Hope! Even When You Have an Alzheimer’s Diagnosis

A recently published study offers encouragement in halting memory loss and reversing early stage Alzheimer’s. I’ve been thinking about these findings recently because the mother of a friend of mine has just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.  “There’s nothing you can do,” said the doc. But, there is plenty she can do and there is hope!   

Twenty-five patients with Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment participated in this trial. To qualify they needed a Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score of 19 or higher. A one-size-fits-all mentality to treat them was not used.  Instead, various personal biomarkers were tracked and genetic testing done. For example, Dr. Kat Toup who ran the study measured inflammation, infection, insulin resistance, vascular disease, toxins, genetics and nocturnal oxygenation amongst other contributors to brain health.  It was precision medicine instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.  Each individual needed different things and so that’s what each received, precision medicine tailored to their individual needs.

The study was based on the Dr. Dale Bredesen protocol for cognitive decline prevention and reversal.  Bredesen has been a guest on the Cutting Edge Health: Preventing Cognitive Decline podcast.  View Part 1 and Part 2 here. He is Chief Science Officer at Apollo Health and author of the NYT bestselling book The End of Alzheimer’s.  

The results, released at the end of 2021, were impressive. By optimizing their insufficiencies, 84% of the participants improved their cognitive scores! The findings indicate that a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s does not have to be a death sentence.

Dr. Bredesen, Dr. Toup and Apollo’s Chief Health Liaison, Julie Gregory, recently did a video detailing how they evaluated and treated participants in the Precision Medicine Approach to Alzheimer’s Disease: Successful Proof-of-Concept Trial.  They, also, announced they have received funding for a larger, randomized, control trial with 100 participants. In this trial some will receive the standard of care, one-size-fits-all, for nine months instead of the precision medicine approach.  At the end of 9 months, they’ll be evaluated comparing them to the participants who received the precision medicine therapeutic protocol from the trial’s beginning.  At that point, those on the standard of care arm of the trial will be shifted to the precision medicine therapeutic treatment.