Showing posts with label Alzheimer's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alzheimer's. Show all posts

2022-06-20

regenerative farming for mycelium for ergothioneine #health #diet

 2022.6.20: news.health/diet/ergothioneine/regenerative farming for mycelium:

summary:

. regenerative farming means not tilling the soil;

not tilling preserves the fungal biomass of the top soil;

fungal biomass is our primary source of ergothioneine,

an amino acid related to histidine,

which is taken up by the plants we grow in fungal soil,

and then taken up by the animals that eat those plants.

. ergothioneine may be reducing our risk of Alzheimer's,

possibly by protecting mitochondrial function.

. the beef from a regenerative farm also had 

a higher ratio of omega-3 to omega-6.

2018-07-02

mediterranean diet may benefit from mushrooms

17.12.3: 18.7.2: news.health/diet/
mediterranean diet may benefit from mushrooms:
Ergothioneine is a naturally occurring amino acid
and is a thiourea derivative of histidine,
containing a sulfur atom on the imidazole ring.
This compound is made in relatively few organisms,
notably Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria, and certain fungi.
Food Chemistry, 2017;
Mushrooms: A rich source of the antioxidants
ergothioneine and glutathione.
prof Beelman:
(professor emeritus of food science and director of the
Penn State Center for Plant and Mushroom Products for Health)
. countries that have more ergothioneine in their diets,
like France and Italy,
also have lower incidents of neurodegenerative diseases,
like Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer's.
-- about five button mushrooms each day.

2018-05-22

#dementia more risk from diet soda than from sugared soda?

2017.11.24: news.health/dementia/
more risk from diet soda than from sugared soda?:
the week.mag may 12, p21:
washington post:
boston univ`Matthew Pase:
. a 10 year study* resulted in few cases of dementia
but those who did get it, were more likely to have
used diet soda not sugared soda.
*[Stroke. 2017]

2017-06-08

Dr.Jay Sordean`outsmarting the #dementia epidemic #alz

6.3: bk.health/diet/alz/
Dr.Jay Sordean`outsmarting the dementia epidemic:
book review of Dr. Jay Sordean 2015`
Outsmarting the Dementia Epidemic:
7 Key Memory Care Actions to Avoid Alzheimer's
and Successfully Keep Your Brain Safe, Sharp
and Sexy Into the Future.
. his website pages related to this topic
and fb news feed.

2017-05-22

Dan Harris 10% Happier #meditation vs #schizophrenia

5.21: co,web/psy/meditation/Dan Harris`10% Happier:
. "happy Sunday!" I greeted a coworker;
. from listening to a radio preacher today,
I was revisiting the idea that our thoughts
-- which we assume to be our self --
are actually influenced by the god or devil;
just like I saw on a cartoon once,
where the character has a devil and an angel
perched on each shoulder,
telling him different ways to react:
a supernatural game of good vs evil.
. I might like a book about handling thoughts:
Dan Harris`10% Happier:
How I Tamed the Voice in My Head,
Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge,
and Found Self-Help That Actually Works--A True Story
-- it's about the benefits of meditation,
and quitting drugs and alcohol.

. the primary benefit of meditation
is mindfulness -- being aware of your thoughts
objectively without automatically reacting.
. I do have some experience with meditation;
at times when I feel too toxic to work or sleep
I try to control my breathing and
and that becomes my only thought.
. however,
what I found most useful for mindfulness
was not meditation but schizophrenia.

2016-10-04

pregnancy brain

9.29: web.health/pregnancy/pregnancy brain:
summary:
"pregnancy brain" is loss of memory
or some sort of cognitive loss
that has not been detected by controlled studies,
yet there is solid indirect evidence.
. pregnancy causes insulin resistance,
and this causes the brain to use less fuel
which then results in less brain function
similar to what happens during Alzheimers.
. other sources of cognitive loss during pregnancy
include problems with sleep, and
having to reduce IQ-raising caffeine.
. magnesium enhances insulin sensitivity
(dark green leafies are the richest source).
. even though fish oil doesn't improve insulin sensitivity
it does enhance memory in some
and there is an FDA-approved form: Lovaza
(undistilled fish normally have too much mercury
for use during pregnancy).
Europe sells prescription R-lipoic acid that may help.

2015-05-03

#dementia linked to anticholinergics

2.4: news.health/alz/dementia linked to anticholinergics:
. a study in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine,
has linked dementia to "anticholinergic" medicines,
including over-the-counter treatments for
conditions such as insomnia and hay-fever.
. in elderly people, higher doses and prolonged use
(every day for 3 years or more)
were linked to higher dementia risk [cdcbbc].

2014-11-02

big clue from #DownSyndrome prone to #Alzheimer's

10.25: news.health/alz/big clue from Down's syndrome prone to Alzheimer's:
. most people with Down's syndrome get Alzheimer's disease?
that makes sense because they are prone to obesity,
and tend to be intolerant of sugar,
(they then get spikes in blood sugar
that raises cholesterol that causes Alzheimer's disease).

2014-05-04

John E. Whitcomb, M.D anti-aging

4.30: aq.med/John E. Whitcomb, M.D anti-aging:
5.4: summary:
. a friend using integrative medicine for cancer
(using both chemo and functional medicine)
introduced me to an anti-aging doctor
who has a blog I found very helpful
and who has a clinic in Brookfield, Wisconsin
with BHRT (bioidentical hormone replacement therapy)
probiotics, and anti-aging diet management .
. I briefly explore his blog's advice,
and give a summary of his LiveLongMD.com site .

2013-12-18

. acetylcholinesterase inhibitors reduce #inflammation #Alzheimer's #MetabolicSyndrome

11.9: web.cook/hup/when is it needed?:
intro:
. in studying when huperzine (hup) is needed,
I'm wondering if the reason for it (confusion, forgetful)
was because I was depressed,
or otherwise in some condition that would be
assisted by the cheaper tryptophan .
. hup is an acetycholinesterase inhibitor;
so, is depression related to acetycholinesterase excess
or other causes of acetylcholine deficits ?
12.18: conclusion:
. there needs to be a balance between
dopaminergics and cholinergics;
increasing both equally
leads to good cognitive function;
and, there are several pitfalls
that are degrading one or the other,
including drugs and infections .
. the need for acetylcholinesterase inhibitor
is often due to low-grade infections
within the prostate or teeth,
that are leaking into the blood .

2013-12-07

#mct or #ketones may prevent #alzheimers

12.7: summary:
. a mouse model of Alzheimers disease
responds well to addition of various ketones;
these are naturally produced by a low-carb diet,
or the consumption of mct oil .

2013-12-03

#Alzheimers #slowcarb vs #prions

10.8: todo.health/alz/high sugar bend proteins into prions?:
diane rheme show radio:
(interviewing a doctor who wrote a book about halucinations).
. alzheimers and parkinsons may both be
caused by prions, which are bent proteins
-- coincidentally,
high blood sugar can bend proteins;
so, perhaps high sugar promotes prions?

10.10: news.health/alz/Dr.Blaylock:
. inflammation and excitotoxicity
create free radicals; [stale buzz word
and he mispronounces acetylcholinesterase too?
but he does mention role of sugar
-- cutting-edge alzheimers research .].

2012-09-23

weightlifting away alzheimers

7.18: news.health/alz/weightlifting away alzheimers:
summary:
. comparing weightlifting to aerobics
for reductions in cognitive decline;
weightlifting was much better for women
at least if they started doing it
before the cognitive decline advanced much .
. the comparison used only women because,
an aerobic study of men found that
among the elderly, only the women
responded cognitively to aerobics .
. while weightlifting was better than aerobics
aerobics can do some good for women,
but only at near-daily application of
an earnest 80% target heart rate;
ie, 4 days per week was interesting,
while 2 days of less intensity was not .
. if she had only 2 days to work,
resistance training is what helped .

. he is welcome to do aerobics
but needs to also do weightlifting,
or needs to complement aerobics with
a diet that optimizes these parameters:
Fasting insulin, cortisol, and IGF-I .
. other tests that male aerobics didn't help
were brain-derived neurotrophic factor,
and β-amyloids 40 and 42 .

. light aerobics in women
did improve one memory test:
the Rey Auditory Visual Learning Test.
( given a list of 15 unrelated words
repeated over five different trials
and are asked to repeat.
Another list of 15 unrelated words are given
and the client must again repeat
the original list of 15 words
and then again after 30 minutes.
Approximately 10 to 15 minutes
is required for the procedure
(not including 30 min. interval)).

another win for heavier aerobics
(walking 45 minutes 3 days per week)
was that at an age where the hippocampus
was normally declining 1.5%,
that level of aerobics was increasing it by 2% !
. it also increased BDNF
(brain-derived neurotrophic factor).

"By midcentury, care for people with Alzheimer's
will cost the U.S. over $1 trillion.

Four Clinical Trials Further Clarify The Role Of
Physical Activity In Cognitive Function And Dementia.

Moderate walking may grow brain region related to memory;
increase nerve growth factor.

Resistance Training Promotes Cognitive and
Functional Brain Plasticity in Seniors With
Probable Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Resistance training and executive functions:
a 12-month randomized controlled trial.
-- contrast Baker's study:
Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Mild Cognitive Impairment

Refining Exercise Prescription
to Promote Executive Functions in Older Adults
using Multi-State Transition Modeling
-- that description matches this study:
Resistance training and executive functions:
a 12-month randomized controlled trial.


2012-05-01

link between alz and sugar may be cholesterol

4.13: news.health/alz/
 link between alz and sugar may be cholesterol:
4.13, 4.17: summary:
. when alzheimers was reported to be a clumping of protein
and related to diabetes,
I had assumed it was a glycation problem,
but here is evidence that cholesterol is implicated
by way of reducing leptin levels
which apparently is what prevents the formation of amyloid-β
and the occurrence of phosphorylated tau .
. the way it all ties together is that
cholesterol is elevated by sugary diet,
and a sugary diet is a leading cause of diabetes
(see the theory and results of an epi'study).

2012-03-31

#alzheimer's cured by anti-cancer drugs #health

3.21: news.health/alz/cured by anti-cancer drugs:

. epothilone D (EpoD) works like paclitaxel,
but it also crosses the blood-brain barrier,
bexarotene is another anti-cancer agent that
cures alzheimers in mice bred to develope alzheimers
or alz'-like symptoms .

. are these anti-cancer drugs working by controlling
sugar's ability to cross-link proteins?

Epothilones are Novel Anti-Tubulin Cytotoxic Agents .
Epothilones act via microtubule stabilization:
. after stabilization of microtubules,
the formation of the mitototic spindle is inhibited,
and the cell undergoes apoptosis.

uphs.upenn.edu's summary:
EpoD prevents cancer cell proliferation by
over-stabilizing specialized microtubules involved in the
separation of chromosomes during the process of cell division.
. in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (AD),
epothilone D (EpoD) is effective in
preventing further neurological damage
and improving cognitive performance:
. aged mice had memory deficits and a condition that resembles
the tangles formed by misfolded tau protein .
In nerve cells, tau normally stabilizes structures called microtubules,
the molecular railroad tracks upon which cellular cargo is transported.
Tangles may compromise microtubule stability
with resulting damage to nerve cells.

jneurosci.org's summary:
Neurodegenerative tau.opathies, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD),
are characterized by insoluble deposits of
hyper.phosphorylated tau protein within brain neurons.
Increased phosphorylation and decreased solubility
may diminish normal tau stabilization of microtubules (MTs).
EpoD treatment reduced axonal dystrophy
and increased axonal MT density
which led to improved cognitive performance.
Moreover, the EpoD-treated PS19 mice had
less forebrain tau pathology
and increased hippocampal neuronal integrity .

. another {anti-cancer, anti-alzheimer} coincidence
is that Bexarotene also cures both;
but appears to be doing so by a different route .
. while it controls cutaneous T-cell lymphoma by
activation of retinoid X receptors (RXRs);
it may be controlling alzheimer's amyloid plaque by
stimulating the expression of apolipoprotein E (ApoE)
which leads to intracellular clearance of β-Amyloid .

Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) :
. ApoE transports lipoproteins, fat-soluble vitamins, and cholesterol
into the lymph system and then into the blood.
It is essential for the normal catabolism of
triglyceride-rich lipoprotein constituents.
. found in the chylomicron and Intermediate-density lipoprotein
that binds to a specific receptor on liver cells and peripheral cells.
. it is suppressing T cell proliferation,
macrophage functioning regulation,
lipid antigen presentation facilitation (by CD1) to natural killer T cell
as well as modulation of inflammation and oxidation.
. ApoE also enhances proteolytic break-down of beta-amyloid,
both within and between cells;
but the E4 variant (isoform ApoE-ε4) is not very effective at this .
. carriers of 2 E4 alleles have 10 ... 30 times the risk of
developing AD by 75 years of age,
as compared to those not carrying any E4 alleles.

ApoE deficiency causes depleted myelin cholesterol;
statin therapy may result in Cholesterol Depletion;
both statins and ApoE deficiency can result in neuron failure
as can Alzheimer's disease .
The inhibition of liver-produced cholesterol is associated with
failure of cholesterol-rich lipid transport mechanisms
used by processes such as cell imports (endocytosis)
and cell exports (exocytosis).
. most substances important to cells are
large polar molecules that cannot pass through the
hydrophobic plasma or cell membrane;
therefore they rely on vesicles attaching to the membrane
to either import or export the reluctant molecules .
. cholesterol lowering drug can harm insulin function by
making pancreatic beta cells unable to export their insulin .
A retrospective analysis of a five year trial showed a
30% increase in the incidence of Diabetes
associated with a cholesterol reduction therapy .

2009-12-27

Preventive approach to Alzheimer's disease

8.27: news.health/Preventive approach to Alzheimer's disease:

A study from University of California in Los Angeles
used immune cells to help identify a suspected indicator of Alzheimer's disease.
By testing the ability of immune cells in the blood
to absorb the peptide amyloid beta,
researchers moved toward developing a blood test
which can gauge a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's.
Patients in the study with Alzheimer's disease demonstrated
poor uptake of amyloid beta,
while participants without the disease showed high uptake.
The results conclude that if the immune system is not adequately
clearing amyloid beta, there is risk of developing Alzheimer's.
MP Biomedicals LLC of Orange County has a contract to commercialize the
technology developed by UCLA,
creating a diagnostic blood test for screening for Alzheimer's disease.
[12.27:
. I believe there are other results showing
that on the other side of the equation
a hormonic diet (low-glycemic load with high legume)
can help the weak immune system
by making less plaque needing removal . ]

11.6: news.hormonics/alz'/more evidence against high-carb lifestyles:
They used a genetic mouse model that
develops Alzheimer's-like symptoms in adulthood,
and over a 25 week period supplemented the
regular, balanced diet of half the animals
with 10% sugar water.
Afterwards, they compared the metabolism,
memory skills (by means of various mazes)
and brain composition
of the regular and sugar-fed mice.
The sugar-fed mice gained about 17% more weight
than controls, had higher cholesterol levels,
and developed insulin resistance.
These mice also had worse learning and memory retention
and their brains contained over twice as many
amyloid plaque deposits,
an anatomical hallmark of Alzheimer's .

. “Diet-induced hyperhomocysteinemia
increases Amyloid-beta formation and deposition
in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease,”
-- journal: Current Alzheimer Research.
“The data from previous studies show — even in humans —
when the level of homocysteine in the blood is high,
there is a higher risk of developing dementia.
We hypothesized that high levels of homocysteine
in an animal model of Alzheimer’s
would accelerate the disease” .
. there are apparently 2 factors controling homocysteine levels:
a high-methionine diet,
and maintaining a biochemistry that can
prevent methionine from lingering in its intermediary,
homocysteine form .
. this is yet another reason why high-quality protein
must be drip-fed,
and thus why the best way to get it is from beans .
. other factors needed for minimizing the intermediary
is b-6, and perhaps some other b-vitamins .
. tmg or dmg might also help homocysteine .