Alzheimer’s / Dementia Prevention Program
Alzheimer’s Disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting the brain, and impairing memory, mood, thinking, and problem-solving. The first symptoms of Alzheimer’s are usually reported in a patient’s mid-sixties, to early seventies. It is actually a type of dementia accounting for the majority (60%-80%) of all dementia cases.
In Pathology reports of patients suspected of having a neurodegenerative disease, we can see common ailments in the brain physiology, such as:
- Amyloid plaques in the brain
- Tau tangles in the brain
- Impairment of connections between neurons
- Brain atrophy (shrinking of the brain)
Since the turn of the twentieth century, Alzheimer’s, Dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders have increased at a steady rate. This increase in incidence of neurodegenerative disorders is alarming, considering that incidences of almost every other chronic disease have declined, including: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke and even cancer. However, deaths by Alzheimer’s have increased by 87% in the last 10 years. Once considered a rare disease affecting only a handful of unfortunates, by 2016, Alzheimer’s was the 6th leading cause of death in the United States.
Recent clinical research shows that 10% of Americans over the age of 65 will develop some form of Dementia, while an astounding 50% of Americans over 85 will develop the neurodegenerative disease. Studies have shown that a spouse as a primary caregiver to an Alzheimer’s patient is 6 times more likely, themselves, to develop the disease. With modern advancements in health and wellness, living beyond the age of 85 is not unusual. Now, the thought of living out those extra years forgetting family, memories, and names (even your own) lies ahead for every family in America. This is of tremendous cost to our society.
There are four biological commonalities in the vast majority of deaths to chronic disease:
- Inflammation
- Oxidation
- Glucose dysregulation
- Lipid dysregulation
These are the major factors that drive the risk of developing neurodegenerative disease. Thankfully, these factors are largely in your control to address. While age and genetic factors are important, the single greatest influence on your own cognitive health remains the Lifestyle decisions you choose in the decades before showing symptoms.
Quality Health Care and Wellness’s Systematic Approach to Cognitive Health:
What can the average person do today to combat the onset of neurodegenerative disease? Healthy Nutrition remains the single most important factor and it is entirely in your control. This can be greatly assisted by the following nutritional strategies aimed at reducing inflammation and oxidative stress and which also appear to hold promise for preventing neurodegenerative disease:
Your best chance at preserving cognitive function and warding off neurodegenerative disease is by taking preventative measures. At Quality Health Care, we believe in using precision nutrition and supplementation, paired with comprehensive data, to help you make informed lifestyle choices to prevent the onset of chronic diseases. We will come to understand your unique biological makeup through a series of state-of-the-art testing, and then our physicians will use your health data to formulate an optimal action plan, to help you live healthier, longer.
- We perform a state-of-the-art genetic test, to assess your genetic strengths, weaknesses, and risk factors for a variety of diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Dementia. In our genetic testing, we determine your version of the ApoE4 gene, (In addition to the rest of your genome). Individuals with a certain genotype of the ApoE4 gene are at significantly higher risk for developing Alzheimer’s, about 14 times more likely. Purchase of the genetic test includes 1 free I.V Vitamin infusion, informed by your results.
- We perform a comprehensive blood panel to assess your body’s current condition. The blood testing provides deep insight into your body’s chemistry, including everything from organ function, to hormonal balance, and even identifying what vitamins and nutrients you are deficient in.
- Through a detailed understanding of your unique genetic code, paired with your comprehensive blood work, we are able to provide you with a tailored precision nutrition and supplement plan, based on what foods/nutrients you are able to metabolize effectively, and what nutrients your body is chronically deficient in. Our evidence-based health supplement and nutrition plan is tailored to you, and is designed to mitigate your risk factors for a variety of chronic diseases, including cognitive decline.
- We perform a Neural Scan test for the brain, to assess the risk, and progression of, neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimher’s, Dementia, and more. This detailed report includes brain health biomarkers, and brain wave measurements. This biomarker data is gathered using a quantitative EEG, and to determine brain processing speed, an ECG. This data will allow us to better understand the health of your brain, and perhaps make further recommendations.
- We follow up with you regularly to determine the measurable benefits to your cognitive health, and overall well being, from our unique evidence-based approach.
Lifestyle Choices to Protect Cognitive Health
Balanced and healthy nutrition remains the single most important factor in preventing cognitive disease, and thankfully it is entirely in our control. The following nutritional strategies are aimed at reducing inflammation and oxidative stress, both of which are major factors in preventing neurodegenerative and other chronic diseases:
Your best chance at preserving cognitive function and warding off neurodegenerative disease is by taking preventative measures. At Quality Health Care, we believe in using precision nutrition and supplementation, paired with comprehensive data, to help you make informed lifestyle choices to prevent the onset of chronic diseases. We will come to understand your unique biological makeup through a series of state-of-the-art testing, and then our physicians will use your health data to formulate an optimal action plan, to help you live healthier, longer.
- DHA: The brain’s principal omega-3 fatty acid, most available in fish oil, or diet with frequent fish consumption.
- Low-Calorie or Calorie Restriction: Calorie restriction may protect against neurodegenerative pathology, and has had a long association with longevity in mammals.
- Polyphenols: These are the most abundant antioxidants found in the diet and studies have shown them to have neuroprotective effects.
- Curcumin: This popular spice appears to stunt, and possibly destroy accumulated plaque deposits which are indicative of Alzheimer’s Disease.
- Antioxidant Vitamins: These are important factors in the reduction of oxidative damage linked to neurodegeneration, and are key to a strategy to prevent neurodegenerative disease.
- Coenzyme Q10: Studies indicate supplementing with this enzyme is associated with slower deterioration of function in patients with PD, as it is required for mitochondrial ATP synthesis and functions as an antioxidant in cell membranes and lipoproteins.
Although these supplements can greatly improve your chances of avoiding the onset of Neurodegenerative Disease, there are other strategies that research supports:
Mental Activity: Whether you’re looking to prevent the onset of dementia, or delay its progression, when it comes to your brain the key is to “use it or lose it.” In a groundbreaking NIH study, older adults who received as few as 10 sessions of mental training not only improved their cognitive functioning in daily activities in the months after the training, but continued to show long-lasting improvements 10 years later.
Weight Loss: Obesity seems to be on the top of the list of concerns over the onset of Neurodegenerative Disease as studies have shown that people with higher levels of adiposity are at higher risk for both future PD and AD. Body fat plays a key role in proinflammatory reactions within the body. Alternatively, body fat has the distinction of being able to store more toxins which result in higher levels of fat or adiposity as a central factor in overall cognitive decline and dementia.
Diabetes: Researchers continue to find critically important links between obesity and neurodegeneration with Diabetes. Diabetes is linked to a higher risk of dementia and AD as well and Dementia has been classified as Type III Diabetes. The key takeaway from this should be that three factors influence your risks associated with Neurodegenerative Disease: your age; your genetic makeup and your Lifestyle. You cannot control your age or your genetic makeup, however, the sooner you get a medical approach to living a Healthy Lifestyle, the sooner you can prevent, delay or reverse the symptoms of these terrible diseases.
Through our Lifestyle Program, we can empower you to make decisions, today, which can prevent, delay or even reverse the symptoms of this devastating disease. We perform a baseline Health Assessment which reviews all of these factors, including genetic factors and age (which are not in your control), and develop a Lifestyle Protocol empowering you to take control of your health today, which will determine how you can live your life in your senior years.
