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Incredible new research reveals how five lifestyle changes may REVERSE Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease could be halted by making radical lifestyle changes, a new trial suggests.
People diagnosed with Alzheimer's or a precursor to dementia who switched to a plant-based diet, exercised and meditated daily and went to therapy once a week saw marked improvements to their memory, speech and cognition compared to patients who kept on with their normal routine.
One of the patients in the trial, Cici Zerbe, a Californian in her mid 80s, said that it reversed her symptoms, and that she's feeling 'much better' since starting the intervention.
When she got her dementia diagnosis, Ms Zerbe worried that she would end up like her own mother, in a nursing home and reliant on 24/7 care. But she said thanks to the therapy, she's still able to live independently and go on walks every single morning alone.
There were 51 patients included in the trial, but two have come out to share their experience, saying that the intervention helped them reverse or halt the progress of their disease.
Diet and exercise have an impact on heart health, and blood circulation is thought to play a role in the development of dementia.
So it could be that by making themselves heart healthier, the participants were improving blood flow to their brain, helping halt the symptoms of the disease.
Previous studies have made clear the link between blood flow and dementia Rahul Sidhu, a PhD candidate in Neuroscience at the University of Sheffield who wasn't involved in the research, wrote for the Conversation.
When your arteries are gummed up by things like tobacco use, obesity or high cholesterol, your brain doesn't get as much blood.
Over time, this prolonged stress can affect your brain tissue, which may be one of a number of factors that affect your likelihood of developing dementia.
If people improve their blood flow by making diet or exercise changes, Professor Sidhu wrote, they might get more blood and energy back to the brain, which could help stave off some of the symptoms of dementia.
Professor Sidhu wrote that you could interpret the findings from the new study to mean that 'Nicholls [patient] and Zerbe arguably did “reverse” their symptoms of Alzheimer’s.'
However, he wrote, this is only the experience of two people from a trial of 51. And this intervention might not be as effective when its tested in more people, he cautioned.
Studies like these, that look for alternatives ways of treating the debilitating disease, which affects 6.9 million Americans, have become more popular as there's been little success with other therapies - like drugs.
Currently, there are only two drugs approved by the FDA which marginally improve some symptoms of disease. But one of those has seized production amid controversy.
Without treatment, people with Alzheimer's can live as long as 20 years, according to the Alzheimer's Association. 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 California, San Francisco, who ran the new study, theorized that altering someone's habits could interrupt the course of their disease.
To test this theory, Dr Ornish and his colleagues enrolled 51 patients in the trial, who averaged age 73.
All patient's in the study had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, but were early on in the course of the disease so that their symptoms weren't highly advanced.
The study - published in the journal 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 primarily 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 vegetables and fruits have more nutrients, fiber and antioxidants than meat or wheat products, according to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
These nutrients support overall bodily health, they write, and likely protect the brain too.
In terms of exercise, the participants didn't have to begin training like an Olympian.
Instead researchers asked that participants walked for at least 30 minutes daily and perform gentle strength training exercises with a nurse three times a week.
This was likely incorporated because have shown that regular exercise can reduce the risk of developing dementia by 45 percent, according to Alzheimer's Society.
In addition, one hour each day, the participants were instructed to meditate, do yoga, or breathing exercises while on Zoom with a specialist in order to manage stress.
Chronic stress has been linked to an incredible amount of health problems, including dementia.
This is because stress causes our body to become inflamed, which over a lifetime, can wear on our brain tissue and increase likelihood of dementia, the researchers wrote.
Changing participant's diets, exercise and mindfulness habits seemed to help them improve their cognition, the study reported.
The last piece of the puzzle was group therapy - where participants were asked to bring their spouses and discuss their emotional and cognitive wellbeing together with a counselor present.
This was to build communication skills and foster a sense of community, the researchers wrote.
Social isolation has been shown to increase dementia risk, the researchers wrote, likely because isolation causes them to make unhealthy choices like drinking, smoking or avoiding exercise.
The Alzheimer's Society estimated that it can increase your likelihood of developing dementia by 60 percent.
The other half of the participants in the study, 25 people, lived out their life as normal.
Both groups were asked about their quality of life and performed a number of tests that measure cognitive decline at the beginning and end of the study.
One measure included the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which gives patient's a score based on how well they complete a worksheet that includes drawing, memory, attention, language and ability to make connection between concepts.
The research found that 71 percent of the people who were treated performed better on cognitive tests compared to their initial scores.
Over the same period, 66 percent of the people who didn't change their lifestyles got 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 function in patients who have Alzheimer’s.
Cici Zerbe, a Californian in her mid 80's, was one of those people in the group that got better scores after 20 weeks on the new diet.
Ms Zerbe told CNN's Sanjay Gupta that she's feeling 'much better, much better' now, five years after she started the intervention.
The retired educator said she believed the treatment helped her reverse her disease.
Another patient, Simon Nicholls, 55, said that participating in the trial helped him halt the progress of his disease.
Other experts not involved in the research were cautious about the findings.
'This does not provide definitive answers yet,' Laura Baker, a Wake Forest University School of Medicine professor of gerontology and geriatric 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 prove to reverse Alzheimer's, they were still promising, Cornell preventive neurologist Dr. Richard Isaacson, who oversaw Mr Nicholls treatment, said.
Of his patient, Dr Isaacson said: 'the results we've seen with Simon and some other patients in our research are extremely exciting.'