Brain Health

Cognitive decline can be prevented, slowed, and in some cases reversed using this cutting edge scientifically proven approach!

Do you feel like your mind isn’t as sharp as it should be, or your memory isn’t as good as it once was?

Brain disease is extremely frightening, even terrifying. Most people know someone who has recovered from heart disease, but how many of us know someone who has recovered from brain disease? Watching a loved one disappear into Alzheimer’s is heartbreaking. Research has found that if you are over 70 and lose your sense of smell, you have an  increased risk of developing dementia within the next 5 years! Until quite recently there was nothing to do but watch and hope for the best.

This is thankfully changing due to the remarkable work of Dr Dale Bredesen who has identified separate categories of brain degeneration caused by more than 50 mechanisms that contribute to inflammation and tissue degeneration in Alzheimer’s. Excitingly, he has also shown that the disease can be reversed if you address these causes. Think of Alzheimer’s as a leaky roof - there are as many as 50 leaks in the Alzheimer’s roof that need to be addressed to stop the problem.

Dr. Bredesen proposes a pretty radical idea: Alzheimer’s disease as we know it could be largely ended with the current generation. The key to doing this? By treating the prevention of Alzheimer’s in much the same way we treat colon cancer — with screening to detect the first signs of trouble. However, a recurring theme Dr. Bredesen brings up is that what most labs and clinicians call normal may actually be different than what is optimal. His view is that not only should we potentially get tested and keep an eye on certain biomarkers in particular, but more importantly, for some of these tests, our goal should be to keep our ranges even healthier than what the laboratory references may indicate as “normal.”

Whether a person is at risk of developing the disease versus actively manifesting symptoms is often reflective of the number of their suboptimal biomarkers: as few as three to five suboptimal lab values may be observed in an at-risk pre-symptomatic person versus up to 25 in a symptomatic person.

Here is a short summary, watch DrBredesen delivering a TED Talk.

A healthy brain begins in the gut. Our digestive tract is lined by cells which are connected by tight junctions to prevent undigested foods, and toxins from being absorbed into the blood stream. The brain has a similar layer known as the blood-brain-barrier (BBB).  The gut barrier can become more ‘leaky’ when it is inflamed  for reasons like abnormal bacteria, fungi or yeasts in the gut, or by immune reactions. The BBB can also become ‘leaky’ for many reasons, like inflammation from antibodies produced by the immune system (especially to gluten), from trauma to the head, or even from proteins that become glycated (Advanced Glycation End products). If this happens the glial cells, which are the usually calm immune cells of the brain, become active in an attempt to protect the brain. This can damage the brain by setting off the inflammatory cascade.

Dr. Bredesen’s protocol to reverse cognitive decline, identifies the triggers that set off the ‘leakiness” of the BBB and eliminates them one by one.

This creates the right environment for neuronal regeneration and a return to brain health.

Our approach is to examine every aspect of health, using the Dr. Bredesen RECODE protocol and address each issue. The treatment is tweaked over time to aim for optimal lab and clinical results. Not every patient will have the same leaks, and the protocol is customized based on the patient’s genetics, current health, and lifestyle.

ReCODE is designed to be the optimal starting point and creates a dynamic road map for you and your trained doctor to reverse your symptoms, with the help of personalised genetic information, hormonal support, nutritional advice, and Dr. Bredesen’s cutting-edge research.

Now we can do more than the ‘watch and wait’ approach as a person gradually spirals into dementia. We take very active steps working with each person in a step wise collaborative fashion to maintain metabolic changes to their cellular environment so that their overall health improves to the point where brain function improves too.

We begin with the basic lifestyle factors to provide the necessary foundation to build upon. These include diet, exercise, sleep and stress and then look to modify other important factors such as inflammation, insulin resistance, toxin exposure and balancing neurotrophic factors.

At Evergreen Doctors we take a Functional Medicine approach to see how each cause may be affecting each person. The normal housekeeping process of the brain has been damaged and isn’t working normally. We take a comprehensive look at genetic risk factors, family history, and the health of every system in the body, then optimise the body as much as possible.

 Dr Anne Chappel and Dr Chris Chappel have been trained by Dr. Bredesen. They now offer this cutting edge approach to cognitive decline reversal to our patients. We also utilise the latest evidence such as that from the LipiDiDiet study, and the work by Dr Goodenowe into Plasmalogens (see the video below).

If you would like to discuss your personal experience and have a tailor-made solution for your cognitive health, book in with Evergreen Doctors today.