Dementia and Cognitive Decline

My father gave me my first close-up of one of the kinds of Dementias. There are about 5-6, including Alzheimer's. My dad had a stroke and several TIA's, or Transient Ischemic Attacks, and suffered with vascular dementia, having short term memory loss. He had 'malignant hypertension', a fancy name for high blood pressure that comes on suddenly. Even as a kid I remember seeing a blood vessel in his temple that stood out when he would get irate about something. Perhaps trying to have a dozen children (he had ten) was his nemesis.

Treating high blood pressure reminds me of witch doctors and blood letting, because it is not a science. Too many doctors put their trusting patients on one blood pressure med after another, upping the dose of one, adding another, switching to another, giving one med that does one action and another that does the opposite, or prescribing two that do the same action, which is very dangerous. A friend of mine here in town actually had a substitute Pharmacist give him a different blood pressure medication, without a doctor's change in prescription. My friend was awake for two nights, and thought he was going to die. **Always have a pharmacist you can trust. I recommend Don West of Lloyd Center Pharmacy in Portland, Oregon: They are a compounding pharmacy, that treat people as individuals, not one-size-fits-all.
 38 East Burnside Street
Portland, OR 97214-1108
(503) 281-4161


Natural solutions to maintaining blood pressure are: walking or mild exercise (my dad walked 5 miles a day for years, which creates other pathways for blood vessels and oxygenates the blood. He lived to 85. He would have lived longer if not for the malpractice and maltreatment, including a plethora of drugs,  at the institution where he ended up in.)

Staying hydrated to avoid sludge blood is important, and avoid chlorinated water in general (clogged arteries). It's important to stay on the alkaline side, with lots of greens and fruits and veggies and whole grains, little meat, wild salmon, etc. ALFALFA is a natural anti-inflammatory, and provides a host of micro-minerals not found in other plants. It is extremely alkalinizing.  I get the 700 bottle, and  make a comforting tea out of 5 or so, with 2 drops of Stevia or a little honey. You can see the chlorophyll. I just swallow the other 5. Some people take 20-30 alfalfa a day for arthritis, and to counteract all the processed foods, stress and meds that acidify us. (There is a new study showing most people with diabetes have high uric acid.)

Food supplements shown by study to lower blood pressure are garlic (which naturally thins blood, also), fish oil-which changes the viscosity of the blood and is good for the brain, also, and flax seed oil. You can grind brown flax seeds in an inexpensive coffee grinder fresh, and add to your cereal, smoothies, breads, pancakes and muffins, etc. A trucker friend of mine had to pass his CDL medical, and he had high blood pressure from the time he was a teenager. He took flax seed oil and passed the test. He also got off the coffee and Pepsi he was chugging and ate better when  he was on my watch. (It's good to have someone at your back.)

Vivix is rich with resveratrol, and has been shown to thin blood, protect DNA, generate new mitochondria to create energy-which we lose as we age, and it strengthens the blood vessels. This is especially important for those with diabetes, with blood vessels behind the eye that need protecting. People on Coumadin have had to have it lowered as the Vivix did the job. Coumadin has several possible nasty side effects to be aware of: blood clots, gangrene and cognitive decline. Natural solutions tend to be devoid of side effects, severe withdrawals that can be harmful or fatal, and are cost effective for optimal health.

Here is a great article on Cognitive Decline and the role of the B vitamins-and the importance of their sustained release delivery, with the intrinsic factors necessary for bodily use. You may know more than your doctor about B vitamins and cognitive decline after reading this article. I became aware during my cancer how narrowly trained many medical doctors are, and that many do NOT keep up on recent studies. I found it unsettling to have to do research, so I could hand my pelvic oncologist the abstract of a study showing a blood marker for my cancer was available and important. Though she argued with me, the first thing from her mouth when she visited me post-surgery was "you were right".

Enjoy this article:

As we age there is perhaps nothing more frightening
than the thought of losing our mind.

We can cope with lots of physical infirmities, but it
is our memories and our cognition that make us who we
are.

So what can we do to keep our mind in tip top shape as
we age?

I'm going to start by talking about the importance of
one B vitamin, folic acid, in maintaining our mental
acuity as we age.

But, good health is seldom determined by one nutrient
alone, so I'm going to end this discussion by
describing a holistic approach for reducing the risk of
cognitive decline and dementia.

Two recent articles have emphasized the importance of
folic acid in preventing cognitive decline.

The first was a cross-sectional study of folate status
and cognitive function in 1,033 non-demented older
patients, ages 60-90 (de Lau et al, Am. J. Clin. Nutr.,
86: 728-734, 2007). The researchers measured blood
levels of folic acid and did extensive cognitive tests
on the subjects.

The results were fairly clear-cut. Those people with
the highest levels of folic acid were the least likely
to suffer from loss of cognitive function or
psychomotor speed (reaction time).

But, cross-sectional studies are not the gold-standard
placebo controlled clinical trial, which is why the
second study is so important.

In this study, 818 middle aged subjects (ages 55-70)
with normal vitamin B12 levels (the importance of this
will become apparent in a minute) were given either 800
ug of folic acid or a placebo daily and followed for 3
years (Durga et al, Lancet, 369: 208-216, 2007).

At the end of 3 years, the subjects receiving the folic
acid supplement did significantly better than the
placebo group on several measures of cognitive
function.

So you might be thinking that you should rush right out
and buy a folic acid supplement.

Not so fast. You need to hear the rest of the story.

Vitamin B12 is also essential for cognitive function,
and, with consumption of red meat declining, many older
Americans are becoming deficient in B12.

B12 deficiency has two symptoms:

The first to appear is anemia. It is what usually
brings the patient to their doctors office, and at this
stage the B12 deficiency is easily reversible.

However, if the B12 deficiency is left untreated, the
patient will eventually develop dementia that is not
reversible.

The problem is that folate supplementation can mask the
early, easily reversible, symptoms of B12 deficiency.

So that brings us to the third clinical study (Morris
et al, Am. J. Clin. Nutr., 85: 193-200, 2007).

This study was a cross-sectional study looking at
vitamin B12 status, folic acid status and cognitive
function.

When they looked at those subjects in the study with
low vitamin B12 status the ones who also had high blood
folate levels actually faired poorer on cognitive tests
than those with low blood folate levels.

So now you're probably thinking that you should rush
out and buy a B complex supplement providing both folic
acid and vitamin B12.

Wrong again!

Some older Americans develop an inability to produce
something called intrinsic factor that is required for
the rapid absorption of vitamin B12 in the intestine.
Those people cannot get enough vitamin B12 from their
food, and for them a standard vitamin B12 supplement is
of little use.

Knowing this, you might now feel that there is no
effective way to make absolutely sure that you are
getting enough B vitamins to reduce the risk of
cognitive decline.

But, you'd be wrong again.

There is a second, intrinsic factor-independent pathway
for absorbing vitamin B12 that is present throughout
the entire length of the digestive tract.

So what you want to look for is a sustained release B
complex that releases its B12 a little bit at a time
throughout the digestive tract.

And since not all companies make their supplements
according to pharmaceutical standards, you would want
to make sure that this sustained release B complex had
been shown in a clinical trial to deliver at least as
much B12 to the blood stream as an immediate release B
complex in individuals with normal levels of intrinsic
factor.

Finally, now that you know what to look for in a B
complex supplement, let me remind you that mental
acuity is not just dependent on two B vitamins.

Recent studies have shown that diets rich in omega-3
fatty acids and antioxidants, maintaining ideal body
weight and exercising regularly all help us to keep our
brains functioning as they should as we age.

A holistic approach to health is always best.

To Your Health!
Dr. Stephen G Chantey


VITALIZER BY SHAKLEE IS A DAILY STRIP OF VITAMINS THAT INCLUDES THE TYPE OF SUSTAINED RELEASE B VITAMIN COMPLEX THAT DR. CHANEY IS TALKING ABOUT. IT ALSO HAS:
*2 VITA LEA FOR YOUR DAILY MULTI-VITAMIN/MINERAL
*2 SUSTAINED RELEASE VITAMIN C W/ B COMPLEX
*2 CAROTO/E/OMEGA=BETACAROTENE, VITAMIN E AND FISH OIL
*1 PROBIOTIC CALLED OPTIFLORA-THAT IS GUARANTEED TO GET INTO THE COLON, PAST THE HYDROCHLORIC ACID OF THE STOMACH


VITALIZER GOLD IS FOR THOSE OVER 50. IT HAS EXTRA NUTRIENTS FOR THE EYES, BRAIN AND HEART.

Questions? Contact us at leangreencafe@yahoo.com or
503-429-0240