Alzheimer's disease - what is it all about?

Yesterday I spoke about "nitric oxide". And there being such conflicting information out there about Alzheimer's disease. Some reports state patients with Alzheimer's have a high level of nitric oxide in the brain and others state not enough. So which is it????

So I decided to dig a little deeper. To date there are only limited medication for AD and no known cure. With that being said . . . Nitric oxide (NO) has long been considered part of the neurotoxic insult caused by neuroinflammation in the Alzheimer's brain.

Okay . . . so the National Institute of Health states: NO is a signaling molecule that helps regulate blood flow, immune and neurological processes. Okay, so we knew that . . . and NO is known to be "low" in the brain of people who have Alzheimer's disease. . . . Okay now I agree with that statement!

It didn't make sense to me that some reports stated NO was too high . . . that's why I thought . . . well, maybe NO is just stuck in the brain due to inflammatory response.

Now . . . we can all agree that "beta amyloid plaque" forming in the brain is a hallmark characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.

Plaques form when protein pieces called "beta-amyloid" clump together. Beta-amyloid comes from a larger protein found in the fatty membrane surrounding nerve cells. It is chemically "sticky" and gradually builds up into plaques . . . with small clumps blocking cell-to-cell signaling and communication.

So now I was on a mission to find a way to stop this plaques from forming . . .

And guess what? . . . I found that consuming "Omega-3 essential fatty acids" did just that! It reduces "beta-amyloid plaques" and helps to prevent Alzheimer's. Food sources include cold-water fish such as salmon, trout, mackerel, seaweed, and sardines.

As we know from previous Health Tips . . . our Western diet mainly consists of Omega-6s. Again . . . confirming why people get Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and dementia . . . lack of Omega-3s and TOO many Omega-6s.

Okay . . . so that explains the plaques problem but how do we fix the low level of "nitric oxide" in the brain to reverse Alzheimer's?

Well . . . I found that there's a specific amino acid that's a ASA, that doesn't build protein like normal amino acids, but rather has the ability to increase nitric oxide. This little miracle is "normally" found in large amounts in the brain, retina, heart and blood cells called platelets.

BUT . . . people with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and dementia . . . lack adequate levels of this amino acid.

This amino acid has been confirmed to increase nitric oxide production. Research has shown that introducing this amino acid back into the body to increase NO . . . has helped to regain normal cognitive functions and "blocks" beta-amyloid plaques.

The other element to these diseases is "inflammation." Alzheimer's disease remains the leading cause of dementia worldwide. And the body's level of "inflammatory response" plays a major role in the development of Alzheimer's.

I'll talk more about inflammation tomorrow.

As always, feel free to contact me here