Looking For Methods to Mitigate Alzheimer's Disease

From today's New York Times, an article looking at various conditions that, if mitigated, will help to avoid Alzheimer's. I won't copy much of the article.
But the following I will file in the "I Did Not Know That" file,(in bold.) I knew there were other reasons to avoid menopausal hormones, but this reason I was unaware of.

The panel found the strongest evidence for only one conclusion: that the herb gingko biloba does not prevent Alzheimer’s. There was moderate evidence that neither vitamin E nor drugs called cholinesterase inhibitors, used to treat dementia symptoms, decrease risk of Alzheimer’s. And there was moderate evidence that the gene ApoE4 significantly increases Alzheimer’s risk, as does menopause therapy with estrogens and progestins.

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Toll From Stress: Links to Parkinson's and other Diseases

From Scientific American Mind,( www.ScientificAmerican.com/mind) an article about brain disorders result from a complex interaction between our genes and the environments to which we are exposed. A set of recent studies has just uncovered an important environmental instigator of neurodegenerative disease: stress. It goes on to say that stress has been shown to have an adverse effects on numerous psychological condition The idea that stress may figure into neurodegenerative disease, is relatively new. The research was done on rats and monkeys, but the implications for human disease are pretty clear.
Their Fast Facts:
1. A recent wave of research has unveiled an important environmental player in the genesis of neurodegenerative disease: Stress
2. Pairs of identical twins developed Alzheimer's disease in concert only 40% of the time, showing that factors other than genetics must contribute to the disorder.
3. Stress seems to impede the ability of certain brain cells to recover from insults, triggering aor aggravating the symptoms of disorders such as Parkinson's.

We know from the work of Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn that telomeres show increased cellular aging in patient populations with increased stress, so it is not too surprising that Alzheimer's would be influenced by increased stress levels also.
As readers of this blog know, stress is my particular area of interest especially using acupuncture as a mitigator of the stress response. (I have a page on my website here.)
Be Smart! Relax! And get your acupuncture! (As well as exercise, meditation etc..._
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HDL, "Good" Cholesterol May Lower Alzheimer Risk

At Columbia University’s Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, they've done a study looking at Alzheimer risk and HDL, the "good" portion of cholesterol. If your HDL cholesterol is very high, this may be protective. In fact patients with high levels of HDL were less than half as likely to develop Alzheimer's Disease.

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‘Good’ Cholesterol May Lower Alzheimer’s Risk
By RONI CARYN RABIN

The people who reaped the benefit had very high HDL blood levels that exceeded 56 milligrams per deciliter of blood, the study reported. They developed 60 percent fewer cases of Alzheimer’s disease than people with the lowest HDL levels, of 38 milligrams or below...
But the HDL was only protective at extremely high levels, Dr. Reitz said. “It really only makes a difference if you’re higher than 56 [milliliters],” she said.

The report, published in the Archives of Neurology, is not the first to find that what’s good for the body may also good for the brain. Numerous studies have found that older people who walked the most were at lowest risk of developing vascular dementia, possibly because the regular exercise improves cerebral blood flow and lowers the risk of vascular disease.

Regular physical activity, in general, is believed to improve brain function, both by increasing blood flow to the brain and by stimulating the production of hormones and nerve growth factors involved in new nerve cell growth. Exercise also raises levels of “good” HDL cholesterol. Studies have found that animals that are kept physically active have better memories and more cells in their hippocampus, a part of the brain critical for memory. And exercise can help stave off or keep in check diseases like Type 2 diabetes, which increase the risk of developing dementia...

Some medications, like niacin and fibrates, may help raise HDL levels, Dr. Reitz said. But she recommends a Mediterranean diet rich in healthy fats from nuts, fish and olive oil, along with exercise, adding, “Aerobic exercise helps a lot.”

In a previous post, I discussed a study that looks at insulin resistance and acupuncture and how acupuncture can help with this aspect of metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes. I hope it's not a stretch to think that acupuncture might help increase HDL cholesterol by increasing insulin sensitivity. Maybe it is a bit of a stretch, but for sure acupuncture can help to get you walking again if you have knee, back or hip pain!

Care Instead of Pills for Alzheimer's

This opinion piece in the LATimes by Ira Rosofsky March 19, 2009 crystallizes an argument that I would love to see have more mainstream traction. The argument is to weigh the cost of some of these new "wonder drugs" against how that money could be better spent in other types of care. This argument could be applied to a number of other conditions besides Alzheimer's dementia. I've been seeing a recent push to medicate "pre-diabetic" patients. Seen as representing a huge target population ($$$) Big Pharma is rushing to find a way to get drugs to these patients. Hey, here's an idea: why not put that money toward available, fresh produce. Where diabetes is most prevalent is often in the poorest areas of the country where access to fresh food is scarce.
Ira Rosofsky is a psychiatric nurse taking care of elderly patients. He sees them being medicated with expensive dementia drugs with a very dubious record of effectiveness. He also sees them being medicated with psychoactive drugs (anti-depressives, anti-psychotics) often just for being "ornery." Even ignoring ever-present problem of side effects- especially in the elderly- the costs of these drugs is extremely high to the end consumer. If one takes into account the enormous marketing budgets in addition, these dementia medications represent a huge amount of money. This author makes the case very succinctly:
"But why not admit the failure of medication and instead spend some of those billions of dollars on more staff to hold the hands of both patients and their families? Beyond nurturance, much of the savings from giving up on cost-ineffective medications could be diverted to basic research that might yield not only statistically significant but meaningful and large improvements -- even a cure."

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