Article provided by Ronald Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O., DACBN, MS, CFMP complements of , Functional Medicine University .

Regarding Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease, you may wonder ...

There are a multitude of factors and today's article will touch on a few and also provide some solutions.

ARE ALL PHARMACEUTICALS IN YOUR BEST INTEREST?

For starters, it is disturbing that a common blood pressure medication called calcium channel blockers has been proven radiologically on MRI to cause brain shrinking . Research has shown that these drugs cause deterioration of the I.Q. within five years' use.

Another medication used to lower cholesterol called Lipitor also causes a decline in brain function. It is important to know that statin cholesterol-lowering drugs like Lipitor poison the liver's synthesis of cholesterol. This, in turn, will starve the brain of cholesterol needed to repair the brain, renew worn out membranes, and stave off Alzheimer's Disease.

Lipitor: Thief of Memory , written by the respected medical doctor, former astronaut, aerospace medical research scientist, flight surgeon, and family doctor, Dr. Duane Graveline, shares the story of his rapid mental decline after taking the drug Lipitor. This book is definitely worth reading.

Even with all this hard evidence, can you believe the pharmaceutical industry has created a potent drug which combines both the calcium channel blocker and a statin called Atorvastatin/Amlodipine (Caduet). Talk about a double punch to optimal brain function!

Moving on to another documented contributor of Alzheimer's, we can't forget the unavoidable player: heavy metals. We all have them in us due to environmental exposure and they poison brain repair enzymes, leading to Alzheimer's.

For example, there is no one who doesn't have aluminum in them, from eating out, aluminum cookware, aluminum flocculation agents in municipal drinking waters, aluminum in baking powders used in breads, processed and restaurant foods cooked in aluminum vats, industrial and vehicular exhausts, deodorants, antacids, and many other sources.

Aluminum causes the nerves in the brain to get tangled up (neurofibrillary tangles) as well as create a glue-like substance (called amyloid) to gum up the normal workings of the delicate brain electricity.

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT UNAVOIDABLE ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICITIES AND PREVENT ALZHEIMER'S

Now, to provide some nutritional answers to reduce amyloid production we need to look no further than Phosphatidylserine (PS). This nutritional powerhouse has shown to perk up memory and stave off Alzheimer's. One interesting case showed that after a 3-month dose of supplementation of phosphatidylserine, memory improved to its baseline from twelve years earlier.

Most recently, there has been evidence to show that DHA may be an amyloid-eater.

Here is something even simpler: green tea. Real organic green tea has over three catechins or polyphenols. These compounds have been found to be potent preventers of amyloid deposition in the brain.

This short article is simply a glimpse of the research you won't see promoted on CNN or Fox News. Of course this is sad. There is another side of the clinical management of many diseases that the public will rarely if ever be shown unless you are a reader of alternative or functionally-oriented heath professional reports or journals. You are in the right place.

The take away from today's article is to NOT be your own doctor but seek out the assistance and help from someone trained and skilled in Functional Medicine who can properly evaluate you as an individual and outline a personalized program to help you get well.

REFERENCES

Haque A, et al. Green tea catechins prevent cognitive deficits caused by AB1-40 in rats. J Nutr Biochem. 19:619-26, 2008.

Behl C, et al, Vitamin E protects nerve cells from amyloid B protein toxicity, Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 186:944-52, 1992

Hashimoto M, et al, Docosahexaenoic acid provides protection from impairment of learning ability in Alzheimer's disease model rats, J Neurochem, 81:1084-91, 2002

Rezai-Zadeh K, et al, Green tea epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) modulates amyloid precursor protein cleavage and reduces cerebral amyloidosis in Alzheimer transgenic mice, J Neurosci, 25:8807-14, 2005

Crook T1, Petrie W, Wells C, Massari DC. Effects of phosphatidylserine in Alzheimer's disease.Psychopharmacol Bull. 1992;28(1):61-6.

http://www3.scienceblog.com/community/older/1997/B/199702039.html (Calcium Channel Blockers)

It's Not Dementia, it's Your Heart Medication: Cholesterol Drugs and Memory. Scientific American. Accessed online 1/4/2022: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-not-dementia-its-your-heart-medication/

The information on this site is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Grisanti and his functional medicine community. Dr. Grisanti encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.

We offer whole-person functional and integrative care at The Healing Collective. We have a program specifically dedicated to the prevention of dementia and Alzheimer's called the Enabling Cognitive Repair ( , ENCORE ) Program. Contact us to schedule a free consult or to become a new patient at our clinic in Niwot, CO.

Learn more about our functional medicine providers , here .