Alzheimer’s is one of the most feared diagnoses most patients could receive. Some rank it worse than cancer. At least with cancer, there is treatment, and possible hope, but until recently, Alzheimer’s is a slow declining path to dementia and death.
The good news is that new evidence has emerged in the last couple of years indicating that much of dementia is preventable.
What is Dementia?
Dementia does not mean someone is crazy, but that their cognitive (thinking) skills are declining. There are various causes for dementia, but since Alzheimer’s makes up about 60% of the cases, it is the one most people think about. Alcoholism, strokes, infections, low thyroid, and vitamin B12 deficiency are examples of other causes.
Dr. Dale Bredesen is one of the pioneers in this field. One of the reasons that the medical field has had difficulty coming up with satisfactory treatment is that they are looking for one main cause, so they can find one drug to treat it. It turns out that his research has uncovered many causative factors and in most individuals, there are several factors at work at once.
Some of these factors include genetic predisposition, poor diet, lack of exercise, chronic stress, infections, trauma, nutritional or hormonal deficiencies, toxins, and more. Dr. Bredesen looked for pathways in the brain that could be affected by these multiple, seemingly unrelated factors. In doing so, he was able to discover common mechanisms and design what is called the ReCODE (Reversing Cognitive Decline) protocol that has been highly successful so far.
Our clinic will be participating in this ReCODE protocol.
Chris Kresser has written a great article with more information about it HERE