Reversal of cognitive decline from diet change and natural supplements has proven to be possible after the results of a small study were published. Natural, holistic thinking triumphs again.

More than 5 million people have Alzheimer’s disease in the US and that number is expected to hit 16 million by 2050. It is the sixth leading cause of death killing more people than prostate and breast cancer combined.

And, according to traditional medicine, there is no way to prevent, slow or stop its progression. But holistic doctors have always had a treatment plan to do just that. And they have. Now we have proof.

Keep in mind that Alzheimer’s disease is now considered an inflammatory condition. Holistic practitioners have long removed sugar and carbohydrates from their patients because they are inflammatory foods. In addition, they have also begun the patient on an aggressive natural supplementation program. And always with stunning results.

With a startling increase in autoimmune inflammatory conditions over the last few decades, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates up to 23.5 million Americans suffer from autoimmune disease and that the number is continuing to increase. Some experts say that 50 million Americans suffer from autoimmune inflammatory disease because the NIH numbers only include 24 diseases. Other researchers have identified 80-100 different autoimmune diseases and suspect at least 40 additional diseases of having an autoimmune basis.

The reason for the removal of pro-inflammatory foods is because it is now known that sugar and excessive carbohydrate intake can inflame the body. The process that does this is called glycation. Stated most simply, it is the attachment of a sugar molecule (glucose) to a protein molecule. That, in and of itself…alters the protein. Glucose should not be attached to proteins. When that happens, they are called glycated proteins or advanced glycation end products (AGE’s). The immune system must react to this altered tissue and will…as designed.

In Alzheimer’s disease, we have sugar attached to brain cells and the immune system attacks.

We now have a study…small study of only 10 patients…but with exactly the expected results.

Here’s what they found:

1. Of the first 10 patients who utilized this program, including patients with memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), or subjective cognitive impairment (SCI), nine showed subjective or objective improvement.
2. One potentially important outcome is that all six of the patients whose cognitive decline had a major impact on job performance were able to return to work or continue working without difficulty.

How did they achieve these results?:

1. Fasting for 12 hours between dinner and breakfast. This eliminates the usual pro-inflammatory carb filled late night snack.
2. Elimination of simple carbs and processed food. More elimination of pro-inflammatory foods.
3. Increased consumption of vegetables, fruits, non-farm raised fish, grass fed beef and organic chicken.
4. Elimination of gluten. All grains being carbs…are pro-inflammatory.
5. Probiotics.
6. Coconut oil, 1 tsp twice a day.
7. Melatonin and trying to get 8 hours of sleep a night.
8. The herbs Bacopa monniera 250mg, Ashwagandha 500mg, and turmeric 400mg each day. All are known to be anti-inflammatory.
9. Methylcobalamin 1mg (very absorbable B-12) per day, methyltetrahydrofolate 0.8mg (very absorbable folic acid) per day, pyridoxine-5-phosphate 50mg (B6) per day, citicoline 500mg twice a day (a form of choline that helps memory), vitamin C 1g per day, vitamin D3 5000IU per day, vitamin E 400IU per day, CoQ10 200mg per day, Zinc picolinate 50mg per day, alpha-lipoic acid 100mg per day, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) 320mg and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) 180mg per day.
10. Exercise.
11. Returned to hormone replacement therapy if necessary.

So, what’s the basic takeaway from this small study? Dietary changes with an emphasis on reducing pro-inflammatory carbohydrates from the diet and an aggressive and unique natural supplementation program utilizing anti-inflammatory herbs and other anti-inflammatory nutrients can improve cognitive function or possibly return a dementia or Alzheimer’s disease patient back to normal.

It’s diet, folks. Always has been and always will be. Carbs are a villain, not fats.

As usual, traditional medicine has to appear unenthusiastic as they say at the end of this study that, “results require a larger trial, not only to confirm or refute the results reported here, but also to address key questions raised, such as the degree of improvement that can be achieved routinely, how late in the course of cognitive decline reversal can be effected, whether such an approach may be effective in patients with familial Alzheimer’s disease, and how long improvement can be sustained.”

Uh huh.

The full text of this study can be read here:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4221920/

Bredesen, D. Reversal of cognitive decline: A novel therapeutic program. Aging (Albany NY). 2014 Sep; 6(9): 707–717.