LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Alzheimer's

HOW DOES REPRODUCTIVE-AGE HORMONE AFFECT THE BRAIN? – (07-23-07)

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The Neurosteroid Allopregnanolone is Reduced in Prefrontal Cortex in Alzheimer’s Disease

Allopregnanolone is considered one of the most potent GABA agonist on the planet, natural or synthetic. This means it has a potent ability to calm the brain cells down. Allopregnanolone is derived from progesterone. So how would what is thought of as a reproductive-age hormone affect the brain later in life? Actually the potential for interactions are great.

First, we know that the damage with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s start decades before symptoms, putting the time frames for beginning damage well into the reproductive years.In addition, Alzheimer’s is very strongly associated with insulin resistance, and IR is well known to inhibit ovulation and lower levels of progesterone. The bottom line, however, is the same as always–prevention of these age related chronic diseases begins decades earlier, and the approach to lowering risk is multifactorial.

Read entire article here

TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE – (07-23-07)

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Evidence-Based Research in Complementary and Alternative Medicine III: Treatment of Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

If you were ever looking for a good resource for finding out more about AD, this is definitely a great place to start. Notably, this article looked very critically at the available evidence for treatment of AD, and found that antioxidants, which would include Ginko, definitely play a role. It’s not to say that other natural approaches will not work, but the criteria that were set to pluck the research studies to evaluate were very strict.

Given the current mitochondrial dysfunction leading to neuronal apoptosis (preprogrammed cell suicide) model for neurodegenerative disorders, the fact that antioxidants would be effective should come as no surprise. Unfortunately, clinical recommendations, as usual, as lagging far, far behind the research.

Read entire article here

LEUKOARAIOSIS – AN MRI STUDY OF THE BRAIN – (02-25-08)

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Significant association between leukoaraiosis and metabolic syndrome in healthy subjects

For those of you not familiar with the term, leukoaraisosis is a finding on MRI that loss of white matter in the brain is occurring. And if that doesn’t sound like a good thing, then you’re right.

In this study, those patients with Metabolic Syndrome had triple the risk of having leukoaraiosis. This adds further weight to the concept that neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are actually a form of Type 3 diabetes resulting from insulin resistance.

Read entire article here

RISK OF DEVELOPING ALZHEIMER DISEASE – (04-28-08)

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Relation of cognitive activity to risk of developing Alzheimer disease

Wow..”use it or lose it?” Where have we heard that before? It is likely that using your brain increases blood flow to the brain. Increased blood flow equals increased nutrients and better energy generation w/ less oxidative stress. So, the bottom line is that you should continue to read Research Updates if you want to avoid Alzheimers.

Read entire article here

DIETARY PATTERNS AND RISK OF DEMENTIA – (05-26-08)

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Dietary patterns and risk of dementia

While some information about dietary links to altered mental capacity has come out, the strength of these associations just hasn’t been given the press it deserves.

In this study, a protective effect of fruits and veggies as well as fish intake was seen for both dementia and Alzheimer’s. Even more important, an increased intake of omega-6 fatty acids that wasn’t balanced out by increased omega-3s (aka the Western Diet) more than doubled the risk! There is no doubt that neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are strongly lifestyle related. However, if we don’t get the word out NOW, it will be at least 2 generations before we can see a decline in the incidence of these disorders.

Read entire article here

ALZHEIMERS IS NOT GENETIC–IT IS ENVIRONMENTAL

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ALZHEIMERS IS NOT GENETIC–IT IS ENVIRONMENTAL.  The problem is that there may be a genetic link, which means that the children of those with AD or Parkinson’s need to be educated on how to protect their brain.  And it’s not being done by neurologists at this point.  That means we are probably a generation or two away from lowering the tide of incidence.  We know that being prediabetic drastically increases your risk (to the point where AD and PD are being considered “type 3 diabetes) as does inflammation.

Basically, anything that is going to prevent your brain from generating the energy it needs (ATP from the mitochondria) is going to increase your risk, and anything that protects the mitochondria is going to lower your risk.

PROTECT YOUR BRAIN WITH THIS SIMPLE NUTRIENT

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There is no longer any question that the rates of neurological conditions like dementia, Alzheimer’s, migraines and epilepsy are going up.  Our lifestyles are just too toxic for our brains.  But there is much you can do, including adding some simple foods.

Acetylcholine is a critical neurotransmitter in the brain and was also one of the very first neurotransmitters ever identified.  Without going into mind-numbing detail, suffice it to say that acetylcholine helps the neurons in our brain communicate effectively with one another. 

Without the appropriate message being passed between cells, havoc can ensue.  Because of this, making sure that our brains have enough acetylcholine to work with is very important.  Medications, such as Aricept, exist that block the breakdown of acetylcholine, essentially extending the duration of action.  However, given the wide variety of things that acetylcholine is involved in, drugs that interfere with this normal process come with a long list of side effects.

So what can we do to increase our body’s production of acetylcholine?  An effective method is to increase the intake of choline, the precursor that our bodies use to make acetylcholine, either in our diet or with supplements.  Preferably both.

Dietary sources of choline include eggs, soy (remember–no GMO), cod (wild caught), cauliflower and spinach.  This particular article looked that the relationship between the dietary intake of choline and cognitive function.  Those currently eating foods high in choline had much better performance measures.  Seems like a pretty simple tool.

 Supplements that can increase choline include straight choline as well as lecithin.

So, if you’re looking to do your brain a favor, increase your dietary intake of foods high in choline.  If you’re in the throws of some neurological challenges, supplementation with choline and / or lecithin may be well worth a trial.

Other factors to improve or pay attention to may include:

 Overall, how well your brain performs for you is largely under your controls.  The actions you take and the decisions you make directly relate to your brain health.  Choose well.