Active Low-Carber Forums - Preventing Alzheimer's is easier than you think.

Active Low-Carber Forums (http://forum.lowcarber.org/index.php)

- General Health (http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=10)

- - Preventing Alzheimer's is easier than you think. (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=474915)

Preventing Alzheimer's is easier than you think.

Dr Georgia Ede wrote a simply explained article in Psychology Today how to avoid memory impairment. Infographic is super clear what to do, what to eat , or not eat, to help prevent. Her website http://www.diagnosisdiet.com/about-dr-ede/. has a talk to physicians about same topic, Mood and Memory, https://youtu.be/O8eR0R3sMHw. with more medical studies and detailed science.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blo...asier-you-think

Wonderful article! Thank you!

Thanks, Janet. I feel as though Dr. Perlmutter's book should be required reading for every medical professional who makes dietary recommendations--especially those in the psych areas.

8 minute radio interview with Dr Ede. https://audioboom.com/boos/5044713-...ulin-resistance

From Dr Ede:

Quote:

KGO Radio San Francisco talk show host Ethan Bearman invited me on for an interview this week about my new Psychology Today article "Preventing Alzheimer's Disease is Easier Than You Think." [It remains the #1 post on Psychology Today a full week later and has already been shared 20K times!] Ethan has a personal interest in sugar metabolism, knows a lot about it, and has a great sense of humor, which made for a lively conversation!

Marika Sboros article about this and interview:
http://foodmed.net/2016/09/25/alzhe...e-insulin-lchf/

Very timely for me, thank you!

Book coming out in May 2017, The End of Alzheimer's, The first program to prevent Alzheimer's by Dr Dale Bredesen, a respected neuroscientist. Great interview with Dr Hyman on the Fat Summit, another 24 hours left to see it. Documentary is also planned when book will be published.

His "new" treatment program is a 'mild ketogenic' diet with at least 12 hours fasting, high good quality fats, quite low carb. Get fasting insulin level below 5, optimize Vitamin D levels, also check Crp and other health markers. Exercise, get good sleep, meditation and other integrative medical techniques. http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/m...-for-first-time
And don't take statins!

http://www.thebuck.org/bredesenLab

http://www.mpi-cognition.com

https://www.amazon.com/End-Alzheime...e/dp/0735216207

Edit: Fat Summit Encore was extended another 24 hours.

Alzheimer’s disease found to be a diabetic disorder of the brain

http://scienmag.com/alzheimers-dise...r-of-the-brain/

The "Integrative Medicine" article, found at http://www.mpi-cognition.com/wp-con...01/IMCJ2015.pdf, (thanks, Janet!) provides a very good explanation of Bredesen's protocol and results thus far. Very impressive, and this should not be a surprise to many who have constructed and followed their own LCHF "programs" as the realization must occur that consistency must be adhered to if success is to be the result. Interesting responses by Bredesen regarding the difficulty in following the program. I wonder if the most difficult aspects of this program are the dietary adjustments. Similar to those starting LCHF, the first several months are spent grappling with what to eat, how to eat, and developing a program for consistency, the comments on his patients' results sound very familiar. Here are a couple of relevant quotes from the article:

Quote:

IMCJ: As you mentioned, this is fairly complex and there are many variables, as well as many therapeutic targets in the system. Is the result a protocol that is difficult for patients to adhere to? And as such, does it have to be followed to the letter?
Dr Bredesen:This is a really important point. First of all, this is a different way to do medicine. We are not saying, “Take a pill, then go home and forget it.” It is complex, so what we are saying is, first of all, there is going to be a program. Instead of therapeutics, this is programmatics. I believe that is the future of the treatment of chronic illness: programmatics. Second, this is going to be personalized. This is going to be a program for you based on what is driving your particular problem. Third, of course, now that we are seeing results, we are looking at how we can make this simpler. You have to remember, at the beginning, we did not know what was going to make people better and these were people dying of an untreatable terminal illness.

IMCJ: Would you describe some of the results you have observed from use of the protocol?
Dr Bredesen: There have been about 70 people who have come through now. For example, I just got a call this morning from a man who started a year ago and had a hippocampal volume, before he started the program, quantified at less than the 20th percentile. It is now greater than the 75th percentile. He actually could not believe that his own hippocampus had gotten larger. He asked the MRI technicians, “Can you give me an explanation for that?” The guy said, “I don’t understand it. I can’t offer you an explanation.”

This patient, by the way, was at a point where he was going to have to quit his job. He is doing very well at his job now, continuing to do his job very effectively. We have another person who is over 3 years out now, still back to work full-time and doing very, very well. We have had a couple of people now who have gone on and off the program a couple of times, either because of traveling, stressful things in their lives, running out of some of the components, or getting ill and not being able to take some of the components.

They have shown very clearly that when they get off the program, they get worse; then when they go back on the program, they get better again. That supports the idea that the program is actually helping them.

It's striking how many of these comments about adapting to and sticking with the program are familiar to the LCHF experiences of many expressed on this forum. The main takeaway for me is that following a sound nutritional program reverses many Metabolic Syndrome conditions including the prevention or avoidance of many that have yet to manifest themselves such as Alzheimer's. I'm hopeful that this protocol is the tip of the iceberg of new medical approaches to many diseases. Developing a holistic program to address root cause by including dietary and nutritional strategies is paramount, and unfortunately, not the current strategy of most doctors today. This extremely important information must be studied further and actively shared.

I think they are wise to refer to this treatment as a 'therapeutic program' instead of what it really is... diet and lifestyle changes. Call it a diet and the naysayers will pounce. Funny, though; that therapeutic program looks an awful lot like what I'm doing. It took care of many health related issues for me. Maybe I'm good to go for Alzheimer's, too. :thup:

My dad had Alzheimer's. On a visit 10 years ago I noticed that there was something not quite right. It progressed quickly after that. He was gone within 5 years (in body). In mind he was gone long before that. When I last saw him in 2010 he did not know who I was. My dad's sister has Alzheimer's, too. So this affliction has been of concern to me. I'm glad that I made this LC lifestyle change when I did. I hope I will spare my family the pain of Alzheimer's. I just wish this had all happened 10 years ago. I'd love to have tried this "therapeutic program" with my dad.

Is Alzheimer’s Disease Preventable?

Long but well written, readable article on Ketopia: http://ketopia.com/is-alzheimers-disease-preventable/
Action points included.

If you don't know the Ottobonis, their author page:
https://www.amazon.com/M.-Alice-Ottoboni/e/B001HOJPHC. THey have written other good articles on the Ketopia website.

For additional reading on AD, they recommend Amy Berger's new book. I have it in its previous eBook edition, and suggested my library purchase it...waiting for the print copy now.

Quote:

Alzheimer’s Antidote

http://amzn.to/2mGbOXJ

Although this book will not be available until March 2017, it is recommended here because it shows great promise of being a valuable resource for both managing and preventing AD. It has had excellent Amazon reviews, and is authored by Amy Berger, MS, CNS, NTP, a highly qualified Certified Nutrition Specialist and Nutritional Therapy Practitioner.

Amy is a US Air Force veteran who now specializes in using low-carbohydrate nutrition to help people reclaim their vitality through eating delicious, wholesome foods, and teaching them that achieving vibrant health doesn’t require starvation, deprivation, or living at the gym. Her motto is, “Real people need real food!” You can read her blog at www.tuitnutrition.com, where she writes about a wide range of health and nutrition-related topics, such as insulin, metabolism, weight loss, thyroid function, and more.

Working my way through the article on Ketopia. Thanks, as always Janet, for recommending another excellent resource. Just ordered the book by Amy Berger. I'm looking forward to its arrival at the end of this month.

Amy Berger's book, The Alzheimer's Antidote, is excellent. There is more on the diet, how to eat, how to add CO/MCTs, etc. than I remember ...an add from the first edition or I skipped that part before? A concise list of additional resources too. She refers to Dale Bredesen's diet and advice often so both books are in sync.

Today was this article in the NYT Well blog :

https://nyti.ms/2qbW3e0

Diabetes tied to Brain Abnormalities

Diabetes may be bad for the brain, especially if you are overweight.

Researchers studied 50 overweight and 50 normal weight people in the early stages of Type 2 diabetes. All had been given a diagnosis within the previous five years. They compared both groups with 50 healthy control subjects.

The scientists performed M.R.I. examinations of their brains and psychological tests of memory, reaction time and planning. Those with diabetes scored worse than the healthy controls on tests of memory and reaction times.

M.R.I. scans revealed significant differences in brain areas related to memory, planning and the visual processing of information. Compared with the controls, those with Type 2 diabetes had more severe thinning of the cortex and more white matter abnormalities. Overweight people with diabetes had more brain deterioration than diabetic people of normal weight.

Are these changes reversible? Probably not, according to a co-author, Dr. Donald C. Simonson of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

“When structural changes are seen on an M.R.I. scan, the processes leading up to them have probably been going on for years,” he said. “On the positive side, patients who maintain good control of their diabetes do seem to have a slower rate of deterioration.” The findings were published in Diabetologia.

Amy has been on the interview/podcast circuit since the book was published. Dr. David Perlmutter, who wrote the foreward, has posted a new interview with her. He adds his own information on the topic..agood interview.
http://www.drperlmutter.com/the-emp...-and-amy-berger

Amy Berger will be writing for the KetoDietApp.
Her first article is on Alzheimer's. Good summary.

Is Alzheimer's a Metabolic Disease?

https://ketodietapp.com/Blog/post/2...tabolic-disease

Or just don’t eat sugar...
A new Atlantic article about the new study out this week ( 5,000 + people over 10 years) on various links between high carb diet, diabetes, obesity and dementia.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/...tm_source=atlfb

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releas...80205113058.htm

Quote:

Half of all dementias start with damaged 'gatekeeper cells'
Once the cells are compromised, the brain's protective fort becomes leaky and allows blood toxins to trespass into the brain, damaging critical connections between brain areas, researchers say.

USC research sheds new light on how a breakdown in the brain's vascular system predates the accumulation of toxic plaques and tangles in the brain that bring about Alzheimer's disease. The research suggests an earlier target for preventing dementia and Alzheimer's.

Nearly 50 percent of all dementias, including Alzheimer's, begins with the breakdown of the smallest blood vessels in the brain and their protective "gatekeeper cells," according to a Keck School of Medicine of USC study.

That catastrophe causes a communications failure called small vessel disease. Many people with that disease also have white matter disease, the wearing away of fatty myelin that allows neurons to transfer messages within the brain network. In an animal model, researchers found that brain deterioration associated with dementia may start as early 40 in humans.

For more than 25 years, scientists have known that white matter disease impedes a person's ability to learn or remember new things, slows thinking and causes people to fall more often due to balance issues. They identified a link between crippled small blood vessels in the brain and white matter disease but didn't know what started that process until now.

"Many scientists have focused their Alzheimer's disease research on the buildup of toxic amyloid and tau proteins in the brain, but this study and others from my lab show that the problem starts earlier -- with leaky blood vessels in the brain," said Berislav Zlokovic, senior author of the study and holder of the Mary Hayley and Selim Zilkha Chair in Alzheimer's Disease Research at the Keck School of Medicine.

"The collapse of pericytes -- gatekeeper cells that surround the brain's smallest blood vessels -- reduces myelin and white matter structure in the brain. Vascular dysfunctions, including blood flow reduction and blood-brain barrier breakdown, kick off white matter disease."

The role played by pericytes

The study, published in Nature Medicine on Feb. 5, explains that pericytes play a critical role in white matter health and disease via fibrinogen, a protein that circulates in blood. Fibrinogen develops blood clots so wounds can heal. When gatekeeper cells are compromised, an unhealthy amount of fibrinogen slinks into the brain and causes white matter and brain structures, including axons (nerve fibers) and oligodendrocytes (cells that produces myelin), to die.

Axel Montagne, first author of the study, said he and his colleagues are the first to show that fibrinogen is a key player in non-immune white matter degeneration. The protein enters the brain through a leaky blood-brain barrier.

"We demonstrated that controlling fibrinogen levels can, in a mouse model, reverse or slow white matter disease, the harbinger to dementia," said Montagne, an assistant professor of research in physiology and neuroscience at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute at the Keck School of Medicine.

Dementia affects 50 million people worldwide and costs the world an estimated $818 billion, according to the World Health Organization.

As a research institution devoted to promoting health across the life span, USC has more than 70 researchers dedicated to the prevention, treatment and potential cure of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

A new villain to target

The study found about 50 percent fewer gatekeeper cells and three times more fibrinogen proteins in watershed white matter areas in postmortem Alzheimer's brains of humans compared to healthy brains.

To understand what was happening, USC-led researchers studied mice lacking in pericytes and compared them with a control group.

Using a MRI technique the Zlokovic Lab developed, they noticed 50 percent increased vessel leakage in mice that were 36 to 48 weeks old, roughly the equivalent of 70-year-old humans. The animal model replicated what scientists observed in the postmortem brains of people.

So they took a closer look.

The scientists also found reduced cerebral blood flow and increased accumulation of fibrinogen in the brains of mice deficient in gatekeeper cells. At 12 to 16 weeks old, the experimental mice had 10 times more fibrinogen in the corpus callosum compared to the control group. That region is the brain's central transit terminal that routes motor, sensory and cognitive information to their final destinations.

"Our observations suggest that once pericytes are damaged, blood flow in the brain reduces like a drain that is slowly getting clogged," said Angeliki Maria Nikolakopoulou, co-first author of the study and assistant professor of research in physiology and neuroscience at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute.

On the wheel

Researchers had the mice run on a wheel to test their subcortical brain region, the same area studied in postmortem humans. At first, the wheel had equally spaced rungs. After two weeks, scientists removed some of the rungs. When the experimental group was 12 to 16 weeks old, they reached a maximum speed that was about 50 percent slower than the control group.

"The mice deficient in pericytes function slower because there are structural changes in their white matter and a loss of connectivity among neurons," Zlokovic said.

The researchers used diffusion MRI techniques the Zlokovic Lab developed to see what was happening in the brain. They saw white matter changes in mice as early as 12 to 16 weeks old. Theoretically, that means white matter disease in humans could begin when they are just 40 years old, Montagne said.

"Pericytes are compromised early on," Montagne said. "Think of it as hair clogging a drain over time. Once the drain is clogged, cracks begin forming in the 'pipes' or brain's blood vessels. White matter frays and brain connections are disrupted. That's the beginnings of dementia."

Testing the poison

To confirm that fibrinogen proteins are toxic to the brain, researchers used an enzyme known to reduce fibrinogen in the blood and brain of mice. White matter volume in mice returned to 90 percent of their normal state, and white matter connections were back to 80 percent productivity, the study found.

"Our study provides proof that targeting fibrinogen and limiting these protein deposits in the brain can reverse or slow white matter disease," Zlokovic said. "It provides a target for treatment, but more research is needed. We must figure out the right approach.

"Perhaps focusing on strengthening the blood-brain barrier integrity may be an answer because you can't eliminate fibrinogen from blood in humans. This protein is necessary in the blood. It just happens to be toxic to the brain."

A pretty obvious connection with diabetes, high blood glucose etc. and the repeating theme of small blood vessel compromise that exists there.

New study on the Ketogenic Diet and Alzheimer’s.

http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/7/5/63

Anti-Oxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Ketogenic Diet: New Perspectives for Neuroprotection in Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract
The ketogenic diet, originally developed for the treatment of epilepsy in non-responder children, is spreading to be used in the treatment of many diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. The main activity of the ketogenic diet has been related to improved mitochondrial function and decreased oxidative stress. B-Hydroxybutyrate, the most studied ketone body, has been shown to reduce the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), improving mitochondrial respiration: it stimulates the cellular endogenous antioxidant system with the activation of nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), it modulates the ratio between the oxidized and reduced forms of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+/NADH) and it increases the efficiency of electron transport chain through the expression of uncoupling proteins. Furthermore, the ketogenic diet performs anti-inflammatory activity by inhibiting nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-kB) activation and nucleotide-binding domain, leucine-rich-containing family, pyrin domain-containing-3 (NLRP3) inflammasome as well as inhibiting histone deacetylases (HDACs), improving memory encoding. The underlying mechanisms and the perspectives for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease are discussed.

Too much cell biology for me, but it is open access for anyone who want to delve deeper.

This is a great thread. One of my main motivators for this WOE is brain health (and heart, liver, pancreas, kidneys, etc.); prevention of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. To me, weight loss is secondary and a bonus. I just started reading Amy Berger's The Alzheimer's Antidote (2017) and just put on hold Dale Bredesen's The End of Alzheimer's: The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline (2017).

Two best books on the topic! But for the simple answer on what not to eat, Dr Edes Infographic is a perfect start.

Btw Dr Edes fans, she is resigning from her Smith College job to concentrate on her nutritional advocacy, more writing, etc. Hope to see more Physcology Today articles and books.

I'm also keeping a list for what to look for on my next (Oct / Nov) annual labs, and Dr Edes pdf will be handy to take along:

Insulin Resistance (IR) Tests

Quote:

Originally Posted by JEY100

Btw Dr Edes fans, she is resigning from her Smith College job to concentrate on her nutritional advocacy, more writing, etc. Hope to see more Physcology Today articles and books.

I count myself as one.

:)

I, as well, am a fan of Dr. Ede. I look forward to her focusing on nutrition, as it has such an impact on overall health, and it's really the correct avenue to travel for medicine these days. She has so much to offer in this field.

The information about a ketogenic diet being protective of inflammation makes a lot of sense, and it also makes sense that reduced inflammation would encourage better health and elimination of the many symptoms of metabolic syndrome. When I get a blood test, I request an High Sensitivity C-reactive Protein (hsCRP) test which is used to measure my inflammation, and my last test result was 0.4 mg/L, indicating that my inflammation is under good control. The following metrics indicate hsCRP levels of inflammation:
- Low risk: less than 1.0 mg/L
- Average risk: 1.0 to 3.0 mg/L
- High risk: above 3.0 mg/L

I strongly believe following a strict LC/KD approach has a lot to do with being able to manage inflammation among other things.

Thanks GRB5111, I will also request a hsCRP.

:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by GRB5111

I strongly believe following a strict LC/KD approach has a lot to do with being able to manage inflammation among other things.

It turned out the key to my serious illness was inflammation. Addressing inflammation fixed my sleep, my appetite, my moods, and my fatigue.

If you look at what happens when our blood sugar is constantly goosed by fast-acting carbs, you see what was happening to me from other means; cortisol dumped into the bloodstream activates more insulin and more fat storage and... more cortisol.

Quote:

However, this effect is seen even within the normal population, without evidence of Cushing’s syndrome. In a random sample from North Glasgow, Scotland, cortisol excretion rates were strongly correlated to Body Mass Index (BMI) and waist measurements. Higher cortisol levels were seen in heavier people. Cortisol related weight gain particularly deposits fat in the abdomen, which results in an increased waist/hip ratio (WHR). This weight distribution of fat in the abdomen is more dangerous to the health than generalized fat.

https://idmprogram.com/closer-look-...l-obesity-xxxx/

We now know, or should, that inflammation is a marker of metabolic syndrome and the host of chronic illnesses which follow.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JEY100

I don't understand this either but wonder about the part talking about Oxygen. 2 years ago I had a colonoscopy. They told me my oxygen levels were at 100% and said they hardly ever see that, because most people are less than that.
So do you think that's a good or bad thing?

100% refers to your blood cells are working at full capacity for carrying oxygen---- how can that be other than GREAT.

Yes. Ability to transport oxygen and extent of oxidative damage are two different things entirely.

There actually is some evidence for benefits from living in slightly hypoxic environments, though. Also for intermittent hypoxia intentionally applied. Sleep apnea is overkill, too much is damaging instead of triggering a beneficial response.

https://gettingstronger.org/2016/08...its-of-hypoxia/

I remember wondering about this years ago when I noticed that a lot of higher longevity than usual claims were in people living at elevation. One problem with this is these places are sort of off the beaten track and might have escaped more exacting record keeping until fairly recently.

There was a story a while back showing traditional pearl divers having larger spleens. An increased reserve of oxygen-carrying red blood cells helps them stay under longer, I thought that was pretty cool.

That's what I thought but saw all of the scientific stuff on Oxygen and wondered.

Quote:

Originally Posted by teaser

There was a story a while back showing traditional pearl divers having larger spleens. An increased reserve of oxygen-carrying red blood cells helps them stay under longer, I thought that was pretty cool.

Now that's interesting because when I was a kid at the swimming pool I use to go underwater and see how long I could hold my breath. I went over a minute many times almost to 2 minutes probably but had to stop because the life guard told me not to. I would concentrate or meditate to stay under longer holding the ladder. I dreamed of snorkeling and scuba diving which I did when I was old enough to take myself :lol:
Maybe that effected my growing lungs?

Maybe that's why my oxygen levels are high. IDK

About half way through her book The Alzheimer's Antidote 2017.

How Ketosis Can Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease w/ Amy Berger - 3-21-2017