Could Two Safe Supplements Really Be the Answer to Alzheimer’s?

Alzheimer’s Disease is undoubtedly one of the worst problems that can afflict a person and their family. The afflicted person steadily loses everything that had made them who they are. Their memories fade. Their ability to relate with others, even their closest family members, erodes. Ultimately they’re in complete isolation and completely unable to care for themselves.

As bad as it is for the person with Alzheimer’s, in some ways it’s even worse for the family. Few things are worse than watching the mental capacities of someone you love steadily and irrecoverably probably deteriorate.

I wish I could tell you there is a definite way we could avoid Alzheimer’s. There isn’t. However,there is some encouraging research taking place.

I saw a recent study that suggested that two safe and readily available supplements may help in preventing Alzheimer’s.

I’ll tell you about the study and these supplements in a moment, but first a want to describe a little more what goes on with Alzheimer’s.

We really don’t know what causes Alzheimer’s but the distinctive feature of Alzheimer’s is an accumulation of a polypeptide called amyloid in the brain. As the amyloid builds up, it forms plaques that lead to the cognitive decline typical of Alzheimer’s.

We do have some natural protection. Specialize white cells can differentiate into cells called macrophages that can remove the amyloid as it forms. The study I mentioned earlier was performed to see if nutrients could improve the ability of macrophages to protect against amyloid.

The researchers collected white blood cells from people afflicted with Alzheimer’s and compare their function with white cells from healthy volunteers. They incubated the white cells from both groups in the presence of amyloid.

They then added the nutrients they were testing: vitamin D and curcumin.

The results were dramatic. In the presence of the supplements, the macrophage is appeared to be much more effective in clearing amyloid.

Which supplement cause the biggest increase varied between the cells from different patients but all seem to have some improvement.

This was a laboratory study, so the researchers are hesitant to make recommendations about taking the supplements now. But if we wait to the definitive scientific studies are available to take action it may be too late.

Dr. Joseph F. McCaffrey (http://www.jfmccaffreymd.com/) discusses this study on his website at:

Two Supplements to Prevent Alzheimer’s. (That’s actually where I first heard of this study.)

Although Dr. McCaffrey agrees that it’s only a preliminary study, he makes very reasonable suggestions on just what we should do now. If you’re at all concerned about the risk of Alzheimer’s, you should check out his suggestions.

By the way, another very useful page on that site is: Free Yourself from Worry. In these stressful times I think it’s advice we all need.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 9:11 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.