Anti-Inflammatories lead to Alzheimer’s? ANTI-INFLAMMATORIES LIKE IBUPROFEN LEADS TO ALZHEIMER’S? Is it just me, are has there been a deluge of research looking at all the bad side effects of anti-inflammatory drugs? We’ve always known that they lead to kidney and liver problems, as well as destruction of the joints that most people are taking the NSAIDs for in the first place. But the new long list is likely a result of the fall of Vioxx and the strong links with heart attacks in this drug. After all the documents became public, researchers started wondering….if this happens with selective COX-2 inhibitors like Vioxx, what about all the non-selective COX inhibitors like NSAIDs?? It’s looking like this wasn’t such a good question to ask… We should never ask the question if we aren’t ready for the answer… Bottom line? See your chiropractor first… Read More…
Alzheimer's
Whoohoo! Best News of the Year for Your Brain!!
Ok..we may be jumping the gun because this is a rat study (here is a study PETA can’t complain about!). But hey…if it turns out to not work in humans are you really going to go stamping angrily to the authors and complain?
Despite the old adage about losing brain cells in college, our brains really do have the ability to create new cells in response to our environment (“plasticity”). As you can imagine, anything that fosters new brain cell development is a good thing, especially in our hippocampus–the region of the brain that gets damaged in Alzheimer’s.
In this particular study, male rats were either exposed to sex one time (acute) or, were put into a group that got daily action for two weeks (chronic, although I still prefer to call this the “lucky” group). Researchers looked at stress hormones as well as brain activity. Here’s what they found:
- Acute sexual experience increased corticosterone levels.
- Acute sex increased the number of new brain cells in the hippocampus.
- Chronic sexual experience, however, no longer produced increased corticosterone levels.
- Chronic sex still continued to promote new brain cells and increased the communication between brain cells (growth of dendritic spines and dendritic architecture).
- Chronic sexual experience also reduced anxiety-like behavior.
So, a little sex is good for the brain, but daily sex is GREAT for the brain and may very well fight off Alzheimer’s.
But really…did we NEED a research study to tell us this?
Will That Cup of Coffee Protect My Brain?
I’m not sure where along the process caffeine got such a bad rap. I continue to see suggestions to avoid caffeinated products like coffee and tea.
I can understand if someone has adrenal fatigue and needs an IV directly from the coffee pot just to get started in the AM, but other than that the research is pretty soundly in favor of mild caffeine consumption.
This particular study looks at the ability of caffeine to protect against the free-radical-induced damage to the brain of rabbits that was consistent with Alzheimer’s dementia damage. They found that even low levels of caffeine were able to protect the brain.
At our office, we have an espresso machine at the office and I play the role of barista at lunch, creating mochas with a double shot of espresso, cinnamon, organic cocao and dark chocolate almond milk. Just recently switched to organic raw Ecuadorian cocoa…
Alzheimer’s Dementia–Forget Old Age–Are You in Danger NOW?
We generally think of cognitive loss and dementia as something that strikes the elderly. It’s something your parents have to deal with.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a patient ask me for help with a parent who was diagnosed with dementia that was at all concerned with his or her own long-term brain health. Big mistake.
You see–dementia is not something that comes on overnight. Rather, neurodegenerative diseases attack your brain cells over the course of decades, slowly destroying the neurons that make you who you are. It is estimated that, by the time a diagnosis like Alzheimers dementia or Parkinson’s disease is made, that particular region of the brain (dopaminergic cells in the substantia nigra in PD, neurons in the hippocampal region and neocortex in AD) has lost upwards of 70% of the brain cells.
I have said again and again that I do not believe we will ever find an effective drug for these conditions in the stages at which they are typically diagnosed. This is a freight train running. I do believe that we can slow it down using things like ginko, vitamin E and CoQ10 as well as exercise and mental “push-ups.”
My thoughts on this matter, however, are not shared by the drugs companies and researchers looking for the new blockbuster drug for treating cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s dementia. Billions have been spent on two proteins found in the brain of Alzheimer’s dementia patients–amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT–made up of Tau proteins).
The money has been thrown at the idea that, if we could find a drug to destroy these proteins, we’d win the battle against Alzheimer’s dementia (and makes billions…). All of these trials continue to fail miserably, confirming my thoughts that these proteins are byproduct of the damage, not the culprits themselves.
Billions of dollars wasted that could’ve been spent educating the public about how to prevent cognitive loss in the first place. Maybe even buy a treadmill or jumprope for everyone on the planet.
But the drug companies have not yet lost hope at hitting the motherlode of Alzheimer’s drugs. MAYBE, just MAYBE, we’re not using these drugs early enough. If we could just give these drugs to patients who are at a higher risk years earlier they might actually work.
Luckily, we have studies like those found in this particular article to help the drug companies out. In it, researchers looked at 2,125 participants to see if scoring on a composite cognitive test based on tests of episodic memory, executive function, and global cognition had any ability to predict who would develop cognitive impairment / Alzheimer’s dementia years later. Here’s what they found:
- Lower test scores were associated with the development of AD dementia over the duration of the study.
- In the first year after the testing was done (specifically from 0.1 – 0.9 years later), those who were diagnosed with Alzheimers dementia were 984% more likely to have had the lowest scores.
- Later in the study (13.0–17.9 years), those who were diagnosed with AD were 339% more likely to have had lower testing scores.
In other words, lower scores on cognitive testing were predictive of developing Alzheimer’s dementia EIGHTEEN YEARS later.
Almost two decades.
This once again demonstrates that the changes occuring in the brains of those of us who chose not to live with the healthiest of behaviors begins to show a loss of brain function long, long before any formal diagnosis of dementia would be possible.
But, as I mentioned, beware that studies like these will be used as tools to get the failed Alzheimer’s dementia drugs used on patients who have not yet developed the disease, but who are at high risk because of indicators like cogntive testing.
Does My Brain Really Have to go as I get Older?
It seems like just about every third person has Alzheimer’s these days, or at least has a parent that has been diagnosed. Makes it seem pretty dismal for the future.
Research into medications to help curb the progression is on every research budget. But every shining star in the research has fallen flat and many researchers are getting frustrated.
The reality is that the incidence of neurodegenerative disorders is increasing rapidly and this rapid increase is NOT due to genetics. As a human species, our DNA has not changed appreciably in several hundred thousand years, leaving lifestyle as the likely answer. And sure enough, unlike the research on treatment, the research supporting prevention continues to grow to the point that it is solidly accepted that this disease state can be prevented.
This particular review gives a short, simple list of some of the lifestyle factors that could be managed to greatly lower your risk. Combine this with an anti-diabetic lifestyle and exercise, and you’re doing boatloads to protect your brain into the future.
Red Wine and the Brain
DO I NEED TO DRINK MORE WINE TO PROTECT MY BRAIN?
It’s no surprise that wine (or specifically, the resveratrol content of red wine) has protective benefits in moderation, but you may not understand exactly how resveratrol works.
Calorie restriction without nutrient restriction has consistently shown to extend lifespan in mammals. This calorie restriction works by improving the health and number of the mitochondria by activating a set of genes called the Sirtuin genes.
Research on resveratrol has found that it resveratrol activates this same Sirtuin pathway. In this particular study, researchers looked at the additional ability of resveratrol to protect the brain from a neurotransmitter called glutamate, which can create a wave of brain damage with seizures and migraines.
Too Young for Your Brain to Rot? Results Will Surprise You
Sure, you know that a daily meth habit will fry your brain. But what if over half of 40-somethings had brain damage? Couldn’t be possible, right?
Alzheimer’s dementia, memory loss, cognitive decline, Parkinson’s…these all happen to OLDER people, so you’re safe. You gave up the obvious brain-damaging behaviors after college and you’re pretty sure your neurons have recovered enough to last you until your grandkids get married.
Besides, you take all those nutrients that we know protect the brain–magnesium, fish oils, ginko and vitamin D–so you’re even better off. And if there really was some dastardly virus or bacteria or toxic chemical destroying your brain you would’ve read about it in Newsweek or there would be a Hollywood blockbuster with Julia Roberts as the hotshot young attorney taking on Monsanto for dumping hazardous waste into the Potomac resulting in children being born with an extra arm.
Nope. Reality is far more sinister.
Neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s dementia and Parkinson’s disease have long been considered a Type 3 diabetes because the links between poor sugar handling and these conditions is so strong. I’ve taught classes on this topic for several years and most of the participants in the classes were unaware of the strong links.
Even fewer still are aware that these links exist for PRE diabetes as well. Prediabetes–that condition that is found is about HALF of the industrialized world. That means there’s a good chance that you fall into this category.
Carrying too much weight around the middle? Cholesterol problems? Liver enzymes elevated? Had your gallbladder out? Ringing in your ears? High blood pressure?
Doesn’t apply to you? How about liver enzymes still normal, but in the top half of “normal?” How about high normal glucose levels? How about a combination of “normal” trigylcerides at the higher end and “normal” HDL levels at the low end? Is your blood pressure over 120 systolic (WITHOUT meds)?
The point is, while you may not think you’re prediabetic (or even if your doctor told you that you’re not), there’s a very good chance that you are. In which case, the results of this particular study should be a great interest to you. In it, researchers looked at a group of 2,216 men and women at an average age of FORTY to see about the relationship between blood sugar and brain health. This is important, because we’re not talking about an 80 year old in a retirement community. Here’s what they found:
- Diabetes was associated with worse memory, visual perception, and attention performance.
- Diabetes was also associated with higher “white matter hyperintensities”–a sign of damage to the cells of your brain.
- Diabetics also had lower cerebral brain and occipital lobar gray matter volumes. In other words–their brains were shrunk.
- Here’s the kicker–increased fasting blood sugar was also associated with shrinkage of large areas of gray matter.
With the last detail we are no longer talking about diabetics (who, at some level, probably understand that diabetes is slowly destroying every part of their bodies) but also the prediabetics. That’s a huge chunk of the population that has already begun to lose brain cells at a very early age. Fast forward another 20, 30 or 40 years and there’s not likely going to be much left to finish a Sudoku puzzle.
The bottom line is that, if you care about your brain at all (and really…you should) and you have even the slightest concern that you are prediabetic or have any of the things listed about, you need to start NOW with a lifestyle revamping (feel free to check out my Diabetes eBook for some help by clicking here). The brain damage is already occurring. You may never get it back.
Vitamin D And Cognitive Decline
CAN THIS SIMPLE ACT PROTECT AGAINST LOSING YOUR MIND?
Again beating a dead horse here…the benefits of Vit D are truly too many to count. This particular study looked at the risk of cognitive decline and Vit D levels in the blood in those older than 65 yoa and found that those with < 25 nmol / L had a 60% greater risk of “substantive cognitive decline.” Talk about a simple approach. And considering that these researchers used a cutoff of 25 nmol / L (“optimal” levels are >60 nmol / L) the benefits at optimal serum levels are likely to be much greater. One of the reasons I think that Vit D has taken so long to catch on is that this would require the national “health” powers that be to put their collective feet in their mouths. For so long it has been drilled into us to avoid the sun at all costs. Turns out this info is as destructive to our collective health as the USDA food guide pyramid. I always advocate reasonable sun exposure coupled with Vit D supplementation.