When we’re young, we don’t think about living with impaired memory and loss of cognition. But as we get older we worry about even minor memory lapses. Are they just signs of normal aging or some form of dementia? Do we have the dreaded Alzheimer’s disease? Will we eventually need to depend on caregivers? Are we going to lose our minds? It’s frightening.

Alzheimer’s is on the rise. In fact, doctors diagnose one in eight people over the age of 65 with this progressive degenerative brain disease. And even more people are living with it without a diagnosis. The Alzheimer’s Association expects 10 million Baby Boomers to develop Alzheimer’s.

The disease has stymied the drug companies. As hard as they look, they can’t find a way to stop its progression — much less reverse it. Once again, they’re looking in the wrong places.

While drugs don’t work, several new studies indicate that some natural therapies can prevent Alzheimer’s — and even reverse some of its symptoms. What’s more, they’re easy and affordable.

These solutions may sound too simple to work, but scientific studies back them up. Since they’re easy to do and inexpensive as well, they’re worth trying.

Meditation and memory

The old adage, “use it or lose it” applies to your brain. In addition to exercising it by doing puzzles, playing chess, or learning a new language, regular meditation strengthens the brain and improves cognition. It can even reverse symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. From past studies, it looks like any form of meditation may do. But brain scans show that one form, Kirtan Kriya, activates one of the first areas in the brain that degenerates with Alzheimer’s.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania recently conducted a study which the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation funded. They combined a short, specific singing exercise called Kirtan Kriya. They took brain scans before and after the eight-week program. One “before” scan showed a lack of complete blood flow, which is a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s. The “after” scan of the same brain showed an increase in blood flow. Simply speaking, this technique reversed memory loss and enhanced brain function in people with early Alzheimer’s. Many experts consider meditation one of the most effective forms of mind/body medicine.

Meditation has nothing to do with religious beliefs or practices. You can pray or continue with your religious practice and still meditate. Many kinds of meditation simply consist of focusing your awareness and specific breathing exercises. Kirtan Kriya is a chant of four particular sounds. You chant them repeatedly and in a specific order. It includes visualization and holding your fingers in a specific manner.

Using this meditation technique for just 12 minutes a day for two months reversed memory loss in a group of people with mild cognitive impairment. If you know anyone in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, make sure you tell them about this technique.

Kirtan Kriya is easy to do. But if you’re like me, you may want some help to make sure you’re doing it properly. You can buy an audio CD from the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation for just $12. It will lead you through this exercise and give you confidence that you’re doing it correctly. Call the ARPF at 520-749-8374 or email them at [email protected].

Nuts to you

By now you’ve heard that nuts contain beneficial fats and are high in antioxidants. Walnuts are preferred by many since they’re highest in healthful omega-3 fats. But it looks like the nuts that have been my favorite ever since I was a child may protect your nervous system better than any others.

Pecans were treats for special occasions when I was young. However, you may want to eat them every day. They are high in the antioxidants that help fight Alzheimer’s and other neurological problems, including Parkinson’s. In fact, pecans are one of the top 15 foods highest in antioxidants!

This past summer, Current Topics in Nutraceutical Research published a study on pecans and neurological problems. In this study, researchers put neurologically impaired mice on diets with differing amounts of pecans — or no nuts at all. They tested the mice for motor neuron functions before and after eating these diets. All of the mice that ate pecans had less of a decline in motor function than those that ate no nuts. The mice that ate the most pecans had the best results.

Researchers suggest that adding a handful of pecans each day could delay the progression of Alzheimer’s and other age-related motor neuron degeneration. I now add pecans to my cereal in the morning and/or grab some for a quick snack. They contain more than 19 vitamins and minerals. And, of course, they’re cholesterol-free.

“The spice of life”

That’s what it was called in ancient India where they used it to treat a myriad of illnesses. Now it looks like it’s not only a recognized potent anti-inflammatory, it can prevent Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia as well. The spice is turmeric. And its active ingredient, curcumin, prevents the spread of amyloid plaques.

Amyloid plaques, found outside brain cells, help degrade the wiring in the brain. This leads to Alzheimer’s disease. According to Professor Murali Dorasiswamy of Duke University Medical Center, “There is very solid evidence that curcumin binds to plaques.”

Dorasiswamy discovered this when he took a group of mice riddled with plaques in their brains. He fed them a diet rich in curcumin. These plaques dissolved! When he fed younger mice this same diet, it prevented them from forming new plaques.

How much curcumin do you need to add to your diet to prevent or reverse Alzheimer’s? No one knows for certain. Past studies indicate that people who ate a meal with curry two or three times a week have less dementia than those who ate less or no curry. Researchers are now testing higher doses of curcumin to determine an optimal protective amount.

You may want to eat curry two or more times a week. If you don’t like its taste, or if that much curry doesn’t work into your daily diet, you can find curcumin or turmeric supplements in any health food store. It’s a major ingredient in the anti-inflammatory supplement I take, Reduloxin (800-791-3395).

Put all three of these simple treatments to use at the same time and you’ll really improve your memory. And, just as importantly, you won’t have any negative interactions or expensive prescriptions to fill.

Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, BT Convention Centre, Liverpool, 2-5 June 2009.

Current Topics in Nutraceutical Research, June 2010.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/191264.php

www.alzheimersprevention.org

End Your Itchy Scalp With This Overlooked Solution

Caroline hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in months. She was able to fall asleep, but after an hour or so, she’d wake up with her head itching like crazy. If she was able to go back to sleep — and sometimes this was impossible — Caroline would wake up again ... and again. The itching wouldn’t let up and she was becoming short-tempered and depressed.

Her doctor examined Caroline’s scalp carefully, but could find no trace of anything that might cause itching. Since she had overall dry skin and hair, her doctor suggested a strong dandruff shampoo. It didn’t work.

Then a nurse friend suggested the itching might be due to an allergy. So she took an antihistamine. This seemed to help a little. But Caroline didn’t want to rely on a drug — even one with minimal side effects — to solve the problem.

One afternoon, a friend asked, “What are you allergic to in your bedroom?”

“Nothing I know of,” Caroline answered. “I have my whole house cleaned professionally every month. There are no dust bunnies under my bed and the cleaners don’t use chemical-cleaning agents.”

“What kind of pillow do you sleep on?” her friend continued.

“Down or down and feathers.”

“How long have you had your pillow?”

“At least 10 years,” Caroline said. “I have a favorite pillow that helps me sleep. It’s just the right combination of firm and soft. I don’t ever want to look for a replacement.”

“Even if your pillow is filled with mites?”

Caroline was shocked to hear that she may have been sleeping in a bed crawling with mites. Unfortunately, this is true for many of us. It turned out that dust mites were the cause of her itchy scalp. You might find these critters are the source of your asthma and/or allergies as well.

How do you know if your pillow has mites?

Wherever there’s dust, warmth, and food, there are dust mites. And all beds are a prime habitat. If your pillow is older than two years, it contains mites. And if you’re sensitive to the waste products they produce, dust mites can affect your health.

An older mattress may contain from 100,000 to 10 million mites. Around 10% of a two-year-old pillow’s weight is comprised of dead mites and their droppings. Plus live mites.

Unlike bed bugs, dust mites don’t bite. They simply eat and produce wastes to which many people are allergic. One of their favorite foods is dead skin — from humans and pets.

In Caroline’s case, the heat from her head on her pillow, combined with dry skin, attracted enough mites to cause itching. In fact, Caroline admitted that at times she would wake up feeling like something was crawling in her hair. It turns out that there were.

Getting rid of mites

Well, you can’t really get rid of them, but you can keep them off your body. Caroline’s first step was to throw away her treasured pillows. She replaced them and bought pillow protectors for each. These zippered pillowcases are specially designed to keep dust mites, bed bugs, molds, fungi, and bacteria inside the pillow where they can’t affect you. If you have an old mattress, you can buy a protector for it, as well.

• Wash your sheets and blankets frequently in very hot water — at least every two weeks if possible. Set your washing machine to its hottest setting. If you have something that can’t be washed in hot water, put it in a freezer for two days to kill the mites.

• Replace feather and down bedding with synthetic fillings whenever possible.

• Keep your bedroom as dust free as you can.

• Reduce dust by using a HEPA filter air purifier.

What about your favorite down comforter? Well, you might be able to cram yours in the freezer periodically. And if the mites aren’t bothering you, you might decide to keep using it. But if you have allergies, asthma, or unexplained itching, it could be time to find a synthetic alternative.

www.ehso.com/ehshome/dustmites.php

www.allergystore.com

Eat These Three Foods Often to Help Control and Even Prevent Diabetes

About 23.6 million people in this country alone have type-2 diabetes. What’s more, 57 million Americans are now pre-diabetic. This means they’re heading toward diabetes and will most likely get sick unless they take action and change their lifestyles. I talked about how diabetes can lead to cancer in last month’s newsletter. This is a good time to re-read it and become motivated to make a few dietary modifications.

At least five million other people are diabetic and don’t even know it. In fact, you, or someone you love, could be one of them. Whether you have diabetes or simply want to prevent it, make sure you’re eating plenty of these three foods. They are particularly effective in fighting diabetes.

Of course adding particular foods to your diet won’t help much if you’re eating a lot of sugar and refined grains. But they will help when they’re added to a healthful diet because of their beneficial effects on insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism.

Begin with greens

Researchers at the University of Leicester recently made an interesting discovery. They reviewed six studies with more than 220,000 participants. They were looking for a link between fruits and vegetables and type-2 diabetes. What they found was that eating more green leafy vegetables, not fruits or any other vegetables, reduces your risk for getting type-2 diabetes by 14%.

Both fruits and vegetables are high in protective nutrients. Why would green vegetables be more helpful than fruits? Fruits are higher in antioxidants, while green leafy vegetables are higher in my favorite mineral: magnesium. Now, you probably know by now that magnesium has many benefits, including reducing blood pressure and eliminating symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. Numerous studies have also found it to be helpful for diabetics.

It turns out that diabetics are commonly low in magnesium. In fact, these British researchers found that the lower your magnesium intake, the higher your risk for diabetes.

You can take magnesium supplements, but that’s not where you should start. Instead, increase your magnesium intake by eating more broccoli, chard, kale, spinach, and dark green lettuces. These foods are not just high in magnesium; they also contain co-factors that may be responsible for magnesium’s ability to support blood sugar control. By the way, the amount of greens it took to reduce a person’s risk for diabetes in these studies was just one-and-a-half extra servings a day. That’s equal to one salad.

Add this healthful fat

Obesity is one risk factor for diabetes. Insulin resistance is another. You may be surprised to hear that coconut oil reduces both, making it effective in staving off diabetes. This is because coconut oil is a medium-chain fatty acid, while most other fats are long-chain fats. This means that coconut oil burns faster than other fats so your body doesn’t store it in your tissues.

Medium chain fatty acids have smaller molecules. This allows them to get into your mitochondria, the main power generators in cells, where they can burn as energy. If you substitute coconut oil for olive oil, butter, or other fats you’ll lose weight because it burns fats fast. Long-chain fats burn more slowly, often causing an overload in stored fats. This can result in weight gain and, in some cases, obesity.

If you just add coconut oil to a high-fat diet, you’ll gain weight. The idea is to eat a low-fat diet that includes coconut oil.

You can find coconut oil in all health food stores and many supermarkets or you can order it from Advanced Bionutritionals (800-791-3395).

Eat this beneficial food

There’s controversy surrounding the third food on my list of diabetes fighters. But I have always maintained that it’s not only safe, it’s beneficial when you eat it in moderation. The food is soy. Numerous studies have found its isoflavones are protective against breast cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

Isoflavones are naturally occurring organic compounds found highest in soy. Some isoflavones are weak sources of plant-based estrogens that have reduced a woman’s risk for breast cancer by 60%. Others have powerful antioxidant properties. Then there’s the matter of soy and diabetes.

We’ve known for years that eating soy foods lowers blood sugar and improves
glucose tolerance in diabetics. And, recently, scientists at the University of Massachusetts discovered that two soy isoflavones, daidzein and equol, work like some of the anti-diabetic drugs doctors currently prescribe. Prior research found that dietary isoflavones reduced the severity of diabetes in animals.

Supplement companies are pushing isoflavone pills, and they may be appropriate if your doctor prescribes them. But I suggest you eat a little soy several times a week instead. That’s the source of the isoflavones in a number of the scientific studies. Remember, organic soy products are not genetically modified, and fermented soy, like tempeh, is easiest to digest.

“Green leafy vegetables reduce diabetes risk,” BMJ, 20 August 2010.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/163249.php

Lopez-Ridaura, Roy, MD, et al. “Magnesium intake and risk of type-2 diabetes in men and women,” Diabetes Care, January 2004.

University of Massachusetts Amherst (2009, October 7). “How Soy Reduces Diabetes Risk.” ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 7, 2009, from

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091006120510.htm.

NUTRITION DETECTIVE

When Losing Weight Is Bad for Your Health

You’d think that losing weight can only help you get healthier. But that’s
not necessarily the case. In fact, if you’ve lost a lot of weight over a period of 10 years or more, you may have unknowingly created a toxic situation. And that can lead to high blood pressure, arthritis, and diabetes — just what you’ve been trying to avoid.

The reason for this toxicity is something called persistent organic pollutants (POPs).

POPs are toxic substances in our environment and foods. Because they break down slowly, they accumulate in our tissues. Our fat tissues. Then, when we lose weight, the fat breaks down and it frees POPs to travel through our bloodstreams. Suddenly they are able to make their way into our organs, including our brain and heart.

Researchers from South Korea looked at the blood concentration of seven POPs in 1,099 Americans. They found the most POPs in the people who lost the most weight over 10 years. Levels were lower in people who had not lost weight or who had gained weight.

The message is clear. Losing weight is healthy. Setting POPs free to contaminate your bloodstream and lead to illness is not.

This study’s researchers have no solutions to offer, but I do. You can remove POPs from your bloodstream with PectaSol Chelation Complex (PCC).

PCC contains modified citrus pectin and sodium alginate, which bind to heavy metals and POPs in the blood. You can get PCC through Advanced Bionutritionals (800-791-3395) and read more about it on my website.

Losing weight may be the best thing you can do for your health, but only if you address its underlying problems.

Lim, J.S., H.-K. Son, S.-K. Park, D.R. Jacobs Jr., and D.-H. Lee. “Inverse associations between long-term weight change and serum concentrations of persistent organic pollutants,” International Journal of Obesity advance online publication, 7 September 2010; doi: 10.1038/ijo.2010.188.

LETTERS

Q: I take Ultimate Bone Support as well as an EDTA product to get rid of heavy metals. Should I increase the dose of the bone support to compensate for the possible loss of minerals from the EDTA? I’m hoping to not have to take a calcium product. But a lot of doctors recommended it when you take EDTA. — O.G., e-mail

A: Advanced Bionutritionals designed Ultimate Bone Support so you could take it along with calcium and magnesium. So, why aren’t these minerals included in the formula? Because the strontium in the bone formula interferes with the metabolism of calcium and magnesium. When you take them together, they cancel each other out.

So you may want to do what I do and take Ultimate Bone Support morning and night on an empty stomach, and calcium and magnesium with meals.

Whether or not you take EDTA, you need both calcium and magnesium along with the bone formula. The amount in a good quality multivitamin like Women’s Vitality — 500 mg of each — would be sufficient. Anyone on a healthful diet is getting additional calcium from their diet, even if they don’t eat dairy products.
I suggest you follow your doctor’s recommendations regarding any additional supplements you may need to take for minerals lost while taking EDTA. When it comes to oral chelators, I prefer Pectasol Chelation Complex since it doesn’t remove essential minerals — just heavy metals and environmental pollutants. You can order Women’s Vitality and PCC by calling 800-791-3395.

Q: Is there a supplement you could recommend for our son to replace his constant sugar craving? — J.P., e-mail

A: There are a number of nutrients that can help, such as chromium. But before you rush to buy any supplement, look at your son’s diet. A sugar craving is often a sign of a need for more protein. You don’t say how old your son is, so I can’t give you specific recommended grams for him. But he should be eating protein at every single meal.

Take your son off all refined sugars and grains. They cause insulin levels to spike and then drop. When insulin is low, he craves sugar. Your body metabolizes protein slower than refined foods, so he is less likely to crave sugar if he’s eating enough nuts, eggs, chicken, and fish.

There are several supplements I like. Metabolic Defense from Advanced Bionutritionals (800-791-3395) contains Chinese and Ayurvedic herbal formulas, along with chromium, to help stabilize blood sugar. In addition, it decreases some of the side effects that blood sugar imbalances cause, like immune problems.

Craving Quencher, also from Advanced Bionutritionals, is a combination of chromium, zinc, and amino acids that balance the brain’s neurotransmitters. Simply speaking, it turns off cravings in the brain. My friend and colleague, Robert Rowen, MD, who swears by its effectiveness, created this formula. I believe him. Either one or both of these formulas should help your son.

Have your son take one formula at a time for at least three months to give his body the time and support needed to stop his cravings and see which works best.