My regular readers know that I have particular concerns about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia since they run in my family.
All of us are concerned about retaining memory and cognitive function as we age and most of us know that dementia is not a normal part of the aging process.
Here are some excellent natural ways to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s, with strong scientific evidence to back them up:
I’ve written a great deal about curcumin and its impressive health benefits, including some recent powerful proof that curcumin not only protects and heals brain cells from the characteristic plaques and tangles of dementia, it can also prompt the body to grow new brain cells.
I love curcumin so much that I published a book about it last year: Curcumin the 21st Century Cure.
Our curcumin book calls this wonder substance “The Golden Knight” and was interested to learn from Sayer Ji of GreenMedInfo.comthat turmeric, the mother substance of curcumin, is regarded as “The Golden Goddess” in India.
Until just a few years ago, science insisted that humans could not increase the number of brain cells we had a birth. Now, with the birth of a new science called neurogenesis, we know that we can grow new brain cells throughout our lives.
That prompts many questions about so-called medical and scientific “truths” later discovered to be untruths. But I digress.
Curcumin is a potent anti-inflammatory, proven to relieve chronic pain and arthritis, prevent heart disease, diabetes and cancer and ease depression and other brain disorders.
As I mentioned earlier, curcumin is extracted from turmeric, a golden tuber used in Indian curries that gives it the characteristic flavor and color. But unless you are Indian or prepared to eat turmeric three times a day for life, it’s unlikely that the turmeric spice will give you enough active ingredients to be effective. In fact, even the curcumin, if not extracted properly, is of little therapeutic value.
Coconut oil is in itself a healthy fat and a unique medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), so there is no harm in trying this method of treatment that has little scientific support so far.
The MCTs are directly converted by the liver into ketones, which work as brain food. Those ketones may actually restore and renew neurons and nerve function, improving brain function.
The theory comes from Dr. Mary Newport, an M.D. in Florida whose remarkable story of treating her husband, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the age of 51, with coconut oil. Her treatment gave him at least two years of dramatically improved mental function. Take a look at this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZOR-Qd3QSg
Don’t let the lack of scientific backing dissuade you. Since no one can patent coconut oil (a natural substance) and market it as a drug for which they’d charge $50 a dose, no one wants to spend the money to research it. In fact, a 16-ounce jar of high quality organic coconut oil, enough to last two months, sells for $9 or less.
Black sativa or black seed
This seed, nigella sativa, has been shown to prevent Alzheimer’s and slow the progression of the disease in elderly people without side effects.
A study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology showed ignificant improvements in memory, attention and cognition without any negative changes in any biochemical markers of cardiac, liver or kidney function during the nine-week study period.
Like curcumin and cinnamon mentioned below, black sativa is commonly used as a food in India, where Alzheimer’s and dementia are rare.
The powerful seed has a host of other health benefits that suggest it could be a wise addition to a supplement or dietary program.
Cinnamon
Cinnamaldehyde and epicatechin, the compounds that give cinnamon its pungent sweet taste have been shown to help stop “tangles” of tau protein — notorious in the memory-robbing neurodegenerative disease — from forming in the brain.
