First I would like to say I'm glad I found you....it always helps to find someone in the same situation, now I have a whole group!
I'm a 48 year old female, I recently discovered (by accident) that I am homozygous APOE4, although I couldn't honestly say that my memory is great, I haven't been diagnosed with any signs of cognitive decline. My mother died from alzheimer's 6 years ago aged 65, diagnosed at 58 and I have a paternal aunt who is living with the disease.
I was in a state of shock for a while when I found out but my hopes were raised dramatically when I read the results of Dr Bredesen's study and having read some of the posts here on how improvements have been made, a very empowering feeling.
I have given up alcohol and changed my diet to be very low carb (10-15%) ...I'm sure I have a long way to go to get my diet right but its a start. Does anyone have any more detail of the diet used in the protocol? I know it will change dependant on individuals results but just general principles would be great.
I've been readying your posts everyday since I found the site but I have only just scratched the surface. Looking forward to learning more.
New & hopeful
Re: New & hopeful
Welcome BerniF 
I'm glad you found us.
I'm so sorry to hear about your Mom. As you can imagine, you are not alone. Many of us have affected family members- both living and deceased. Lots of our members are juggling caring for them while trying to stay healthy themselves.
Congrats on the positive changes you've already made!!! Maybe others will chime in with more on Dr. Bredesen's diet recommendations. From his paper, I know he emphasizes reducing simple carbs, sugar & grains to reduce insulin resistance and inflammation. He emphasizes fasting three hours before bed for a total of 12 hours each night to promote ketogenesis/autophagy. He seems to not be opposed to healthy fats as he also recommends coconut oil.
You might want to be careful going VERY low carb as some of us have an exaggerated lipid response to dietary fats. Increasing low GI carbs may be helpful if that's the case for you. Be sure to check out our Newcomer's Forum. It is chock-full of helpful and information. And, always free to ask questions.
I'm glad you found us. I'm so sorry to hear about your Mom. As you can imagine, you are not alone. Many of us have affected family members- both living and deceased. Lots of our members are juggling caring for them while trying to stay healthy themselves.
Congrats on the positive changes you've already made!!! Maybe others will chime in with more on Dr. Bredesen's diet recommendations. From his paper, I know he emphasizes reducing simple carbs, sugar & grains to reduce insulin resistance and inflammation. He emphasizes fasting three hours before bed for a total of 12 hours each night to promote ketogenesis/autophagy. He seems to not be opposed to healthy fats as he also recommends coconut oil.
You might want to be careful going VERY low carb as some of us have an exaggerated lipid response to dietary fats. Increasing low GI carbs may be helpful if that's the case for you. Be sure to check out our Newcomer's Forum. It is chock-full of helpful and information. And, always free to ask questions.
Re: New & hopeful
Welcome honey. There's a lot to get to grips with, one step at a time.
Have a look at the beginners guide on the newcomers forum.
I also started with Dr Richard Isaacson's book which addresses the simple steps as well.
The diet that Bredesen recommeds is basically overwhelmingly based on non starchy veggies, enough protein for requirements (0.8 to 1gm per kilo bodyweight) and limited saturated fat. Its basically eating veggies n fish n seafood n little bits of pastured chicken n grassfed beef n lamb if you can get it. Avo. Nuts. Olive oil. Berries. Minimal or no alcohol. Mebbe teeny bit of dark chocolate.
This is just a start. You'll need to tweak. Careful with the low carb
If you are eating more protein than your body needs it just turns it into glucose. And careful with the high fat. Some of us have a threshold where our LDL skyrockets up.
I'd personally shift my carb percentage down slowly to find my threshold if I were you.
And careful with some paleo websites. Saturated fats are likely not e4e4's friend.
Have a look at the beginners guide on the newcomers forum.
I also started with Dr Richard Isaacson's book which addresses the simple steps as well.
The diet that Bredesen recommeds is basically overwhelmingly based on non starchy veggies, enough protein for requirements (0.8 to 1gm per kilo bodyweight) and limited saturated fat. Its basically eating veggies n fish n seafood n little bits of pastured chicken n grassfed beef n lamb if you can get it. Avo. Nuts. Olive oil. Berries. Minimal or no alcohol. Mebbe teeny bit of dark chocolate.
This is just a start. You'll need to tweak. Careful with the low carb
If you are eating more protein than your body needs it just turns it into glucose. And careful with the high fat. Some of us have a threshold where our LDL skyrockets up.
I'd personally shift my carb percentage down slowly to find my threshold if I were you.
And careful with some paleo websites. Saturated fats are likely not e4e4's friend.
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Gilgamesh
- Contributor
- Posts: 1711
- Joined: Sat Oct 26, 2013 11:31 am
- Location: Northeast US mostly
- Contact:
Re: New & hopeful
Welcome and I'm so sorry about your mother. But there is hope!
Just a quick note before I head out for the day (I'm in Europe if you're looking at the time stamp -- if it's set to the default US Eastern Time -- and wondering why my day is starting an hour after midnight!): the traditional advice for ε4s is low-fat, not low-carb. A lot of people currently posting to our group are experimenting with low-carb diets (others, though, are eating low-fat, but haven't been posting much lately), and are reporting good results as measured by how they feel, and by biomarkers that seem to be correlated with improved cardiovascular and glucoregulatory system health. But the science is very unsettled, and much of the work hasn't controlled for overall calorie intake, and only looks at short- or, in some cases, medium-term outcomes. We know calorie restriction radically improves health, and low-carb eating usually ends up resulting in weight loss, esp. in the first few months. The improvements may have nothing to do with the dietary constituents (and may not last). We just don't know. Watch your biomarkers, and listen to your body (that latter bit of advice doesn't work too well for some of us, like me, since my body gives me so many mixed messages...)
I don't mean to overwhelm you with detail. I put a very conservative list of "virtually everyone agrees with these few points" here on our wiki. But what's there is pretty obvious. Stavia's intro is far more useful.
GB
Just a quick note before I head out for the day (I'm in Europe if you're looking at the time stamp -- if it's set to the default US Eastern Time -- and wondering why my day is starting an hour after midnight!): the traditional advice for ε4s is low-fat, not low-carb. A lot of people currently posting to our group are experimenting with low-carb diets (others, though, are eating low-fat, but haven't been posting much lately), and are reporting good results as measured by how they feel, and by biomarkers that seem to be correlated with improved cardiovascular and glucoregulatory system health. But the science is very unsettled, and much of the work hasn't controlled for overall calorie intake, and only looks at short- or, in some cases, medium-term outcomes. We know calorie restriction radically improves health, and low-carb eating usually ends up resulting in weight loss, esp. in the first few months. The improvements may have nothing to do with the dietary constituents (and may not last). We just don't know. Watch your biomarkers, and listen to your body (that latter bit of advice doesn't work too well for some of us, like me, since my body gives me so many mixed messages...)
I don't mean to overwhelm you with detail. I put a very conservative list of "virtually everyone agrees with these few points" here on our wiki. But what's there is pretty obvious. Stavia's intro is far more useful.
GB
Re: New & hopeful
Thank you all for your warm welcome and advice. I'll check out the newcomers posts and links you have given me over the weekend, I have bought Dr Isaacson's book so hopefully they will help me to tweak my diet.
I am managing the fasting most days just...however the 85% chocolate is my downfall, I've been eating 2 squares a day, its my one treat. Anyone else would think that saint like but I know I need to reduce it
Gilgamesh, I'm in the UK so same time zone as you pretty much. I'll check out your Wiki post too, sounds useful.
I am managing the fasting most days just...however the 85% chocolate is my downfall, I've been eating 2 squares a day, its my one treat. Anyone else would think that saint like but I know I need to reduce it
Gilgamesh, I'm in the UK so same time zone as you pretty much. I'll check out your Wiki post too, sounds useful.
ApoE 3/4
Re: New & hopeful
True. The majority of credible researchers continue to recommend a low-fat and/or a Mediterranean diet. They do not recommend a low-carb diet.the traditional advice for ε4s is low-fat, not low-carb.
Re: New & hopeful
BerniF, you could have MUCH worse vices than an occasional dark chocolate square 
I agree with G. Much remains unresolved regarding diet for E4 carriers. As a community, we are actively searching for answers. Rather than focusing on high or low fat, I encourage members to optimize overall health keeping glucose and inflammation markers low while concurrently minimizing CVD risk. My guess is that the optimal amount of dietary fat will vary for each individual as we are comprised of much more than our ApoE genes.
Truth, please help us out and share your evidence here:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=178&p=1031&hilit=Ev ... diet#p1031
I agree with G. Much remains unresolved regarding diet for E4 carriers. As a community, we are actively searching for answers. Rather than focusing on high or low fat, I encourage members to optimize overall health keeping glucose and inflammation markers low while concurrently minimizing CVD risk. My guess is that the optimal amount of dietary fat will vary for each individual as we are comprised of much more than our ApoE genes.
Truth, please help us out and share your evidence here:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=178&p=1031&hilit=Ev ... diet#p1031
Re: New & hopeful
Truth, I would greatly appreciate a list of the APOE-ε4 researchers you consider credible that recommend a low-fat diet. It occurs to me that this perspective is under represented on the site. I would love to try to feature one of these researchers much in the same way we did Dr. Dayspring. Thanks for your help with this.True. The majority of credible researchers continue to recommend a low-fat and/or a Mediterranean diet. They do not recommend a low-carb diet.
Re: New & hopeful
Berni, hugs for all you've been through. Many of us have struggled with handling parents or loved ones with AD along with our own diagnoses. Not easy!
As you can see, many here are cautioning you to rethink a low carb diet. It's hard to live on greens alone, so you have to replace carb calories with fat and/or protein and each of those have their issues, too. Diet is probably the biggest uncertainty we E4s face, and perhaps the one that engenders the most conversation as you will see when you poke around here. We're definitely not a shy group, so I hope we haven't scared you off right off the bat!
Anyway, check out the introduction and use the search function to look for specific areas you are interested in. And please do post in other threads or even start a new one with any questions you might have! We're glad you've joined our merry band of seekers.
As you can see, many here are cautioning you to rethink a low carb diet. It's hard to live on greens alone, so you have to replace carb calories with fat and/or protein and each of those have their issues, too. Diet is probably the biggest uncertainty we E4s face, and perhaps the one that engenders the most conversation as you will see when you poke around here. We're definitely not a shy group, so I hope we haven't scared you off right off the bat!
Anyway, check out the introduction and use the search function to look for specific areas you are interested in. And please do post in other threads or even start a new one with any questions you might have! We're glad you've joined our merry band of seekers.
