Recently there have been studies reporting that they’ve found no improvement in Alzheimer’s symptoms after administering high doses of B vitamins over a period of 18 months. Well, I can agree that once Alzheimers symptoms have begun, you’re probably going to have a difficult time reversing it, but never underestimate the power of prevention, prevention that can be obtained by an optimum functioning digestive system and diet changes.
Digestion seems like an unlikely contributing factor when looking at Alzheimer’s disease, however, taking a “wholistic” approach to this disease will soon reveal the path that poor digestion creates with regard to this affliction, and how efficient digestion will help to prevent it. Our bodies are a whole and one problem will always lead to another. So it is with poor digestion and poor brain function, the two go hand in hand. Here’s how.
It begins with poor diet choices over time. This is always the culprit with pretty much all physical maladies, and it is no different when discussing brain dysfunction. Poor diet choices over time, coupled with aging leads to homocysteine build up. This is an amino acid, which is a part of protein that contributes to plaque build up within the ciculatory system in the brain as well as the entire circulatory system. This is the same problem we encounter with heart disease.
Digestion comes into play this way…while taking Whole Health classes from Jim Ehmke C.N., a locally reknowned nutritionist in my area, I learned that, when we are younger we have lots of digestive capabilities due to strong stomach gastric acid, or hydrochloric acid. This substance breaks down our food and the nutrients within them so they may be utilized by our bodies. As we age, our HCL weakens in strength and we are therefore compromised when it comes to the top notch digestion that we possessed in our younger years. The problem is, key nutrients in preventing the environment that leads to Alzheimer’s disease are not broken down and digested adequately and are never able to perform their function to ward off this problem.
These key nutrients are members of the B vitamin family. B vitamins such as folic acid, B-6, and B-12. In The Vitamin Blog’s February 20th 2007 article called “Homocysteine May Be Linked To Alzheimer’s Disease”, it states that studies done by British researchers resulted in findings that included lower blood levels of folic acid as well as B-12 were discovered in people with Alzheimer’s. This study also indicated that those with higher homocysteine levels ended up 4.5 times more likely to have this disease.
One way to improve digestion is to maintain a diet that is plentiful in fruits and veggies. When I say plentiful, I’m talking around 50% or more. The reason for this is because live raw food is rich in it’s own enzymes which will help enable an adequate breakdown and utilization of the nutrients needed to fight circulatory plaque and homocysteine build up. Eating more live food is key in the prevention of brain disorders and Alzheimer’s disease. If eating this much raw food seems too daunting a task for you, consider trying to juice some raw food items. You can drink live food as well as eat it and it’s a really quick and easy way to obtain superior food quality fast. I am an avid juicer and can’t envision life without it. Mostly because of the superior food value you can get in no time at all. It would take me the entire day to eat everything I get in 2 daily servings of 12 ounces of juice. It’s also the quickest way to make a significant positive change in your health because it gets down to the cellular level within 15 minutes and starts to work it’s magic.
Another way to prevent Alzheimer’s by way of improving digestion is to supplement your diet with digestive enzymes, and a good B-complex. These can be found online or at local health food stores everywhere. It’s important to make sure that the enzymes you purchase have hydrochloric acid in them because many just have the pancreatic enzymes. Without the HCL you will fall short of nutrient breakdown and utilization.
Prevention is always the best policy for all diseases, and optimum digestive health can only help to prevent Alzheimer’s and brain dysfunction at all of it’s levels. Eat well, live well, enjoy!
Sources: http://blog.vitaminupdate.com/2007/02/homocysteine-may-be-linked-to.html
http://websites.afar.org/site/PageServer?pagename=IA_d_alz_prevention
