PLEASE NOTE

Andrew Saul is NOT a medical doctor and nothing in this PDF is to be in

any way considered as medical advice. All information is purely
educational.

Always consult your doctor before making any health decisions.

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE:
SOME ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES
"(Research) suggests to me that if everyone started on a good nutritional program supplemented
with optimum doses of vitamins and minerals before age fifty, and remained on it, the incidence of
Alzheimer's disease would drop precipitously." (Abram Hoffer, MD, PhD)

http://www.doctoryourself.com/hoffer_psychosis.html Hoffer A: A case of Alzheimer's

treated with nutrients. J Orthomolecular Medicine 8:43-44, 1993. Also: Hoffer A: Alzheimer's -
An Anecdote (letter) Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, No.179, 107-109, 1998

Dr. Harold Foster’s book, What Really Causes Alzheimer’s Disease, further discusses Dr. Hoffer’s
work. The full text of this book can be downloaded, free of charge,
at http://www.hdfoster.com/publications .

Choline/Lechithin

Supplemental choline has already shown promise in treating Alzheimer's Disease. In Geriatrics,
way back in July 1979, lecithin was employed as a therapy to combat memory loss. Studies at
MIT show increases in both choline and the vital neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the brains
of animals after just ONE lecithin meal. (Today's Living, February,
1982) http://www.doctoryourself.com/nerves.html

It is important to use enough lecithin to have a reasonable hope of success. You can personally
try taking a few tablespoons of lecithin granules (I take between 4 and 8 twice a week, for I
want to remember all my great-grandchildren’s middle names and sweater sizes someday).
Notice anything? You can feel the almost a caffeine-like increase in your awareness. That is
probably the effect of an acetylcholine boost. Think what this might do for an Alzheimer’s
patient. Lecithin is a very safe substance: it is difficult to hurt yourself with essential fatty acids
and choline. Try lecithin granules in yogurt, in a fruit smoothie or, if you are really new to all
this, on ice cream.
http://doctoryourself.com/lecithin.html
Vitamin B-12

B-12 deficiency may be mistaken for, or even cause, Alzheimer’s disease. B-12 deficiency is
easy to come by in the elderly: poor diet; poor intestinal absorption (due to less intrinsic factor
being secreted by the stomach in the aging body, and possibly due to calcium deficiency);
digestive tract surgery; pharmaceutical interference, notably from Dilantin (phenytoin); and
stress all decrease B-12. It is necessary to measure the cerebrospinal fluid, not the blood, to
get accurate B-12 readings.

Carper, Jean (1995) Your food pharmacy (Syndicated column). November 1.

Dommisse, John (1990) Organic mania induced by phenytoin. Can J Psychiatry. 35:5, June.

Dommisse, John (1991) Subtle vitamin B-12 deficiency and psychiatry: a largely unnoticed but
devastating relationship? Med Hypotheses. 34:131-140

Murray, Frank (1991) A B-12 deficiency may cause mental problems. Better Nutrition for
Today’s Living, July, p 10-11

Even marginal B-12 deficiency over a long time period produces an increased risk of
Alzheimer’s disease.
Close to three-quarters of the elderly deficient in B-12 also have Alzheimers Disease.

Garrison, Jr Robert H. and Somer, Elizabeth (1990) The Nutrition Desk Reference. New
Canaan, CT: Keats, p 211.

Many popular diet plansthrough the years were B-12 deficient, including
the Pritikin, Scarsdale and Beverly Hills diets, among others. The elderly are often dieting
without intending to, simply because their normal appetite and taste functions are reduced.
Emotional factors such as isolation, grief, and depression also contribute to their inadequate
food intake, and therefore unhealthally low B-12 intake. To make matters worse, B-12
deficiency itself causes further loss of appetite. And these symptoms of B-12 deficiency are all
to reminiscent of diseases such as Alzheimer’s: ataxia, fatigue, slowness of thought, apathy,
emaciation, degeneration of the spinal cord, dizziness, moodiness, confusion, agitation,
delusions, hallucinations, and psychosis.
Injection or intra-nasal administration of B-12 is recommended because oral absorption is
poor. There is no known toxicity for vitamin B-12. A minimum daily therapeutic dose is
probably 100 micrograms, and closer to 1,000 mcg daily may be more effective. 1,000 mcg
sounds like a lot, but it is actually the same as one milligram, which is about one thousandth of a
quarter-teaspoon.

Fisher and Lachance (1985) Nutrition evaluation of published weight reducing

diets. J Amer Dietetic Assn, 85(4) 450-54.

Goldberg, Donald (1985) Newsletter. 33, September.

Antioxidant vitamins, such as vitamin E and carotene, may slow down or

prevent AD. Alzheimer’s patients have abnormally low measurable levels of these nutrients in
their bodies. This could simply be because they don’t eat well, or because the disease increases
their nutrient need, or both.

For more information, please search the DoctorYourself website from the main page with the
keywords "vitamin E Alzheimer's" using the website search engine.

Vitamin C, folic acid and niacin, as well as other nutrients, may also play a major role in
combating AD.

Balch, J. F. and Balch, P. A. (1990) Prescription for Nutritional Healing. Garden City Park, NY:
Avery Publishing, p 87-90. (Has a very good section on AD.)

Kushnir, S. L.; Ratner, J. T. and Gregoire, P.A. (1987) Multiple nutrients in the treatment of
Alzheimer’s disease. Amer Geriatrics Soc J, 35(5):476-477, May.

Choline
AD patients have a deficiency of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine because they are deficient
in the enzyme, choline acetyltransferase, needed to make it. This results in curtailed
manufacture and presence of acetylcholine in the brain. But there is a way around this:
increasing dietary choline raises blood and brain levels of acetylcholine. Choline is readily
available in cheap, non-prescription lecithin. ( Boston U School of Med, F. Marott Sinex, PhD)

A large quantity of choline (from lecithin) is necessary for clinical results. Lecithin is non-toxic.

Alzheimer’s Disease and neurotransmitters, Lets Live, May 1983, p18.

Little, et al (1985) A double-blind, placebo controlled trial of high dose lecithin in Alzheimer’s
disease. J Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 48: 736-742.
Vitamin C and Tyrosine

Increasing the body’s level of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine may also help AD
patients. Norepinepherine is made from the amino acid tyrosine, which is made
from phenylalaine. We get plenty of phenylalanine from protein our diets if we eat protein
foods, but the conversion to tyrosine and ultimately norepinephrine may not take place if there
is a deficiency of another coenzyme: vitamin C. Vitamin C
increases norepinephrine production. Vitamin C may therefore be of special value in the
treatment AD.

Aluminum Toxicity

Unintentional aluminum intake may increase the risk of AD as well. Aluminum cookware,
aluminum foil, antacids, douches, buffered aspirin, and even anti-perspirant deodorants may all
contribute to the problem.

A single aluminum coffee-pot was shown to have invisibly added over 1600 mcg aluminum per
liter of water. This is 3,200% over the World Health Organizations set goal of 50 mcg per liter.
Aluminum is known to build up in the bodily tissues of persons with Alzheimer’s disease,
Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin.
Aluminum is also a component of so- called silver amalgam dental fillings. Composite (white)
fillings do not contain aluminum (or mercury, for that matter.) Most baking powder contains
aluminum. Rumford brand baking powder does not, however. Neither does baking soda,
which is a different substance entirely.
Jackson, J. A.; Riordan, H. D. and Poling, C. M. (1989) Aluminum from a coffee pot. Lancet, I
(8641) 781-782, April 8.

Artificial kidney dialysis has been known to produce dialysis dementia, a state of confusion and
disorientation caused by excess aluminum in the blood stream. Animals injected with
aluminum compounds will also show develop nervous system disorders. Conversely,
Alzheimer’s disease can be treated with metal bonding (chelating) agents, such
as desferrioxamine, which remove aluminum from the bloodstream. In appropriately high
doses, vitamin C is also an effective chelating agent.

There have been many studies on the relationship of aluminum toxicity to Alzheimer’s disease.
A Medline search will promptly uncover a large number of references on the subject. Some
examples include:

Martyn, C. N.; Barker, D. J.; Osmond, C.; Harris, E. C.; Edwardson, J.A. and Lacey, R. F. (1989)
Geographical relation between Alzheimer’s disease and aluminum in drinking water. Lancet, I
(8629): 59-62, Jan 14.

McLachlan, D. R.; Kruck, T.P. and Lukiw, W. J. (1991) Would decreased aluminum ingestion
reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease? Can Med Assn J, Oct 1.

Calcium and Magnesium significantly slow down aluminum absorption, and

that’s good. Supplementation with 800 mg of calcium and 400 mg of magnesium every day may
be therapeutic for AD patients. Here are two good presentations on the subject:

Garrison, Jr Robert H. and Somer, Elizabeth (1990) Nutrition Desk Reference. New Canaan, CT:
Keats, p 78-79; 106; 210-211.

Weiner, Michael A. (1990) Aluminum and dietary factors in Alzheimer’s disease. J

Orthomolecular Med, 5(2):74-78

Lead Toxicity
Dooley, Erin E. (2000) Linking lead to Alzheimer’s Disease. In: Environmental Health
Perspectives 108 (10) October, writes:

Scientists from Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals presented evidence
at the April 2000 annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology that people who
have held jobs with high levels of lead exposure have a 3.4 times greater likelihood of
developing Alzheimer disease.

People can be exposed to lead on the job either by breathing in lead dust or through direct skin
contact.

Lead has adverse affects on brain development and function, even at very low levels of
exposure. Lead, unfortunately, is permeates out environment because of decades of adding it
to gasoline. The good news is that very high dosage of vitamin C is known to help the body
rapidly excrete lead.
I believe that aggressive use of therapeutic nutrition could substantially reduce the incidence
and severity of Alzheimer’s disease.

FACT: More than half of nursing home beds are

occupied by AD patients.

(All content originally published at www.DoctorYourself.com . All rights reserved 2018 and previous years)