EPISODE 82: Avoid Alzheimer’s and Access the True Potential of Your Brain

Episode 82: Dr. Dale Bredesen

Alzheimer’s is not set in stone. When there’s network insufficiency, your brain’s master switch moves to a protective, downsizing mode. This mechanism makes Alzheimer’s fundamentally a network insufficiency.

On this premise, latest research says that Alzheimer’s is not just preventable but also reversible. And it is never too early to start optimizing all functions.

So how?

This theory was initiated and explored by Dr. Dale Bredesen. His success made him an internationally recognized expert in the mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases, vanguard of neurological research, innovator and the brain behind the ReCODE Protocol. He is also the brilliant author of the 2017 New York Times‘ Best-Seller, The End of Alzheimer’s.

Dr. Bredesen’s work explores previously uncharted territory in explaining the physical mechanism behind the erosion of memory seen in Alzheimer’s disease, and has opened the door to new approaches to treatment which makes it not just preventable, but reversible.

Catch Dr. Dale Bredesen at the Thrive State Podcast!

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Show notes

Alzheimer’s is fundamentally a network insufficiency.

Your brain’s master switch moves to a protective, downsizing mode when there’s network insufficiency.

Alzheimer’s through the lens of functional medicine (root-cause medicine)

We have to quit thinking of people as prescription pads. We have to think about people as complex systems and look at how these things all work together.

Functional medicine deciphers the little insults you do to your body which makes it respond in a certain way.

Types of Alzheimer’s

Typically, people would have multiple contributors but they would have one or two dominant ones.

Type 1: Inflammatory Alzheimer’s – mainly caused by inflammation
Type 2: Atrophic Alzheimer’s – low energy, hormones, nutrients and growth factors; typically older, more often female
Type 1.5: halfway between 1 & 2 due to glucotoxicity
Type 3: Toxic – brought by toxin
Type 4: Vascular
Type 5: Traumatic – endure frequent injuries

EMT is the cell’s response to insults which leads to fibrosis.

Giving steroids is just pushing off the response.

Genetics and Alzheimer’s

Genetics will increase your risk but not the determinant. People with APOE-e4 gene copies have a higher risk for Alzheimer’s (the most common genetic risk factor). If people know about it, we can do active prevention or reversals.

Cognoscopy

A non-invasive series of tests composed of blood tests to check your inflammation and methylation status, a simple online cognitive assessment (CQtest is free) to help you assess what intervention you need, and an MRI to check if you’re having areas of atrophy.

Cognitive Health and Nutrition

The signature of Alzheimer’s is reduced glucose utilization in the temporal and parietal lobes.

Critical for optimal brain function: Insulin sensitivity and keto adaptivity

As you age, your memory and cognition can be further affected by the way your body uses glucose. When you’re metabolically flexible, you are able to use glucose and ketones and go back and forth for optimal brain function.

Keto12/3 = 12 hours of fasting between meals and 3 hrs between your last meal and before going to bed; plant-rich and mildly ketogenic diet = to get metabolic flexibility.

Measures and Checking Ketone Levels

People who are doing best in their cognitive improvements typically score between 1.0 and 4.0 m/m hydroxybutyrate or between 10 and 40 acetone level.

Other Root Causes

Dementogens are actually everywhere, and you should know if you’re exposed to these in three groups: inorganic toxins (air pollution, mercury, etc), organic toxins (benzene, glyphosate, etc), and biotoxins (various molds species).

Detox and spend more time outdoors. We, human beings, are not evolutionarily designed inside mold food and yet that’s what our homes are typically made from.

The Microbiome and Cognitive Decline

Oral and nasal microbiome are very important in cognitive health. The same microbiome alterations (P-gingivalis) that gives you periodontitis can give you brain disease—critical in cognitive health.

You can get an oral DNA test from myperiopath to check your oral microbiome.

The End of Alzheimer’s and RECODE Program

Alzheimer’s is not set in stone. It’s never too early to start optimizing brain functions.

Reversal of Cognitive Decline – an algorithm used to see the subtype and identify what the person needs.

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