Natural Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease

As I have been saying in my previous articles regarding the treatment of other diseases, the answer lies in 4 highly underestimated or sometimes even ignored vital life-saving factors. These 4 factors are the key to the natural prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. They are.

1. Nutrition

Antioxidants

Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, preferably organic, free of herbicides, fungicides and pesticides. Those rich in antioxidants such as pomegranates, strawberries, leafy-green vegetables like spinach, watercress and broccoli have been shown to significantly reduce Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Get about 80% of raw food in the diet (salad a day??) since the heat from cooking food can greatly reduce the nutrition value by denaturing the food’s vitamins and enzymes.

Good quality fats

Unfortunately, due to the effects of deceptive or misleading marketing and bad press, fats have been unjustly demonised. Doesn’t it say in the biology/nutrition texts books that fat is an essential requirement in our diet? Of course it does. Good quality fats taken in appropriate quantities are absolutely essential for the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. Good quality fats include foods rich in omega-3 such as eggs, seeds and nuts and fish oils…

Virgin coconut oil is an excellent fat for cardiovascular function, weight loss, digestive problem, insulin control, thyroid gland stimulation and has anti-fungal properties.

www.naturalnews.com reports:

“A doctor’s hus­band made a remark­able rever­sal of his seri­ous Alzheimer’s prob­lem by ingest­ing coconut oil daily. Dr. Mary New­port had her hus­band Steve get off the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal Alzheimer’s drugs as his con­di­tion just kept wors­en­ing with them, along with added neg­a­tive side effects…. Steve’s con­di­tion has improved greatly since coconut oil was included in his diet.” 1

B-Vitamins

High-strength supplements and foods rich in B-Vitamins greatly improve cognitive function such as better memory recall while reducing brain atrophy. 2

“Researchers at Oxford Uni­ver­sity found that the mild mem­ory prob­lems suf­fered by healthy peo­ple stopped get­ting worse when they took a B vit­a­min supplement.

About one-and-a-half mil­lion peo­ple in the UK suf­fer from age-related mem­ory loss, or ‘mild cog­ni­tive impair­ment’. It starts grad­u­ally — for­get­ting keys, won­der­ing what you came into the shop to buy — but half of those affected will progress to Alzheimer’s and demen­tia within five years. Until now there has been no way to slow down mem­ory loss.

The peo­ple in the Oxford Uni­ver­sity trial were tak­ing a sin­gle pill con­tain­ing three types of vit­a­min B (folic acid and vit­a­min B6 and B12) all in doses far in excess of the rec­om­mended daily amount (RDA). The pill con­tained 0.8 mg of folic acid (twice the RDA), 0.5 mg of B12 (250 times the RDA) and 20 mg of B6 (12 times the RDA).”  3

Vitamin D

Evidence has shown Alzheimer’s patients to be deficient in vitamin D. 4 Daily exposure to direct sunlight, around 15 minutes plus a day, or vitamin D3 supplements giving 3000 – 5000 IU a day is the recommendation. Vitamin D aids immune system and bone health.

Hydration

The plain and simple fact is that people in general do not drink enough water. People over 65 have been known to lose their natural sensation of thirst which compounds their bodies ‘drought condition’,bringing on a range of illnesses such as Alzheimer’s.5

Drink plenty of water. Here’s what the management at a care home in Suffolk England had to say about the remedies of drinking more water.

“Staff at the Mar­tins care home in Bury St Edmunds started a ‘water club’ for their res­i­dents last sum­mer. Res­i­dents were encour­aged to drink eight to 10 glasses of water a day, water cool­ers were installed, and they were each given a jug for their room. They report sig­nif­i­cant improve­ments in health as a result — many fewer falls, fewer GP call-outs, a cut in the use of lax­a­tives and in uri­nary infec­tions, bet­ter qual­ity of sleep, and lower rates of agi­ta­tion among res­i­dents with dementia.

“It’s been fan­tas­tic. The whole home buzzes now; there isn’t that period after lunch when every­one goes off to sleep.”

For Baroness Green­gross, a cross-bench peer, it rein­forces a con­vic­tion she has had for some time now — that many old peo­ple sim­ply are not drink­ing enough, and it is harm­ing their health.” 6

Avoid eating junk foods laden with sugars, too much salt and nasty trans-fat…

2. Mental health

The saying ‘use it or lose it’ is definitely the operative here. Take on new challenges that keep you mentally active, whether it’s by learning a new language, playing a musical instrument, solving puzzles or studying…

Learn to deal with stress. Meditation and yoga are very effective ways for handling stress. What other ways can you think of?

Don’t spend too many lengthy times alone. Stay regularly in communication with people.   

3. Exercise

Research has shown that people who frequently exercise (3-5 hours a week recommended) are 75% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. 7   

4. Avoid environmental toxins

Aluminium

Aluminium toxicity in brain cells has been known to have an involvement in severe memory loss and senility. 8 If you have them throw out your aluminium cooking utensils and foil packing. The same goes with antacids, antiperspirants or deodorants containing aluminium. Avoid canned drinks (aluminium cans).

Lead

Lead toxicity has been known to have an involvement in hyperactivity and aggression. People in cities may overly accumulate lead from petrol fumes produced by heavy traffic. Industrial pollution is another one to watch out for.

Mercury

Mercury poisoning can be connected with a range of illnesses such as memory loss and headaches. Dental fillings, some vaccinations and sea foods from polluted waters are a few of the mercury containing things to be aware of.

Chelation therapy is a natural therapy used to remove the above three toxic metals. Consult a naturopathic practitioner. When chelated: Zinc and magnesium removes aluminium, vitamins C, B1 and zinc removes lead while selenium removes mercury. 9

-Indeed, this is not an exhaustive account of the natural prevention of Alzheimer’s, but something to encourage you to do further research while benefiting from taking preventative action such as that from the above recommendations.   

References

1. naturalnews.com/030373_coconut_oil_Alzheimers_disease.html

2. Credence.org Philip Day on Alzheimer’s

3. Daily Mail, 14^th Sep­tem­ber 2010

4. vitamindcouncil.org; Evatt ML, Delong MR, Khazai N, Rosen A, Triche S, Tang­pricha V “Preva­lence of vit­a­min d insuf­fi­ciency in patients with Parkin­son dis­ease and Alzheimer dis­ease”, Arch Neu­rol. 2008 Oct;65(10):1348–52

5. Bat­manghe­lidj F and P Day, The Essen­tial Guide to Water and Salt Cre­dence, 2008

6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7466457.stm: “How Care Home Keeps Elderly Healthy” , 23^rdJune 2008

7. naturalnews.com Friday, May 16, 2008 by: Sheryl Walters

8. Lancet, I (8629): 59–62, 14^th Jan 1989; McLach­lan, D R, Kruck, T P and Lukiw, W J “Would decreased aluminium inges­tion reduce the inci­dence of Alzheimer’s dis­ease?” Can Med Assn J, 1^st Oct 1991

9. The ABC’s of Dis­ease by Phillip Day Credence publications

Other vital related Health precautions:

The 4 Vital Factors that support Good Health

-Paul A. Philips

As you can see from the illustration opposite, there are 4 vital factors that provide good health and contribute to the prevention of disease.

I wouldn’t guarantee the good health of anyone that chooses not to pay heed to all 4 factors.

…So here is a brief overview of each vital factor… see more