One of the most difficult things that a person can go through is to lose their memory. It is not only difficult for them, it is also difficult for their family and anyone else who was in their life. Unfortunately, it happens all too often to those who get older and struggle with dementia. It is very difficult to watch somebody as they go downhill, losing their memory and their ability to care for themselves as an individual. It just seems to take away their dignity but as you are about to learn, there may actually be hope for this ‘incurable’ disease.
It happened when an 82-year-old woman was suffering from dementia and it got so bad that she couldn’t even recognize her own son. In fact, his mother’s condition became so bad that he had to keep her in the hospital because it was unsafe for her to live in her own home. He had already lost his father and now he was struggling with the possibility of losing another parent. With a dietary change, however, something miraculous happened and she gained her memory back again.
Sylvia was quickly going downhill and she lost her memory to the point where she had phoned the police and accused a nurse of trying to kidnap her. A simple dietary change, which included copious amounts of walnuts and blueberries seems to have the impact that was desired. Her memory returned and now, her recipes are being shared by the Alzheimer’s Society.
Other health foods were also incorporated in her diet, such as broccoli, spinach, green tea, sunflower seeds, oats, sweet potatoes and some dark chocolate with lots of cocoa. These super foods are known to have benefits for the health of the brain.
Sylvia’s son, Mark, got together with his mother and they put together the diet when they found that the medication was not doing enough. They did their own research and saw that the rates of dementia are lower in Mediterranean countries, so they followed many of those eating habits.
According to Mirror.co.uk
Mark, whose brother Brent also died in 1977, said:
“When my mum was in hospital she thought it was a hotel – but the worst one she had ever been in.
“She didn’t recognise me and phoned the police as she thought she’d been kidnapped.
“Since my dad and brother died we have always been a very close little family unit, just me and my mum, so for her to not know who I was was devastating.
“We were a double act that went everywhere together. I despaired and never felt so alone as I had no other family to turn to.
“Overnight we went from a happy family to one in crisis.
“When she left hospital, instead of prescribed medication we thought we’d perhaps try alternative treatment.
“In certain countries Alzheimer’s is virtually unheard of because of their diet.
“Everyone knows about fish but there is also blueberries, strawberries, Brazil nuts and walnuts – these are apparently shaped like a brain to give us a sign that they are good for the brain.”
There were also some cognitive exercises that Mark and his mother would do together like jigsaw puzzles crosswords and meeting people in social situations, Sylvia would also exercise by using a pedaling device outfitted for her chair.
Mark said, “It wasn’t an overnight miracle, but after a couple of months she began remembering things like birthdays and was becoming her old self again, more alert, more engaged..
“People think that once you get a diagnosis your life is at an end. You will have good and bad days, but it doesn’t have to be the end. For an 82-year-old she does very well, she looks 10 years younger and if you met her you would not know she had gone through all of this.
“She had to have help with all sorts of things, now she is turning it round. We are living to the older age in this country, but we are not necessarily living healthier
This is an amazing story that shows something interesting about the human body. If we provide our body with the proper environment, this and other types of diseases can be reversed. Admittedly, we may be dealing with genetic problems and it is not always guarantee that we can overcome those issues. Still, there are some things we may be able to do to minimize our risk and considering the benefits of our health, we want to do what we can to maintain it at the highest level.
One of the things that may be affecting individuals who have Alzheimer’s disease is a buildup of aluminum in the brain. Being able to identify this potential problem in recognizing what we can do about it can help to turn the tide. We may need to limit our exposure to aluminum and detoxify the brains if the heavy-metal exists.
There is also an article that was recently published in The Hippocratic Post website about the evidence of aluminum and Alzheimer’s. It said:
“We already know that the aluminium content of brain tissue in late-onset or sporadic Alzheimer’s disease is significantly higher than is found in age-matched controls. So, individuals who develop Alzheimer’s disease in their late sixties and older also accumulate more aluminium in their brain tissue than individuals of the same age without the disease.
Even higher levels of aluminium have been found in the brains of individuals, diagnosed with an early-onset form of sporadic (usually late onset) Alzheimer’s disease, who have experienced an unusually high exposure to aluminium through the environment (e.g. Camelford) or through their workplace. This means that Alzheimer’s disease has a much earlier age of onset, for example, fifties or early sixties, in individuals who have been exposed to unusually high levels of aluminium in their everyday lives.”
In a recent study that was published in the Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology, it showed that a study that was conducted on the subject of aluminum yielded some rather interesting results. This study is thought to be of value because scientists, for the first time, measured how much aluminum was in the brain tissues of those diagnosed with familial Alzheimer’s disease. It is considered to be familial if at least two people in the family have it.
The paper said that the concentrations of aluminum in the brain tissue, which was donated by deceased Alzheimer’s patients was higher than other brain tissue.
The professor in charge of the study wrote:
“We now show that some of the highest levels of aluminium ever measured in human brain tissue are found in individuals who have died with a diagnosis of familial Alzheimer’s disease.
The levels of aluminium in brain tissue from individuals with familial Alzheimer’s disease are similar to those recorded in individuals who died of an aluminium-induced encephalopathy while undergoing renal dialysis.”
He explained that:
“Familial Alzheimer’s disease is an early-onset form of the disease with first symptoms occurring as early as 30 or 40 years of age. It is extremely rare, perhaps 2-3% of all cases of Alzheimer’s disease. Its bases are genetic mutations associated with a protein called amyloid-beta, a protein which has been heavily linked with the cause of all forms of Alzheimer’s disease.
Individuals with familial Alzheimer’s disease produce more amyloid beta and the onset of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are much earlier in life.”
Awareness continues to increase about Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative brain disorders. When we do what we can to prevent or treat the conditions in the best way possible, it can make a difference. This would include the possibility of eliminating aluminum and other chemicals in our foods that could have an impact on the rates of Alzheimer’s and other, similar diseases.