Dr. Mercola June 30 2012
Can Astaxanthin Help?
Doctor holds hands of old Alzheimer’s patient
In the prevention and treatment of dementia (including Alzheimer’s type) and its associated cognitive changes, the rising star is astaxanthin due to its powerful antioxidant properties
The causes of Alzheimer’s disease are multifactorial, and the more risk factors you have, the more likely you will develop this sad, debilitating disease which has few effective treatments, making prevention extremely important.
Factors known to contribute to dementia include diets too high in fructose, certain health conditions, nutritional deficiencies, and environmental toxins.
Key approaches to preventing and reducing the symptoms of dementia include good dietary choices, regular exercise (physical and mental), and making sure you are consuming enough B vitamins, vitamin D, vitamin E, and high-quality omega-3 fats.
Besides astaxanthin, natural treatments that science has shown have promise in the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s are coconut oil, Gingko biloba, and alpha lipoic acid (ALA).
Dr. Wilson replies:
Astaxanthin is a great product that I have taken for years. My own family history tells an interesting tale about the connection between food and Alzheimer’s disease. My grandmother Amber grew up in a sod house on the plains of Iowa. She had a hardscrabble life but eventually she and her husband Glen settled in Duluth, Minnesota where he worked in the Steel Mill. Amber loved to bake. Her kitchen was always filled with the odor of fresh rolls, pies and cookies. In her 40’s she started to put on weight and eventually she developed type II diabetes. She wasn’t too much into exercise and spent most of her time in the kitchen. She developed Alzheimer’s disease in her late 50’s and was dead by 65.
Her daughter Pearl (my mother) wasn’t so much of a baker. She was a great cook and loved to make healthy, home-cooked meals for her family. I grew up eating real food. We never drank soda and rarely ate processed foods. My mother also loved to walk every day. She remained trim and fit well into her seventies when she developed Alzheimer’s disease probably because she inherited her mother’s genetic tendencies. Unlike her mother, her dementia progressed very slowly. As a matter of fact, she is still alive today at 94. I can call her on the phone and she says “Hi Bill”. She still reads and enjoys going to the hairdresser. Her Alzheimer’s disease is progressing so slowly that her neurologist keeps running more tests to see if she might have some other type of dementia but to date her only diagnosis is Alzheimer’s disease.
I have an explanation for the different clinical courses of Amber and Pearl. Amber had typical American style dementia with a rapidly progressive course. Pearl has Greek style dementia with a course that slowly progresses over decades. What’s the difference? Diet. My wife is Greek so we spend a lot of time in Greece. Over there we see a lot of elderly people with slowly progressive dementia. In this country Alzheimer’s disease is at best a 10-year disease.
That’s because in this country people with dementia usually also have another brain disease—Carbohydrate Associated Reversible Brain syndrome or CARB syndrome. Unlike Greece, in this country our diet is dominated by two toxic substances—excessive fructose mainly from sugar and HFCS and high glycemic carbohydrates mainly from grains. Excessive fructose triggers insulin resistance and central obesity. When you have insulin resistance and consume high glycemic carbohydrates, especially from grains, your brain is subjected to toxic magnified glucose spikes.
Over time these glucose spikes trigger a condition called sugar-brain where you transition from merely liking sweet and starch food (normal) to strongly craving this type of food. These strong cravings are always pathological and never normal. People with sugar-brain also develop mild brain dysfunction symptoms like mood swings, anxiety, poor sleep, fatigue and difficulty concentrating and focusing. Because the brain plays a key role in regulating fat storage, people with sugar-brain start to store too much fat even when they don’t overeat.
You might consider sugar-brain to be nothing more than a nuisance but over time it can transition to a serious medical illness we call CARB syndrome. With CARB syndrome you can develop up to 22 brain dysfunction symptoms that do interfere with your ability to function in multiple settings and you continue to store extra fat even as you lose lean body mass through dieting.
When you add sugar-brain or CARB syndrome to Alzheimer’s disease, it’s like throwing gas on a fire. When people with dementia crave sweet or starchy food they tend to binge on them because CARB syndrome robs them of any impulse control. They start acting like a two year old that wants a candy bar.
The good news is that unlike Alzheimer’s disease, sugar-brain and CARB syndrome are preventable and treatable conditions. My mother continues to do well because she still eats a healthy diet and her son knows how to treat CARB syndrome.
Sugar-brain and CARB syndrome not only make Alzheimer’s disease much worse, they also likely play a role in triggering the disease in those who are genetically prone to it. Thus you don’t want to wait until you are an old person before you eliminate sugar, HFCS and high glycemic carbohydrates from your diet.
I feel bad that we didn’t have the knowledge to help my grandmother Amber live a long and healthy life but I do feel good that we now have the knowledge to help my mother Pearl do so.
Another reader writes to Dr. Wilson:
Hi docww…
Your points are important about CARB Syndrome.
I think we would be remiss if we didn’t mention (and I don’t find it mentioned in Dr. M’s article) that there have been a few studies linking insulin resistence, pre-diabetes, and Type 2 Diabetes to Alzheimers. In fact, some researchers have been calling Alzheimers the “Diabetes of the Brain”. In studies, the same amyloid plaques have shown up with Alzheimers autopsies as have shown up in the pancreas of diabetes patients. Therefore, sugars, fructose, grains, and refined foods become all the more important to avoid. There are some researchers who are now estimating that by the year 2025 Alzheimers and early-onset demetia will be in epidemic proportions, and that Alzheimers may be to the senior community what autism is today for children.
to read the rest of the story: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/01/astaxanthin-for-dementia.aspx