Alzheimer’s disease, Vitamin B12, Thyroid, Supplementation

Alzheimer’s Disease and Hope

By Reagan Houston, MS, PE

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) slowly robs our memory, our thinking. It grabs our spouse or caregiver. We will look at therapies that have helped AD patients and may help you.

B Vitamins

For AD, doctors have found that vitamins B12, B6, and folic acid might help slow the worsening of Alzheimer’s disease.¹ We know that vitamin B12 can repair the myelin insulating sleeve around all nerves.¹

John Dommisse, MD, treated patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease for 18 years.² He found that most of his dementia patients could be reversed from progressing toward AD if treated early and with continued treatment with vitamin B12 and other supplements. Dommisse found that 25 percent of his “dementia” patients actually had low thyroid levels rather than dementia. Thyroid doses measured as free T3 and free T4 were critical.

Exercise

Joseph Mercola, MD, reports that aerobic exercise or fast walking (40 minutes per day, 5 days per week) increased the hippocampus volume by 2.12 percent on the left side and 1.97 percent on the right side vs. 1.4 percent for those without exercise.³ The hippocampus is important to memory.

Good Results

Mary Newport, MD, helped her husband, Steve, by feeding him a mixture of coconut oil and MCT oil (medium chain triglycerides oil). His typical dose was 11 tablespoons of oil.⁴ Too much oil gave diarrhea. Steve started treatment with a MMSE score of 12. A Mini Mental Status Exam (MMSE) score of about 26 to 30 (30 is maximum) is one of several indicators of the absence of Alzheimer’s disease. He could no longer work as a bookkeeper, do laundry, or wash dishes. He improved to an MMSE of 20 and was able to work at Dr. Newport’s hospital.  

Newport’s treatment of Steve showed that MCT oils could improve someone who has AD, reportedly by generating more energy in the brain.⁴ But MCT oils are not an easy therapy. MCT oils relieve constipation and often cause diarrhea. As a treatment for AD, the oil is given in very small but increasing doses to gradually teach the body to accept the oils as food rather than as cathartics. This may take several months. Apparently, Steve could take higher doses early because he had AD already. For AD therapy, MCT oils are difficult to take.

Peggy Sarlin, in her excellent book, Awakening from Alzheimer’s, describes several good results.⁵ She reported that Ronald Hoffman, MD, had a patient, EK age 72. who had memory lapses and cried every morning. After three years she saw Hoffman. He gave her vitamin B12 shots, a gluten-free diet, and daily supplements (Table 1). EK slowly became continent and able to cook and dress herself. Her memory improved to “minimal dementia,” meaning no AD!

Dr. Hoffman’s patient, Bill, couldn’t feed himself, dress himself or find the bathroom.⁵ His wife Nita started Bill on phosphatidylserine (PS), 300 mg/ day, costing about $63 per month. She gradually raised his dose to 1,000 mg per day as his memory improved, and he could even cook. Bill also started mowing the grass. (Monthly cost of pills is based on website data.)

Josh Axe, MD, reports that PS has important functions:⁶

• Bone matrix formation,

• Cell repair and removal by the immune system,

• Heart beat coordination,

• Hormone secretion by adrenal glands, and

• Testicular function.

PS helps form the fatty layer in the semipermeable layer around each cell in the body. The body makes PS but not enough. At Bill’s annual physical, Nita said, “Dr. Hoffman, I hope you’ll recommend it to your patients.” The doctor jokingly replied, “I’d lose my license if I did.”

Sarlin reported other therapies to strengthen the brain including huperzine A, Ginkgo biloba extract, and alpha-GPC (alpha-glycerylphosphorylcholine).⁵ To check the safety of any supplement, use “drugs.com” on the internet. For huperzine A, sixty pills for one month cost about $9.00. Huperzine increases acetylcholine production, cuts memory loss, improves cognitive function, can penetrate blood brain barrier, can be used with alpha-GPC, ginkgo, and PS. Disadvantages of huperzine include possible nausea, vomiting, low blood pressure, and diarrhea occasionally. If taken in excessive doses, drooling, incontinence, higher blood pressure and slow heart rate might result.⁷

Ginkgo biloba extract enhances memory, increases blood flow to brain, and protects against heart disease.⁸ It may thin the blood and slow clotting. Typical dose is 300 mg/day at a cost of about $21 per month.

Alpha-GPC gives memory enhancement, choline, and energy boost while repairing cell membranes.⁹ Alpha-GPC crosses the blood brain barrier. It works well with PS, huperzine, and Ginkgo biloba. Dose is typically 300 to 1,200 mg/day, with 600 mg/day costing about $20 per month.

Peggy Sarlin carefully interviewed “maverick” doctors who often used alternative therapies. She provided complete references in Awakening from Alzheimer’s.⁵

Your doctor may object to these AD therapies. FDA strongly controls the use of many vitamins and supplements by limiting their use by doctors. Doctors worry about their license more than about your AD. Fortunately patients can safely and legally take vitamins. The therapies are safe, far safer than AD. I started vitamin C 21 years ago when diagnosed with cancer.¹⁰

To move energy from food into the brain, glucose and other materials must move through several semipermeable membranes that surround cells in the body. Permeation is aided by both PS and omega 3 fatty acid.¹¹ Permeation is hindered by stiff trans fats. Sarlin and others suggest high doses of omega 3 fatty acids such as 4 to 5 grams daily of EPA plus DHA. This could help put more energy in the brain while minimizing possible bleeding from thin blood.

Are we close to reversing Alzheimer’s disease? Are these supplements a possible therapy for AD? Would the combination of PS and huperzine A and the other substances actually decrease Alzheimer’s disease? I think we are close!

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Disclaimer

This article is a compilation of scientific studies and papers describing research and opinions on the health benefits of vitamins and nutritional supplements in the prevention and treatment of specific medical conditions. It is educational and is not intended as medical advice, as the author is not a physician. The author’s objective is to provide readers with a summary of certain scientific literature so they can consult their doctors and draw their own conclusions concerning the role of vitamins in their health care. Every individual’s physical condition and response to vitamins is unique. The opinions contained in this article have not been evaluated by the US Food and Drug Administration.

BIO

Reagan Houston, MS, PE. a professional chemical engineer, lives in Hendersonville, North Carolina. He has a dozen patents on air pollution control. When diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer 21 years ago, he controlled the cancer with vitamins and some hormones. He never needed nor had surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. With vitamins, diuretics, and a pacemaker he controlled his congestive heart failure. He regularly takes 12 grams of ascorbic acid. He has published two books on cancer and health. His blog and web site is www.cancertherapies.org. Contact: h@cancertherapies.org.

References

1. Holford P. Prevention of Memory Loss and Progression to Alzheimer’s Disease Orthomolecular Treatment of ‘Chronic Disease. 2011;2(28):53-58.

2. Dommisse J. A nutritional-metabolic approach to memory loss: 18-years’experience. 3^rdAnnual Conference of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. December 1995. Downloaded 4/8/2016, from http://www.whale.to/mem.html.

3. Mercola, Joseph, DO. Exercise: a simple way to radically increase your brain power. Peak Fitness. March 7, 2011.

4. Newport M. What If There Was A Therapy For Alzheimer’s And Nobody Knew. July 22, 2008.

5. Sarlin P. Awakening from Alzheimer’s. Online Publishing & Marketing. Lexington, VA. 2012.

6. Axe J. What Is Phosphatidylserine? Healthy Benefits of Phosphatidylserine. https://draxe.com/phosphatidylserine.

7. Huperzine A – Nootropic Review of Effects, Dosage, and More. https://www.braintropic.com/huperzine-a/

8. Ash J. Ginkgo Biloba Benefits Energy, Mood & Memory. https://draxe.com/Ginkgo Biloba Benefits/

9. Alpha-GPC. https://www.braintropic.com/nootropics/alpha-gpc/. Downloaded 5/30/2018.

10. Houston, R. The Almost Perfect Chemotherapy, Townsend Letter. August 2015.

11. Omega-3 Fatty Acids. Univ. of Maryland Medical Center. Downloaded 9/17/2017. http://www.umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/omega3-fatty-acid