Who knew there might be a way to prevent Alzheimer's Disease (AD)?. Frequently I have "baby boomers" coming into the office wanting to "prevent" the diseases associated with aging; strokes, heart attacks and Alzheimer's Disease. Certainly if there is a family history you may be at an increased risk of developing AD but there are also other clues that you might be at risk. For 54 year old Larry, whose mother has AD, I talked to him about doing some blood tests to determine folic acid, B12 and B6 status. The attitude of MD's, it seems, is why bother with the blood test homocysteine, just take these vitamins regularly. Well some folks don't absorb these nutrients very well and in spite to taking them their homocysteine still is too high (optimal is 5.0-6.0 and a level of 14 increases the risk of AD 4.5 times). Larry's level was 8.8 so I recommended a remedy that also contains trimethylglycine. His levels took one year to come down to optimal levels and then we maintained him on a smaller dose. Most of us have memory lapses. The trick is determining when it is a concern and may relate to AD. According to www.alz.org there are 7 stages of AD and the second stage is having difficulty remembering familiar words or names or the location of keys, eyeglasses or other everyday objects. But these problems are not evident during a medical examination or apparent to friends, family or co-workers. Stage 3 is when friends and family start noticing changes. It is important to rule out other diseases that mimic dimentia or AD including hypothyroidism (under active thyroid), B12 deficiency, mini strokes, adverse drug reactions or severe anemia. The comprehensive blood panel that we did on Larry showed that his thyroid was functioning below optimal levels and this was corrected using natural therapies. This improved his mental function.

The emphasis of naturopathic medicine is prevention and certainly there is enough evidence to recommend some regular supplementation. For Larry I recommended Carlson's cod liver oil by the tablespoon which makes all the cell membranes of the brain more fluid optimizing function and preventing inflammation. Research indicates that those who take anti-inflammatories for arthritis had a lower incidence of AD pointing to the fact that AD is an inflammatory condition. Anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant nutrients prevent damage to the mitochondria (the power house of the cell) in the Central Nervous System (CNS) which are particularly prone to oxidative damage with aging. These include nutrients such as vitamin E, selenium, B1, B2, B12, Vitamin A, C, resveratrol, folic acid, zinc, boswellia, turmeric, ginger, green tea, gingko and avoiding toxins such as aluminum and other solvents that are toxic to the mitochondria.

Advanced glycosylated end products (AGE) are glycated protein molecules (sugars attached to proteins) such as glycated hemoglobin (HgA1C) that accumulate in the body and the body doesn't know what to do with them. In the case of the diabetic these end products cause damage to the endothelium of any body system leading to the complications of diabetes such as blindness, vascular insufficiency and poor kidney function. The incidence of AD is greatly increased in diabetics as these AGEs accumulate in the brain causing a "browning" of the brain tissues triggering an inflammatory cascade and loss of function. Dr. Perlmutter M.D. author of www.BrainRecovery.com calls this "the brain on fire". In other words glucose is toxic to the brain! Larry's HgA1C was normal.