HN4U Blog
The Boogie Man Alzheimer’s
Next to cancer, Alzheimer’s scares more Americans than any other illness.
A research team out of the University of Florida, noticed one day something odd – “They asked patients to sniff a dab of peanut butter during a routine test of cranial nerve function. Later, the team wondered if it could help them determine if someone might be in the early stages of Alzheimer’s.
In the test, a patient sniffs a little peanut butter one nostril at a time. The clinicians then measure the distance at which patients can detect the smell. After administering the test approximately 100 times, Jennifer Stamps, says that she and her supervisor, Kenneth Heilman, neurologist at the McKnight Brain Institute, noticed patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease weren’t able to smell as well from their left nostril.
Impairment of the left nostril corresponded with a positive Alzheimer’s diagnosis every time. It made sense to the Florida team, because with Alzheimer’s, the left part of the brain is usually affected first. Smell, unlike sight, is ipsilateral: The side of the body sensing the stimulus and the side of the brain processing the information are the same.” 1,2
When it comes to the brain there are almost as many known diseases as for the body, Alzheimer’s has become a catch phrase for many forms of dementia. Some of these are brought on from head injuries, hormone imbalances, chronic pain, environmental chemicals, stress, bad diet, and poor sleep.
Blood sugar and insulin spikes are one example of hormones and diet damage to the brain, heavy metal exposure from welding, fabricating, and water, damage the brain as well. Many of us in the world of nutrition have been concerned about the use of statin medications and increased consumption of synthetic fats for years, because of how these effect blood sugars and the brain.
A study released October 9, 2013 – Neurological Researchers Find Fat May Be Linked to Memory Loss “Although there are several risk factors of dementia, abnormal fat metabolism has been known to pose a risk for memory and learning. People with high amounts of abdominal fat (belly) in their middle age are 3.6 times as likely to develop memory loss and dementia later in their life.
Neurological scientists at the Rush University Medical Center in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health have discovered that same protein that controls fat metabolism in the liver resides in the memory center of the brain (hippocampus) and controls memory and learning.” 3
Next up is the incredible shrinking brain – Abdominal Fat at Middle Age Associated With Greater Risk of Dementia: Obesity Linked to Lower Total Brain Volume, was published back in May 20, 2010. Did your doctor tell you about this? “Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine determined that excess abdominal fat places otherwise healthy, middle-aged people at risk for dementia later in life. Preliminary findings suggest a relationship between obesity and dementia that could lead to promising prevention strategies in the future.”4
Fatty liver disease or high triglycerides over a person’s lifetime may be markers for dementia, as these contribute to the central weight gain. Without a doubt sugar and simple carbohydrates along with processed foods are the leading contributors to central weight gain and elevations in triglycerides, not real fats from organic meats and butter, olive oil or coconut oil.
To Your Brain
1. npr.org/blogs/health/2013/10/11/232135483/why-a-peanut-butter-test-for-alzheimers-might-be-too-simple
2. sciencedaily.com/news/mind_brain/dementia/
3. Rush University Medical Center (2013, October 9). Neurological researchers find fat may be linked to memory loss. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 20, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2013/10/131009100620.htm
4. Wiley-Blackwell (2010, May 20). Abdominal fat at middle age associated with greater risk of dementia: Obesity linked to lower total brain volume. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 20, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2010/05/100520092940.htm