WHAT REALLY CAUSES ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE, AND HOW TO AVOID IT

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WHAT REALLY CAUSES ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE, AND HOW TO AVOID IT

Harold D. Foster, Ph.D. Department of Geography, University of Victoria, British Columbia.

There is a global "pandemic" of sporadic Alzheimer's disease, with some 4.5 million victims in the United States alone. By 2050, this figure is expected to have risen to 14 million. The associated suffering and financial and social loss is unnecessary. Alzheimer's disease is caused by aluminum, especially in its monomeric form. Monomeric aluminum is chemically the simplest species of aluminum, passes the blood-brain barrier most easily, and seems to be by far the most toxic type of aluminum.

Alzheimer's is particularly common in those carrying the APO E4 allele(s), a type of variant gene. These people are more susceptible to this toxic metal because they are less capable than the rest of the population of removing the beta-amyloid and tau proteins that aluminum encourages to develop in the brain. As a result, these proteins accumulate, forming the neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles that are characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.

This process occurs most often in populations living in regions that promote the deposition of these dangerous proteins. Such "harmful" environments are those in which drinking water is acidic, high in monomeric aluminum, and lacking magnesium, calcium and silicic acid. (Silicic acid protects against

aluminum. It occurs at high levels naturally in some water supplies.) A few of the references identifying such regions are listed at the end of this summary (1-6). Under these circumstances, aluminum enters the brain and impairs numerous enzymes, including choline acetyltransferase,

calcium/calmodulin kinase II, alkaline phospatase and phospholipase A2.

Such

enzyme disruptions interfere with numerous biochemical systems and

eventually cause the abnormal brain pathology seen in Alzheimer's

disease.

 

The best way to reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease is to

avoid aluminum, especially its monomeric form in drinking water. In

addition, the average British and North American diet is known to

contain

less than half the calcium and magnesium required to avoid deficiency

illnesses. This can be corrected by adding foods, such as salmon,

sardines,

broccoli and bok choy, which are high in calcium and pumpkin seeds,

almonds,

whole grain brown rice, which have elevated magnesium, to your diet.

Experimental trials, conducted in Russia, have also shown that the

ascorbates (vitamin C) of calcium and magnesium and of other minerals,

taken

regularly, can reverse the early stages of memory loss in the elderly.

 

References

1. Flaten,TP (1990). Geographical association between aluminum in

drinking

water and death rates with dementia (including Alzheimer's

disease),Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,in

Norway.

Environmental Geochemistry and Health,12 (1 and 2),152-167.

2. Gauthier,E.,Fortier,I.,Courchesne, F. et al. (2000) Aluminum forms

in

drinking water and risk of Alzheimer's disease. Environmental Research,

84(3), 234-246.

3. Jacqmin-Gadda,H.,Commenges,D.,Letenneur,L et al. (1996) Silica and

aluminum in drinking water and cognitive impairment in the elderly.

Epidemiology. 7(3), 281-285.

4. Birchall,JD,Exley,C.,Chappell,JS et al. (1989).Acute toxicity of

aluminum

to fish eliminated in silicon-rich acid waters. Nature,338,146-148.

5. Jacqmin,H, Commenges,D.,Letenneur,L et al. (1994) Components of

drinking

water and risk of cognitive impairment in the elderly. American Journal

of

Epidemiology, 139 (1),48-57.

6. Kihira,T,Yoshida,S,Yase,Y et al.(2002) Chronic low-Ca/Mg high Al

diet

induces neuronal loss.Neuropathology,22 (3),171-179.

(Editor's note: Professor Harold Foster's new book, "What Really Causes

Alzheimer's disease," is available free of charge at www.hdfoster.com .

At

this website, you can also download his previous book, "What Really

Causes

AIDS" for free as well. Dr. Foster is Associate Editor of the Journal

of

Orthomolecular Medicine. We will be featuring an interview with him in

an

upcoming Doctor Yourself Newsletter.)

PREVENTING PREVENTION

by Josef "Sepp" Hasslberger

Rome, Italy

Germany has long been one of the most restrictive countries on vitamin

and

mineral products, perhaps because of the relative strength of its

pharmaceutical industry, which sees a threat to profits on

pharmaceutical

drugs as more and more people seem to turn away from drugs and try the

"natural option". . . Germany is also hosting and chairing the

once-a-year

meeting of a Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses

(CCNFSDU) of the international Codex Alimentarius. The committee

recently

finalized a Codex Guideline for Vitamin and Mineral Supplements, which

states that "upper safe levels" are to be set for vitamin supplements.

.. .

Once used in Europe, Germany and the European Union will lobby for

these

same principles to be applied internationally, by making them part of

the

Codex procedure for setting "upper safe levels."

The coming rules will hit what is arguably the safest product category

in

existence by a wide margin - natural health products. Supplements and

herbal

products are safer than normal, everyday foods and infinitely safer

than

pharmaceutical medicines. Medicines are often found to be highly toxic

despite bearing the authorities' seal of approval. Modern medicine and

specifically adverse drug reactions have been identified as a major

cause of

death in the Western world.

The German administrative position has long been that of allowing a

maximum

of 3 times the RDA amount in the formulation of supplements of water

soluble

vitamins and correspondingly less (1 x RDA level) for vitamins with a

narrower safety margin and for minerals. Any supplements with nutrients

in

higher dosage have been kept off the market as "illegal medicines" by a

refusal to grant marketing authorization. Where such authorization was

not

sought, products were forced off the market.

A sampling of proposed limits shows 15 milligrams for vitamin E, 4

milligrams for vitamin B1, little more than 5 milligrams for vitamin B

6 and

a whooping 225 milligrams for vitamin C!

You will search in vain for any logic in such an approach to

supplementation

other than perhaps to prevent prevention. There is no winner, except

the

pharmaceutical business with disease.

(Excerpted from the article "Food Supplements: German Risk Institute

Takes

Dim View,"

the complete text of which is posted at

http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2005/01/20/food_supplements_german_risk_institute_takes_dim_view.htm)

(Editor's note: I most definitely recommend Sepp's excellent free and

non-commercial email newsletter. You can sign up for it at his Health

Supreme website, via the above link.

 

 

 

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public".

 

Theodore Roosevelt