New Study Looks to Reverse Alzheimer’s Disease
Mount Dora, Florida (PRWEB) April 23, 2015 -- The Thomas Brain Health Center has announced that it intends to conduct a groundbreaking pilot study to see if early Alzheimer’s disease can begin to be reversed in as little as three to six months.
The Center’s researchers—using the science of metabolic and nutritional medicine—will aggressively target and simultaneously treat the numerous underlying conditions that cripple and destroy our aging brain. These include oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, deficiency of neuroactive hormones, cerebral microvascular insufficiency, toxic protein aggregates, synaptic dysfunction, impaired insulin-signaling, and reactive microgliosis.
The research team will obtain before-and-after structural and functional brain imaging (MRI and PET scans), and will perform extensive neurocognitive testing to document the changes. In addition, a television production company will make a documentary showing the progress of the participants throughout the study.
Dr. Daniel Thomas, the Center’s Medical Director, says, “The human brain is extremely complex. Numerous biological systems must work together perfectly in order to maintain optimal brain function and cognitive ability. Alzheimer’s is a multifactorial disease. It is the net result of several dysfunctional conditions and it requires a multipronged approach.”
This is a much better strategy than the one promoted, according to recent news reports, by Silicon Valley billionaires looking for ways to increase human lifespan. They have got it all wrong, says Dr. Thomas citing a BusinessInsider.com article on April 17, 2015 headlined, “Tech billionaires are trying to defeat death.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/tech-billionaires-life-extension-projects-2015-4
These Tech Titans—who have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the belief that technology can be used to improve longevity—have put their money in the wrong place, says Dr. Thomas.
“What good is it if you extend lifespan but your brain doesn’t come along for the ride? Unless you first find a way to grow new brain cells in the areas that are dead and/or dying, living longer is not worthwhile,” says Dr. Thomas. “Your memories, personality, capacity to love, and your very essence as an individual reside in your brain. Your happiness and quality of life are determined first and foremost by how well your brain works—NOT by how long your body lives. Silicon Valley’s foray into life-extension puts the cart before the horse. You’re not doing a person any favors by extending their life if they aren’t mentally sharp while living it.”
Dr. Thomas issues this challenge to the Tech Titans: “Care to put the horse before the cart and join with me in this important endeavor for mankind?”
While lifespan around the world has risen dramatically with people today living more than 10 years longer than their great grandparents, optimal brain function is not keeping pace, says Dr. Thomas. Even individuals who seem perfectly healthy have brains that are shrinking with age.
Dr. Thomas says, “Brain shrinkage (atrophy) is a silent threat to your health and longevity. Besides costing you memory, intellect, and quality of life, brain atrophy is directly associated with dementia and premature death.”
The incidence of cognitive decline and dementia increases substantially as the brain ages. This is due to the death of brain cells—a degenerative process that is now beginning as early as age 20, studies have revealed. The most pressing medical challenge facing today’s generation and the next, is not heart disease or cancer, Dr. Thomas says, but Alzheimer’s disease.
Conventional treatment for Alzheimer’s has failed, he says. FDA-approved medications such as cholinesterase inhibitors and NMDA-receptor antagonists may reduce symptoms for 6-12 months, but in only about half the people who take them. They do NOTHING to prevent, slow, stop, or reverse the disease process itself.
From time to time, there are reports of drug-based “cures” being developed for Alzheimer’s disease. In the past, all such drugs were ultimately found to be ineffective, and that will likely continue to be the case, asserts Dr. Thomas
ABOUT DR. DANIEL THOMAS, DO, MS: Dr. Thomas has over 25 years of clinical experience and is the Medical Director of the Thomas Brain Health Center, and founder of DementiaQuiz.com. He earned his medical degree from Des Moines University, a Master’s degree in Metabolic and Nutritional Medicine from the University of South Florida College of Medicine, and a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Andrews University. Dr. Thomas also has a post-doctoral Graduate Certificate in Metabolic Endocrinology from University of South Florida College of Medicine, and is currently completing a Graduate Certificate in Clinical Neuroscience.
Dr. Daniel Thomas, DO, MS, http://www.MaximumBrainHealth.com, +1 (352) 729-0923, [email protected]
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