Introduction
The overall statistics state that the total expenditure to support ALZHEIMERS disease and all other dementias is $259 billion ( Medicare/Medicaid cover $175 billion. While the rest is covered by out-of pocket expenditure (Private insurance etc)).
The Alzheimer’s Association (AA) claim that there are 5.5 million over 65 Americans living with Alzheimer’s and another 200,000 who are under the age of 65.
There are 50 million worldwide.
Let us dig a little deeper into statements taken from the AA’s 2017 report:
In a 2017 facts & figures report published by the Alzheimer’s Association state :
‘In some cases, individuals with symptoms of dementia do not actually have dementia, but instead have a condition whose symptoms mimic those of dementia.
Common causes of dementia-like symptoms are Depression, Delirium, Side Effects from Medications, Thyroid problems, certain Vitamin Deficiencies and Excessive use of Alcohol.
Unlike dementia, these conditions often may be reversed with treatment.
One meta-analysis, a method of analysis in which results of multiple studies are examined, reported that 9 percent of people with dementia-like symptoms did not in fact have dementia, but had other conditions that were potentially reversible’
They also state :
‘Alzheimer’s disease was first described in 1906, but about 70 years passed before it was recognized as a common cause of dementia and a major cause of death.
Between 2000 and 2014, deaths from Alzheimer’s disease as recorded on death certificates increased 89 percent, while deaths from the number one cause of death (heart disease) decreased 14 percent’.
Furthermore :
‘Scientists are not certain why people with Down’s syndrome are at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s, Age,
Family History and the Apolipoprotein E (APOE)-e4 Gene.
The greatest risk factors for late-onset Alzheimer’s are older age, having a family history of Alzheimer’s and carrying the APOE-e4 gene.
Alzheimer’s dementia increases dramatically with age: 3 percent of people age 65-74, 17 percent of people age 75-84, and 32 percent of people age 85 or older have Alzheimer’s dementia’.
And :
‘People with more years of formal education are at lower risk for Alzheimer’s and other dementias than those with fewer years of formal education.
Some researchers believe that having more years of education builds a “cognitive reserve” that enables individuals to better compensate for brain changes that could result in symptoms of Alzheimer’s or other dementias.
According to the cognitive reserve hypothesis, having more years of education increases the connections between neurons, enabling the brain to use alternate routes of neuron-to-neuron communication to complete cognitive tasks when the usual routes have neuronal gaps because of Alzheimer’s’.
It looks like dementia but of course it isn’t because you can reverse it
So to align themselves with conventional medical dogma its more than their ( the Alzheimer’s Association) ‘jobs worth’ to even mention this factual reality, but simply to state that ‘In some cases, individuals with symptoms of dementia do not actually have dementia…..unlike dementia, these conditions often may be reversed with treatment’.
I’m sorry but you either have dementia or you don’t..so individuals with dementia do not actually have dementia..so what do they have..autism ?..attention deficit disorder..?..what ?..what does this mean ??.
They go on to say ‘Common causes of dementia-like symptoms are depression, delirium, side effects from medications, thyroid problems, certain vitamin deficiencies and excessive use of alcohol’.
This statement is tell-tale sign that these people know whats causing Alzheimer’s but they can only associate some of the real causes with dementia like symptoms to avoid the conventional medical community accusing them of breaking ranks of the ‘Medical Priesthood‘,
As potential readers of these conventional medical documents you have to approach them critically and do your own inquiry and not just take bold statements as as if they were facts set in stone; most are statements without scientific basis; they are hypothesis that have neither been proven or disproven.
The basis behind their facts is a little like Monty Python and the ‘witch’ theory :
V: What makes you think she is a witch?
P2: Well, she turned me into a newt!
V: A newt?!
P2: I got better.
P3: Burn her anyway!
V: There are ways of telling whether she is a witch.
P1: Are there? Well then tell us!
V: Tell me… what do you do with witches?
P3: Burn’em! Burn them up!
V: What do you burn apart from witches?
P1: More witches!
P3: Wood!
V: So, why do witches burn?
P2: Cuz they’re made of… wood?
V: Gooood.
V: So, how do we tell if she is made of wood?
P1: Build a bridge out of her!
V: Ahh, but can you not also make bridges out of stone?
P1: Oh yeah…
V: Does wood sink in water?
P1: No
P3: No. It floats!
P1 Let’s throw her into the bog!
V: What also floats in water?
P1: Bread
P3: Apples
P2: Very small rocks
P1: Cider
P3: Grape gravy
P1: Cherries
P3: Mud
King: A Duck!
V: Exactly! So, logically…
P1 If she weighs the same as a duck… she’s made of wood!
V: And therefore,
P3: A witch!
Alzheimer’s disease only recognised in 1976.
This is a very interesting statement and anybody with an ounce of intelligence would ask the obvious question..why was it not recognized as a dementia for 70 years.
I will tell you, because prior to 1942 it was virtually non existent.
The full force of the great corporations that make processed food was just ticking over back then making corn beef, chocolate and soup for example.
Very few vquackzees had been developed, fewer toxins were being released into the air, agricultural lands were not being poisoned as much as they are today, or infected with experimental seeds.
In other words, dementia did exist due to brain trauma for example, but statistically it was irrelevant..just the cost of living.
But dementias and Alzheimer’s is a modern societal caused disease, and if you listen to Joel Wallach he will tell you its a physician caused disease because of the chronic saturation of cholesterol lowering drugs (Statins) around the globe but its only part of the story.
Alzheimers greatest risk factors
Ageing
Another statement from the AA publication:
‘The greatest risk factors for late-onset Alzheimer’s are older age,having a family history of Alzheimer’s and carrying the APOE-e4 gene’.
The human body does change as we get older, because like all inhabitants of this planet we have a predetermined lifespan as defined by our creator*, although some religions believe that humans are designed to live forever, but due to what happened in Eden ( although this event is largely symbolic), or something happened to make us imperfect, causing the Creator to tag us with a lifespan. We know our cells are designed to be immortal ( as proven by Dr Carrols 34 year experiment ( not Hayflick’s flawed experiment) and the untouched capacity of our own brains.
Despite your own beliefs based on what we regard as normal average lifespans of 85 or less, our potential longevity is 120-140 years.
This depends on if you respect the body’s raw material requirement (90 essential nutrients ) and you move yourself every day, and you don’t take any poisonous chemicals ( synthetic drugs) and try and keep your toxin intake to a minimum, sleep 7 hours/day and control stress in your life.
Follow these guidelines and your body will support you with much less risk of expressing disease including Alzheimer’s and all other dementias.
Living should be a lifelong pleasure, but not without risk, since you might incur physical damage, and if that happens you can visit physicians that respect the body and are more than capable of fixing you like Chiropractors.
Ageing does slow the human organism, less flexibility, slower metabolism, but you learn to accept and adapt but not give in or believe the fairy tales being told to you by the medical world..
* although I do admire Darwin as a meticulous observer of nature, but his evolution theory is simply that, a theory which has been proven wrong with the discovery of the Cambrian fossil find, and the iconic early human ancestor skeleton Ardipithecus ramidus a small brained 110 pound female nicknamed ‘Ardi‘ who like all humans was a biped, that was discovered in Ethiopia in 1994 dating back to 3.2 million years disproving any evolutionary links to apes.
Michael Behe’s book ‘Darwin’s black box‘ gives a bacterial organism called the ‘Flagellum’ centre stage.
This microscopic organism contains a device which is part of its physiological structure resembling an outboard motor, enabling the organism to swim, which would have been impossible to ‘build’ using Darwin’s random mutation/natural selection theory, but could only be ‘built’ by Intelligent design.
Genetics, the ApoE4 gene and Education
It has been widely thought by the scientific community that individuals with 2 copies of Glycoprotein E4 (ApoE4) are likely to have Alzheimer’s disease at age 65…why ??.
It is the dual combination they say, that defines the risk, i.e the APOE genotype can be E2/E2, E2/E3. E2/E4. E3/E3. E3/E4. E4/E4, where E3/E4 increases the risk by 2-3 times and E4/E4 12 times the risk.
Scientists even speculate that ApoE4 outside of the brain increases the risk of Atherosclerosis and stroke.
Although scientists acknowledge the possibility of ‘loss of function’ toxicity in response to stress or injury ( or toxicity) which is much more plausible.
A new study performed by the Massachusetts general hospital has uncovered evidence that the amyloid β protein that is deposited in the form of amyloid β plaques in the brains of Alzheimer patients is a normal part of the innate immune system protecting the brain against infection..I repeat:
‘A NORMAL PART OF THE INNATE IMMUNE SYSTEM PROTECTING THE BRAIN AGAINST INFECTION’
Coincidence and conjecture
In 2015 at the Salk institute, they identified a link between E4 and the protein build-up associated with Alzheimer’s. Apolipoprotein E ( ApoE) that belongs to a large class of proteins that solubilize lipids for physiological transport.
They exists as 3 separate alleles ( gene variant) Apo E2, E3 and E4, and they all have the same function, to transport fats, cholesterol and vitamins throughout the body.
The primary function of ApoE4 is to transport cholesterol into cell surface ApoE4 receptors, and >75% of the Total ApoE is synthesised in the liver.
Scientists hypothesize that if ApoE4 is mutated it affects how the brain clears out the amyloid β proteins.
Microglia cells or brain macrophages that are responsible for clearing amyloid β, and since the E4 allele of the gene that encodes ApoE is found in amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles then ApoE4 must be the perpetrator of Alzheimer’s.
The Salk institute then implicated Serine protease HTRA1 an enzyme that is encoded by the HTRA1 gene that they claim is responsible for degrading ApoE4 by slicing it into smaller less stable fragments,
Furthermore, Salk scientists suggested that since the ApoE4 binds well to the HTRA1 it prevents the enzyme from breaking down the Tau Proteins.
Therefore, its either a mutant ApoE4 gene ( now ask yourself what are the chances of 50 million people all having a mutant ApoE4 gene, and how does that fit with epigentic expression, is that mutant to??), and/or ApoE4 binding to the HTRA1 gene preventing the splicing of Tau Proteins ( this suggests a blueprint genetic change..how does this happen..the environment, diet, lifestyle ??).
Conjecture and hypothesis
So, from a scientific perspective is it the APOE gene allele combination of E3/E4 or E4/E4 that increases the risk of Alzheimer’s, or the fact that it is mutated..or both ??.
Is it the serine protease enzyme encoded by gene HTRA1 that degrades the ApoE4 glycoprotein, and thus failing to clear the Tau protein fragments.
As a result, is it the build-up of amyloid β protein ApoE4 deposits that destroys brain cells and interferes with the communication between the neurons; and nerve cells developing neurofibrillary tangles that affect the transportation of nutrients into the cells.
We will find out in part II of this article.
Education
What about this statement :
‘People with more years of formal education are at lower risk for Alzheimer’s and other dementias than those with fewer years of formal education.
I agree that intellectual thought can rewire the brain, as can most thoughts, but to suggest that the less formal educated increases the risk of Alzheimer’s is a medical myth.
Again it is this line of reasoning that suggests the brain is working alone and therefore vulnerable without the influence of the rest of the body.
Toxins and bad food don’t enter the mouth and go straight to the brain they are digested and metabolised the same way as quackzene toxins and pharmaceutical drugs which are metabolised in the liver….an obvious fact..but so is the inseparability of the body and brain.
Whether you are a University professor or work on an assembly line, assuming a disparity of formal education, if either one or both have poor dietary and/or physical lifestyles the risk of contracting non communicable disease or suffer cognitive impairment applies to both.
Conclusions
In my opinion the scientists are digging in the dirt hoping to find clues to the mysterious causes of Alzheimer’s instead of considering changes in our environment.
Why all of a sudden in the last 70 years people were being born with mutant genes instead of environmental insults damaging our physiology and hence mutant gene expression.
The mutant gene theory is like the chemical imbalance theory of depression; they insult the body’s intelligence by completely ignoring epigenetic switching that we know controls gene expression and is remarkably intelligent, but they epigenetic switching is affected by the environment experienced by the host.
Since we have a dual copies of our genes, and when the body expresses that gene it will read the one with the highest integrity, and the chances of both genes being faulty is extremely rare.
Intelligent reasoning
Scientists have always believed that the brain is complicated so when it malfunctions there must be a complicated reason for it.
Have they never heard of Occam’s Razor.
Why was it that medicine only became aware of Alzheimer’s in the 70’s?..because between 1906 to 1970 Alzheimers was rare.
Radical changes in the environment ( pesticide use on crops) had occurred within the period of 1940 -1970, and the availability of processed food, low fat diets and quackzenes were increasing, and the widespread prescriptions of cholesterol lowering drugs.
In the last 30 years, chronic disease, cancer etc has exploded and within the same timeline, dementia and Alzheimers.
See if you can find graphic charts showing alzheimer incidence between 1906-1970, you won’t find them because they don’t exist.
As I have stated above, a new study has uncovered evidence that amyloid β protein distribution is a normal part of the innate immune system protecting the brain against infection and toxic insults and not purposely turning the brain neurons into spaghetti.
Finally medical science has got one wheel on the right track and in the next article we will attempt to get the other 3 wheels on the right track to understanding the actual cause behind Alzheimer’s.
“And I have no control over which yesterdays I keep and which ones get deleted. This disease will not be bargained with. I can’t offer it the names of the US presidents in exchange for the names of my children. I can’t give it the names of state capitals and keep the memories of my husband….My yesterdays are disappearing, and my tomorrows are uncertain, so what do I live for? I live for each day. I live in the moment. Some tomorrow soon, I’ll forget that I stood before you and gave this speech. But just because I’ll forget it some tomorrow doesn’t mean that I didn’t live every second of it today. I will forget today, but that doesn’t mean that today doesn’t matter.”
Lisa Genova, Still Alice Movie 2014
References/Acknowledgments :
- 2017 Facts & Figures Alzheimer’s Association
- Oldest skeleton of human ancestor found Jamie Shreeve 2009 National Geographic
- Darwin’s black box Michael Behe Book 1996
- Scientists reveal why people with the ApoE4 gene are more susceptible to Alzheimer’s disease 2016 Salk Institute Medical Express
- What APOE means for your health Penny Dacks 2016 Cognitive vitality
- Human amyloid β acts as a natural antibiotic in the brain:Alzheimer’s -associated amyloid plaques may trap microbes 2016 Massachusetts General Hospital Science Daily
- The Witch scene Monty Python script
- Movie Quotes Still Alice Goodreads
Author : Eric Malouin