Two causes of Alzheimer’s and ways to prevent it....

Tuesday, 11-11-2014

We start with the most important news first:

1. Lots of people take anti-anxiety drugs and tranquilizers.  Some take them as anti-depressants or sleeping assist pills.

It turns out this only safe to do for a very short time!  <<<<<

A significant number of people take these drugs for a few years. 

The horribly scary news is that this may well ensure they get some degree of Alzheimer’s disease.

There are several things that make Alzheimer’s less likely or can even reverse early stage Alzheimer’s damage. 

But taking this class of drugs for more than a short one-off use or maybe two tested as being comparable to being in a bad motorcycle accident with a head injury because you didn’t wear a helmet. 

NOT something you want to have happen to you!

The information in this post came from two reports of the same study that found this effect. 

Here’s the link to the Medical News Today report I saw first.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/282282.php  <<<

This is the kind of thing you want to know NOT to do and never do it!

Your tranquilizer or sleeping pill may be frying your brain.  And, it’s dose and duration related.  If you accumulate too many months of use, it can boost your risk of Alzheimer’s by 84%!

It takes years of smoking to boost your risk of Alzheimer’s by 50% -- which it does!

Because taking this kind of tranquilizer for just 3 months does the same, that's a HUGE and scary effect!

Since you may be a bit unfamiliar with this class of drugs as I was, here is some of the information I found:

Benzodiazepines are prescribed to treat - anxiety, insomnia, and depression mostly.

Here is a more complete list:

Benzodiazepines, a drug class used for treating anxiety, panic attacks, depression, insomnia, seizures, nausea, vomiting, muscle relaxation

Benzodiazepines are a type of medication known as tranquilizers -- familiar names are Valium and Xanax

alprazolam (Xanax)  <<<<<

clobazam (Onfi)

clonazepam (Klonopin)

clorazepate (Tranxene)

chlordiazepoxide (Librium)  <<<<<

diazepam (Valium)   <<<<<

estazolam (Prosom)

lorazepam (Ativan)

oxazepam (Serax)

temazepam (Restoril)

triazolam (Halcion)

Hopefully this is less severe in younger people and mostly reversible as I briefly took Xanax once and Librium once as a young man. 

The study found that benzodiazepine use for 3 months or more was associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease of up to 51%.

The longer the exposure to benzodiazepines, the greater the risk of Alzheimer's.

Long-acting benzodiazepines were also found to increase risk more than short-acting benzodiazepines.

So make a strong effort to never take these drugs and to stop any temporary uses as soon as possible.

Here’s the second report with more information from the original study.

“Seniors who took these drugs for under 90 days did not seem to have an increased risk of dementia.

But over 90 days it was a different story. Seniors who took the drugs daily for 91 to 180 days upped their risk of Alzheimer's by 32 percent.

And if you're on them longer than 180 days -- even if you stop and then start up again over several years -- the Alzheimer's risk jumps….[up to] 84 percent’’’

That clearly shows the damaging effects of these drugs. It didn't seem to matter if those studied took 1 pill every day for 180 days or if it took them years to reach that amount.

They still had that huge risk factor hanging over their heads.

But of course for many, 180 days is just a drop in the bucket. These drugs are often taken every single day. And that's probably because they are highly addictive. It's very easy to develop a dependence on them -- to think you can't get along without them.

Because of that it's not so easy to stop. Especially when you've been taking them for a while. “

If this is the case for you, make the effort.  Quit no matter what. Take up some kind of stress relief practice such as meditation or some kinds of Yoga or Tai Chi instead if you need to do so.  If you are religious, pray for help.

It’s much easier to prevent mental decline than to reverse it!

2.  Gum disease just bad enough to cause bleeding gums -- which an astonishingly high number of people get, turns out to be a direct cause of Alzheimer’s disease!

The bacteria that cause gum disease may cause heart disease and pancreatic cancer or it may be that the boost to chronic inflammation they cause does so.

So, it clearly is important to take good enough care of your teeth and for sure your gums to avoid gum disease –

AND to follow a low inflammation eating style and to take things like omega 3's and turmeric with black pepper and ginger.

This is also the case in preventing Alzheimer's disease as it looks as if one of the main if not THE main cause or one of the most forceful causes is excess inflammation.

BUT, this article goes further and says the bacteria that causes gum disease also DIRECTLY causes Alzheimer's disease if it gets into the brain.  And, if minor gum disease causes your gums to bleed when you brush, floss, or get your teeth cleaned or examined, enough of the bacteria gets into your blood close enough to your brain it helps cause Alzheimer's disease!

So, learn to brush and floss so that this never occurs; never skip a day or more than one day of brushing your teeth AND never, ever go more than one day without flossing your teeth.

Here’s the link to the Medical News Today story:

Beyond tooth decay: why good dental hygiene is important

http://mnt.to/l/4r8M

We look at some less well-known and serious conditions that have been linked to

poor dental hygiene in recent years: Alzheimer's disease, pancreatic cancer and

heart disease.

 3.  To end on a more positive note, there is a newly found way to prevent Alzheimer’s you might even enjoy.  (a)

And, I also list a set of things that prevent Alzheimer’s disease that was sparked by a Medical News Today story. (b)

a) Eating walnuts helps prevent Alzheimer’s disease!

(Hopefully you aren’t allergic to them.  Fortunately most people can eat walnuts.

And, it’s important to only eat raw, unsalted and un-oiled walnuts because those often have really excessive amounts of salt and the oils tend to be the high omega 6 oils that are harmful to eat.)

Walnuts usually taste good and can add crunch to salads and other dishes.  You can even make Pesto with walnuts and basil and olive oil.

Here’s the article I read a few days ago:

“".... researchers have just discovered something amazing. Something that looks like it can really help.

…. this may offer a promising beneficial effect in "reducing the risk, delaying the onset, slowing the progression of, or preventing Alzheimer's disease."

And with no awful side effects.

Believe it or not, the secret miracle is...walnuts.

Yes, walnuts. I know it sounds too simple to be possible. But it looks like this common nut is much more complex than you could imagine.

A study just published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease has found that mice fed a walnut-enriched diet showed significant improvement in learning skills, memory, and motor development, as well as reduced anxiety.

And the amount of walnuts they consumed made up only 6 or 9 percent of their diets. That equals about 1 ounce or 1.5 ounces a day for us.

In a previous experiment, lead researcher Abha Chauhan, PhD., found walnut extract even protected against those amyloid plaques seen in the brains of Alzheimer's patients."”

Nuts have health OK oils and many needed minerals and other nutrients.  Walnuts apparently also are high in the plant based omega 3 oil, and though they have some omega 6 have a small enough amount and the omega 3 and other co-factors to net out a positive health effect.

Eating walnuts also has been found to be heart protective. So those effects may also result in the better circulation or lower inflammation that results in all or some of this Alzheimer’s protection.

b) Here’s a list of ways that prevent Alzheimer’s disease that was sparked to write by a Medical News Today story.

(The effect found in the story may be hard to use or access.  But I stopped to realize the large list of things that we can access.)

Who knows if this genetic boost to this protein will prove safe and effective.

BUT, the three things that clearly DO prevent both diseases as shown clearly within the article are:

a) stopping the formation of beta amyloid plaques to begin with;

b) cleaning them out before they cause harm or build up enough to do so;

& c) turning background inflammation down enough either fewer plaques are created &/or they become less harmful by not having high inflammation as a co-catalyst to create nerve damage.

a) Taking stigmasterol and taking resveratrol with other related compounds both seem to prevent the formation or build up of beta sitosterol or boost their removal.

NOT exposing the brain to high blood sugar or cadmium or aluminum or mercury tests to also result in less beta amyloid. 

And, taking turmeric with black pepper was shown to result in less build up of amyloid and tau tangles.  Turmeric DOES lower inflammation a lot and it very likely does this by increasing the clean up by the immune system in large part. BUT, it may also prevent the formation of beta amyloid too!

b) Taking turmeric with black pepper and taking 3,000 to 5,000 iu a day of vitamin D3 and taking astragalus and eating mushrooms each seem to boost the immune system enough to make removal happen sooner or faster or more completely.

c)  Taking &/or eating turmeric with black pepper DOES sharply lower inflammation.  Eating or taking ginger daily also lowers inflammation.  And, both of those lower LDL cholesterol and may do so mostly by lowering the dangerous small particle LDL which can help improve the brain's blood flow.

In addition, totally discontinuing all GMO oils high in omega 6 sharply lowers inflammation such as corn oil, and soy oil and canola oil and safflower and cottonseed oil AND all the hydrogenated oils made from them.

Extra virgin olive oil is the best more healthful alternative that is proven to be so.

 Organic coconut oil and butter from grass fed cows may also be OK in moderation for lower inflammation also as they too are extremely low in omega 6 oils.

Totally discontinuing all foods made from refined GMO hybrid wheat sharply lowers omega 6 oil intake AND lowers problems with high blood sugar and removes an inflammation causing kind of gluten all in ONE pass! 

Dramatically reducing even 100 % whole and organically grown wheat and other grains also lowers omega 6 intake and blood sugar problems.

Plus eliminating meat and poultry and dairy and fish from those fed grains lowers omega 6 and exposure to the GMO grains.

The DASH diet version using only the leanest most fat removed poultry, meat, and dairy also helps do this when the animals were fed grains.

And, getting fats and protein from nuts, beans and lentils, avocados, and wild caught fish instead of meat and dairy does this.

Getting eggs poultry, meat, dairy, and fish foods ONLY from those fed their natural foods and ZERO grains also works.

Here’s the link to that story in Medical News Today:

Protein that causes frontotemporal dementia also implicated in Alzheimer's

disease

http://mnt.to/l/4qXM

Low levels of the naturally occurring protein progranulin exacerbate cellular

and cognitive dysfunction, while raising levels can prevent abnormalities in an

Alzheimer model.