Incredible new research reveals how five lifestyle changes may REVERSE Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease can be stopped by making radical lifestyle changes, a new study suggests.

People diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or a precursor to dementia who switched to a plant-based diet, exercised and meditated daily, and attended therapy once a week saw marked improvements in their memory, speech and cognition compared to patients who maintained their normal routine .

One of the patients in the study, Cici Zerbe, a Californian in her mid-80s, said it has reversed her symptoms and that she feels “much better” since starting the intervention.

When she was diagnosed with dementia, Ms. Zerbe feared she would end up in a nursing home like her own mother and be dependent on 24/7 care. But she said that thanks to the therapy, she can still live independently and go for a walk alone every morning.

There were 51 patients included in the study, but two have come forward to share their experiences, saying the intervention helped them reverse or stop the progression of their disease.

Diet and exercise affect heart health, and circulation is thought to play a role in the development of dementia.

So it could be that by making their hearts healthier, the participants improved blood flow to their brains, halting the symptoms of the disease.

Previous studies have highlighted the link between blood flow and dementia. Rahul Sidhu, a PhD candidate in neuroscience at the University of Sheffield who was not involved in the study, wrote for the conversation.

When your arteries become clogged due to things like tobacco use, obesity, or high cholesterol, your brain doesn’t get as much blood.

Over time, this long-term stress can damage your brain tissue, which may be one of a number of factors that affect your chance of developing dementia.

If people improve their blood flow by making changes to their diet or exercise, writes Professor Sidhu, they may be able to get more blood and energy back to the brain, which could help prevent some symptoms of dementia.

Professor Sidhu wrote that you could interpret the findings from the new study to mean that ‘Nicholls [patient] and Zerbe has been shown to ‘reverse’ their symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.”

However, he wrote that this is only the experience of two people out of a trial of 51 people. And this intervention may not be as effective if tested in more people, he warned.

These types of studies, which look for alternative ways to treat the debilitating disease, which affects 6.9 million Americans, have become more popular because there has been little success with other therapies, such as medications.

Currently, there are only two medications approved by the FDA that marginally improve some disease symptoms. But one of them has stopped production due to controversy.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, people with Alzheimer’s disease can live up to 20 years without treatment. During that period, their memory, attention span, and sleep quality slowly erode as the disease damages more and more brain tissue.

Dr. Dean Ornish, founder and president of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute and University of CaliforniaSan Franciscowho conducted the new research, theorized that changing one’s habits could interrupt the progression of the disease.

To test this theory, Dr. Ornish and his colleagues included 51 patients in the study, who were on average 73 years old.

All patients in the study had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, but they were in the early stages of the disease, so their symptoms had not yet progressed.

The study – published in the magazine Alzheimer’s research and therapy –only looked at the effects over 20 weeks.

Half of the participants, 26 people, were put on the new lifestyle plan: eating prepackaged vegetarian meals, walking every day, doing strength training three times a week, meditating daily and participating in group therapy with loved ones three times a week.

Their meals mainly contained fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, seeds, nuts and soy products and were low in sweeteners and added fats. They were also given eight supplements to take daily.

A plant-based diet has been linked to a lower risk of developing dementia, likely because fruits and vegetables contain more nutrients, fiber and antioxidants than meat or wheat products, the study said. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

These nutrients support overall physical health, they write, and probably also protect the brain.

In terms of exercise, the participants did not have to start training like an Olympian.

Instead, the researchers asked participants to walk for at least 30 minutes daily and perform gentle strength-training exercises with a nurse three times a week.

This was probably included because have shown that regular exercise can reduce the risk of developing dementia by 45 percent, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Additionally, participants were assigned an hour each day to meditate, do yoga, or do breathing exercises while on Zoom with a specialist to manage stress.

Chronic stress has been linked to an incredible number of health problems, including dementia.

This is because stress causes our bodies to become inflamed, which can damage our brain tissue over a lifetime and increase the risk of dementia, the researchers wrote.

Changing participants’ diets, exercise and mindfulness habits appeared to help them improve their cognition, the study reported.

The final piece of the puzzle was group therapy, in which participants were asked to bring their spouses and discuss their emotional and cognitive well-being with an attending counselor.

This was to build communication skills and promote a sense of community, the researchers wrote.

Social isolation has been shown to increase the risk of dementia, the researchers wrote, likely because isolation causes people to make unhealthy choices, such as drinking, smoking or avoiding exercise.

The Alzheimer’s Society estimated that it can increase the chance of developing dementia by 60 percent.

The other half of the study participants, 25 people, lived normal lives.

Both groups were asked about their quality of life and completed a number of tests measuring cognitive decline at the beginning and end of the study.

One measure was the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which gives patients a score based on how well they complete a worksheet, including drawing, memory, attention, language and the ability to make connections between concepts.

The study found that 71 percent of treated people performed better on cognitive tests compared to their initial scores.

During the same period, 66 percent of people who didn’t change their lifestyle had lower scores on cognitive exams, meaning they got worse.

The lead researcher, Dr. Ornish, told Time: “This is not the study to end all studies. But it shows for the first time that intensive lifestyle changes can improve cognition and functioning in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

Cici Zerbe, a Californian in her mid-80s, was one of those people in the group who achieved better scores on the new diet after 20 weeks.

Ms. Zerbe told CNN’s Sanjay Gupta that she now feels “much better, much better,” five years after she started the intervention.

The retired teacher said she believed the treatment helped her reverse her disease.

Another patient, Simon Nicholls, 55, said taking part in the study helped him halt the progression of his disease.

Other experts not involved in the study were cautious about the findings.

“This doesn’t provide definitive answers yet,” said Laura Baker, professor of gerontology and geriatric medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, told USA Today.

“The idea that lifestyle intervention can reverse dementia or cognitive impairment – ​​I just don’t think there’s enough evidence for that,” Dr Baker added.

Even if the results didn’t reverse Alzheimer’s disease, they were still promising, said Cornell preventive neurologist Dr. Richard Isaacson, who oversaw Mr Nicholls’ treatment.

Of his patient, Dr. Isaacson said, “the results we’ve seen in Simon and some of the other patients in our study are extremely exciting.”