Back again

[cheniskos]

Hello everybody from Italy. My last post here is dated 2014: at that time, I just discovered I am a heterozygote 3/4 and I was facing my mother's dementia.
That year I wrote to a well known scientific center for Alzheimer here in Italy to know if they had ongoing studies about prevention, but unfortunately the answer was no. I have always had an healthy lifestyle, and at that time I had very heavy familiar duties: so the ApoE thing went somehow in the background.
After such a long time, I had a second look into my genetic asset in Promethease and I was surprised: the report says (at #2) I have "1.3x to 11.5x Increased risk of autoimmune thyroid disease", according to a 2015 study. In fact, I recently discovered an atrophic autoimmune thyroiditis. This leads me to take in much more serious account the "2x risk of Alzheimer's disease" mentioned at #1 in the same report. I must admit I am concerned and a bit scared, too.
I am a woman of 55, in menopausal period since three years (without HRT). My BMI is now 23.05.
I would like to share with you my habits following stavia's guidelines,

• - I dont' add sugar or fructose or honey to coffee or tea and I strongly limit sweets, cakes and so on (and I choose good quality ones).
  - 10/15000 steps a day; 2 hours of nordic walking at a brisk pace and 1/2 hours of pilates a week. Hypotiroidism significanlty reduced my physical resistance, unfortunately: only recently I am doing again aerobic activity.
  - mediterranean diet (of course!). I carefully measure olive oil and butter. I eat pasta or rice just a couple of time a week.
  - sleep: thanks to melatonin, now I sleep an average of 7 hours.
  - stress management: meditation (years and years of)
  - cognitive enhancement: I always try to learn something new, for job (I am a researcher in the field of the humanities) and for pleasure.
  - social enhancement: I do my best.

Supplements:

• Vitamin D3, 10000 UI, 30 gtt/week (I also have ostheoporosis)
  Melatonin 1 g/day
  Omega3: 10 gr of chia seeds a day (and I eat fish at least once a week)
  Monacolin K 10 mg/day (in an anticholesterol supplement)
  Curcumin 47,5/day (in an anticholesterol supplement)
  Q10 2 mg a day (in an anticholesterol supplement)
  Often: a little square of dark chocolate 70%

There is something else I can do? I suppose I can introduce also vitamins B12, folate and B6.
I ask advice to this lively community.
Thank you in advance (and apologies for my English)!

[SusanJ]

Welcome back, cheniskos! All the lifestyle changes you've made will go a long way towards improving your health for sure. Good job!

You will want to add some Vitamin K2 if you have osteoporosis - it helps the calcium to get into your bones. At least 90mcg/day of the MK7 form.

One quick question, have you had any blood tests done recently? Lipids or blood glucose in particular? Homocysteine would be another good one - no need to take extra B12, folate or B6 unless you have high homocysteine or a genetic variant like MTHFR.

And your English is excellent!

[cheniskos]

Hello SusanJ, thank you for your kind answer.
Lipids (thanks to a supplement) and blood glucose are OK.
As for MTHFR, according to Promethease I have "1 copy of C677T allele of MTHFR = 65% efficiency in processing folic acid", that seems bad.
Anyway, I will try to persuade my doctor to prescribe a Homocysteine test.

[Magda]

Ciao Cheniscos e bentornati a sito.
Where in Italy do you live?

I love all the changes you were able to implement over time.
I was in Italy this summer, and noticed that a lot of gluten free options available. There are many benefits of staying completely gluten free. First connection between gluten, leaky gut, autoimmunity, inflammation was actually made by an Italian scientist, Dr. Alessio Fasano.
You can read more about it here:
https://www.glutenfreesociety.org/dr-fa ... nsitivity/
Or
https://celiac.org/blog/2014/12/worlds- ... -new-book/
There are a many connections made between thyroid autoimmune based disorders and gluten. This article for example, talks about Hashimoto's:
https://thyroidpharmacist.com/articles/ ... ashimotos/
but I truly think you can use this in your unique situation.

In addition, what are your thoughts on adding DHA and EPA fatty acids into your supplement routine? Chia seeds are great, but they provide ALA (alpha lipoic acid), which then has to be converted by an enzymes (desaturase and elongation) into EPA and DHA. My concern is, how much dietary ALA do our tissue converts into EPA and DHA?
You can probably determine your Omega-3s levels by a blood test and then decide.

I hope this helps.
Be well,
Magda

[Lucy5]

Hello cheniskos and welcome back to the group! I'm so sorry to hear about your Mom; many of us here know how difficult it is to watch a family member struggle with this disease. Also, it is hard to focus on our own health while helping care for a loved one. I'm so glad to see that you've been following Stavia's guidelines found in our wonderful site Primer.

Since you've already been practicing some of the most important strategies to stay healthy (regular exercise, stress management, quality sleep, and so on) you may want to look further into additional steps discussed in the Primer as you have time. As an ApoE4/4, I decided in my mid 50's to begin HRT and am also paying very close attention to my glucose levels (based on the HbA1c test) as well as insulin resistance. With grandparents from Italy I was raised on the most delicious food, but in my case it was heavy on the pasta (and my nonna's was the best!). After years of resistance, I've found that I've had to give up wheat and reduce carbohydrates in general to keep my glucose and inflammation markers in a healthier range.

As you have questions, please ask anytime! This is a supportive, knowledgeable community and we're here to help. By the way, your English is excellent...all the best, Lucy

[cheniskos]

Thank you Magda, thank you LucyS for your warm welcome!
About glucose and carbohydrates, I have reduced them let's say naturally during 2017 and I am very glad to know that this strategy is a good one: no sugar anymore in coffee or tea, 70 gr of pasta once a week (and often no pasta), no bread with pasta or potatoes, 40 (+ 40) gr of sourdough bread a day.
This also improved my taste: now I can appreciate much more the sweetness of fruits and of the bread: I eat less fruitori and bread because I am more satysfied). It is not only an healthy habit, it is also an improved food experience!
I will try to test Omega3, glucose and inflammation levels as well.
Ciao e grazie!

[cheniskos]

Well, just to start I checked blood glucose using a glucometer and I am very happy with the results: 87-92 before breakfast, 122 two hours after dinner.
I think I will keep my present habits about starchy carbohydrates and sugar, checking glucose every... let's say three months?
About fasting, I usually don't eat from 7.30 pm to 7.30 am (a longtime family habit). This also seems ok, according to the results.

I have also started to take b6, b12 and methylfolate, because or the MTHFR thing.
Do you think this has to be done continuously or cyclically? I am afraid of an overdose [emoji6]


Thank you, ciao!

Inviato dal mio KFDOWI utilizzando Tapatalk

[SusanJ]

What amounts of B vitamins are you taking? If they are low, you're probably fine. If your health is generally good, you could also opt to cycle and boost when you're not feeling well or stressed.

But, the only real way to know what to do with your B vitamins is to test. Homocysteine will be a good marker, but if you have access to folate and B12 testing, that could also help you decide.