented foods that help develop a healthy gut microbiome. Also eliminate any foods that you are intolerant to and try to avoid common dietary sources of inflammation, such as dairy, gluten, alcohol and trans fats.
2. Supplement – Ensure that all nutrient levels are optimal. Improve diet to optimise nutrient intake as far as possible and then supplement if required.
3. Fasting – Don’t eat food within three hours before bed but do leave at least 12 hours between dinner and breakfast.
4. Stress – Reduce mental stress and anxiety.
5. Sleep – Prioritize high quality daily sleep.
6. Exercise – Take regular, moderate exercise.
7. Detox – Remove sources of toxic exposure such as heavy metals, BPA, pesticides, herbicides, food additives, mould, EMFs, chemicals and fumes.

What’s super interesting is that the broad solutions presented to cure Alzheimer’s are almost exactly the same as other groundbreaking solutions for incurable chronic diseases, such as the OMS protocol for Multiple Sclerosis and the approaches of Dr Dean Ornish and Dr Caldwell Esselstyn to cure Heart Disease and Type 2 Diabetes.

Yes, there are some differences in the fine details for each disease, particularly in the approach to fats in the diet and specific micro-nutrients, but the broad principles are almost identical for all.

It’s probably no coincidence then that these principles also align closely with the healthy lifestyles identified in population studies such as the Blue Zones and the China Study. As more and more research is done into lifestyle causes and solutions to chronic disease, a pattern is emerging to show how we can all live healthy lives with our bodies in natural balance.

It seems that the old saying “treat the patient, not the disease” is the root to understanding, preventing and solving chronic illness.

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Posted by Tom Greenwood on 27 March 2020