Lifestyle and diet.

Why would we think that something as simple as lifestyle and diet might impact disease risk? Well for starters, most of the Alzheimer’s diseases have no genetic link. Epidemiology suggests that there are many strong  non genetic risk factors  many which appear to mimic risk factors for cardiovascular disease suggesting overlapping mechanisms.

Things that  appear to increase risk are:

1. AGE
2. Prior Head Injury after puberty with loss of consciousness
3. insulin-resistant diabetes
4. High Cholesterol

Things that appear to reduce risk are:

1. Education.  Number of years in school
2. Exercise.
3. Diet high in fish oil or docosahexaenoic acid
4. Diet high in fruit and vegetables.

What I (Sally Frautschy) recommend..

We are trying to do clinical trials for what we think will slow progression or prevent the disease. However, this is a slow process. In the meantime, we recommend that you keep up to date with ongoing clinical trials on Alz Forum at academic Alzheimer Disease Centers in case there is a new effective treatment available. We recommend that you see a neurologist and get a complete workup for any metabolic problems like thyroid disease, B12 deficiency and insulin-resistant diabetes. We  believe that the following sorts of therapies may prove useful

Flurizan (non steroidal anti-inflammatory that reduces APP processing)

Glitazones (anti-inflammatory drugs used in treatment of insulin resistant diabetes)

vaccines (so far they have not proven very safe and will be expensive, but safe and effective vaccines are currently being developed. Vaccine are an exciting advancement that produce antibodies to the beta-amyloid and result in blocking its toxic effects as well as clearing it from brain

Curcumin. It can block Alzheimer pathogenesis at multiple steps, blocking its aggregation, clearing it from brain, inhibiting oxidation, reducing cholesterol.

DHA.  DHA is lost from neuronal membranes in the disease process, preventing the brain from functioning normally. Its reduction leads to problems beyond membrane integrity by impairing normal signalling.

Which of these potentially effective treatments are safe and can be obtained now? If your physician agrees with the addition of curcumin and DHA along with the main treatment program, we think that Alzheimer’ patients might want to try the combination of curcumin and dha (should be taken together, because curcumin is not absorbed well unless it is dissolved).  Lecithin appears to improve absorption because it is an emusifier.

Curcumin can be obtained on the web and is fairly inexpensive.. Brands such as Jarrow or Life extension may be okay. For example you can purchase the Jarrow Brand Curcumin95 from Nutrition Dome

or purchase the Sabinsa manufactured curcumin with a pepper compound from Life Extension

For prevention DHA from fish oil or salmon oil (which has slightly higher DHA than EPA and may be superior) could be sufficient.

If however, the disease has initiated, there is membrane loss, and it may be necessary to take purer DHA eg from algae, which can be purchased from Martek www.dhadepot.com (neuromins200) , and is unfortunately fairly expensive (up to $600 per year)..

DOSES: Although clinical trials are needed, safe doses and extrapolation from animal studies would suggest that.....

if AD is diagnosed.. 600 mg minimum of DHA with 2000 mg curcumin, plus 1 capsule of lecithin.

For AD prevention.. 400 mg DHA (or 2000 mg fish oil, which has only 360 mg DHA) and 1000 mg curcumin (together).