Supplements that help prevent dementia…..

Today's post: Friday, 1-4-2008

I read a recent article about this last week. And, I thought it worth passing along the info to you. I subscribe to an email on health topics from the people at www.hsibaltimore.com

A. Here’s my report on their 5 points. I add two of my own under B. at the end of the article.

1. They quote a study that found that older people who supplemented with a small amount of daily beta carotene for over 10 years had better verbal memory than those who had not.

There are two ways to get that much beta carotene yourself. Most multivitamins today use beta carotene as their source of vitamin A, so by simply taking one such multivitamin & mineral each day, you can get a good bit of beta carotene.

But be sure to do the second method also. The carotenoids (or carotenes, if you prefer) seem to have the most health benefits & deliver them most safely if you get mixed carotenoids from the foods you eat. Carrots, sweet potatoes, orange & yellow colored squash, tomatoes & tomato sauces,& pumpkin, which you can easily buy as unsweetened pumpkin pie filling, are all high in carotenoids. So are broccoli and spinach and kale & other green leafy vegetables it may surprise you to know. The dark green pigment in them hides the orange & yellow carotenoids; but they ARE still there. In addition, eating these vegetables has many other health benefits including help keep excess fat off of your body.

2. They also quote a study that showed that people with Alzheimer's disease & other kinds of mental decline all had low levels of the Omega 3 called DHA for short. Even better, the people with high levels of DHA had half the risk of getting any kind of mental decline.

Here again there are several ways to get DHA. I personally do all three since DHA & other omega 3’s seem to help prevent depression & improve thinking skills in healthy people – plus, they seem to lower the unhealthy inflammation that helps cause many diseases.

You can take DHA directly as a supplement. Both Whole Foods Market & Source Naturals sell it. You can take Omega 3 supplements that have both DHA & EPA that are based on thoroughly purified fish oil. I take the one by Nordic Naturals. And, most potent of all, you can eat at least two servings a week of a health OK fish that is high in Omega 3.

(Since omega 3’s & omega 6’s seem to compete in your body, it may also help you get the balance that favors high blood levels of DHA to take in far less omega 6’s than most people. Grain, oils like corn oil, & the meat of animals & poultry fed grain instead of their natural diet are all high in omega 6’s. Beef fed only grass, poultry only naturally fed, & extra virgin olive oil are great substitutes. Grass fed beef is available & even has omega 3’s. Naturally fed poultry will become available I think. And, extra virgin olive oil is very low in both omega 6’s & saturated fat. It’s high in the monosaturated omega 9’s.)

3. Many kinds of mental decline are caused by circulatory problems. Since niacin both lowers the circulation damaging LDL cholesterol AND boosts the protective HDL cholesterol in your blood, it has been shown to prevent heart attack, stroke, & other circulation problems.

Not surprisingly, the people who took in the most niacin in their food had 80 percent less risk of mental decline. I take 600 mg a day of extra niacin, 300 mg after breakfast & 300 mg after lunch. And, I eat wild caught salmon two or three times a week which is one of the best sources of niacin also. (Taking the niacin after my meals help prevent the flushing response most of the time, while I get the flush every time if I take it on an empty stomach.)

Whole Foods Market sells real niacin in 300 mg tablets for a very reasonable price. (Their no flush niacin looks almost the same, so be careful to get the real niacin. I take two of the no flush niacin tablets a day also. But there is far less evidence that it works. And, it costs more besides. If you only take one, be sure to get the real niacin.)

4. Homocysteine levels in the blood of over 9.0 cause faster aging & circulatory problems including the related mental decline & heart disease. B complex vitamins support health nerves including those in the brain. And, lots of folic acid from supplements & leafy green vegetables over 2 grams a day plus 50 to 75 mg a day of B6 (more B6 is harmful by the way) & 500 micrograms or more of the methyl form of B12 all lower homocysteine.

So, it should be no surprise that people who have low homocysteine levels & high levels of B vitamins tend to get a LOT less mental decline. The data show people with high homocysteine & low B Complex vitamins were predictably likely to get mental decline. (Note: all smoking & second hand smoke exposure BOOSTS your homocysteine levels.)

5. The last point in the HSI article is that those who take both vitamin C & E each day are also less likely to suffer mental decline. Note that the natural forms of vitamin C & E are the safe and effective ones. So in addition to taking vitamin C, be sure to take the vitamin E supplements made from natural sources & eat plenty of fruits & vegetables that are high in natural vitamin C. (Solgar makes a 200 iu mixed natural vitamin E that I highly recommend & take myself.)

B. My two points that were not in their article.:

1. Taking Curcumin each day may be nearly as important as all of the above in preventing Alzheimer’s disease. Curcumin is available from many companies as a supplement. Some of these may be called turmeric supplements since Curcumin is the active ingredient in turmeric.

The evidence suggests that Curcumin empowers your immune system to clean out the amyloid plaque from your brain enough to prevent the Alzheimer’s you would have gotten if that amyloid plaque accumulated too much over time.

Turmeric is a key component in curries. And, people from India who eat a lot of curry in their food seem to hardly ever get Alzheimers disease.

Now, with Curcumin supplements, you can enjoy curried food occasionally if you want; but you no longer need to eat it every day to get protection from Curcumin.

2. Eating blueberries has been shown to almost literally rejuvenate older brains & improves mental performance. In addition to eating blueberries every week, you can take bilberry extract supplements which have other health benefits & may be a close enough cousin of blueberries to have this effect. And, you can eat many other kinds of berries as they are all high in natural vitamin C & have enormous other health benefits. They are also a good for you food that tastes good !!

C. There are even more supplements that lower homocysteine & protect your brain. But if you use these 7 methods, you’ll get very good protection indeed.

Dr Dharma Khalsa has a book Brain Longevity you can read. And, he sells many of these other supplements if you want even more protection.

D. It also helps to avoid mercury build up as mercury tends to destroy nerves. Avoid eating fish high in mercury like king mackerel & swordfish. And, don’t eat tuna too often as it has some mercury. Also, if you or a relative gets mental decline, be sure to get a blood test for mercury as a good bit of excess mercury can be removed & it has reversed mental decline in some cases when that has been done.