Last week we discussed in more detail the causes of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) particularly from the perspective of world expert Dr Dale Bredesen.  Today we are going to present the dietary recommendations by a dietician involved in managing patients with AD, Amylee Amos from the Amos Institute.  You may want to look up this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qwcmXNUeco for more details.

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She is a registered dietician who works almost exclusively with neurodegenerative diseases, mostly Alzheimer’s.  The following are her recommendations.

https://www.whitneyerd.com/2018/03/alzheimers-diet-bredesen-protocol.html

The main components of the protocol include:

• Whole, predominantly plant-based foods
• Mild ketosis
• Complex carbohydrates such as found in whole grains, squash, sweet potatoes and fruit
• 10-15 servings of non-starchy vegetables/day
• Healthy fats – mostly monounsaturated foods such as nuts, seeds, and olives
• Lean protein such as legumes and cold-water, low mercury-contaminated fish
• Low-glycemic fruit such as berries
• A 12-hour nightly fast, with nothing to eat for 3 hours before bedtime.

What the diet avoids.

• Highly processed foods such as protein/energy bars
• Large amounts of meat and animal products
• Simple carbohydrates such as refined bread, crackers, pastries
• Simple sugar as in juices and cool drinks and sugar in hot drinks
• All non-nutritive sweeteners like Canderel (Aspartame), , Saccharin, Sucralose, etc which all may decimate the microbiome
• Gluten *(see below)

While the protocol does aim for a “mildly ketogenic” state, it is not your standard ketogenic diet and Amylee does not recommend that those with cognitive decline (or anyone) adopt that pattern of eating e.g. Banting diet. 

The Bredesen Protocol includes complex carbohydrates fruit and other foods that are typically avoided in a standard ketogenic diet, and aims to reduce many foods that are common in a ketogenic diet such as meat and high-saturated fat animal products.  However this diet does include some fish, but with care to avoid mercury-contaminated fish.

• Salmon
• Mackerel
• Anchovies
• Sardines
• Herring

Of course if you suffer from gout you will probably need to avoid all or most of these.

• Comment on gluten by Whitney E, a RDN who seeks to find the truth about so many claims. The study that this information comes from is an “in vitro” study – that is in a test-tube on intestinal cells.  So, it may well be only a theoretical concern.  There is no study that has proved that gluten, in a healthy individual, can damage the gut lining.  After all, generations of healthy people living in various parts of the world lived on gluten containing grains for thousands of years.

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Apart from the diet, other important interventions include:

Physical activity 5 hour per week.  This includes cardiovascular, balance, mobility and strength training.

Brain training.  One of the methods is the computer “game” called  BrainHQ developed by neuroscientists

Supplements:  Be wary of any supplement that is too good to be true.  Coenzyme Q10 seems to be beneficial for most people.  Vitamin D deficiency is requires appropriate treatment, but Vitamin D should not be a general supplement.

This programme is not for sissies, but the benefits are amazing for someone facing the dismal prospect of destructive Alzheimer’s.

Next week we will present a different take on Alzheimer’s disease from expert Daniel Amen, who has established a raft of Amen Clinics in various parts of the USA.

Have a great week, seriously considering how committed you are to caring for your brain – and thus your future.

Dave Glass

Dr David Glass graduated from UCT in 1975. He spent the next 12 years working at a mission hospital in Lesotho, where much of his work involved health education and interventions to improve health, aside from the normal busy clinical work of an under-resourced mission hospital.

He returned to UCT in 1990 to specialise in obstetrics/gynaecology and then moved to the South Coast where he had the privilege of, amongst other things, ushering 7000 babies into the world. He no longer delivers babies but is still very clinically active in gynaecology.

An old passion, preventive health care, has now replaced the obstetrics side of his work. He is eager to share insights he has gathered over the years on how to prevent and reverse so many of the modern scourges of lifestyle – obesity, diabetes, ischaemic heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, common cancers, etc.

He is a family man, with a supportive wife, and two grown children, and four beautiful grandchildren. His hobbies include walking, cycling, vegetable gardening, bird-watching, travelling and writing. He is active in community health outreach and deeply involved in church activities. He enjoys teaching and sharing information.