Alzheimer's Disease, Senile Dementia

Profile
Mental impairment problems are devastating our cultures today, and yet this has not always been the case. Clearly, toxicity issues are at the fore. As many as a third of all hospital beds in the UK are taken up with geriatric patients suffering a host of disorders, a large proportion of them institutionalised because of senility. The cost to healthcare runs to billions.

With mental impairment problems, the following questions should be asked and the conditions addressed FIRST:

· Is the patient eating organic, whole, non-pesticide-laden foods?
· Is the patient nutritionally deficient?
· Is the patient drinking up to 4 pints of clean, fresh water a day?
· Does the patient have chaotic blood sugar levels?
· Is the patient on any psychiatric medication which might be giving the appearance of senility or slow cognitive ability?
· Does the patient suffer from food allergies?
· Has the patient any evidence of yeast or fungal infections?
· Does the patient live in a toxic environment?
· Does the patient eat junk food and drink sodas?
· Has the patient been mentally unchallenged for a period of time?

Memory problems - potential causes
Several factors influence memory:

· Use it or lose it!
· Impaired blood supply to the brain
· Nutritional intake, especially minerals such as zinc and manganese, vitamins, especially the 'B' group, and essential fatty acids
· Food allergies
· Toxins
· Abnormal blood sugar levels (glucose intolerance)

Use it or lose it!
In my view, retirement is the single most damaging thing for a person, when they are persuaded to end their productivity and bow out of the work ethic until they expire. It is in the nature of humans to produce and be mentally active. Depression, listlessness and despair often set in when brains are put in mothballs and the person vegetates in a chair in front of the TV for the rest of their lives.

In Health Wars, we take a look at cultures who routinely live past 100 and remain active. If you are 70-80, start looking around for another career! Think of the skills and knowledge you have amassed that could benefit others. If your brain is busy and well fed, it is a happy brain. And so you will be too.

Blood supply to the brain
One of the most common medical conditions we suffer from over the age of 50 is atherosclerosis, or lipoprotein plaque in the arteries. In Health Wars, we devote two chapters to affairs of the heart and the cardiovascular system, showing that heart disease, in almost all its forms, may be traced back to nutritional deficiencies, including an early form of scurvy.

Scurvy
Scurvy occurs when collagen breaks down in the body. Collagen is a tough, fibrous material the body uses to clad arteries, veins and capillaries, as well as organs and the skin, to give them structure. Collagen is a lot like the steel girders you see when builders are erecting a new skyscraper. Each collagen fibre has been calculated to be far tougher and stronger than an iron wire of comparable width. In the absence of adequate nutrition, specifically vitamins C, E and the amino acids lysine and proline, collagen begins to dissolve. When sailors went off to sea and eschewed their usual diet of fruits and vegetables in favour of the non-perishable foodstuffs used during long voyages, scurvy invariably set in within a matter of weeks, the collagen dissolved, and the sailors literally fell apart. The cure was to recommence consumption of living, whole fruits and vegetables rich in the nutrition required to repair collagen and nourish the whole body.

Atherosclerosis
With heart disease, the process is much slower, sometimes taking years to develop, since very few in the western world today suffer from vitamin C depletion. Like scurvy, a chronic vitamin C deficiency causes the beginning of a collapse in the arterial walls, necessitating a healing process to commence, in the form of lipoprotein(a) fats which the body attempts to use to bond the thousands of tiny breaches in the arterial walls.

These lipoproteins are Nature's perfect Band-Aid. They are extremely sticky and form the majority of the atherosclerotic deposits associated with advanced forms of heart disease today. Cardiovascular medicine, unaware or willingly ignorant of the underlying nutritional deficiency cause of atherosclerosis, focuses its attention on vilifying the lipoprotein's LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol content as one of the primary causes of heart diseases, when it is in fact the healing (survival response) precursor, brought on by a chronic vitamin C deficiency. Today the drug industry has mobilised a multi-billion-dollar business of anti-cholesterol drugs, which have wrought devastating results in cardiac patients, necessitating a further $20 billion drug program to combat all the side- effects.

Most people have accumulated Lp(a) in their arteries after age 50, bringing on the usual problems with sticky blood, thrombosis, atherosclerosis and high blood pressure. Strokes too are caused when Lp(a) clogs the brain artery, impairing vital blood flow to the brain. And it is here that our interest in memory loss focuses. Impaired blood flow to the brain will cause death or partial paralysis.

Patrick Holford writes: "When cells are starved of oxygen, they switch to a more primitive mode of operation called anaerobic respiration. The cells begin to divide and spread - unless they are nerve cells…. Nerve cells can't regenerate. So what happens to them? They just stop working. The result is senility."

Aluminium and toxic metals
Another common finding in premature senile dementia, known as Alzheimer's disease, is an entanglement of nerve fibres. When these nerve clusters are found in the frontal and temporal regions of the brain, they are frequently saturated with aluminium. Many theories abound on how this aluminium accumulates. Aluminium can be taken into the body through the water supply, cooking utensils, toothpastes (the tube), aluminium foil packaging, soft drinks and antacids. Detoxification regimens, such as those expounded on in this book (also in Food For Thought and Health Wars), will assist the body in ridding itself of unwanted accumulations of heavy metals. Chelators, natural substances that attach themselves to toxic elements and escort them out of the body, are used to remove aluminium.

Excess amounts of the following metals are known memory disruptors and inhibitors:

Lead: leads to hyperactivity and aggression. Taken in from traffic fumes and industrial pollution. Chelated using vitamins C, B1 and zinc.
Aluminium: leads to memory loss and senility. Derived from cooking utensils, water, etc. Chelated using zinc and magnesium.
Cadmium: leads to aggression and confusion. Derived from cigarettes. Chelated with vitamin C and zinc.
Copper: leads to anxiety and phobias. Derived from water piping. Chelated with zinc.
Mercury: leads to headaches and memory loss. Derived from pesticides, some vaccinations and mercury amalgam dental fillings. Chelated with selenium.

Food sensitivities
Those with memory impairment problems may also be suffering from the effects of food sensitivities, as discussed earlier (see Allergies). An allergy test may determine an underlying, treatable food allergy problem, which may be contributing to the patient's condition.

Pellagra
As discussed in the section entitled Schizophrenia, an old nutritional problem named pellagra is haunting us still. Pellagra is a niacin (B3) deficiency which will result in the four 'D's - dizziness, diarrhoea, dementia and death. Vitamin B3 is essential for oxygen utilisation in the body. It is incorporated into the coenzyme NAD (nicotinamide adenosine dinucleotide). Low amounts of B3 will invariably bring on symptoms that can be interpreted as dementia, Alzheimer's, etc.

Boosting the memory
Those suffering memory impairment have a veritable arsenal of nutritional weapons at their disposal, as we shall see. The neurotransmitter acetylcholine is the brain hormone responsible for memory retention. Experiments done at Palo Alto Hospital in California showed that drugs which boost production of acetylcholine produced 'super-memories'. Natural nutrients however can effectively boost acetylcholine production. These are choline, glutamine, DMAE (a nutrient found in fish), and its salt, Deanol. Pyroglutamate is also excellent, and many 'memory' supplements on the market today contain a mix of these nutrients which work better when used synergistically.

Elderly nutritional failures
One US study in 1975 failed to find one geriatric patient with a normal nutritional profile. Alzheimer's and senility in general may be no more than decades of sub-optimal nutritional abuse, combined with a slow toxicity through foods and the environment. Boosting the nutritional intake of the elderly is of course rarely done in care homes and hospitals, where nutritional education among doctors and nurses is sadly lacking. The regimen at the end of this section will be beneficial for all who are suffering from these types of problems.

Self-poisoning through personal
care and household products
Household and personal care products contain chemicals, which, over time, can build systemically in the body, causing mental impairment and other serious health problems. A special section on these is included at the end of this book (see Environmental Toxins). Shampoos, conditioners, make-up, antiperspirants, mouthwash, baby oil, fly spray and a dozen other offenders are used by the population daily with scant regard for the long-term hazards, which are only now becoming known.

Take action©
· DIET: COMMENCE THE FOOD FOR THOUGHT LIFESTYLE REGIMEN
· TIP: In the event the patient exhibits yeast or fungal problems, adopt the measures described in the section on Candida and replace THE FOOD FOR THOUGHT LIFESTYLE REGIMEN with THE ANTI-CANDIDA DIETARY REGIMEN (with appropriate anti-fungal supplementation)
· DIET: Eliminate all junk or processed foods, including sugar-based foods and the high-glycaemic food group which breaks down into glucose in the body (bread, pasta, cereals, potatoes, pastries, etc.)
· RESTORE NUTRIENT BALANCE: COMMENCE THE BASIC SUPPLEMENT PROGRAM. This will boost oxygen to the cells and prevent deficiency in any one of over 60 different nutrients. Ensure intakes of:
· Vitamin C (ascorbates plus bioflavonoids), 2 g, twice per day
· Thiamine (B1), 100 mg per day
· L-carnitine (Vitamin BT), 400 mg, three times per day
· Deanol - 100 mg per day
· DMAE - 500 mg per day
· 'Ingenious' complex, containing 'smart' nutrients, such as 5-HTP, pyroglutamate, glutamine, phosphatidylcholine and pantothenic acid (B5)
· Essential fatty acid intake. Omega 6 fat intake should be twice that of Omega 3's. (see A Guide to Nutritional Supplements) These can be taken in supplement form or by grinding up one measure of sunflower seeds, sesame and pumpkin seeds and two measures of flax seeds, taking two tablespoons of this mixture every morning. Ensure you buy fresh seeds!
· DETOXIFICATION: Magnesium oxide bowel cleanse
· DETOXIFICATION: Change out potentially harmful personal care and household products for safe alternatives (see Environmental Toxins)
· DETOXIFICATION: Removal of dental amalgams (not all at the same time!)
· TIP: Ensure 4 pints of clean, fresh water per day (2 litres)
· TIP: Stay enjoyably busy and productive until your need for oxygen ceases

Further Resources

The ABC's of Disease by Phillip Day

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