Healthcast 610 – Dementia - How to avoid this end to your life.

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At a get together of friends, I was pulled aside by a good friend who asked me how she could prevent dementia, because the mother she loves is in a memory care facility and she never wants that to be her future! My answer was brief, but I can now think of so many other things I could have recommended for her, and I thought I would share them with you, and I will give her a copy of the blog that goes along with these suggestions.

I read research every day that tells doctors what causes dementia and increases risk of getting dementia at the middle or latter part of life. When I get to the basis of all the findings in the medical articles, it is detailed as I will discuss, But the basic qualities and problems to treat include INFLAMMATION, ATHEROSCLEROTIC VASCULAR DISEASE, OBESITY, HIGH SUGAR DIET, HIGH BP SMOKING AND ALCOHOL AND POOR DIET.

Risk of Dementia Includes the following categories of Modifiable Risk factors:

Low Testosterone and estradiol

1. Chronic inflammation
2. Obesity
3. Diabetes
4. High BP
5. Depression
6. Cigarette/cigar smoking
7. Hearing loss
8. Binge Drinking and excessive alcohol intake
9. Sedentary lifestyle
10. Lack of sunlight
11. High carb diet—sodas, sugar
12. Aging= low sex hormones, poor production of nitric oxide and poor absorption of oral vitamin Bs
13. Chronic injuries and pain that cause chronic inflammation—get that knee or shoulder fixed!
14. Chronic heart disease---arrythmia, atherosclerotic heart disease

Foods to Eat Prevent Dementia

1. Eggs in moderation
2. Cumin
3. Anything with protein
4. Yogurt and other foods (Kambucho) with probiotics and lactobacciluus
5. Clean fresh foods
6. Meats and fish that are fresh or frozen, not preserved, or processed
7. Steamed or fresh vegetables (not canned or processed)
8. Seeds and nuts (raw and roasted without salt preferable)

Foods to avoid to prevent dementia: Inflammatory foods and soy products

1. Milk, especially cow's milk. (High carb content) especially skin milk!
2. Soy
3. All phytoestrogens
4. Wheat
5. Food with preservatives (all processed foods have preservatives)

Modifiable risk factors

Replace hormones that are missing with bio-identical hormones, non-oral delivery system

1. Estradiol pellets, patches, gels, for women
2. Progesterone for women who miss it or who have a uterus
3. Testosterone pellets, creams, gels
4. Thyroid replacement. Armour Thyroid for women and levothyroxine for men
5. Neurotransmitters by taking probiotics

Suppress LH and FSH –high levels increase risk of dementia and osteoporosis (new study)

1. Take estradiol and testosterone for women—enough to suppress FSH and LH to pre-menopausal levels
2. Replace Testosterone for men

Keep Blood Sugar Normal

1. Eat a low sugar and low carb diet—
2. Treat prediabetes with meds
3. Treat diabetes with meds
4. Decease alcohol; intake to 1 4 oz glass of wine a day and < 1.5 oz of alcohol/day
5. Get to ideal weight

Achieve Ideal Weight –Obesity and Overweight Increases Inflammation That Increases Dementia, so Decrease Inflammation

1. Eat properly--Eat your base caloric intake or less daily
2. Low carb diet
3. Eat ½ X -1 X your body weight in protein daily
4. Drink clear water equivalent to your weight in ounces (you weight 130—drink 130 oz of water a day)
5. No Soda
6. No alcohol until you achieve ideal weight
7. No desserts or baked goods, rice, wheat products until achieve id3al weight
8. Supplements—see below

Exercise Daily

1. Aerobic exercise--for > 40 minutes a day
2. Weight training 3-4 times a week

Red Light Therapy especially in the evenings—activate your mitochondria!

1. Directed toward skin for 20 minutes a day
2. Specific red-light therapy –to face or area of pain

Natural light in AM

1. Step outside at sunrise or early morning for 15-30 minutes—no sunglasses

Sleep

• in a dark room with quiet at least 7 hours a night
• OK to take melatonin at bedtime to sleep

Supplements -Take a multi vitamin every day like Thorne daily Nutrients 2/day +

• Antioxidants: Vitamins C, A, and E
• Vitamin D3
• Vitamin Bs—Methyl B12, Methyl Folate oral or injections
• Anti-inflammatory supplements:

Aspirin 81 mg/day

Milk thistle

Curcumin

Omega 3 and 6 oils

DHA

NAC

DIM

Arteriorisol

• Minerals:
  • Zinc 30-60/day
  • Magnesium 300-600/day
  • Electrolytes: especially in summer during exercise NUUN supplement\
• Increase Nitric oxide and keep BP less than 140/90
  • Neo 40
  • RX Cialis daily 2.5- 5 mg/day
  • Eat beets—lots of them

Non-modifiable risk factors:

1. Race (Am Indians and Blacks have a higher risk)
2. Early age of menopause (without hormone replacement)
3. Genetics: HLA-DR15 tissue type, APO-E ¾. And 4/4
4. Less than high school education

Just a word about genetics. We now know that even if you carry genes for dementia, you can modify your genetics…there is hope! This new concept is called epigenetics, and it shows that the factors we employ above can put certain dementia genes "to sleep" and activate other genes that are going to make you healthier! We are no longer a puppet of our genes!

Genetic Risk for late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD), the most prevalent dementia, is partially driven by genetics. To identify LOAD risk loci, we performed a large genome-wide association meta-analysis of clinically diagnosed LOAD (94,437 individuals). We confirm 20 previous LOAD risk loci and identify five new genome-wide loci (IQCK, ACE, ADAM10, ADAMTS1, and WWOX), two of which (ADAM10, ACE) were identified in a recent genome-wide association (GWAS)-by-familial-proxy of Alzheimer's or dementia. Fine-mapping of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region confirms the neurological and immune-mediated disease haplotype HLA-DR15 as a risk factor for LOAD. Pathway analysis implicates immunity, lipid metabolism, tau binding proteins, and amyloid precursor protein (APP) metabolism, showing that genetic variants affecting APP and Aβ processing are associated not only with early-onset autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease but also with LOAD. Analyses of risk genes and pathways show enrichment for rare variants (P = 1.32 × 10−7), indicating that additional rare variants remain to be identified. We also identify important genetic correlations between LOAD and traits such as family history of dementia and education.

If you're a doc you probably understood this abstract from a recent article ..if not.. disregard.