Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's & Dementia: On Suggested Causes & Cures

Part 1: Proposed Causes (1)

“... in terms of treating and preventing most disease, particularly the major scourges of the modern era (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, and Alzheimers) modern medicine stands an abject failure.
Jon Barron in “Why Your Doctors Do You Like They Do“ on Alzheimer's & modern medicine

While Alzheimer's isn’t cancer, I have received several calls for help with this “modern” scourge and collected the following information on suggested and/or observed causative factors. It is to be hoped that these pages will point those affected to a true cure of this disease by enabling them to address the root cause(s) of this affliction as well as help those who wish to implement preventative lifestyle measures to minimize any risk or likelihood of developing symptoms of dementia at some point in their life. (Complemented by excerpts from the book “Detoxing Chemicals and Pollutants for Optimal Health” and a short list of books on this and related subjects.)

Please note that in the following, I only rarely include research results based on animal experimentation, both for scientific and ethical reasons.

Suggested Alzheimer's causes

Generally: toxins and toxicity

Dr. Hulda Regehr Clark on the role of toxins (and particularly fungi/molds) in dementias and memory loss

By way of introduction and semi-summary, here are some excerpts from Hulda Regehr Clark’s, Ph.D., N.D. book "The Cure for All Diseases":

Memory loss is progressive with age but not due to aging. ... Mental deterioration ... is not as complicated as is generally believed. Although circulation and blood pressure play a role, the effect of toxins is much greater. The action of toxins is greater in age than in youth. The same polluted water and food causes disorientation in the elderly when it only gives a young person a stomachache.

The liver's detoxification capability may be the real issue. ...the liver ... may even determine your life span. The answer, then, is to stop giving it toxic substances and shortening your life span.

As the liver is less able to detoxify them, common toxins are allowed to roam the body with the circulation, doing harm to all the organs. The brain feels disoriented or dizzy; there is memory loss. At first, the liver can “catch up” its work and finally clear the toxin for excretion. But, eventually, it can't catch up or keep up. The body, notably the brain, is bathed in toxic chemicals that interfere with its functioning. ...

All these signs of aging (dementias) can be reversed by simply removing the common toxins with which we are already familiar [referring to readers of Dr. Clark’s The Cure for All Diseases].

Of primary significance are food molds [compare The Fungal/Mycotoxin Causation of Human Disease (particularly CANCER)"]. These cause brain hemorrhages. Clean up diet, mouth, body, environment, very meticulously. [Compare Detoxification and the extensive book excerpts at Dr. Hulda Regehr Clark's detoxification protocols.]

Lack of omega-3 fatty acids

"As reported in the September 2nd issue of Neuron, scientists from UCLA and the Laval University Medical Center in Quebec City have shown for the first time that a diet high in the Omega-3 fatty acid DHA [docosahexaenoic acid] helps protect the brain against the memory loss and cell damage caused by Alzheimer's disease. The study shows that a DHA-rich diet may lower one's risk of Alzheimer's disease and help slow progression of the disorder in its later stages. ‘This is the first proof that our diets affect how our brain cells communicate with each other under the duress of Alzheimer's disease,’ said Greg Cole, senior author and a professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. ‘We saw that a diet rich in DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid, dramatically reduces the impact of the Alzheimer's gene.’

And according to Frederic Calon, a molecular endocrinology researcher at Laval and a co-author of the study, ‘What the public needs to take from this is that diet matters to your brain. If you have a diet that is poor in Omega-3s, that will accelerate the process of Alzheimer's, especially if you're genetically predisposed.’“ (Jon Barron)

In fact, Dr. Johanna Budwig devotes an entire chapter in her book “Das Fettsyndrom” [The Fats Syndrome] to the subject of brain and nerves, stressing the primordial importance she assigns to the correct nutrition (particularly as regards fats) to keep these central control organs healthy and happy as well as optimally functioning.

Mercury: fillings, fish and flu (& other) shots (vaccinations)

For background on the link of Alzheimer’s to toxic pollutants, methylmercury as a neurotoxicant (inducing neuronal death in vivo and in vitro), as well as chelation of heavy metals, see book extracts.

Some of the most common sources of “surplus” mercury are dental amalgam (“silver”) fillings, fish and vaccinations.

Dental amalgams

Holistic physician Dr. med. Dietrich Klinghardt M.D., Ph.D. names Alzheimer's as one of his specialties and convincingly argues that its main causative factor is brain intoxication with neurotoxins, particularly mercury.

“An excellent study on Morbus Alzheimer involved investigating the brains of two groups of persons having died at a similar age, with one group comprising Alzheimer patients and the other group consisting of people who had died of other conditions. The scientists put these people’s brains in the blender, so to speak, and reduced them to the fluid state. The resultant fluid was tested for metal content. What they found was that all metals tested were at the same level of concentration (copper, zinc, aluminium, etc.) except mercury. In the Alzheimer's group, mercury levels were found to be four times higher. Since that time it’s accepted in scientific circles that Alzheimer’s disease is brought on by mercury poisoning, without any doubt.”

Please note regarding the role of aluminium that other research HAS shown a connection to Alzheimer's.

Compare On Effective Holistic Heavy Metal Chelation (Removal): definitions, diagnosis, neurotoxins, heavy metal toxicity & symptoms, risk factors, detox methods & side effects, natural chelation agents, secondary infections, etc.

Fish

Unfortunately, the growing man-made pollution of our seas has made fish, at least those higher up in the foodchain, into proper concentrates of mercury, arsenic, and dioxins.

For a list showing (man-made) contamination levels of sea fish, see for instance http://seafood.edf.org. If one does eat fish, I would make sure it's non-polluted (according to Dr. Klinghardt, however, no such fish can be found any longer) and eco-friendly. The above link also provides a guide under "Best Choices" and "Worst Choices".

If I ate fish or fish products, I would choose the fish richest in omega-3s and least contaminated. But personally I avoid animal flesh including fish for a number of reasons incl. spiritual ones. Animal flesh among other things leads to putrefaction, i. e. toxins being produced in the intestines (also compare in this respect Dr. F.X. Mayr’s research into the link between dietary habits, thorough chewing, intestinal/digestive function and overall health & beauty).

Flu shots & Alzheimer’s disease
The following information was originally found on cyberspine.com/images/newsletter.pdf:

... according to Hugh Fudenberg, MD, the world's leading immunogeneticist and 13th most quoted biologist of our time (over 850 papers in peer reviewed journals), if an individual has had five consecutive flu shots, their chance of getting Alzheimer's disease is ten times higher than if they had one, two or no shots. (1)

Dr. Fudenberg claims this is due to the mercury and other toxins in flu shots (and still used in many childhood vaccinations and RhoGam shots).
These toxins build up in the brain causing cognitive dysfunction.

[According to the John's Hopkins Newsletter, November 1998 edition,] Alzheimer's is expected to quadruple — could this be the reason? ... in an attempt to disprove the Alzheimer’s/flu shot connection, some MDs went to nursing homes and asked people with Alzheimer’s if they remember getting a flu shot. Most said they didn’t but that’s not surprising since people with Alzheimer’s may not remember the name of their spouse.

Based on this “research” they concluded flu shots didn’t cause Alzheimer’s. However, the disclaimer at the bottom of the abstract negated its value: “Because of the self-reported nature of the risk factor questionnaire we cannot exclude the possibility of recall bias.” (3) Can you believe that the media reported this as “proof” the flu shot was safe? They didn’t mention the disclaimer. Maybe they all had too many flu shots?

More at the above site re the question "do flu shots work?" The article's conclusion: "... the flu shot is both dangerous and useless."

1. Dr. Fudenberg at the NVIC International Vaccine Conference, Arlington, VA. September,1997. Quoted with permission.
3. Verreault R, Laurin D, Lindsay J et al. Past exposure to vaccines and subsequent risk of Alzheimer’s disease. CMAJ. 2001;165(11):1495-1498.

Genetic ability to detoxify mercury

One of the determinants of a person's ability to detoxify mercury seems to be genetic. A certain genotype, the AP01, possesses two cysteine amino acids which protects the individual against mercury and thus Alzheimer's. If a person happens to be a AP04 genotype, the AP04 gene s/he carries has two arginine amino acids, a constellation which does not protect from mercury and hence predisposes the individual to developing Alzheimer's. Two intermediate genotypes, the AP02 and AP03 respectively, carry one cysteine and one arginine amino acid each; carriers of these genes do develop Alzheimer's, but less so than the AP04 genotype.

On the relationship between mercury deposits and high cholesterol

Claire W. Gilbert, PhD, after having amalgam fillings removed from her mouth, notes the following in her article “Finding the Fountain of Youth”:

“...Still another effect was that my cholesterol level fell. A little realized relationship exists between cholesterol and mercury. The body — to protect itself from the mercury whose fumes get breathed in and as a solution in saliva gets swallowed — binds the mercury with cholesterol. When the mercury begins to leave the body, so does the excess cholesterol. In other words, it is not pathological to have an elevated cholesterol level when you also have mercury fillings in your mouth. In fact, the cholesterol is a protection against symptoms developing such as to the nerves or muscles.”

Vitamin D (nmol/L) blood levels and Alzheimer's risk

A landmark study published August 6, 2014, in the journal Neurology (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/25098535) found that lower / insufficient vitamin D levels (= below a threshold of 50 nmol/L) more than DOUBLED the risk of developing Alzheimer's and dementia compared with individuals with sufficient concentrations (above 50 nmol/L).

The researchers had followed 1658 healthy adults aged 65 years and older for an average of 5.6 years and found the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations in those who developed all-cause dementia including Alzheimer disease to be markedly lower: "Our results confirm that vitamin D deficiency is associated with a substantially increased risk of all-cause dementia and Alzheimer disease." The full text of the above study can be read at www.neurology.org/content/early/2014/08/06/WNL.0000000000000755.full.pdf .

Lack of vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin/ hydroxycobalamin/ methylcobalamin deficiency)

Research by Professor M. L. Pall, an expert in chronic fatigue syndrome, suggests that in addtion to its vital role in our nervous and hematopoietic [blood-cell-producing] systems, vitamin B12 also assists (and is used up) in detoxifying toxins such as mercury, pesticide residues and noxious compounds contained in car exhaust gases.

When our B12 stores are exhausted in this detoxification work, little to no B12 remains to carry out its important tasks in the maintenance of a healthy and fully functioning nervous system. Vegetarians and vegans carry the highest risk here since virtually no plant foods provide vitamin B12 (compare Alzheimer's Suggested Cures: Vitamin B12 supplementation).

Aspartame, Glutamate (MSG) & other excitotoxins

“According to researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame, the following chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by ingestion of aspartame: Brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, parkinson's disease, alzheimer's, mental retardation, lymphoma, birth defects, fibromyalgia, and diabetes.” See Aspartame.

More on aspartame's adverse reactions
“Aspartame, glutamate, and cysteine are all known as „excitotoxins“, because they work by exciting nerve cells to death. The ultimate consequences of all of them are similar, and include Alzheimer's, ALS, and brain tumors. Along the way, you may lose neural function almost anyplace; my foster daughter lost bladder control (the exact opposite of incontinence) and got it back as soon as she quit the Diet Soda... “

“It is now reported that five deaths and at least 70 different symptoms have resulted from its use. The list includes neurological, dermatological, cardiac, respiratory, all the symptoms seen reported for food sensitivities, low blood sugar, Alzheimer's, ... methanol poisoning.”

“Aspartame may trigger or mimic the following illnesses:
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome — Epstein-Barr — Post-Polio Syndrome — Lyme Disease — Meniere's Disease — Alzheimer's Disease — ALS — Epilepsy — Multiple Sclerosis EMS — Hypothyroidism — Mercury Sensitivity from Amalgam Fillings.”

On MSG and aspartame's aliases
Read labels very carefully. Apparently there are a number of synonyms used to hide MSG in labeling: HVP (hydrolyzed vegetable protein), “natural flavors“ and „spices“ and many others are used... “Aspartame doesn't have as many, but it turns up in chewing gum (where you have to open the outer package to get to the part where it's mentioned) as well as in sodas and those deadly little blue packets at restaurants.”

Sugar

„Sugar can contribute to Alzheimer's disease.” (Frey, J.: Is There Sugar in the Alzheimer’s Disease? Annales de Biologie Clinique. 2001; 59 (3):253-257.)
Compare Sugar’s Health Effects, Risks & Problems: Is Sugar Sweet Poison?.

continue to Proposed Alzheimer Causes (part 2)

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