Alzheimers and YouSeptember 27 2007
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As we get to a certain age our brains along with the rest of our body don't work as well as they used to. The prospect of growing to an old age becomes becomes a mixed blessing if in the process we understand that we could become disabled, particularly if we were to become mentally disabled.
To that end I have been researching the topic of Alzheimer's disease and gotten a handle on what I think may be the current state of knowledge is on the topic.
The markers for Alzheimers are two proteins. Beta Amyloid protein which congregates into plaques or clumps in the brain and Tau protein which shows itself as strings or tangles within the brain cells themselves. What we don't know is if these markers are the cause of cell death leading to Alzhiemers or simply side effects of the processes that create Alzheimers.
Most treatments currently focus on reducing or eliminating the Beta Amyloid protein ... Some focus on eliminating the Tau protein. Many patented drugs fufill these strategies and have some positive effect, but none reverse the effect, and at best only slow it down. I see them as being a lot of money for relatively little benefit. Two things that have shown positive effect are a vacine which immunizes the body against Beta Amyloid and Lithium in doses lower than used to treat manic depression.
In 2002 the vaccine showed positive results in clinical trials, however six percent of patients in the trial died suddenly of brain inflamations ... no good ...
The Lithium is reported to benefit in some cases as reported in the journal Nature but other studies show no improvement in memory even though Beta Amyloid levels were reduced. I believe that Lithium may work in combination with other substances but that is still to be determined. Some studies showed that people taking Lithium had even higher rates of dimensia than a control group. .. no good ..
The bottom line on the current state of the art is that there is no sure fire medical or herbal treatment that reverses the process and further I am not certain that we are even on the verge of success in this area until we undertand exactly what the mechanism is which causes this disease.
What Alzheimers does respond to is good health. Maintaining an active brain and an active body, avoiding type II diabetes, avoiding stress, avoiding depression, avoiding high blood pressure, keeping the blood flowing to your brain and keeping your brain practicing the skills you want to maintain, all add up to an improved prognosis. Substances that assist in the process include: caffiene, green tea, antoxidents like those found in red wine, and marijuana.
One study that I found to be particularly interesting involved a group of aging nuns. Their diet and general health and other habits were recorded along with measurements of their mental accuity. The one thing that jumped out was that some nuns who kept mentally active and showed no external signs of dimensia and in the end had autopsy results that showed that their brains were "ravaged" by Alzhiemers.
My conclusion ... stay mentally and physically active, maintain a healthy life style, watch your weight, and enjoy the social drug of your choice and you'll be fine ... or at least you will be as fine as you can be, for as long as you can be. ...
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