Lawyer with memory loss is among test subjects said to benefit from combination Alzheimer's therapy
A 55-year-old lawyer with memory loss was among nine test subjects said to benefit from a multipronged approach to fighting Alzheimer’s disease.
Only one test subject—a person with advanced Alzheimer’s disease—did not benefit from the therapy, according to the research paper published in Aging by Dale Bredesen, director of the Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research at UCLA.
The study is the first to suggest that memory loss can be reversed using the 36-point therapeutic program, according to a press release and a story by the Marin Independent Journal.
The lawyer had been suffering from memory loss for four years when she began the program, according to the research paper. She would forget meetings or schedule multiple meetings at the same time, would leave the stove on when she left home, and would forget thoughts mid-sentence. In an effort to cope, she recorded her conversations and took copious notes on an iPad. She forgot her iPad password, however, and she was unable to perform her job.
According to the study, the lawyer improved after five months of a program that included: removing simple carbohydrates, processed foods and meat from her diet; increasing consumption of fruits, vegetables and fish that is not farm-raised; exercising four to five times a week; taking melatonin and increasing her sleep; reducing stress through meditation; fasting a minimum of 12 hours between dinner and breakfast; taking hormone replacement therapy; and taking supplements, including vitamin D3, DHA, EPA and citicoline.
After five months on the program, the lawyer no longer needed to use the iPad or tape recorder, she began to work again, and she began to learn a new legal specialty, according to the research paper.
Bredesen cautions that more research is needed. “This is just the beginning; it’s a toe in the water,” Bredesen told the Marin Independent Journal. “But you have to start somewhere. There hasn’t been any way in the past to have an impact on this disease.”
Hat tip to @JuriSense.
