ApoE4.Info

I know you're getting an earful today, but yes, I can give you my protocol. It is the loooong one I gave you a few posts back on this thread, because that's basically exactly what I'm doing (except I haven't gotten disciplined yet on the sleeping enough, and I haven't gotten the MCT oil yet...only because my health food store was out of it today when I tried).
I look at having the ApoE4 allele as simply meaning my body can't handle junk. So, if I want to avoid AD and heart disease, I have to eat extremely healthy and exercise enough. It doesn't mean we will get AD or heart disease. If we do these things, I truly believe we won't.

Mac,
A POSSIBLE SOURCE for FREE TESTING
When I discovered I was an e4/e4 at age 76, I thought I was not experiencing any mental difficulty, but wanted an outside opinion. I also wanted a baseline test, in case I needed to identify changes in the future. I looked online and found a source for free testing. This is in California, but I bet there are comparable sites around the country. This site is located at a Veterans Hospital Facility in conjunction with Stanford Univercity, and the Alzheimer's Association. http://cadc.cdph.ca.gov/centers/thecent ... nford.html The testing took three and a half hours and seemed quite thorough. I was told any time I felt I was experiencing any concern I could come and talk with them or come back for retesting. I had the test three years ago. I haven't experienced any problems so far that would cause me to go back for retesting.

Starfish

just a word about genes. both my paternal grandparents lived to 94. my father has their genes. he has diabetes, which they never had. he got colon cancer at 77- his father got it at 94 (he died of it). neither went for colonoscopies. my dad is still doing well, though, at 80. but why the diabetes and the earlier colon cancer? epigenetics/lifetstyle factors are obviously at play. i caught my tendency to high blood sugar early while i was still in the prediabetic stage (at 45 years old). i got precancerous colon polyps removed at 42 years old and revamped my diet and exercise. a colonoscopy 5 years later saw no evidence of polyps. i will go again in 5 years. it's all about trying to get ahead of the genetic cards we have been dealt. even if we fail (to stave off dementia), the time we have left will be made better by living in better health day by day.

it's all about trying to get ahead of the genetic cards we have been dealt

How true, pro. That's why we're in this together!

We're definitely better together. I'm so thankful for this board and for all of you.
Back to the wine issue, I wonder if red grapes or grape juice would have the same heart benefits as red wine without the potential damage to our brains.

I avoid both red grapes and grape juice because of the sugar content. Remember, much of the presumed benefit from red wine comes from resveratrol and enormous quantities would have to be drunk (not recommended!) to reach the threshold used in research. Instead, I take a high quality trans-resveratrol supplement (200 mg) with nicotinamide riboside (100 mg) as a booster to upregulate my SIRT1.

Adding to Stavia's recollection of Dr. Bredesen's commentary on alcohol, I recall that he mentioned it was a neuorotoxin. Additionally, he shared his n=1 experimentation via his wife. When she has a glass of wine in the evening, it disrupts her sleep causing her to awaken in the middle of the night. Given the importance of sleep for us, we may want to proceed cautiously. All of that being said, I indulge in a few (2 oz) of dry red wine a few times a week and thoroughly enjoy it .

Oh wow! That was an very thorough answer, thank you!! As I said, this board is incredibly helpful! Well, that sounds like a good compromise, Julie

Mac,
Take a deep breath, we’ve fire-hosed you with information. Sorry about that, but Alzheimer’s is complex therefore there are no easy answers.

You said

There are so many epigenetic answers out there, one could not possibly do them all.

Maybe so, but prudence dictates adopting as many as you can. Alzheimer’s is multi-factorial, Dr Bredesen has said that people with AD express between 10 to 25 abnormalities. A person can have a few abnormalities and be asymptomatic. It's after the issues build up when cognitive problems result. So when the cognitive impairment appears, there’s a multi-layered situation that needs to be addressed.

Dr Bredesen advocates a programmatic approach to AD. He says they now have over 100 things they look at. As a good program manager does, we collect data and make decisions based on the areas that need help the most. The data is different for each individual and comes from our biomarkers, physical/cognitive responses, family history, etc.

There is no one bullseye, there are multiple bulleyes, and they’re scattered all around the target area. Making things more difficult is that one person’s set of bullseyes won’t match another’s. This is why we read studies, dialogue on this forum, and try to cover as many of the bases as possible.

You wrote

On the controllable lifestyle factors, and without searching/reading through this entire forum, can someone give me an approximate summary of what the prevailing priority of lifestyle choices people in this forum are making?

I can't speak for all the others, but here's ours, it based on Dr Bredesen, Dr Gundry, Dr Wahls, Dr Fung, Dr Stavia, and maybe a few others. These doctors are often referenced on this forum. FYI, we feel great, our inflammatory markers are great, and our cognition, which fortunately we’ve not have issues with, is great.

Thank you Theresa.

One of the newest things I've learned in this forum is this concept of multifaceted/programatic approach, this is entirely novel concept re AD reference reading.

If there's no one bullseye, I cannot fathom how pharma will find a treatment?? Then is epigenetics the ONLY prevention and/or reversing strategy? I "think" I've read here and there people talking about REVERSING their cognitive loss after undertaking one of these multifaceted approaches?

Do mainstream neurologists who treat frontline AD patients...do they approve of the Dr. Bredersen approach?

MAC, very good questions
1. At the moment there is no silver bullet. There may be in the future. Thus currently epigenetics is the only strategy we have. And yes Dr Bredesen has reversed MCI in some patients.
2. Mainstream has known for a very long time about factors such as exercise, diet (Mediterranean has been the favoured mainstream one), stress, sleep, cognitive and social enrichment, managing depression, but has applied it in a half hearted way. I am in a position to know this in my decades of work in family medicine. The reason for the half hearted token application is complex. Reasons include focus on medication in medical school and post graduate education, functional medicine being linked with frankly some crazy people with non scientific ideas, but the most important reason is that its extremely difficult to get most people in the general population to implement lifestyle changes. I would get success in maybe a couple patients a year and I see at least a couple hundred a week. And we are talking sick people with heart disease, diabetes etc. So frankly mainstream docs roll their eyes at lifestyle changes. Its only a very small minority of patients that will actually do necessary interventions. This forum is not an accurate representation of the general population. Most people want a silver bullet.