ABSTRACT (brief description)
Alzheimer’s disease, a slow process of cognitive decline, is caused by progressive loss of brain cells over a very long time (30 – 40 years).
We can’t see what’s going on inside the brain cells in Alzheimer’s disease, but we can see twisted, ruined beta-amyloid piled up around and between them and and twisted, tangled tau peptides inside them: we know that they have become nonfunctional.
Beta-amyloid
We don’t know why, but “Beta-Amyloid peptide” * inside affected brain cells twists, breaks and is ejected, piling up outside of the newly nonfunctional cells.
TAU
The TAU (tubulin ** associated unit) protein, a mesh that supports the transport and nerve-signal channels inside each affected neuron, also breaks.
It twists and tangles up inside the cells, so even if the cell is still alive, the channels can no longer carry nerve signals ***.
Scientists assume that the beta-amyloid and TAU waste kills the brain cells.
However it is more likely that the cells are killed by some unknown process, as a result of which beta-amyloid and tau proteins become deformed, broken and nonfunctional.
The beta-amyloid fragments are ejected from the cell and the TAU fragments tangle within: by the time we can see the accumulation of amyloid and TAU, the neuron has stopped working and is dead, or dying.
Whatever the process, affected cells are lost from the brain’s working population:
They die and are removed by the brain’s clean-up process.
* Peptides are short “chains” of amino acids, with which proteins are built.
** The walls of the “microtubules” that carry nerve signals are made from Tubulin, a special protein built from “tubulin associated unit” peptides.
*** When a nerve cell is deteriorating in Alzheimer’s disease, the microtubules are destroyed and the Tubulin Associated Unit (TAU) peptides are released.
Cognitive decline
Cognitive decline is masked by ad hoc “rewiring” until severe damage has been done.
The brain can do “workarounds” and reconfigure itself, continuing to think and respond to the surroundings, even when more than 50% of its working population of brain cells has disappeared.
So by the time we realize that someone has Alzheimer’s disease, some 70% of the brain cells have died and been reabsorbed.
Amyloid-removing medications
Recently, the pharmaceutical industry has designed medications that can speed up removal of beta-amyloid.
However logically, the hope that removing amyloid will “cure” Alzheimer’s disease is wasted thought: the disease is due to the cells dying, not to blocking of signals from living cells.
Further, it is my suspicion that the collection of beta-amyloid waste which we see around the cells isn’t just sitting there – it is being actively removed, but the “brain housekeeper”‘ can’t remove it fast enough.
Anyway by the time dementia starts, we can see that the brain is shrinking (figure 2).
70% of our 86 billion brain cells (neurons) have died and been reabsorbed, so cleanup drugs can do nothing except slow the progress of disease: “curing” Alzheimer’s disease would involve regenerating a significant portion of the missing brain cells, and that is a faint hope, indeed.
Below, I outline our knowledge of the brain, the cleanup process and Alzheimer’s disease.
I recommend books, by smarter people than myself, to improve your “self-help-ability”.
I make some guesses and assumptions about how beta-amyloid and tau are damaged and I make some suggestions as to what we can do to prevent the process or, slow it.
However as you will realise, I can offer only my opinion, gleaned from others’ research and from my (hopefully) logical thinking about the problem. My statements should not be taken as “gospel truths”: rather, you should view them as ideas that you can use to understand the problem and perhaps, come up with a solution, yourself.
Please see the final section of this monograph, titled “SLOWING DOWN? FUZZYHEADED? CONFUSED? – SHOULD YOU SEE YOUR DOCTOR?” … Skim through everything in between, if you wish, but you must read the final chapter!
Otherwise, get Dr. Dale Bredesen’s book, “the end of Alzheimer’s” and read that, instead (this article will take you less time).
Alzheimer’s disease
Figure 1: like the brain, exquisite beauty
Figure 1: Like the brain, exquisite beauty.
WHAT IS ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE?
Alzheimer’s disease is a slow process of cognitive decline, which takes three to four decades to develop.
It is thought to be due to functional isolation of the neurons (brain cells) by progressive accumulation of mis-folded (twisted) “Beta-Amyloid” in the junctions between the cells and to disorganization and “tangling” of supportive tau protein strands from the walls of the “microtubules”, the transport channels inside the neurons.
However, in my opinion the twisted tau in the brain cells and the beta-amyloid which we see surrounding them are the result, not the cause, of disease within the brain cells.
About Beta-Amyloid: – we don’t know exactly what beta-amyloid does, but according to Wikipedia, normal beta-amyloid may activate kinase enzymes, reduce oxidative stress, regulate cholesterol transport and protect against infection.
We don’t know either, why beta-amyloid is ejected from the neurons: all we know is that the junk we see isn’t normal.
The glymphatic flow (see below):
Waste material ejected by the neurons is normally carried away by the constant flow of “glymphatic” fluid around the brain cells.
Waste, including beta-amyloid fragments, is continuously washed away: the observed accumulation indicates overwhelming production, such that the normal glymphatic flow is insufficient to wash it away.
In any event, in Alzheimer’s disease, beta-amyloid accumulates in plaques (lumps) around the neurons, the neurons die and are cleared away and the brain shrinks.
What is Tau protein? – According to Wikipedia, tau (Tubulin-Associated Unit), a group of six soluble proteins, forms a filmy scaffolding which maintains the stability of tiny microtubules in neurons and their axons.
Tau protein serves a similar purpose in astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and nerve cells outside of the CNS.
In Alzheimer’s disease, the microtubules are destroyed: the TAU protein filaments in their walls twist, break, tangle, and accumulate in the cell.
The reason for the problem hasn’t yet been explained; but some metabolic aberration must be at fault and possibly, cell maintenance has gone awry due to hormone deficiency.
Alzheimer’s disease
In Alzheimer’s disease, the cause of perhaps 70% of cases of dementia, axons are destroyed and neurons die, in no particular area or pattern, across the brain.
Affected areas of the brain shrink and cognitive function slows and deteriorates (Fig 2).
Alzheimer’s sufferers exhibit, in no particular order, memory loss, attention deficit, aberration of reasoning, mood swings, temporal and spatial disorientation, psychological effects, and eventual loss of balance and coordination.
All of these vary in timing and degree, from person to person, but the personality and the ability to engage with others eventually disappears.
Figure 2
Normal, vs. Alzheimer’s brainit’s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzheimer%27s_disease
Inheritance, Alzheimer’s:
1–2% of Alzheimer’s disease cases are inherited; affected individuals show changes at a much younger age and the disease progresses more rapidly.
Three single-gene mutations are associated with this condition: a chromosome 21 gene for “amyloid precursor protein” (APP), a chromosome 14 gene for “presenelin1” and a gene for “presenelin2”, on chromosome #1.
However, while age-related Alzheimer’s tends to run in families, it is not possible to predict its occurrence in the majority of cases.
THE HOUSEKEEPERS:
Water management in the body as a whole:
As the blood flows around the body, a little water leaks out through holes in the capillaries, into the “interstitial” space between the cells.
This Interstitial fluid, called “lymph”, travels through tiny “lymphatic” tubes to the lymph glands and then through larger tubes to empty into the veins at the base of the neck.
This system serves the entire body, including the scalp, face and skull, but the brain has its own “waterways”.
The glymphatic system:
Much of the brain’s fluid (“glymphatic”) flow is actively produced cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF), secreted by the “Choroid” plexus of micro-blood vessels.
The choroid plexus is a collection of special “ependymal” cells, surrounding a core of capillaries and connective tissue, in each of the four ventricles of the brain.
(Please do click the link, to see Wikipedia’s beautiful depiction of the ventricles.)
The rate of CSF formation by the choroid is only 0.3 – 0.4 ml per minute, but there is also a bi-directional, pulsatile flow of fluid across the blood-brain barrier, more rapid than the CSF flow, which occurs with every heartbeat, as the arterial pressure drives blood through the capillaries which supply the brain’s oxygen and nutrients.
To this is added lymph, amounting to about 20% of the total “glymphatic” fluid, produced by leakage from the capillaries which deliver blood to the brain cells.
Fluid from the choroid plexus exits through four little holes in the fourth ventricle.
From there, it circulates through the brain tissue to the sub-arachnoid space.
Much of it is reabsorbed by the “arachnoid“, a diaphanous tissue like spider-web, which covers the surface of the brain, but some exits through the periarterial and perivenus spaces (see figure 4).
So let’s talk about brain housekeeping (consult figure 4, while reading this):
There are 4 methods by which waste products are eliminated from the brain:
(1) Enzymes dissolve the waste, for transport through the blood-brain barrier (the BBB) to the bloodstream.
(2) Waste product fragments are washed out: “Glymphatic” fluid enters the periarterial * spaces from the subarachnoid area and flows to the ends of the arteries, where the sheath of the artery is “fenestrated” (leaky). There, it passes into the brain channels and flows around the brain cells.
It enters the perivenous * spaces, taking beta-amyloid fragments with it and, travelling along the veins via the perivenous channels to the outside of the brain, it empties into the lymphatic system (see figure 3).
(3) There is also direct transfer of fluid to the “Meningeal” lymphatic system
(“Meninges” is the name for the thin bag which the brain sits in): these regular lymphatics join the bloodstream in the neck.
(4) Some glymphatic fluid carrying Amyloid and Tau fragments also passes along the cranial nerves, in the perineural* channels, in the same fashion as in (2).
* “perivenous” means “around the veins”, “periarterial means “around the arteries.” and
“perineural” means “around the nerves”.
Experiments have shown that of all the above drainage methods, the major route is across the blood-brain barrier and into the meningeal lymphatics.
The importance of sleep:
During sleep the brain and glial cells contract, thus enlarging the spaces between the cells and allowing more rapid flow of fluid.
In mice, this space has been observed to increase by 60%, during sleep.
In addition, transfer of Glymphatic fluid through the blood-brain barrier also increases during sleep.
Assuming that the cause of beta-amyloid accumulation is failure to clear waste material, rather than an increased rate of production of waste, accumulation must result from
(1) Failure of the Arachnoid to produce enough CSF, so that the flow rate is reduced: this happens in old age, but is a minor factor, since the CSF is only 20% of total fluid flow,
(2) Reduced duration and/or rate of interstitial fluid flow at night, due to poor sleep: this is significant, because sleep patterns deteriorate with age,
(3) Obstruction of the Glymphatic channels (not likely),
(4) Progesterone deficiency, leading to underproduction of Allopregnanolone, and/or
(5) Allopregnanolone/melatonin deficieny: most likely, this is the major problem, because allopurinol and melatonin put us to sleep and promote brain cell shrinkage during sleep.
Is Alzheimer’s disease worsened by other conditions? …. Yes ! … Here’s a list:
(1) Deficiency of some combination of DHEA, Testosterone, Oestrogen, Progesterone, Melatonin, Vitamin D, Magnesium, Tryptophan, Selenium, Iodine, Iron, Zinc, Vitamins, Etc.
(2) Diabetes, kidney or liver disease, chronic inflammatory cytokine production,
(3) THC overdose, smoking, alcoholism and other addictions,
(4) Severe concussion, or multiple minor concussions,
(5) Mercury, Lead, Copper, Nickel and other “heavy metal” overload,
(6) Other toxins, including “forever chemicals”, like phthalates, BPA and artificial sweeteners,
(6) Inflammation, and/or oxidative stress, of the brain,
(7) Chronic stress, due to poverty or other social conditions, or psychological stress, due to schizophrenia, depression, PTSD etc. producing intracellular hypothyroidism,
(8) True hypothyroidism, or stress-related intracellular (functional) hypothyroidism
(9) Maternal Hypothyroidism (“true”, or “Intracellular”), causing fetal brain maldevelopment.
THE BRAIN’S DRAINAGE SYSTEM ISN’T SO COMPLICATED, REALLY !
Figure 3 shows the GLIAL cells (oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, ependymal cells, and microglia, in the brain and Schwann cells and satellite cells in the peripheral nervous system.
Figure 3: GLIAL CELLS
Glial cells have four main functions:
(1) to surround neurons and hold them in place;
(2) to supply nutrients and oxygen to neurons;
(3) to insulate one neuron from another;
(4) to destroy pathogens and remove dead neurons.
In the fabulous diagram by Verheggen, VanBoxtel, Verhey, Jansen, Backes. (Figure 4, below), the purple cells are brain cells (Neurons), the bright green ones are “Astrocytes” and the light greens are glial cells.
The brown granules are Tau and Beta-Amyloid waste, which are being broken up into tiny bits and carried down the feet of the astrocytes into a space around each vein.
Fluid flow carries them along the surface of the vein, to be dumped into the glymphatics and from there, into the blood.
This “brain housekeeping” is maximised during sleep, when the channels dilate and the fluid flows faster.
Figure 4: “Interaction between blood-brain barrier and glymphatic system in solute clearance”, by Verheggen, VanBoxtel, Verhey, Jansen, Backes.
Brain maintenance and repair:
ALLOPREGNANOLONE, made from progesterone, is the brain’s main repair hormone.
Allopregnanolone enhances self-esteem, relieves and reduces anxiety, counters stress, helps produce endorphins and fine-tunes the GABA system.
It is neurogenic, neuroprotective, anticonvulsant, antidepressant, anti-aggressive, pro-social, pro-sexual, sedative and pro-cognitive. It improves memory and cures depression.
Along with MTHF, vitamin B12, DHEA, Testosterone, T3, Magnesium, and (particularly) melatonin, Allopregnanolone “does” brain maintenance and repair.
It takes a prime role in the majntenance and repair of “axons”: it actively remyelinates denuded axons in MS and facilitates synapse repair in other neurological diseases.
But one of its most important functions is to shrink brain cells during sleep, as explained above.
Figure 5: Allopregnanolone: An overview of its synthesis and effects,
by S Diviccaro, L Cioffi, E Falvo, S Giatti…
J Neuroendocrinol. 2022 Feb; 34(2): e12996, 2021Jun29, doi: 10.1111/jne.12996
The Neuroprotective effects of allopregnanolone.
Therapy with Allopregnanolone
Treatment with this neuroactive steroid , arguably the “King of the Hormones”, shows:
(A) beneficial effects on spinal cord trauma,
(B) facilitation of synapse formation and prevention of neuronal death,
(C) reduction of cholesterol accumulation,
(D) decrease in epileptic events,
(E) beneficial effects on nervous damage induced by diabetes mellitus,
(F) protective effects on neurodegenerative diseases (eg, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis),
(G) anxiolytic and anti‐stress actions,
(H) effects against the neurotoxicity exerted by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV),
(I) protective effects in an experimental model of Niemann‐Pick type C and in
(J) protective effects in neuroinflammatory conditions, like multiple sclerosis and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis,
(K) painkilling effects against neuropathic pain.
Allopregnanolone’s helpers
Ideal maintenance and repair of the brain and the nervous system can be perfect only if there is adequate hormonal balance, but the important actors are
– Pregnenolone, helps with axon and microtubule formation and converts to progesterone.
– Progesterone, anti-inflammatory, supports mitochondrial function, is necessary for neurogenesis and regeneration, and converts to Allopregnanolone.
Progesterone itself actively promotes myelination and recovery from traumatic brain injury, but much of its central nervous system action is due to conversion to Allopregnanolone.
– Melatonin, the body’s best antioxidant, scavenges reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, increases antioxidant defenses, prevents tissue damage and blocks pro-inflammatory cytokines. Melatonin is active in repair processes, especially remyelination.
– BDNF (Brain-derived neurotrophic factor), a nerve growth factor, aids with cell development and repair.
– Thyroid 3 (T3) improves the efficiency of all cells in the adult, but is indispensable for neurogenesis, neuronal and glial cell differentiation, and normal brain “wiring” in the fetus.
– DHEA, the common precursor of testosterone and many “micro-hormones”, is an active player in the maintenance of all cells, including those of the brain.
– Testosterone is also essential for myelination.
– Vitamin D has protean effects throughout the body. vitamin D helps to regulate nerve growth factor (NGF). NGF is responsible for the growth and survival of neurons, so vitamin D is essential for brain cell and nerve maintenance and repair.
REMEMBER:
By ensuring sleep, Allopregnanolone, Melatonin and Magnesium “do” brain cleanup, reduce stress and strengthen brain cells, thus protecting cognition.
Pregnenolone keeps the axons and microtubules healthy and converts to progesterone.
PROGESTERONE produces ALLOPREGNANOLONE: 100 mg (or more) of progesterone at bedtime boosts Allopregnanolone production.
DHEA is the raw material for “micro-hormones” in all cells and converts to Testosterone.
Testosterone maintains self-confidence, prevents anxiety and depression, preserves heart muscle function and converts to estradiol.
Estradiol subserves many functions in the CNS, including fine motor control, learning, memory, sensitivity to pain and motor coordination.
In short, keeping your hormones in balance will minimize the probability of the deterioration which leads to Alzheimer’s and other degenerative diseases.
Vitamin D has neuroprotective effects including clearing amyloid, maintaining cognition and facilitating “neuroplasticity”.
SLEEP
WHAT SPOILS SLEEP PATTERNS?
(1) Progesterone deficiency, with resultant Allopregnanolone deficiency.
(2) Melatonin deficiency.
(3) Stress-related Hypothyroidism: deficiency of “T3″ (thyroid hormone #3) in brain cells causes “fuzzy thinking”, “brain fog”, confusion, anxiety, depression and poor sleep.
(4) Hyperthyroidism.
(5) Magnesium deficiency: Magnesium participates in approximately 300 chemical processes in the body. It facilitates sleep and enhances sleep patterns.
(6) DHEA/Testosterone deficiency: DHEA/Testosterone enhance self-confidence, reduces anxiety and depression and prevents “churning thoughts”.
(7) Vitamin D deficiency.
(8) Stress-related PTSD/Depression/Anxiety.
(9) Stimulants (coffee, tea, et cetera) and late-night alcohol intake.
(10) Habit, especially late-night reading or TV watching.
(11) Shift work, or light (especially blue light), which lowers your Melatonin level.
(12) Pain or discomfort, injury or inflammations like Fibromyalgia and Polymyalgia.
(13) Bowel inflammation, such as “SIBO“*, IBD Diverticulitis.
(14) Brain inflammation due to oxidative stress, (eliminated with oral antioxidants).
(15) Psychological stress.
* “SIBO” – Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (small intestine infection).
THE ONLY WAY TO GO
SLOWING DOWN? FUZZYHEADED? CONFUSED? – SHOULD YOU SEE YOUR DOCTOR?
MDs wait, to treat full-blown Alzheimer’s, or patients in the early stages of Disease.
Doctors/Investigators/researchers seem not to understand that our systems depend on an interactive, orchestrated, cooperative interplay between multiple mineral, vitamin and hormonal players.
They focus on one factor at a time, with a fuzzy-headed faith in “designer” medications.
In Alzheimer’s, which manifests 30 or 40 years after it begins, this is a mistake. Alzheimer’s is like a thief in the night: by the time you realize that there is a problem, your most precious belongings are long gone.
Proactive, anticipatory care, with early identification and correction of the multiple dietary, vitamin, mineral and hormonal aberrations to which we are subject, so as to give our bodies maintenance and repair systems their best possible chance of preventing nerve cell deterioration, is the only way to go.
Let’s apply the analogy of an aging automobile:
Would you spend billions of dollars to develop a single fuel additive to correct simultaneously failing ignition coils, spark plugs, headlamp connectors, fuel lines, brake lines, electrically operated windows, computer circuits and Generalized Rattling?
And if you did develop a single additive, would you wait until everything was falling apart before putting some into your gas tank?
Wouldn’t it be better to do regular maintenance and repair defects as soon as they are found, so that you never have to face a total breakdown?
Obviously, it would be better to begin surveillance of hormonal, vitamin, mineral and oxidative balances while we are young, beginning to supplement Melatonin, DHEA, Testosterone, Progesterone, Oestrogen, Vitamins, T3, Magnesium, Selenium, Iodine and other essentials as soon as deficiency is found.
Surveillance should include education for everyone.
Doctors should advise re. diet and exercise, watch carefully for symptoms and do physical examination and tests as necessary.
The “physical exam” should include hormone and thyroid balance tests and should be tailored to the individual: it should not be a rigid, regimented routine.
Q: SO WHAT CAN YOU DO WHILE WAITING FOR THE MEDICAL PROFESSION
TO ARRIVE AT THIS LOGICAL CONCLUSION?
A: Try the ANTI-ALZHEIMER’S PROTOCOL, based on Dr. Bredesen’s principles, below:
– Check your hormone, vitamin and mineral balances* once a year and check for heavy metal overload every five years, with a view to chelation if necessary.
– Test the hormones: DHEA, Testosterone, Oestradiol, Progesterone, Thyroid3, Thyroid4, reverse Thyroid 3, TSH, vitamin D.
– Test the Vitamins: B12, Methyl Tetra Hydro Folate (MTHF, Vitamin B9), etc.
– Test the Minerals, especially Iron, Calcium, Magnesium and Zinc.
– Check Cholesterol and Glucose management.
– Test for inflammation: ESR, HSCRP: especially, check Homocysteine, which goes up with brain inflammation (high homocysteine tells you that you need MTHF).
– Correct any deficiencies on an ongoing basis, so as to provide your brain with the metabolic mileiu it needs for efficient housekeeping.
* See “Benefits of Blood Testing for Nutritional Deficiencies“, at https://www.myonemedicalsource.com/2020/06/18/nutritional-testing/
B: Follow the Guru:
Read “The End Of Alzheimer’s”, by Dr Dale Bredesen and
“DHEA in Human Health and Aging“, by Ronald Ross Watson, PhD.
– Destress: meditate twice a day, do yoga to reduce stress and sleep seven to eight hours per night.
– Sleep, exercise and eat well: eliminate simple carbohydrates, gluten and processed food, eat more vegetables, fruits and non-farmed fish.
– Be proactive: it’s better to avoid problems, than to correct them: take DHEA 50 mg, progesterone 100 mg (men), progesterone 2 – 300 mg (women).
– Take Melatonin, Vit B-12, Vit D3, Vit K2, Vit C, Vit B2, Vit B6, fish oil, MTHF, NAC, IC3 and CoQ10 each day…………
– Optimize oral hygiene using an electric toothbrush.
Also floss, to avoid inflammation from migrating mouth germs.
– Fast for 12 hours after dinner, have a fruit and coffee or tea for breakfast, have just a light snack at lunchtime and then don’t eat until dinnertime.
– Don’t overuse alcohol.
– Exercise for 15-30 minutes, 3 to 6 days per week.
– See the “anti-Alzheimer’s protocol” on the final page of this paper. *****
– Consult with a functional medicine or bioidentical hormone professional: ask questions from this article and the books by Dr. Bredesen and Dr. Watson.
***** Most people who have a “normal” diet, including “veggies”” and fruit, moderate protein, eggs, milk etc. don’t NEED supplemental vitamins for maintenance purposes. However it’s smart to add the list (below) to the diet. Just don’t take the full dose as recommended on the bottle if you are healthy. For example the dose of MTHF (Vitamin B9) for someone with Alzheimer’s brain inflammation and a high Homocysteine is 3-5 mg per day; but for a healthy person just 1 mg per day is enough to correct a small dietary deficiency.
ABOUT SUPPLEMENTS which help to prevent Alzheimer’s disease:
Melatonin is chronobiotic, hypnotic, anxiolytic, analgesic, pro-cognitive and antidepressant. It runs our biological clock, dictating hormone release times. Production falls 10% per decade, so at 50, it is ½ and at 80, it’s 1/10, of what it was at age 20.
Take 1 – 10 mg of melatonin: if it makes you groggy in the morning, take less. (Webber’s “super sleep” contains just 1.5 mg of melatonin and works very well for sleep).
Vitamin B12 (Methyl Cobalamin) supports brain and nerve function.
It enhances immune system function, helps to control oxidation, boosts energy and helps memory.
It is in fish, meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products.
It should be tested: it can go too high, which might mean that you have a blood abnormality, in which case you should see your doctor: if you don’t need it, don’t take it.
Take 1 mg (1000 µg) of Methylcobalamin daily, if you need it.
Vitamin C, from fruit and vegetables, works with Vitamin D to block infections.
It is necessary for wound healing and many other maintenance jobs in the body.
The Vit-C guru, Linus Pauling (Scotland) recommended 9 G/day and present-day Naturopaths give up to 50G intravenously, for viral infections.
Dogs and other “lower” animals make VitC naturally, but we don’t.
Also, it is excreted quickly in the urine, so we need to get it from our food every day.
Take one gram twice a day and double the dose if you get a cold, a large wound or a surgical operation.
Vitamin D3 is a fat-soluble hormone made by the skin (up to 40,000 units in 24 hours).
It regulates calcium, phosphorus and bone maintenance, helps the immune system, maintains calcium for muscle, function, helps the brain’s maintenance and repair, produces Cathelicidin and Defensin (natural antibiotic/antivirals) and is an anticancer agent. Fish oil contains large amounts of D3.
Take 2000 – 5000 iu of Vitamin D3 daily and get your doctor to test it, to ensure that you are not taking too much.
Vitamin K2 is fat-soluble and is best combined with vitamin D.
It is produced by gut bacteria from “leafy greens” and is in fatty foods, like egg yolks and high-fat dairy from grass-fed cows.
It is essential for blood clotting, bone maintenance and heart health and it reduces blood vessel calcification.
It reduces spinal fractures by 60%, hip fractures by 77% and other fractures by 81%.
Combined D3/K2 is available in a single capsule.
Take 150 µg of Vitamin K2, daily.
Vitamin B9 (Folic acid) is best taken as MTHF (Methyl Tetrahydrofolate).
It is needed to make red and white blood cells in the bone marrow, convert carbohydrates into energy and produce DNA and RNA.
However the “biggie” is that It soothes brain inflammation, and we can tell that it is working because it reduces the Homocysteine level in the blood.
MTHF is in fruit, Leafy greens, beans and seeds, seafood, but not in meats, except liver.
Take 1µg of MTHF (Methyl Tetrahydrofolate) daily: if Homocysteine is high, take 3 µg (in some situations, your functional medicine MD might ask you to take 5 µg a day).
NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine) stimulates glutathione, increasing the efficiency of the Mitochondria all over the body, including the brain.
Take 900 µg of NAC daily (the full dose, if needed, is 1800mg).
I3C (Indole-3-carbinol) is anticarcinogenic, antioxidant, and anti-atherogenic.
Take 200 mg of I3C daily.
Coenzyme Q 10 is a nutrient that occurs naturally in the body and in many foods we eat.
CoQ10 is an antioxidant, is needed for heart maintenance, delays Alzheimer’s disease, and is anti-inflammatory.
Anticholesterol drugs destroy CoQ10: if they are prescribed you MUST take it.
Take 200 mg of CoQ10 daily.
Vitamin B6 is water-soluble, helps with more than 100 enzyme reactions and with reducing homocysteine.
You need it to make hemoglobin, for brain health and anti-inflammatory action.
It repels mosquitoes, in some people.
Take 25 mg of vitamin B6 daily.
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) is water-soluble.
It is necessary for energy, care of brain and nerves, absorbing other vitamins, hormone production and other functions.
Take 10 mg of vitamin B2, daily.
NOTE: “Multivite” pills contain combinations of the above: check on this and
“mix & match”, to take fewer pills.
HORMONES:
Everyone over 30 years of age needs DHEA:
50mg daily maintains muscle, protects the heart from dysrhythmia and infarction, prevents or retards many cancers, treats sexual dysfunction in the female, helps with self-confidence and reduces anxiety and works as an anti-stress medication by reducing cortisol production.
Men over 50 need Progesterone, 50-100 mg at bedtime: women need 100-300mg.
Every postmenopausal woman needs Oestradiol and Oestriol (requirement is variable, from individual to individual).
Every living human cell needs an optimal intracellular supply of triiodothyronine (“T3”). Get tested for TSH, T4, T3 and reverse T3: if the ratio between T3 and rT3 (T3/rT3) is <20, you need treatment with slow-release T3; however, you need a prescription for it.
Note: the regular family doctor and the endocrinologist do not usually understand this problem.
Consult with a very knowledgeable family physician, or a “metabolic”, “functional” or hormone restoration MD.