Seven close members - My mother, her two brothers, my two sisters and my two brothers - all had first symptoms of dementia in their 60's. All passed away close to age of 70. None of them were overweight, none of them had any other common conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, thyroid etc. My brothers and sisters were reasonably active - routinely walked 30-40 minutes every day.
I am a native of India but have lived in US for the past 50 years.
Here is my story.
I was about 59 when I paid a visit to my brother in India who is only 2 years older than me. I saw first hand the signs of mental dementia in him and I really panicked. Knowing about my mother and an elder sister and brother who had passed away with mental dementia, and now my brother who is close to my age. I can't be far!
I returned to my home in US and immediately decided to put all my attention on my health. First thing I did was to resign from my position and took an early retirement. My goal was to remove all stress in my life. My professorship was a self-imposed stress to do the best research and best teaching I can do. There was no way for me to turn off that stress without completely quitting the job. I had no other common stresses of family or finances. My three lovely children had completed college and were out on their own. My retirement pension was generous and more than adequate for me and my wife for a worry-free life.
Next I went to my doctors and explained the situation and family history. They took me seriously and conducted many mental tests over two-three days. The tests were short-term memory, medium-term memory, multi-tasking, hand-eye coordination and so on. These tests I call "functional" test as opposed to "physical" tests like blood, brain imaging etc. Functional test measure the function of the brain. Everything was normal. But i told the doctors that my worry was about the future not present. This was 2010. They said we don't know a whole lot about preventive measures. The only proven measure was physical exercise. And since I was a regular runner, they told me I am already doing the right thing. That was that.
I started my own research. Now that I had infinite time without any job, I could read up a lot of research on aging and brain health. Around that time a news item on CNN caught my attention. Bil Clinton had a second heart attack in spite of the fact that after the first heart attack, he was strictly following American Heart Associations' (AHA) recommend diet for heart patients! I saw Bill Clinton with Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN and some other Dr. Esselstyn. Clinton said he no longer follows AHA guidelines! Now he follows Dr. Esselstyn. He was not well known at that time. I had never heard of him. I jotted down the name and did a search on his name! Found a book by him called "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease". I had never heard of "Reverse Heart Disease".
I ordered the book and read it completely. I was fascinated with his actual medical evidence of cleaning up clogged arteries with simple diet change! I theorized that if a large artery is clogged and a diet unclogs it (shown by real camera images), all other little blood vessels should also unclog. No one has seen the inside of a tiny vessel and no medical researcher cares. Since if a tiny blood vessel is completely clogged, it does no serious damage since we have millions of tiny vessels. Now my thinking was that if large artery gets clogged, lots of tiny blood vessels in the brain could also be clogged. To me my theory made perfect sense. So I embarked on Dr. Esselstyn's diet of no oils, not even olive oil! I was already a healthy eater - mostly vegetables, fruits, rice, beans and whole wheat. Very little dairy - little bit of milk in morning tea and yogurt with my meals to keep my microbiome healthy.
I ate plenty of carbohydrates - lots of rice, all varieties of potatoes - blue, red, yellow, sweet yams, and so forth, but no oil or butter. I gave up eggs as well. I was about 99% vegetarian and 95% vegan.
Results? I never had any heart conditions to begin with. But before oil-free diet, my BMI was 22-23, BP 125-130 over 70-90.
Within a year of my oil-free diet my BMI was 19-20, BP 100-110 over 60-70. After two years of oil-free diet my weight was hard to keep up with only carbohydrates. I was still running weekly 25-30 miles as before. Then all the new books on brain health started showing up. None of them have anything to say about Dr. Esselstyn's diet! In fact nearly every recommendation is counter to Dr, Esselstyin's diet. Low carbs, plenty of "healthy" fats! I still believe in Dr. Esselstyn's research that a oil-free diet clears up all your blood vessels. Brain needs constant supply of oxygen rich blood. So how come no one has done any research on if Dr. Esselstyn's diet also helps the brain?
Meanwhile, 23&me starts up and I sign up and get my results. I am e3/e4 as I had expected. So no panic or stress!
A single copy of e4 increases the risk from average 7% to 14% or double of average population. I still don't panic. My goal was to be in the 86% of population with one copy of e4 and no mental dementia! Statistically it is easier to be in 86% group than 14% group. You have to try very hard to go from 86% group to 14% group.!
I have put back some oil in my diet but very little. Unlike most of you I do eat lots of carbs - rice, beans, spelt, khorasan or kamut wheat, oats, pearl millet and many root vegetables.
Now that I have retired for nearly 8-9 years, I find that having ZERO stress is wonderful for my mental and physical health. I am nearly 70 now and have no symptoms Alzheimer's . Also following Eastern philosophy of non-attachment and reducing all desires and wants is great help in stress-free life.
Peace and Good Health.
e3/e4 from a family with early Alz/dementia cases
Re: e3/e4 from a family with early Alz/dementia cases
Hi Jaque;
It may take some work to find it, but I remember someone posting a study showing a bellshaped curve comparing fat content and cognitive decline. Folks in the middle had the most cognitive decline. Those with scant fat and highest percentage fat had the least cognitive decline. With your professional background, you may be able to find this study directly with clever searching on pubmed. Or it's possible that another member will remember exactly where that study is posted on our website!
Dr Bredesen illustrates that people who follow his protocol rarely hit the mark of perfection in all categories. Just enough improvement is needed overall to get over the threshold into cognitive improvement. Diet, exercise, sleep, and stress management are the foundation of Dr Bredesen's approach. What you are doing now is working well for you. Perhaps enjoying your life with non-attachment and monitoring your mental abilities for slippage is the right way for you to approach things for now.
I'm delighted that you have joined us and added your positive attitude to our site.
It may take some work to find it, but I remember someone posting a study showing a bellshaped curve comparing fat content and cognitive decline. Folks in the middle had the most cognitive decline. Those with scant fat and highest percentage fat had the least cognitive decline. With your professional background, you may be able to find this study directly with clever searching on pubmed. Or it's possible that another member will remember exactly where that study is posted on our website!
Dr Bredesen illustrates that people who follow his protocol rarely hit the mark of perfection in all categories. Just enough improvement is needed overall to get over the threshold into cognitive improvement. Diet, exercise, sleep, and stress management are the foundation of Dr Bredesen's approach. What you are doing now is working well for you. Perhaps enjoying your life with non-attachment and monitoring your mental abilities for slippage is the right way for you to approach things for now.
I'm delighted that you have joined us and added your positive attitude to our site.
Slacker
E4/E4
E4/E4
Re: e3/e4 from a family with early Alz/dementia cases
Jaque ... I am so sorry that so many members of your family were affected by dementia, but at the same time glad that it spurred you into decisively changing your life and lifestyle. The cognitive reserves you have built up over the years are clearly apparent, and it looks like you continue to add to them even after 'retirement.' Your addition of mind body medicine into your life is another area in which you are ahead of the curve. So many of us sidestep or neglect an area which can have a profound effect on everything to do with our health. Diet is an extremely individual issue. You will find many different eating styles among members of the site. Optimal eating plans really do come down to an N of 1. And I am so glad you seem to have found what works for you.
I know you will be a strong addition to the site, and welcome you!
I know you will be a strong addition to the site, and welcome you!
mrc cfnc fmchc
IFM/Bredesen Reversing Cognitive Decline training 2017
E2/E2
What is, is. What is, can be changed.
IFM/Bredesen Reversing Cognitive Decline training 2017
E2/E2
What is, is. What is, can be changed.
Re: e3/e4 from a family with early Alz/dementia cases
Dr. Esselstyn says a no-oil diet can benefit the brain. Interesting, I’m intrigued by the discussion this will lead to. I have not heard of him (her?) or that consideration. I believe there is SOME truth to that with regard to SOME oils, especially those oils high in PUFAs, Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, which can be highly inflammatory. But if you’ve used the search function to poke around on this website, or visited the primer or wiki, you will notice the discussions tend to echo the books on brain health with many references to eating “healthy” fats (in particular MUFAs – monounsaturated Fatty Acids) with many references to EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive oil, MCT oil and Coconut oil (with varying discussions as to level of benefit for ApoE4s).Jaque wrote:Then all the new books on brain health started showing up. None of them have anything to say about Dr. Esselstyn's diet! In fact nearly every recommendation is counter to Dr, Esselstyin's diet. Low carbs, plenty of "healthy" fats! I still believe in Dr. Esselstyn's research that a oil-free diet clears up all your blood vessels. Brain needs constant supply of oxygen rich blood. So how come no one has done any research on if Dr. Esselstyn's diet also helps the brain?
You are correct that the brain needs constant supply of oxygen rich blood, when blood supply is staved, this is what leads to Vascular Dementia. But the brain also needs energy, that's where glucose and insulin comes in. The brain can't use glucose for energy without insulin, and there are many who would say your high carbohydrate diet is leading to insulin resistance which would impair the brain's glucose uptake. Also the brain is 60 to 70 percent fat, so the brain seems to need fat. Dr Bredesen has said ApoE4 is a fat bucket. ApoE4s tend to have a higher level of total cholesterol. The brain's need for fat is not something I'm conversant in, but something inside of me says we probably need more fat that the other genotypes.
One of my favorite quotes is from the author Bernard Shaw, it goes:
No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat. Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office.
Now an aside comment about BMI. BMI can be a flawed measurement for some people. You say you/your family is from India. Some people’s genetics predispose them for something commonly called TOFI – Thin Outside Fat Inside. These folks can have a “normal” BMI, yet be horribly insulin resistant. Dr Bredesen has cited Ed Getzel from the University of California San Francisco whose research has shown that basically everybody who has Alzheimer’s Disease has insulin resistance in the brain, whether or not they have it peripherally. This TOFI condition tends to be common in people from India. You are probably aware that India is one of countries leading in rates of Type 2 Diabetes.
This study, “Normal weight individuals who develop type 2 diabetes: the personal fat threshold” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25515001 hypothesizes that everyone has a Personal Fat Threshold (PFT). When that PFT is exceeded, the development of T2D is likely. So a person can look thin, even look "ripped" because they physically cannot carry much subcutaneous fat, yet still have too much visceral fat.
Maybe this may help illustrate my point, this was taken from slide #14 as presented by Dr Mark Berger at Low Carb Breckenridge in February 2017, http://denversdietdoctor.com/dr-mark-be ... ing-image/
This is showing how different people can have the exact same waist circumference and have different levels of visceral fat, the fat around the organs, versus the subcutaneous fat that lies under the skin.
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-Theresa
ApoE 4/4
ApoE 4/4
Re: e3/e4 from a family with early Alz/dementia cases
I should have given more informatio about me. I did read the book of Dr. Bredesen. I am still not sure about oils. Just like sugar is to whole fruits , oil is to whole seeds. Extraction of sugar or oil is to concentrate the naturally occurring substances. I think they are fine when consumed in their natural state but bad when concentrated.
For the last 50 years or so we have eaten only whole foods mostly plants! Never consumed trans-fats in spite of the warnings and recommendations of eating shortening over butter! Finally they realized their mistake!
I have been doing overnight fast of 12-14 hours for more than 15 years without knowing its benefits! I strictly follow my circadian rhythm for many years. I have been getting up before 6am for years. Often, I get out at that time go for a run on an empty stomach. Now I know the benefits of that! So I have been very lucky to be doing things that only now people recommend!.
I hope some one would comment on my theory of unclogging all veins with Dr. Esselstyn's diet.
Peace and Good Health.
For the last 50 years or so we have eaten only whole foods mostly plants! Never consumed trans-fats in spite of the warnings and recommendations of eating shortening over butter! Finally they realized their mistake!
I have been doing overnight fast of 12-14 hours for more than 15 years without knowing its benefits! I strictly follow my circadian rhythm for many years. I have been getting up before 6am for years. Often, I get out at that time go for a run on an empty stomach. Now I know the benefits of that! So I have been very lucky to be doing things that only now people recommend!.
I hope some one would comment on my theory of unclogging all veins with Dr. Esselstyn's diet.
Peace and Good Health.
Re: e3/e4 from a family with early Alz/dementia cases
Welcome, Jaque! We're delighted to have you join the community. You have an impressive personal story. I admire and share your drive to protect cognitive health. We have a search engine (rather hidden) on our header- a row of 3 vertical squares to the right of your username. When I plug in "Esselstyn," I get 97 hits. You might find a perusal of past discussions interesting. I look forward to learning more with you.
Re: e3/e4 from a family with early Alz/dementia cases
Kudos to you, Jaque, for listening so closely to what your body was telling you it needed.Jaque wrote:I strictly follow my circadian rhythm for many years. ...doing things that only now people recommend!.
mrc cfnc fmchc
IFM/Bredesen Reversing Cognitive Decline training 2017
E2/E2
What is, is. What is, can be changed.
IFM/Bredesen Reversing Cognitive Decline training 2017
E2/E2
What is, is. What is, can be changed.
Re: e3/e4 from a family with early Alz/dementia cases
Jaque welcome. I admire your committment to health.
I wish AD (Alzheimer's dementia) in an Apoe4 carrier were as simple as a defect in blood flow but alas the evidence suggests there are many other factors.
Many of us who are homozygous are aware of the "brain fog" of the well known and proven defect in glucose dependent mitochondrial ATP generation when we are not in (low) ketosis. Then there is the evidence of the crucial nature of B12, insulin. D3 etc etc.
Yes atherosclerosis will obviously be the cause of vascular dementia. At a very low fat % Esseltyn's data (a very small number in his trial) suggests that this approach may be effective for cardiovascular disease (CVD). But it's quite a leap to extrapolate it to AD prevention and there is no evidence to prove or disprove this.
I believe that the Esseltyn approach is one of an appropriate variety of dietary approaches for CVD but not the only perfect one.
So, summary: I'm very pleased it is working for you, but personally I cant think as clearly and feel fatigued when I'm not in ketosis.
And a question: I'd be very interested in your biomarkers such as B12, D3, HbA1c, TSH, triglycerides, HDL and coronary calcium score.
Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
I wish AD (Alzheimer's dementia) in an Apoe4 carrier were as simple as a defect in blood flow but alas the evidence suggests there are many other factors.
Many of us who are homozygous are aware of the "brain fog" of the well known and proven defect in glucose dependent mitochondrial ATP generation when we are not in (low) ketosis. Then there is the evidence of the crucial nature of B12, insulin. D3 etc etc.
Yes atherosclerosis will obviously be the cause of vascular dementia. At a very low fat % Esseltyn's data (a very small number in his trial) suggests that this approach may be effective for cardiovascular disease (CVD). But it's quite a leap to extrapolate it to AD prevention and there is no evidence to prove or disprove this.
I believe that the Esseltyn approach is one of an appropriate variety of dietary approaches for CVD but not the only perfect one.
So, summary: I'm very pleased it is working for you, but personally I cant think as clearly and feel fatigued when I'm not in ketosis.
And a question: I'd be very interested in your biomarkers such as B12, D3, HbA1c, TSH, triglycerides, HDL and coronary calcium score.
Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
Re: e3/e4 from a family with early Alz/dementia cases
Dear Dr. Stavia,
I am currently out of country and don't have my results handy. But the last time I did a complete blood test was five years back. Then my Vitamin-D level was very low. All other measures were healthy, i.e. not near border line. I have been taking D3 supplements since that time, but haven't been back for a recheck. I try to stay away from Doctors as much as possible. (no offense meant). I may go back for a complete blood test next year when I turn 70. Even then, I doubt they will do the Dr. Bredesen's list of things to check. Only other test I had done was a complete body scan for bone density as part of a University research on "learning to fall safely". As a by product they also gave me a list of fat distribution! Which was "lean-fat" distributed throughout the body in very small amount when compared to the general population of my age and gender. Only really fatty part was my brain! I don't know where the term "fat-head" comes from! Well, it was the fattest part of my body! Any way, my running friends had a big laugh at my expense!
And Thank you Dr.Stavia for giving your time and expertise to educate the APOE/e4 community.
Peace and Good Health.
I am currently out of country and don't have my results handy. But the last time I did a complete blood test was five years back. Then my Vitamin-D level was very low. All other measures were healthy, i.e. not near border line. I have been taking D3 supplements since that time, but haven't been back for a recheck. I try to stay away from Doctors as much as possible. (no offense meant). I may go back for a complete blood test next year when I turn 70. Even then, I doubt they will do the Dr. Bredesen's list of things to check. Only other test I had done was a complete body scan for bone density as part of a University research on "learning to fall safely". As a by product they also gave me a list of fat distribution! Which was "lean-fat" distributed throughout the body in very small amount when compared to the general population of my age and gender. Only really fatty part was my brain! I don't know where the term "fat-head" comes from! Well, it was the fattest part of my body! Any way, my running friends had a big laugh at my expense!
And Thank you Dr.Stavia for giving your time and expertise to educate the APOE/e4 community.
Peace and Good Health.
Re: e3/e4 from a family with early Alz/dementia cases
thanks Jaque - I wish you continued good health!
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Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk