The End of Alzheimer's: The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline

This book is full of untruths and a huge lack of any science-backed information leading to false hope for those with any loved ones affected by this disease. Cruel!

A fascinating book, it gives sufficient information for a sympathetic doctor to use the protocol but to do it properly most people already experiencing cognitive impairment would need a lot of support and to do the protocol to the letter in conjunction with Dr Bredesen's organisation could start to get costly - though ultimately cheaper than the care required for someone with Alzheimer's. Hopefully this treatment can be proven and become routine - the main downside appears to be trying to put significant lifestyle changes in place for someone who is probably older, set in their ways and possibly confused. The book also suggests putting the protocol in place to prevent Alzheimer's particularly if you are at high risk, again to do it properly would require support of a medical professional but there are steps anyone can take now to help minimise risk. It's an easy read, mostly easy to understand by the layman - he does suggest skipping some of the more detailed medical stuff if you're not interested in that.

Dr Bredesen has researched Alzheimer’s for 30 years and has succeeded in unraveling this disease. He can prevent it and in most cases reverse its associated decline. (He has already helped about 200 people.) His discoveries represent a paradigm shift regarding this disease. First, here is the current view of Alzheimer’s: -it is a single disease caused by the accumulation of plaques made of amyloid-beta -to treat it find a way of stopping the plaques from forming or remove them once they have formed -most drugs developed with this view have succeeded in stopping or removing plaques but the patients either got no better or got worse. Here is what Alzheimer’s really is: -it results when the brain responds to various events by downsizing -there are 3 types of Alzheimer’s and each is a protective response to different triggers (or a combination of triggers): a) inflammation caused by too much sugar, infections or other causes b) low levels of synapse supporting nutrients, hormones and other molecules c) toxic exposure such as metals or bio-toxins -usually when the brain responds to these triggers it goes on functioning normally -the problem comes when these triggers are chronic, multiple, unrelenting and intense -then the process goes haywire and too many of these triggers start the process of brain cells dying The solution then is to: a) identify which triggers are present b) remove the contributors c) remove the amyloid-beta d) rebuild the lost synapses. These triggers (or factors) are about 36 in number so identifying which are present involves doing tests for each. These tests measure a specific condition in the body. Each test must be in a certain range otherwise it adds to the triggers. i.e. for each item that is out of range it contributes to Alzheimer’s. Once the out of range values are identified, changes are made to bring them all to the optimal value. (The optimal value is not just what is considered ‘normal’ but what is best for reversing the Alzheimer’s.) As more and more of these items are corrected, a certain threshold is reached and the person starts to improve. It is like having 36 holes in your roof that are causing a flood and realizing it is not enough to fix one hole, most of the holes need to be fixed to stop the flood. It’s similar with the brain: once the ‘holes’ are found, each is fixed until enough of them are stopped to get to a point where the death of brain cells has been reduced and compensated by the growth of new ones. With this background in place the major part of the book explains each trigger/factor, how to test for them and how to correct those that are out of range. Throughout the book there are stories of some of those who were helped. Many other books are available about Alzheimer’s but they focus on only a few of the 36 factors. For people who have only a few factors out of range, fixing those will help. However, this will not help those who have different factors which are causing their Alzheimer’s. Dr Bredesen’s program is the only one that is comprehensive enough to deal with all possible triggers. Dr. Bredesen has trained over 450 others in this program so if you or a loved one has Alzheimer’s or is showing signs of cognitive decline, you should be able to find someone who can help. (I emailed him and am waiting to find out if there is anyone in Canada.)

An amazing book recommended to everyone interested in how to prevent AD. The book is very easy to follow, it's well structured and full of valuable information that you can implement in your daily life starting from today. Although some parts of the book are sort-of "US" relevant only (e.g. the names/types of blood tests, or the units used for various tests - conversion to EU units needed), it is still fully relevant for a European reader too. Loved it, definitely recommended!

Good science and well-explained. This book may not be the end of Alzheimer's for everyone, but I am convinced that it can make a huge difference in the lives of many people. The author has over 20 years of research experience and he has applied his knowlegde to breaking down Alzheimer's according to the many small components that can lead to disease. The basic approach is to fix the underlying metabolic functions that have gone awry - mitochondiral inefficiency, insulin resistance, inflammation and nutritional deficiency. It gives you sound nutritional advice and emphasizes the importance of exercise, not only for your immune and muscle heath, but mainly for supplying critical growth factors that allow your brain to heal more quickly. The explainations in the book do for Alzheimer's patients what "The Diabetes Solution" has done for diabetes. It gives you a foundation for understanding the disease and changing your habits to fit your body's needs. Some of the essential supplements recommended for different people include omega-3 fatty acid supplements, like fish or krill oil, Vitamin E, basic nutrients for brain health, such as Calcium, Magnesium and Vitamin D, Zinc for the immune system and a combination of nutrients that can support healthy neurons - Phosphatidyl choline, Phosphatidyl Serine, L-glutamine, Taurine, Acetyl-L-carnitine and alpha-lipoic-acid. Resveratrol can also be useful. Read the book. It is not simple, but it is pretty complete. The other book that is similar to this one, but hasn't quite got all the nutrition right is The Alzheimer's Solution by Dean and Ayesha Sherzai. Their philosophy is a little different, but there is an excellent section in the end of the book on brain exercises. Just like muscles, brains can wither away when not in use. You forget words that you don't use, forget how to solve problems you once could - all natural, but just like muscles, you can build back a lot of these abilities with practice. You can't really expect to regain function without practice, so don't forget this very important aspect of recovery. The final piece of the picture is inflammation. Gut health is directly related to brain health. If you have an infection, you might not always be aware of it. Bladder infections, fungal infections, viral infections can all be subtle affectors of brain and nervous system health. Stomach aches and leaky gut can also affect brain health. That is why it is important to identify and get rid of infection and irritations from allergies, etc. A combination of probiotics and eating fiber-rich, healthy green foods can be helpful in healing the brain and gut. if you decide to use a probiotic, choose a probiotic with a wide range of organisms to replace any possible deficiencies in your gut flora. This can be a path to increase immune tolerance for those with allergies (read about short-chain fatty acids) and increase digestive efficiency. Most people recommend using probiotics daily, but I find that it can be equally effective to take a probiotic weekly over several months. The point is to repopulate your gut with useful bacteria and probiotics are inefficient, since they mostly get killed off in your stomach, so providing repeated doses will increase your likelihood of success. Try to get a probiotic with as many of the following organisms as possible: Lactobacillus (acidophilus, rhamnosus, brevis, plantarum, casei, reuteri, gasseri, fermentum) and Bifidobacterium (lactis, longum, breve, coagulans, infantis). Don't be afraid of probiotics containing Streptococcus thermophilus or salivarius as these are well-known beneficial bacteria used in the fermentation of cheese and yogurt and they produce lactase, which can help digest the lactose in milk. This last bit of advice is personal rather than a direct recommendation from the book, but it makes sense to recruit as many helpers as possible, as long as they don't upset your already well-settled microbial workers. Additionally, I find that a probiotic with 30,000 cfu (colony forming units) is more than adequate and is less likely to upset your stomach than those with more bacteria. Hope you find this info motivational and increases your interest in reading the book.

Es un gran libro que nos explica las raíces y causas de esta enfermedad. Proponiendo un enfoque muy distinto a su tratamiento. Lo recomiendo ampliamente