With more than 5 million people in the U.S. suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, the race is on to find a cure for the disease. Dale E. Bredesen, of the Buck Institute Research on Aging in Novato, CA, and the University of California-Los Angeles, claims in a new study he developed a personalized treatment program that has reversed cognitive decline in a small number of patients with memory loss.
Bredesen said that combination therapies have been tested for other chronic illnesses but have not been explored in the field of Alzheimer’s research. “That suggested that a broader-based therapeutics approach, rather than a single drug that aims at a single target, may be feasible and potentially more effective for the treatment of cognitive decline due to Alzheimer’s,” said Bredesen.
For his study, he enrolled 10 patients who had either Alzheimer’s-related memory loss, amnestic mild cognitive impairment or subjective cognitive impairment. According to Medical News Today, the treatment plan consisted of, but was not limited to:
- “Cutting out all simple carbohydrates from her diet, leading to a 20-pound weight loss
- Reducing consumption of gluten and processed foods, and increasing consumption of vegetables, fruits and non-farmed fish
- Fasting for at least 12 hours between dinner and breakfast, and for at least 3 hours between dinner and bedtime
- Taking up yoga to reduce job-related stress, and meditating for 20 minutes each day
- Exercising for at least 30 minutes a day, 4-6 days a week
- Taking melatonin each night (used to ease insomnia), and increasing sleep from 4-5 hours a night to 7-8 hours
- Taking methylcobalamin (a form of vitamin B), vitamin D3, fish oil and CoQ10 supplements each day
- Increasing oral hygiene through use of an electric flosser and electric toothbrush.
- Reinstating previously discontinued hormone therapy.”
Commenting on the findings, Bredesen says, “Results from the 10 patients reported here suggest that memory loss in patients with subjective cognitive impairment, mild cognitive impairment, and at least the early phase of Alzheimer’s disease, may be reversed, and improvement sustained, with the therapeutic program described here. This is the first such demonstration. However, at the current time the results are anecdotal, and therefore a more extensive, controlled clinical trial is warranted.”
Resource: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/283391.php