Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's & Dementia: On Suggested Causes & Cures

Part 1: Proposed Causes (2)

Overweight and obesity

According to study results published by the American Academy of Neurology, people who are overweight or obese at (what typically is considered) "midlife" have an 80 percent higher risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer's disease. Generally, both obesity and type 2 diabetes have been shown in numerous studies to be associated with lower cognitive performance and cognitive decline all the way to dementia.

High-fructose diet and impaired memory

Some studies such as The emerging role of dietary fructose in obesity and cognitive decline (published in Nutrition Journal in 2013) have looked into the impact of a high fructose intake in lowering brain function (the same study also highlights the ability of omega-3 fatty acids to ameliorate the effects of a high-fructose diet on the brain).

Some animal experiments (which may or may not be transferable to humans) were also able to demonstrate detrimental effects of a high fructose intake on certain types of memory (see e.g. A high fructose diet impairs spatial memory in male rats).

Tinnitus

Some evidence (research done at the University of Konstanz in Germany) using magnetoencephalography points to a link between tinnitus and the development of Alzheimer's. Tinnitus not only negatively impacts the auditory cortex but overstimulates neurons by sending out ripples across the entire brain. Tinnitus itself has been associated with localized deposits of heavy metals such as mercury — possibly THE main culprit in Alzheimer causation.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is also known for inducing 'chemo brain': forgetfulness and mental fog. An UCLA study shows that chemotherapy causes changes to the brain's metabolism and blood flow that can linger at least 10 years after treatment. More at side effects of conventional cancer treatment

Acetaminophen / Paracetamol

This common OTC pain reliever and fever reducer is frequently sold under the brand names Tylenol and Panadol^[1]. In addition to its apparent link to kidney and liver damage/toxicity/failure, its (ab)use has also been linked to Alzheimer's disease, particularly in combination with other drugs and/or already compromised health and/or liver/kidney detox function, see details at www.health-science-spirit.com/paracetamol.htm . In fact, the 2014 study "The Alzheimer pandemic: is paracetamol to blame?" published in Inflammation & Allergy-Drug Targets actually concluded that Alzheimer's disease is "primarily a man-made condition with paracetamol as its principal risk factor".^[2]

Benzodiazepines

are psychoactive drugs (including Valium) which are very widely prescribed for panic and anxiety disorders, insomnia, alcohol withdrawal and other conditions. An increasing number of scientific studies has shown a link between taking those drugs over the longer term and Alzheimer's.

Benzodiazepines are marketed under many dozens of different trade names (see this partial list).

Parasites in combination with the solvents toluene or xylene

Dr. Hulda Regehr Clark considers the presence of certain parasites in combination with toluene or xylene the cause of Alzheimer's disease. From Dr. Clark's The Cure For All Cancers: “Fasciolopsis buskii is the fluke (flatworm) that I find in every case of cancer, HIV infection, Alzheimer's, Crohn's disease, Kaposi's, endometriosis, and in many people without these diseases.” And in her book “The Cure for All Diseases”, Dr. Clark writes:

“What was once a rare disease has become a household word because it now affects so many. Two new pollutants of the brain, inviting an old parasite to a location it would not normally be, is the explanation. The new pollutants are solvents that seek the brain.

Xylene and toluene are pollutants of popular beverages, decaffeinated powders and carbonated drinks. At first, the body can detoxify these but with a steady stream of solvent arriving, detoxification slows down and parasites begin to build up in the brain. Common fluke parasites which we eat in undercooked meat and perhaps get from our pets, can now reach the brain and multiply there.

Other toxins are also present, such as aluminum, mercury, freon, thallium, cadmium. Aluminum buildup is seen in all Alzheimer's sufferers (100%). This is undoubtedly part of the true cause. Did it come before or after the parasites?”

See additional extracts from Dr. Clark’s book “The Cure for All Diseases” for her suggestions how to tackle Alzheimer’s disease, featured in Part 2 — Alzheimer's Disease: Suggested Cures & Preventative Measures.

Solvents

Similarly, "top German toxicologist Max Daunderer, M.D." found that with patients suffering from memory loss, the main toxin present were solvents and the secondary toxin was aluminium. (Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt)

Soy

www.thedoctorwithin.com lists among other things the following likely toxicities of soy products:

blocks absorption of zinc, which is necessary for brain formation
high levels of aluminum prevent normal brain and intestinal formation (compare Alzheimer causes, part 1: aluminium apparently is also strongly implicated in the causation of Alzheimer’s).^[3]

Too Much Tofu Induces Brain Aging
From the Honolulu Star-Bulletin: "A Hawaii study shows a significant statistical relationship between two or more servings of tofu a week and 'accelerated brain aging' and even an association with Alzheimer's disease, says Dr. Lon White. ...these are not nutrients. They are drugs. They will have some benefits and some negative things."

Soy Foods and thyroid function
David Zava, Ph.D., a biochemist and an experienced breast cancer researcher, is credited with the following statements: "In studying the literature on soy I found there are about five types of plant chemicals in the soybean that can be toxic to humans if they are not removed by special processing… the fifth antinutrient in soybeans is called a goitrogen. This is a chemical that latches on to iodine, preventing it from absorbing into the body from the gastrointestinal tract. Iodine is needed to make thyroid hormone. Low thyroid function has been associated with poor brain development. Anyone who has been deficient in thyroid hormone understands quite well what impact this can have on normal brain function..."

The non-advisability of soy consumption is also discussed in On soy.

Mobile phones and cordless DECT stations

According to freiemedizin.de, “English scientists suspect that the microwaves emitted by mobile phones specifically affect the nerve cells responsible for short-term memory and the regulation of blood pressure... [there is] strong evidence for damage ... to memory and attention.”

Also "mobile phones allow the brain to absorb toxins... blood-brain barrier opened at 0.0001-0.001 Watt.. " "Heavy metals (Amalgam..) are now able to break through the blood-brain barrier and penetrate nervous tissue and the brain... Radio waves from mobile phones and DECT cordless handsets/home phones act... as a door opener for chemical poisons which without that help would bounce off the brain ..."
(Please note that these statements seem to be based on animal experiments which Healing Cancer Naturally does not endorse for reasons of unreliability and ethics).

According to www.buergerwelle.de, DECT home stations (c. 1890 MHz) are even bigger culprits, inducing health complaints such as tinnitus, racing of the heart, dizziness, sleep disorders, and more.

Further, quoting a dpa Reuters World Report dated March 2, 1999:

"Microwaves emitted by mobile phones directly affect brain cells... partial amnesia, difficulty concentrating... increased risk of accidents up to ten minutes after the last mobile phone use ... long-term damage to ability to concentrate...".

The above has been shown by German neurologist and psychiatrist Dr. Michael Klieeisen in his groundbreaking study from 2002, “Effects of Mobile Phone revealed by CATEEM (Computer-Aided Topographical Electro-Encephalo-Metry)” which concluded: “Cellphone use causes the same changes in brain performance which neurological diagnosticians consider typical of the reduced cerebral capacity caused by aging or pathological processes.”

Compare On electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and Electromagnetic fields and radiation (EMFs and EMRs): critical protection and avoidance measures.

Water chlorination, arteriosclerosis & memory loss

The following observations on the link between water chlorination, arteriosclerosis and memory loss are translated from a German lecture by Dietrich Klinghardt MD, held on 20/11/1996 in Schloss Elmau, Garmisch-Partenkirchen (translated by Healing Cancer Naturally © 2008):

“We know that today’s chlorination of our tap water leads to arteriosclerosis and constitutes one of the central elements of coronary and vascular disease (thickening/narrowing and hardening/loss of elasticity in the arterial walls) ... when someone at 80 or 85 suddenly loses their memory, we typically attribute it to beginning Alzheimer’s, but in most cases, it’s simply a buildup in their blood vessels caused by the chlorine in their tap water. That’s why everyone should drink unchlorinated tap water.”
For some other risk factors associated with water chlorination, see On the link between cancer & water chlorination (“Cancer-fighting nutrients become deadly when combined with chlorinated tap water”).

Statins’ side effect (one of several serious ones): memory loss and amnesia

Statin drugs include medications such as Lipitor (atorvastatin), Lescol (fluvastatin), Mevacor (lovastatin), Pravachol (pravastatin), Zocor (simvastatin), Crestor (rosuvastatin), Baycol (cerivastatin), and Vytorin (a combination of Zocor and Zetia [ezetimibe/simvastatin]).

“Statin drugs also attack focus and memory. Because cholesterol works to ensure the integrity of the myelin sheath (responsible for carrying electrical messages throughout the brain for memory and focus), a logical hypothesis is that lowering it can have a negative impact on memory and focus. Observing the effects of statin drugs, which significantly lower cholesterol, we find that the above hypothesis may hold true.

Dr. Graveline, MD, a NASA astronaut, flight surgeon, family doctor and author of Lipitor – Thief of Memory, claims he lost his memory after six weeks of using Lipitor.

From his testimony we learn that he could not recognize his house or his wife after using the statin drug Lipitor. His memory loss lasted for six hours at a time. After quitting the drug, his lapses in memory ceased.

Dr. Graveline is not alone in his experience. Loss of memory from using statin drugs has become so widespread it has caught the attention of CBS News, who reported the findings of researcher Dr. Beatrice Golomb, assistant professor of medicine at the University of California in San Diego. She states that: “We have people who have lost thinking ability so rapidly [from using statins] that within the course of a couple of months they went from being head of major divisions of companies to not being able to balance a checkbook and being fired from their company." [O'Fallon, Ill., May 24, 2004. CBS Evening News. “Statins’ Mind-Boggling Effects.”]^[4]

Natural remedies for lowering high cholesterol:
cinnamon and apple cider vinegar rather than statins
"Taking one quarter to one half teaspoon of cinnamon works just as well as the statin drugs in lowering cholesterol and triglycerides as well as blood glucose."

More remedies (mostly revolving around apple cider vinegar) can be found for instance at www.earthclinic.com/CURES/cholesterol.html . Be aware however that high cholesterol levels actually seem to be associated with a lower cancer risk, see On the link between cholesterol and cancer incidence.

Sleep deprivation

According to a recent pre-clinical animal study^[5] by Temple University, USA, chronic sleep disturbance could precipitate the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. One group of mice was artificially sleep-deprived by subjecting it to a daily regimen of twenty hours of light and four hours of darkness while the control group was kept on twelve hours of light and twelve hours of darkness. It was found that the first group developed pathological changes in their brains related to Alzheimer's earlier than the mice allowed ample sleep. (Perhaps even the lack of melatonin production played a role here.) In any case, this study was published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging under the title "Sleep deprivation impairs memory, tau metabolism and synaptic integrity of a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease with plaques and tangles" in 2014.

Incidentally, one of the side effects of statins (Lipitor) can be disturbed sleep.

CDP-choline (citicoline) deficiency

According to hopewelltechnologieslimited.com, "Alzheimer’s is the result of a nutritional deficiency … namely a deficiency of CDP-choline (citicoline). Citicoline provides key developmental structure and functions like stem cell proliferation, lifelong memory function, and brain and spinal cord development. When one becomes deficient in citicoline, neurotransmission becomes faulty, cell membranes become unstable, muscle function becomes impaired, liver function becomes compromised, ... and general organ dysfunction can also occur. Research has revealed that Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia can be greatly improved by the administration of citicoline."

Personality traits & Alzheimer’s risk

According to an interesting New Scientist report published at www.newscientist.com/channel/health/dn12717-selfdiscipline-may-reduce-alzheimers-risk.html, persons exhibiting conscientiousness (meticulousness, self-discipline and productiveness) have been found to have a lower chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease than those who exhibit this trait in a lesser manner.

Lack of mental exercise

While this seems an obvious causative factor in any disease linked to brain performance, the reader is advised to check the available literature regarding the accuracy of this likely causative connection.

Chronic dehydration and caffeine (?)

Dr. Batmanghelidj, author of Your Body's Many Cries For Water, reports that some animal studies have shown that in the tested species, caffeine inhibits a most important enzyme system, PDE (phosphodiesterase) that is involved in the process of learning and memory development (caffeine impaired the animals' vision and memory components). He warns people with Alzheimer's not to consume other drinks than water, and definitely abstain from caffeine-containing beverages. (One scientific study mentioning caffeine, PDE and memory effects is Behavioral and physiological effects of xanthines in nonhuman primates).

According to Dr. Batmanghelidj, caffeine can contribute to Alzheimer's disease simply by its dehydrating effect since chronic dehydration is the primary cause. The brain is about 2% of total body weight but receives 18-20% of blood circulation. With prolonged dehydration, brain cells shrink and functions begin to get lost such as the transport system which delivers neurotransmitters to nerve endings.

Dr Batmanghelidj reports the story of a medical friend whose brother had developed Alzheimer's. When his healthy brother forced him to drink more water every day, the patient noticeably improved in a matter of weeks. At the time of reporting, he had begun to recover his memory and ability to follow conversations and had stopped repeating himself as frequently as before.

Last but not least: mental-emotional-spiritual factors

The wife of a man stricken with Alzheimer’s wrote to me that she was sure that belief played a large part in her husband’s challenge, including his belief that he was genetically predisposed since his father had similarly suffered.
Compare Mind.

Book excerpt

Excerpts from "Detoxing Chemicals and Pollutants for Optimal Health" by Jeff Morris

In “Metals in Medicine”, Dr. Nash goes into more detail: Mercury is known to affect the brain and has been associated with the causation or exacerbation of degenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease... mercury is associated with autism, the degenerative diseases of the brain mentioned above, neurodevelopmental diseases, vascular diseases, nephrotoxicity, and cancer.

[Clarkson TW, Magos L, Myers GJ. The toxicology of mercury: current exposures and clinical manifestations. N Engl J Med. 2003;349(18):1731-1737] points out that the fetal brain is more susceptible than the adult brain to mercury-induced damage. Specifically, methylmercury inhibits the division and migration of neuronal cells and disrupts the cytoarchitecture of the developing brain. Recent studies have correlated the explosive increase of autism with thimerosal, an additive to many vaccines that contains 50% ethyl mercury.

... [On] the possible connection between mercury and Alzheimer's disease[,] Dr. Nash notes, “Some of the [mercurous] vapors [from dental amalgams] reach the brain via the ethmoid sinuses. Is it coincidental that Alzheimer's disease has shown degenerative tracts often following the olfactory connections?

There is increasing evidence of mercury associated with Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Boyd Haley, Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry, University of Kentucky, has published multiple papers on his research since the late 1980s.

He has successfully reproduced the changes seen in Alzheimer's disease in the brain homogenate of normal brains with the addition of mercury, in the form of both mercury chloride and thimerosal.

Some people hypothesize that mercury may contribute to autism on one end of the lifespan and Alzheimer's on the other end, Dr. Nash told us. I'm not convinced that mercury is the sole cause, but other factors may be involved. It could be a genetic thing. It appears there is a third of the people who are genetically prone to not getting rid of the metals, who may be most susceptible for Alzheimer's disease.

In his article, Dr. Nash goes on to conclude, “The work of Haley, Aposhian, Godfrey, and others makes a strong case that mercury may cause or at the very least exacerbate Alzheimer's disease. Studies looking at toxic metals, especially mercury, as a possible cause for Alzheimer's disease need to be conducted. The clinical metal toxicologists have clinical experience that early metal detoxification will often stabilize and even reverse early Alzheimer's disease. “ More research is needed.

As with other integrative practitioners, Dr. Nash sees the necessity for a fundamental change in the way medicine approaches disease. "We need to find out what is causative of diseases ... This will take time, but we have not had an adequate prevention of diseases. Most patients who see doctors do not have diseases, they have symptoms. Doctors know symptoms don't kill folks, but they placate patients with medications to ease symptoms. The mechanism is straightforward; in the clinical setting you can shift the physician's mindset from only treating the symptoms of disease, to understand that these diseases have correlates that we have never recognized." Dr. Nash believes that recognition of causative factors of disease is a trend that is spreading worldwide. In "Metals in Medicine" he concludes,

"Toxicant metals are increasingly being associated with multiple disease states. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have authorized payment for in-office, intravenous metals detoxification in the District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, Texas, and Virginia, as well as the Indian Health Service. This is a great opportunity to collect meaningful data directly from patients.

It is known that dialysis can be delayed at least two or three years by repeated in-office, intravenous metals detoxification; it is hoped that all prospective dialysis patients would be tested for toxicant metals and treated appropriately. If detoxification of toxicant metals can become the standard in time, our health may improve markedly.

Could toxicant metals be a diagnosable and treatable risk factor in many of the diseases affecting this nation? The clinical metal toxicologists are the experts in low-dose, chronic accumulation of toxicant metals and the symptomatic reversal observed with treatment. Many clinical metal toxicologists are participating in the NIH's TACT study. More research is needed in the basic science mechanisms of toxicant metals and common diseases. Additional clinical research, besides the TACT study, is also needed."

"I believe toxicant metals and their detection and detoxification will be one of the exciting new fields in medicine. I have great hope for the future of medicine," adds Dr. Nash.

Video showing mercury’s destructive effect on nerve cells

http://commons.ucalgary.ca/mercury/ This short video by Prof. F. Lohrscheider (University of Calgary, Canada) clearly shows the destructive effect mercury exerts on neurons.

Update January 2019: University of Calgarno longer makes this video available. As of now, this video can be watched at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2CtINZWy00 .

HealingCancerNaturally.com's pages on Alzheimer's Disease: Causes, Cures & Prevention will be further expanded, please check back occasionally.

continue to Proposed Alzheimer Causes (part 3)

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Footnotes

1 Paracetamol is also marketed under many other names in different parts of the world. For a list, see e.g. Wikipedia: Paracetamol brand names.

2 See The Alzheimer Pandemic: Is Paracetamol to Blame?

3 See www.thedoctorwithin.com/soy/Magic-Bean/ .

4 The above-quoted excerpt is from "Hidden Truth About Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs" by Shane Ellison, M.Sc., chapter "Hidden Dangers of Statin Drugs".

5 Animal experimentation is not supported by Healing Cancer Naturally.