Health Alert 29
There are two simple things you should do to lower your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease:
• take antioxidant supplements
• keep your heart healthy
Some of my patients call Alzheimer’s disease “old timer’s disease.” The perception is that if you live long enough it’s inevitable. Evidence is mounting, though that the disease may be much more preventable than we used to think.
* Antioxidants Decrease Risk*
This year’s International Conference on Alzheimer’s disease announced the results of a landmark study. Researchers studied diet and antioxidant intake over a lifetime. The antioxidants vitamins B, C, E, and folic acid and fish oil were included in the study. The risk of Alzheimer’s disease among those who took antioxidants was 1/3 that of those who did not.
New research has also shown the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) to be effective in treating Alzheimer’s disease. In 2001, Neurology reported a study where Alzheimer’s patients took either NAC or a placebo. The patients’ cognitive skills were tested after 3 and 6 months of treatment. Those who took NAC had marked cognitive improvement.
* High Blood Pressure and High Cholesterol Increase Risk *
A new Finnish study followed 1,449 adults ages 65-79. It concluded that people with normal cholesterol levels and normal blood pressures have a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
With all other health factors considered, those with cholesterol levels greater than 250 were 3 times as likely to develop Alzheimer’s. Those with higher than normal blood pressure were twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s.
I talked about lowering your cholesterol naturally in Health Alert 5. Natural policosanol supplementation is a simple and safe ways to lower your cholesterol.
A natural way to lower blood pressure is with the very important nutrient CoQ10. I talked about the value of CoQ10 in Health Alert 3. The 2001 issue of the Southern Medical Journal provided additional evidence of the effectiveness of CoQ10 to lower blood pressure. Researchers conducted a 12-week, double-blinded study of 80 men and women with high blood pressure. Over half of the participants obtained normal blood pressures without medications with CoQ10.
Supplements That Help Prevent Alzheimer’s
Supplement Dose
Vitamin B-12 50 mg
Vitamin B-6 50 mg
Vitamin C 500 mg
Vitamin E 400 IU
Folic Acid 400 mcg
Fish Oil 650 mg
*N-acetylcysteine 500 mg
*Policosanol 20 mg
*CoQ10 120 mg
* Therapeutic Doses
All of the nutrients mentioned are inexpensive and easily accessible. They are also natural and very safe. Reducing your risk of Alzheimer’s can now be added to their growing list of benefits.
Al Sears, MD
Source: Family Practice News September 1, Neurology 2001 57(8), Southern Medical Journal (94)11, 2002 and September 15, 2002,