I ordered The End of Alzheimer's by Dale Bresesen right when it came out as I wanted to know which foods and supplements specifically supported brain health. I ended up buying three copies to give out to family members and I am so thrilled to share what I learned from this book.
The biggest takeaway is that if we can support the integrity of the blood brain barrier by reducing inflammation, by providing rich brain-boosting nutrients and by avoiding toxic exposure. I learned the plaque associated with Alzheimer's is actually a protective response to the three threats: inflammation, shortage of brain-boosting nutrients, hormones, and toxic exposure. The brain actually produces amyloid, the very thing that forms the plaque in Alzheimer's Disease; the key is having the brain clear this.
The way to avoid getting this disease is:
1. prevent and reduce inflammation
2. optimize hormones, trophic factors and nutrients
3. eliminate toxins
So what does that mean for you and me? Well, it means get serious about lowering inflammation and not eating foods that are inflammatory. You want your immune system to fight infections to fight acute threats but not to get so overloaded that we end up attacking our own tissues. Chronic inflammation happens in so many ways. For starters, balancing your blood sugar is one of the first things you can do. You are creating silent inflammation every time you find yourself on the blood sugar roller coaster. Stop telling yourself that you can eat sugar. It sticks to your proteins in your body and causes havoc. It reduces your immune system making you more susceptible to infections and it makes your cells insulin resistant. Excess sugar brings on insulin to get the glucose in the cells to make energy. If you keep bombarding your cells with sugar and highly processed carbohydrates your cells will stop responding to insulin. Diabetes is around the corner for a lot of people who think this can't happen to them. Sugar inhibits the body from making the enzyme called insulin degrading enzyme (IDE). This means that the amyloid- the sticky protein fragments that destroy the synapse in the nerve cells can't get cleared. If it is breaking down insulin all the time, it can't break down and clear the plaque.
These same foods compromise the thin layer of protective mucous on the small intestines and eventually this one-cell thick wall no longer keeps the bad stuff out. The tight junctions open up and then undigested particles like bacteria or large proteins sneak through into the blood. Once there, our body sees them as a foreigner and attacks them. Called "Leaky Gut", this can lead to auto immune diseases and is inflammation.
We can strengthen the nerve synapses by making brain derived neurotrophic factor. How? through exercise, through hormones like estradiol and testosterone, and through nutrients founding food and supplements.
Finally, reduce your heavy metal toxins found in mercury and copper or biotoxins found in mold.
There are 36 identified ways (actually more now...) we can reduce our likelihood of developing Alzheimer's and Bredesen shows us how to do this. Read the book for the specific supplements but get started by eating whole foods that are free of pesticides and toxins and start using foods as a weapon against Alzheimer's.