Few diseases are as frightening as Alzheimer’s, an eventually fatal condition that takes away your mind before taking away your life.
But, even though as you age your risk of Alzheimer’s grows, it is generally recognized that the unusual circumstance of early-onset Alzheimer’s (taking place before age 65) is mostly genetic, passed on to children from their parents. Further, it is important to remember that Alzheimer’s is a degenerative condition that is not part of the normal aging process.
This means there are measures that can be taken to lessen the chances of higher genetic risk manifesting, and also decelerate the development of this condition, or prevent it.
A very powerful preventative is a plant chemical that we mostly recognize as a healthy compound in green tea: EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate).
The Department of Cell Biology, Microbiology, and Molecular Biology at the University of South Florida published a study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and wrote that EGCG increases mitochondrial function in the brain (increased brain energy) so much that they came to a startling conclusion:
“The results of this study lend further credence to the notion that EGCG and other flavonoids … are ‘multipotent therapeutic agents’ that not only reduce toxic levels of brain Aß [amyloid beta plaque], but also hold the potential to protect neuronal mitochondrial function in Alzheimer’s Disease.”
Another study, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, was performed on mice genetically engineered to develop Alzheimer’s. The researchers split the mice into four groups to test the effects of ECGC and ferulic acid (FA) — found in carrots, tomatoes, rice, wheat and oats — on their symptoms.
For three months, the mice were given either a combination of EGCG and FA, EGCG only, FA only or a placebo. The dose the scientists used was 30 mg per kilogram of body weight — a dosage that’s easily replicated in humans and can be consumed as part of a healthy, plant-based diet or as supplements.
Before and after the three-month timeframe, the scientists ran the mice through a battery of tests like the ones used to assess dementia in humans. And according to the researchers, “After three months, combination treatment completely restored working memory and the Alzheimer’s mice performed just as well as the healthy comparison mice.”
In other words, getting a daily dose of both ECGC and FA was enough to reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer’s.
Terrence Town, a professor of physiology and neuroscience at the Keck School of Medicine of USC’s Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute and the senior author of the paper, points to the compounds’ ability to prevent the breakdown of proteins into those amyloid beta plaques that gum up Alzheimer patients’ brains. And they also appear to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress in the brain — both of which have been linked to the development of Alzheimer’s in humans.
The researchers do point out that not all studies in mice translate to the same benefits in humans, but for my money, with results like these, a simple, healthy dietary change is certainly worth the possibility. And the researchers agreed, saying, “You don’t have to wait 10 to 12 years for a designer drug to make it to market; you can make these dietary changes today.”
So, if you want to eat to reverse Alzheimer’s, add more of the foods with those two compounds — ECGC and FA — into your daily diet.
Remember the foods to get more of are:
• Green tea
• Carrots
• Tomatoes
• Bran
• Oats
Fruit seeds also have some ferulic acid, and other teas have EGCG as well, as do cranberries, kiwis, cherries, pears, peaches, apples, and avocados, and pistachios and hazelnuts, too.
Written by Bob Livingston
