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The Latest Alzheimer's Research


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#721 albedo

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Posted 25 March 2016 - 02:58 PM

Interesting read.

 

Controversial New Push to Tie Microbes to Alzheimer's Disease

http://www.scientifi...=SA_MB_20160323

 

The link of viruses infections to neurodegenerative diseases is a fascinating topic. Next to the Alzheimer's disease and HSV there are connections, maybe better established, e.g. between EBV and Multiple Sclerosis. I was in a recent interesting seminar on the latter pointing to stem cells based therapeutic interventions.

 

Epsteine-Barr Virus and Multiple Sclerosis

http://www.medscape....rticle/750048_3

 

Strong EBV-specific CD8+ T-cell response in patients with early multiple sclerosis.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/18550621

 

 

 



#722 albedo

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Posted 25 March 2016 - 03:45 PM

This looks to be a good discussion forum for expert debate on AD:

 

https://neuroalzheim..._1510_SfNAD2015



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#723 Arisia

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Posted 25 March 2016 - 06:15 PM

I find it interesting that Donepezil(Aricept) acts as both an anti-inflammatory in the brain, and as an anti-viral. It makes you wonder if it's efficacy in treating MCI and Alzheimer's disease(at it's early stages) has more to do with the above, than with just improving symptoms due to increasing Acetylcholine. Of course, apparently, increasing Acetylcholine in the brain modulates inflammation via the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway.

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC4100123/

 

 

...Hwang and coworkers found anti-inflammatory effects on microglia cell lines where no AChE was present [85]. These authors showed significant attenuation of TNFα, IL-1, and NF-κB release. From these results, we can infer that donepezil is either able to directly stimulate α7 nAChR and not act as an inhibitor only or it has some other unknown pathway. Beside the anti-inflammatory pathway, donepezil was proven to be able to modulate viral progression and the modulation is probably based on a mechanism other than agonism of α7 nAChR [86,87]. This fact would support the results on the microglia cells. Unfortunately, the antiviral effect of donepezil was not studied further, though the issue deserves greater attention. ...


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#724 albedo

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Posted 26 March 2016 - 01:24 PM

A study on the efficiency of a particular nutritional supplement (Suvenaid) beneficial in early AD. I have thought useful to post it in this thread too.

 

Efficacy of Souvenaid in mild Alzheimer's disease: results from a randomized, controlled trial.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....act&holding=npg

 

"...The unique combination of nutrients in Souvenaid® includes omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, uridine monophosphate and choline, together with phospholipids, B vitamins and other nutrients, at levels difficult to achieve from dietary intake alone..."

https://www.souvenai...is-Souvenaid®-/


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#725 resveratrol_guy

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Posted 26 March 2016 - 07:16 PM

As You Sow has updated their list of chocolate brands with high lead or cadmium content. Unfortunately, my beloved Endangered Species has now become endangered by the results. The results are a disaster in the sense that no company seems to have come out in the clear, such that at best some brands were both blacklisted and whitelisted. It sounds like it comes down to (1) random sample-to-sample variance and (2) degree of processing and dilution, with more actually being better. You can help by emailing your favorite chocolate company to complain. It would be a shame to lose the benefits of this magnificent bean.

 

I really wonder where all this metal load is coming from! It might be the case that it has just always been there and has more to do with what the cacao plant considers nutritious. And perhaps it's all neutralized by epicatechins in the chocolate anyway. But I wouldn't bet my mental health on it.



#726 resveratrol_guy

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Posted 26 March 2016 - 08:21 PM

A study on the efficiency of a particular nutritional supplement (Suvenaid) beneficial in early AD. I have thought useful to post it in this thread too.

 

Efficacy of Souvenaid in mild Alzheimer's disease: results from a randomized, controlled trial.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....act&holding=npg

 

"...The unique combination of nutrients in Souvenaid® includes omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, uridine monophosphate and choline, together with phospholipids, B vitamins and other nutrients, at levels difficult to achieve from dietary intake alone..."

https://www.souvenai...is-Souvenaid®-/

 

Very interesting. This seems to closely mirror the supercentenarian diet data which I posted earlier. In particular, these people seem to eat a lot of eggs (choline) and some fish (omega-3) and vegetables (uridine, especially from brocolli). I suggest starting this practice long before symtoms emerge. Throwing in a daily veggie juice with more phytochemicals and less sugar would seem to be wise, as well.


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#727 mag1

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Posted 26 March 2016 - 09:19 PM

Hey res_guy, What about copper-2?

The link you noted did not even mention copper-2.

I think it is great that there are such consumer watchdog organizations looking out for the public interest.

 

 

The article discussed a few pages back on our thread suggested that copper-2 (and other metals) might be a central player in the emerging Alzheimer's crisis.

It is nearly beyond comprehension that we could now be confronting another metal caused dementia pandemic. Do we never learn? Humanity has lurched from one

metals crisis to the next-- lead, methyl mercury, aluminum, and now perhaps copper-2. All the while that chocolate can be officially labeled as organic

even after being sprayed with copper-2 hydroxide.

 

In terms of why these plants are soaking up these toxins, I would tend to think that they will typically absorb whatever happens to be in their environment or whatever is directly sprayed on them as a insecticide.  


Edited by mag1, 26 March 2016 - 09:20 PM.

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#728 resveratrol_guy

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Posted 26 March 2016 - 09:38 PM

Hey res_guy, What about copper-2?

The link you noted did not even mention copper-2.

I think it is great that there are such consumer watchdog organizations looking out for the public interest.

 

 

The article discussed a few pages back on our thread suggested that copper-2 (and other metals) might be a central player in the emerging Alzheimer's crisis.

It is nearly beyond comprehension that we could now be confronting another metal caused dementia pandemic. Do we never learn? Humanity has lurched from one

metals crisis to the next-- lead, methyl mercury, aluminum, and now perhaps copper-2. All the while that chocolate can be officially labeled as organic

even after being sprayed with copper-2 hydroxide.

 

In terms of why these plants are soaking up these toxins, I would tend to think that they will typically absorb whatever happens to be in their environment or whatever is directly sprayed on them as a insecticide.  

 

My suspicion is that cacao evolved to soak up metals from the environment. Perhaps it considers them nutrients, or perhaps toxins that it binds up in order to neutralize. It's hard to believe that such diverse cacao sources, from polluted farms in Cote d'Ivoire to pristine mountain plots in South America, would show comparable levels of metals toxicity if it were mainly due to pollution. So this is one case in which ingesting these metals, including copper, might be safe, and in fact beneficial in light of the other benefits of chocolate. I would imagine that the copper is amino-acid-chelated, which would not be hazardous.

 

I think the research is incomplete in this regard, in that it failed to address the obvious question of bioavailability. What we really want to know is: how much of which metal, and in which oxidation state, ends up in the blood? I couldn't care less about ceruloplasmin-bound copper, for example; it's a nutrient in that form. But the As You Sow data just leaves us clueless.
 



#729 albedo

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Posted 27 March 2016 - 02:21 PM

 

A study on the efficiency of a particular nutritional supplement (Suvenaid) beneficial in early AD. I have thought useful to post it in this thread too.

 

Efficacy of Souvenaid in mild Alzheimer's disease: results from a randomized, controlled trial.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....act&holding=npg

 

"...The unique combination of nutrients in Souvenaid® includes omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, uridine monophosphate and choline, together with phospholipids, B vitamins and other nutrients, at levels difficult to achieve from dietary intake alone..."

https://www.souvenai...is-Souvenaid®-/

 

Very interesting. This seems to closely mirror the supercentenarian diet data which I posted earlier. In particular, these people seem to eat a lot of eggs (choline) and some fish (omega-3) and vegetables (uridine, especially from brocolli). I suggest starting this practice long before symtoms emerge. Throwing in a daily veggie juice with more phytochemicals and less sugar would seem to be wise, as well.

 

 

That is particularly interesting Resveratrol_guy ! 

 

I wonder if I can link it to the inflammatory theory of aging (aka "Inflammaging", e.g. google on Dr Claudio Franceschi and the EU project NU-AGE) and the role of gut microbiota as pointed to in one of my previous posts.

 

What you rightly point to referring to the (anti-inflammatory) omega-3 might (just a wild hypothesis on my side!) support the idea that the depletion of EPA in the metabolic signature of centenarians (see Fig. 2 of the following reference and my previous post above) can be interpreted as an increased incorporation by microbiota and usage in tissues of centenarian (vs the elder and the youth) to modulated the (pro-inflammatory) arachidonic acid cascade ...

 

“… Compared to elderly, centenarians also presented depletion of eicosapentanoic acid (EPA), an omega-3 fatty acid, which can be synthesized in humans from alpha-linoleic acid or in greater amount directly from oily fishes. Importantly, EPA exerts anti-inflammatory effects mostly by increasing the biosynthesis of beneficial v-3 eicosanoids, resolvins [50]…”

 

Metabolic Signatures of Extreme Longevity in Northern Italian Centenarians Reveal a Complex Remodeling of Lipids, Amino Acids, and Gut Microbiota Metabolism

http://journals.plos...al.pone.0056564

 

and …

 

“…Fish oil supplementation in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases results in n-3 PUFA incorporation into gut mucosal tissue and modification of inflammatory mediator profiles…”

 

Polyunsaturated fatty acids, inflammatory processes and inflammatory bowel diseases.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/18504706


 


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#730 albedo

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Posted 27 March 2016 - 02:26 PM

Transdermal implant releases antibodies to trigger immune system to clear Alzheimer’s plaques

Test with mice over 39 weeks showed dramatic reduction of amyloid beta plaque load in the brain and reduced phosphorylation of the protein tau, two signs of Alzheimer's
 
and the published paper by EPFL:
 
A subcutaneous cellular implant for passive immunization against amyloid-β reduces brain amyloid and tau pathologies
 
 

 


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#731 niner

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Posted 28 March 2016 - 04:15 AM

In terms of why these plants are soaking up these toxins, I would tend to think that they will typically absorb whatever happens to be in their environment or whatever is directly sprayed on them as a insecticide.  

 

The lead in cacao appears to be coming primarily from leaded gasoline, still in use in Nigeria.   I find this rather shocking, given that all major car manufacturers have designed cars to run on unleaded fuel for the past 40 years or so, and Nigeria has no indigenous auto industry, so they should be driving the same cars as the rest of the world.  The lead doesn't start out in the beans, but rather is found on the shells, so it's likely to be deposited from atmospheric aerosols.  The contamination pathway is probably shell to bean, occurring during processing. 

 

The solution to this problem is probably going to involve putting public pressure on chocolate manufacturers to guarantee their products are clean. 


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#732 resveratrol_guy

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Posted 29 March 2016 - 03:45 AM

 

In terms of why these plants are soaking up these toxins, I would tend to think that they will typically absorb whatever happens to be in their environment or whatever is directly sprayed on them as a insecticide.  

 

The lead in cacao appears to be coming primarily from leaded gasoline, still in use in Nigeria.   I find this rather shocking, given that all major car manufacturers have designed cars to run on unleaded fuel for the past 40 years or so, and Nigeria has no indigenous auto industry, so they should be driving the same cars as the rest of the world.  The lead doesn't start out in the beans, but rather is found on the shells, so it's likely to be deposited from atmospheric aerosols.  The contamination pathway is probably shell to bean, occurring during processing. 

 

The solution to this problem is probably going to involve putting public pressure on chocolate manufacturers to guarantee their products are clean. 

 

 

But many of the brands studied by As You Sow are from the Americas, some of which being organic. Are they all cheating, or is something else going on here? (It's hard to believe that they've all managed to find and exploit illegal access to leaded gasoline in 2016, as well.) It's too bad they didn't publish the actual data, and instead merely rating the samples as pass/fail.
 

Maybe the measurements were inaccurate. Maybe lead and cadmium are necessary nutrients for cacao. (Hmm... I think I just found the next blockbuster investment in China!)



#733 resveratrol_guy

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Posted 29 March 2016 - 03:59 AM


 

That is particularly interesting Resveratrol_guy ! 

 

I wonder if I can link it to the inflammatory theory of aging (aka "Inflammaging", e.g. google on Dr Claudio Franceschi and the EU project NU-AGE) and the role of gut microbiota as pointed to in one of my previous posts.

 

What you rightly point to referring to the (anti-inflammatory) omega-3 might (just a wild hypothesis on my side!) support the idea that the depletion of EPA in the metabolic signature of centenarians (see Fig. 2 of the following reference and my previous post above) can be interpreted as an increased incorporation by microbiota and usage in tissues of centenarian (vs the elder and the youth) to modulated the (pro-inflammatory) arachidonic acid cascade ...

 

“… Compared to elderly, centenarians also presented depletion of eicosapentanoic acid (EPA), an omega-3 fatty acid, which can be synthesized in humans from alpha-linoleic acid or in greater amount directly from oily fishes. Importantly, EPA exerts anti-inflammatory effects mostly by increasing the biosynthesis of beneficial v-3 eicosanoids, resolvins [50]…”

 

Metabolic Signatures of Extreme Longevity in Northern Italian Centenarians Reveal a Complex Remodeling of Lipids, Amino Acids, and Gut Microbiota Metabolism

http://journals.plos...al.pone.0056564

 

and …

 

“…Fish oil supplementation in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases results in n-3 PUFA incorporation into gut mucosal tissue and modification of inflammatory mediator profiles…”

 

Polyunsaturated fatty acids, inflammatory processes and inflammatory bowel diseases.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/18504706

 

The centenarian (italics forced by Longecity for some reason) paper is immensely complicated. But I think you're trying to make the point that the study shows indirect evidence of gut microbiota distinction between centenarians and controls, and that therefore, presumably, these microbiota are in some way responsible for their longevity?

 

I'm truly humbled by the power of these little guys, for better or worse. It's certainly possible that by reducing cancer risk, manufacting K2 and butyric acid, warding off pathogens, and more, that they're materially adding to our longevity.

 

Given the rate at which bacteria evolve, I've implemented a strategy for pushing them in a healthy direction. It basically amounts to mixing probiotics and low-sugar yoghurt with unappetizing superfoods such as brocolli, eggs, coconut oil, undercooked sweet potatoes, etc. The idea is that most of these guys are addicted to sugar or simple carbs because that's their transport medium between the factory and me. So I need to put them into a metabolic crisis in which the only survivors will be the ones who learn to love these awful superfoods. Subsequently, given enough time, I would expect them to evolve ways to mess with my hormonal feedback loops so that I crave these foods and ignore SAD ones.
 


Edited by resveratrol_guy, 29 March 2016 - 04:00 AM.

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#734 mag1

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Posted 29 March 2016 - 04:10 AM

We might need to rethink our Infection = bad formula.

 

Anyone have a cat?

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/26984535

 



#735 Logic

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Posted 29 March 2016 - 02:56 PM

As You Sow has updated their list of chocolate brands with high lead or cadmium content. Unfortunately, my beloved Endangered Species has now become endangered by the results. The results are a disaster in the sense that no company seems to have come out in the clear, such that at best some brands were both blacklisted and whitelisted. It sounds like it comes down to (1) random sample-to-sample variance and (2) degree of processing and dilution, with more actually being better. You can help by emailing your favorite chocolate company to complain. It would be a shame to lose the benefits of this magnificent bean.

 

I really wonder where all this metal load is coming from! It might be the case that it has just always been there and has more to do with what the cacao plant considers nutritious. And perhaps it's all neutralized by epicatechins in the chocolate anyway. But I wouldn't bet my mental health on it.

 

What you want is 'Black Chocolate'!?   :)

 

Efficient Binding of Heavy Metals by Black Sesame Pigment: Toward Innovative Dietary Strategies To Prevent Bioaccumulation
http://www.longecity...ndpost&p=766829

 

NB the affinity for unwanted metals, while leaving the required minerals (more or less) alone.
That metals catalyse the formation of AGE's


Has anyone seen chocolate sweetened with Stevia anywhere?


Edited by Logic, 29 March 2016 - 03:03 PM.


#736 Logic

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Posted 29 March 2016 - 03:19 PM

I wonder if I can link it to the inflammatory theory of aging (aka "Inflammaging", e.g. google on Dr Claudio Franceschi and the EU project NU-AGE) and the role of gut microbiota as pointed to in one of my previous posts.

 

What you rightly point to referring to the (anti-inflammatory) omega-3 might (just a wild hypothesis on my side!) support the idea that the depletion of EPA in the metabolic signature of centenarians (see Fig. 2 of the following reference and my previous post above) can be interpreted as an increased incorporation by microbiota and usage in tissues of centenarian (vs the elder and the youth) to modulated the (pro-inflammatory) arachidonic acid cascade ...

 

“… Compared to elderly, centenarians also presented depletion of eicosapentanoic acid (EPA), an omega-3 fatty acid, which can be synthesized in humans from alpha-linoleic acid or in greater amount directly from oily fishes. Importantly, EPA exerts anti-inflammatory effects mostly by increasing the biosynthesis of beneficial v-3 eicosanoids, resolvins [50]…”

 

Metabolic Signatures of Extreme Longevity in Northern Italian Centenarians Reveal a Complex Remodeling of Lipids, Amino Acids, and Gut Microbiota Metabolism

http://journals.plos...al.pone.0056564

 

and …

 

“…Fish oil supplementation in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases results in n-3 PUFA incorporation into gut mucosal tissue and modification of inflammatory mediator profiles…”

 

Polyunsaturated fatty acids, inflammatory processes and inflammatory bowel diseases.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/18504706

 

This adds credence to the inflammatory theory of aging:

 

Inflammation, But Not Telomere Length, Predicts Successful Ageing at Extreme Old Age: A Longitudinal Study of Semi-supercentenarians
...It has long been known that chronic inflammation is associated with the ageing process in younger, more 'normal' populations, but it's only very recently we could mechanistically prove that inflammation actually causes accelerated ageing in mice...
This study, showing for the first time that inflammation levels predict successful ageing even in the extreme old, makes a strong case to assume that chronic inflammation drives human ageing too...
Telomere length does not predict successful ageing in the very and extreme old, but centenarians and their offspring maintain telomeres better than non-centenarians...

http://www.longecity...lthy-longevity/

 

The leaky, dysbiotic. fast aging gut, chronic infections and AGEs (speeded up by metal buildup) are the main culprits IMHO.

It's interesting that mental decline seems to be one of the 1st symptoms of the inflammatory theory of aging.  It's important to stop trying to fix symptoms and work on the source of the problem IMHO.


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#737 albedo

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 03:42 PM

 


That is particularly interesting Resveratrol_guy ! .....

 

The centenarian (italics forced by Longecity for some reason) paper is immensely complicated. But I think you're trying to make the point that the study shows indirect evidence of gut microbiota distinction between centenarians and controls, and that therefore, presumably, these microbiota are in some way responsible for their longevity?....

 

Yes I think this group, with Dr C. Franceschi being as one of the leading investigators following the “inflammaging” theory, seems making exactly your point and supporting your steering strategy:

 

“Abstract. An emerging central concept in evolutionary biology suggests that symbiosis is a universal characteristic of living organisms that can help in understanding complex traits and phenotypes. During evolution, an integrative circuitry fundamental for survival has been established between commensal gut microbiota and host. On the basis of recent knowledge in worms, flies, and humans, an important role of the gut microbiota in aging and longevity is emerging. The complex bacterial community that populates the gut and that represents an evolutionary adapted ecosystem correlated with nutrition appears to limit the accumulation of pathobionts and infections in all taxa, being able of affecting the efficiency of the host immune system and exerting systemic metabolic effects. There is an urgent need to disentangle the underpinning molecular mechanisms, which could shed light on the basic mechanisms of aging in an ecological perspective. Thus, it appears possible to extend healthy aging and lifespan by targeting the host as a metaorganism by manipulating the complex symbiotic ecosystem of gut microbiota, as well as other possible ecosystems of the body.” (bold mine)

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/21814818


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#738 resveratrol_guy

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 03:44 PM

 

As You Sow has updated their list of chocolate brands with high lead or cadmium content. Unfortunately, my beloved Endangered Species has now become endangered by the results. The results are a disaster in the sense that no company seems to have come out in the clear, such that at best some brands were both blacklisted and whitelisted. It sounds like it comes down to (1) random sample-to-sample variance and (2) degree of processing and dilution, with more actually being better. You can help by emailing your favorite chocolate company to complain. It would be a shame to lose the benefits of this magnificent bean.

 

I really wonder where all this metal load is coming from! It might be the case that it has just always been there and has more to do with what the cacao plant considers nutritious. And perhaps it's all neutralized by epicatechins in the chocolate anyway. But I wouldn't bet my mental health on it.

 

What you want is 'Black Chocolate'!?   :)

 

Efficient Binding of Heavy Metals by Black Sesame Pigment: Toward Innovative Dietary Strategies To Prevent Bioaccumulation
http://www.longecity...ndpost&p=766829

 

NB the affinity for unwanted metals, while leaving the required minerals (more or less) alone.
That metals catalyse the formation of AGE's

Has anyone seen chocolate sweetened with Stevia anywhere?

 

 

Surely you jest, but black chocolate is actually a real product from Meiji. I've tried it, and it's quite excellent. Here is a crazy video review for anyone who cares.

 

More to the point, we need all the metal binders we can find. I'm relying on cilantro and parsley at the moment, but it's good to have another option.

 

Lily's makes the best chocolate sweetened with stevia. It's pricey, and the cacao content isn't very high, but it is delicious.
 



#739 resveratrol_guy

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 03:49 PM


Yes I think this group, with Dr C. Franceschi being as one of the leading investigators following the “inflammaging” theory, seems making exactly your point and supporting your steering strategy:

 

“Abstract. An emerging central concept in evolutionary biology suggests that symbiosis is a universal characteristic of living organisms that can help in understanding complex traits and phenotypes. During evolution, an integrative circuitry fundamental for survival has been established between commensal gut microbiota and host. On the basis of recent knowledge in worms, flies, and humans, an important role of the gut microbiota in aging and longevity is emerging. The complex bacterial community that populates the gut and that represents an evolutionary adapted ecosystem correlated with nutrition appears to limit the accumulation of pathobionts and infections in all taxa, being able of affecting the efficiency of the host immune system and exerting systemic metabolic effects. There is an urgent need to disentangle the underpinning molecular mechanisms, which could shed light on the basic mechanisms of aging in an ecological perspective. Thus, it appears possible to extend healthy aging and lifespan by targeting the host as a metaorganism by manipulating the complex symbiotic ecosystem of gut microbiota, as well as other possible ecosystems of the body.” (bold mine)

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/21814818

 

I think we're on the verge of a paradigm shift toward highly customized probiotics and away from "big hammer" supplements. After all, with competent engineering, these guys can synthesize all we need. We're a few CRISPRs and several years away, but it's coming. Frankly, this may be the most undervalued/underappreciated area of biotech research today.

 

For the moment, all we have is a blind approach guided not by genetic engineering, but rather accelerated evolution. So in the meantime, coadminister your probiotics with really brutal health food that you don't currently like to eat.


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#740 resveratrol_guy

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 04:06 PM

We might need to rethink our Infection = bad formula.

 

Anyone have a cat?

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/26984535

 

Honestly this was not the best way to introduce this groundbreaking paper. I assume you're referring to the fact that a dirty cat litter box can transmit toxoplasmosis, thereby inducing an infection which this paper shows to be therapeutic by way of microglial activation resulting in incidental plaque clearance as a side effect of the immune reaction. It's the same mechanism suspected of staving off dementia in rheumatoid arthritis patients via upregulation of granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GMCSF). The bottom line appears to be that we can maintain brain health by faking infection. It's not at all clear, however, how we might do that even if we assume access to unregulated foreign clinics. For its part, GMCSF is prohibitively expensive, and I really don't relish the idea of messing around with cat litter.

 

It sort of sounds like:

 

1. Molecular inflammation in the absence of active infection is bad because it does damage without activating clearance mediated by macroautophagy.

 

2. Inflammation induced by a brain infection, or an infection mimetic, is good, provided it doesn't kill you. But trying to avoid dementia via this route is currently untenable. And you might, in the case of toxoplasmosis, end up with this particular behavioral deficit.



#741 Heisok

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 06:42 PM

"Given the rate at which bacteria evolve, I've implemented a strategy for pushing them in a healthy direction. It basically amounts to mixing probiotics and low-sugar yoghurt with unappetizing superfoods such as brocolli, eggs, coconut oil, under cooked sweet potatoes, etc. The idea is that most of these guys are addicted to sugar or simple carbs because that's their transport medium between the factory and me. So I need to put them into a metabolic crisis in which the only survivors will be the ones who learn to love these awful superfoods. Subsequently, given enough time, I would expect them to evolve ways to mess with my hormonal feedback loops so that I crave these foods and ignore SAD ones."

 

Are you sure that you are getting what you expect from the Sweet Potato portion? I thought that raw or cooked they have a high Sucrose, and Glucose level. They do have several grams of fiber.

 

I wanted to have Sweet Potatoes as part of my diet, but over many tests, they spike my post postprandial blood glucose about 10% higher than if I eat a similar amount of carrots.  Up to about 115 as compared to about 105. (I am not suggesting carrots) Cooked and cooled converted white rice also brings me up less than Sweet Potatos, but I discontinued that. This is with keeping other Carbs low and eating with various fats, Ghee, Beef and EVOO. I also tried Butternut Squash with similar results. Your Yogurt could be feeding the Lactic Acid bacteria, and the thought seems to be that the Lactic Acid might helpfighting some bad bacteria.


Edited by heisoktoday, 30 March 2016 - 07:02 PM.


#742 Logic

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 11:52 PM

 

 

As You Sow has updated their list of chocolate brands with high lead or cadmium content. Unfortunately, my beloved Endangered Species has now become endangered by the results. The results are a disaster in the sense that no company seems to have come out in the clear, such that at best some brands were both blacklisted and whitelisted. It sounds like it comes down to (1) random sample-to-sample variance and (2) degree of processing and dilution, with more actually being better. You can help by emailing your favorite chocolate company to complain. It would be a shame to lose the benefits of this magnificent bean.

 

I really wonder where all this metal load is coming from! It might be the case that it has just always been there and has more to do with what the cacao plant considers nutritious. And perhaps it's all neutralized by epicatechins in the chocolate anyway. But I wouldn't bet my mental health on it.

 

What you want is 'Black Chocolate'!?   :)

 

Efficient Binding of Heavy Metals by Black Sesame Pigment: Toward Innovative Dietary Strategies To Prevent Bioaccumulation
http://www.longecity...ndpost&p=766829

 

NB the affinity for unwanted metals, while leaving the required minerals (more or less) alone.
That metals catalyse the formation of AGE's

Has anyone seen chocolate sweetened with Stevia anywhere?

 

 

Surely you jest, but black chocolate is actually a real product from Meiji. I've tried it, and it's quite excellent. Here is a crazy video review for anyone who cares.

 

More to the point, we need all the metal binders we can find. I'm relying on cilantro and parsley at the moment, but it's good to have another option.

 

Lily's makes the best chocolate sweetened with stevia. It's pricey, and the cacao content isn't very high, but it is delicious.
 

 

 

:) 

Yep, but I don't jest about Black Sesame Pigment/seeds.
I haven't looked very hard recently, but have yet to see anything as efficient at chelating heavy metals right in the gut, before they get into one's system.
The study did not look at whether Black Sesame Pigment got into one's system and had a similar effect there, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did after scanning some of the chinese medicine links that came up.

I also note that the gut replaces itself every 5 days making it the organ most likely to age the fastest, bringing the rest of us down with it!
One advantage we have is that, similar to the skin, we have 'direct access' to it...
ie: The supps etc we take orally have to go through it to get to the rest of us.

I think that  a lot of what we believe to be going through the gut is actually fixing it more than the rest of us!  We just perceive the effects elsewhere due to a decrease in inflammation/NF-kB (= more telomerase) etc...

Fortunately this ties in with the gut-Alz and heavy metal info elsewhere in this thread, so hopefully we won't be accused of heading off topic!

:)



#743 Logic

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Posted 31 March 2016 - 12:26 AM

 


Yes I think this group, with Dr C. Franceschi being as one of the leading investigators following the “inflammaging” theory, seems making exactly your point and supporting your steering strategy:

 

“Abstract. An emerging central concept in evolutionary biology suggests that symbiosis is a universal characteristic of living organisms that can help in understanding complex traits and phenotypes. During evolution, an integrative circuitry fundamental for survival has been established between commensal gut microbiota and host. On the basis of recent knowledge in worms, flies, and humans, an important role of the gut microbiota in aging and longevity is emerging. The complex bacterial community that populates the gut and that represents an evolutionary adapted ecosystem correlated with nutrition appears to limit the accumulation of pathobionts and infections in all taxa, being able of affecting the efficiency of the host immune system and exerting systemic metabolic effects. There is an urgent need to disentangle the underpinning molecular mechanisms, which could shed light on the basic mechanisms of aging in an ecological perspective. Thus, it appears possible to extend healthy aging and lifespan by targeting the host as a metaorganism by manipulating the complex symbiotic ecosystem of gut microbiota, as well as other possible ecosystems of the body.” (bold mine)

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/21814818

 

I think we're on the verge of a paradigm shift toward highly customized probiotics and away from "big hammer" supplements. After all, with competent engineering, these guys can synthesize all we need. We're a few CRISPRs and several years away, but it's coming. Frankly, this may be the most undervalued/underappreciated area of biotech research today.

 

For the moment, all we have is a blind approach guided not by genetic engineering, but rather accelerated evolution. So in the meantime, coadminister your probiotics with really brutal health food that you don't currently like to eat.

 

 

Note that I agreed with you....for some reason..!  :-D

 

One avenue that is being hugely neglected, to our detriment, is bacteriophage therapy.

Bacteriophages are virii that live on specific bacteria ONLY.  They will self multiply until their food source is depleted and then die out.

 

ie:  Ingesting or ...'otherwise introducing' the right mix Bacteriophages (mostly gram negative bacteria killers) into the gut would kill off a very large part of the inflammation associated with aging and dementia and probably permanently cure dysbiosis within an hour!

 

 

NB:

  • The high level of selectivity, unattainable with antibiotic therapy, due to bacteriophages being highly specific to each bacterial strain they 'feed on'.
  • The fact that they are not patentable/profitable for big pharma...

Edited by Logic, 31 March 2016 - 12:28 AM.


#744 resveratrol_guy

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Posted 31 March 2016 - 05:05 PM

"Given the rate at which bacteria evolve, I've implemented a strategy for pushing them in a healthy direction. It basically amounts to mixing probiotics and low-sugar yoghurt with unappetizing superfoods such as brocolli, eggs, coconut oil, under cooked sweet potatoes, etc. The idea is that most of these guys are addicted to sugar or simple carbs because that's their transport medium between the factory and me. So I need to put them into a metabolic crisis in which the only survivors will be the ones who learn to love these awful superfoods. Subsequently, given enough time, I would expect them to evolve ways to mess with my hormonal feedback loops so that I crave these foods and ignore SAD ones."

 

Are you sure that you are getting what you expect from the Sweet Potato portion? I thought that raw or cooked they have a high Sucrose, and Glucose level. They do have several grams of fiber.

 

I wanted to have Sweet Potatoes as part of my diet, but over many tests, they spike my post postprandial blood glucose about 10% higher than if I eat a similar amount of carrots.  Up to about 115 as compared to about 105. (I am not suggesting carrots) Cooked and cooled converted white rice also brings me up less than Sweet Potatos, but I discontinued that. This is with keeping other Carbs low and eating with various fats, Ghee, Beef and EVOO. I also tried Butternut Squash with similar results. Your Yogurt could be feeding the Lactic Acid bacteria, and the thought seems to be that the Lactic Acid might helpfighting some bad bacteria.

 

Well isn't that the trouble with Alzheimer's research... everything feeds into it.

 

So the one thing I've mostly given up on, having tried several supposedly very healthy diets, is attempting to use logical arguments to justify my food selection, as opposed to plain old data. Glucose is bad. Spiking blood sugar is also bad. But sweet potatoes (especially those with purple meat) are well correlated to longevity in Okinawans and Westerners. I've come to appreciate just how feeble macronutrient analysis actually is; healthy foods are ultimately a positively biased combination of protective and destructive components. The net effect is virtually impossible to predict. (Just look at the wide smattering of foods in the supercentenarian diet data that I posted, or more comprehensive data sets such the various Okinawan diet papers available online.) Epidemiology does not prove causality, but it increases the probability of a causal relationship, so I'm afraid it's the best data we'll have for a few centuries yet. I never would have thought, for instance, that drinking copious amounts of fat, or engaging in light smoking, would be healthy activities, for instance, but they appear to be.

 

So, yes, simple carbs are bad. But food isn't a "carb" unless it's made in a factory. It's a food, consisting of millions of different molecular species. This is where the keto fanatics go off the rails. Generally speaking, they're so obsessed with the evils of glucose metabolism that they forget the benefits of phytochemicals, trace minerals, gut bacteria, and other factors involved with converting food into bioavailable nutrtition. They are on the right track; indeed, my own data suggests that the ketogenic diet is moderately more life extensive than the vegan diet, but the oldest people still eat sugary chocolate, for instance. Presumably, there's a way to combine keto with veganism to achieve an even healthier life...

 

Speaking of data, cut out the beef. None of my supercentenarians reported eating it on a regular basis. If you really want excess iron (so you can nucleate more anyloid aggregates?), go for Chilean mussels. Same with ghee: these folks don't seem to eat butter, which is ostensibly healthy but perhaps suffers from excess phosphates. I can't argue with EVOO, though. More actually does seem to be better, in that case.

 

As to yoghurt, I'm not much of a fan. It contains high phosphates, and as you pointed out, it's a acidic food, which is bad (unless we're talking citrus fruits). And perhaps worst of all, it's a concentrated protein source. I only use it to ramp up gut bacteria after a course of antibiotics.


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#745 resveratrol_guy

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Posted 31 March 2016 - 05:09 PM

 

Note that I agreed with you....for some reason..!  :-D

 

One avenue that is being hugely neglected, to our detriment, is bacteriophage therapy.

Bacteriophages are virii that live on specific bacteria ONLY.  They will self multiply until their food source is depleted and then die out.

 

ie:  Ingesting or ...'otherwise introducing' the right mix Bacteriophages (mostly gram negative bacteria killers) into the gut would kill off a very large part of the inflammation associated with aging and dementia and probably permanently cure dysbiosis within an hour!

 

 

NB:

  • The high level of selectivity, unattainable with antibiotic therapy, due to bacteriophages being highly specific to each bacterial strain they 'feed on'.
  • The fact that they are not patentable/profitable for big pharma...

 

I don't know anything about bacteriophage therapy. Can you provide a link to relevant threads or relevant papers? I don't want to derail this thread more than I already have, but as I said above, the trouble with Alzheimer's is that everything feeds into it, and our gut is the front line of defense. So the more we know about gut management strategies, the better.



#746 mag1

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Posted 31 March 2016 - 11:24 PM

Anyone on the thread have a comment on how useful exoskeletons might be in Alzheimer's?

This technology has been powering forward and now appears quite impressive.

 

The paralysis market alone is going to create momentum.

The price for this technology already would be justifiable in these patients.

 

Not sure about the specs of exoskeletons for AD.

These devices would obviously be very helpful, though it is not clear whether the technology would be

well suited for dementia.

 

http://rewalk.com/

http://indego.com/indego/en/Product
 

 

 


Edited by mag1, 31 March 2016 - 11:25 PM.


#747 mag1

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Posted 01 April 2016 - 12:18 AM

Exoskeleton research appears to have really broken out!

The below url shows a $40,000 exoskeleton and talks about moving to a few thousand dollar price point.

 

This technology would then be everywhere!

It could be the first mass consumption robotic device.

 

One of the other websites notes that there are 300,000 Americans with spinal cord injuries each of whom

create lifetime medical costs of well over $1 million. With exoskeletons a fair amount of that $300 billion cost

might be unnecessary.

 

https://www.technolo...paralyzed-walk/


Edited by mag1, 01 April 2016 - 12:19 AM.


#748 albedo

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Posted 01 April 2016 - 08:22 AM

In case you have not seen it yet, there is the LEF editorial article in the April 2016 issue by W Faloon with a good list of references:

 

How to Delay Brain Aging by 11 Years

http://www.lifeexten...1-Years/Page-01

 

It is a good case on the positive dietary effect (MIND diet) following research by UCLA and Buck Institute. I was also astonished by the short term (after only 4 weeks) measurable deleterious effects of bad diet on cognition. I do not like sometimes the aggressive marketing of LEF on pushing supplements but it should not distract from the main message on supportive natural strategies IMHO. They do not write often about dietary interventions, do have a quite long positive track record and fund research.


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#749 resveratrol_guy

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Posted 01 April 2016 - 08:31 PM

In case you have not seen it yet, there is the LEF editorial article in the April 2016 issue by W Faloon with a good list of references:

 

How to Delay Brain Aging by 11 Years

http://www.lifeexten...1-Years/Page-01

 

It is a good case on the positive dietary effect (MIND diet) following research by UCLA and Buck Institute. I was also astonished by the short term (after only 4 weeks) measurable deleterious effects of bad diet on cognition. I do not like sometimes the aggressive marketing of LEF on pushing supplements but it should not distract from the main message on supportive natural strategies IMHO. They do not write often about dietary interventions, do have a quite long positive track record and fund research.

 

These results are doubly impressive because the recommendations are mediocre relative to what is now known about antidementia dietary practices. (What could be done with advice of the quality implied by all the posts at Longecity, for instance?) They don't even mention eggs, for instance. Although I find the cheese connection compelling, as France (major cheese consumers) has one of the world's highest dementia rates, despite all the cardiovascular benefits on account of the vitamin K2 content.

 

What's wrong with the advice:

 

1. They lumped butter and margarine together. They might as well have included hot dogs in the same category as kale. Granted, as I've said before, butter seems conspicuously absent from supercentenarian diets, and may suffer from excessive omega-6 or phosphate content. But it doesn't deserve to be associated with margarine, i.e. motor oil.

 

2. Avoid saturated fat. Come on, this is 2016! Any competent nutritional researcher should understand that there is a difference between saturated fat, and saturated fat sources. I suspect what they really discovered was that eating grilled red meat can accelerate dementia. This is terrible catch-all advice which would prevent us from consuming EVCO, for example.

 

3. Eat more berries. "Berries" don't do squat. Blueberries, and pterostilbene, do. BTW if they're too expensive where you live, then try to find the frozen ones. I rather doubt that his blueberry extract pills would contain enough of the good stuff (anthocyanins and pterostilbene?) to matter.

 

4. Avoid simple sugars. Again, they put too many things in one bucket. This would have us avoiding vegetable juice, which has been tied to markedly lower rates of dementia. And the oldest person ever to have had a brain autopsy, Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, was an orange juice drinker with a remarkably low level of postmortum brain pathology.

 

5. Whole grains are whitelisted. Seriously? Based on what data? Only 2 supercentenarians claimed to eat grains on a regular basis, Susannah Mushatt Jones (who eats grits, a form of cooked ground corn) and Emiliano Mercado del Toro (who ate cooked corn kernels), respectively. No one was eating high-fiber "healthy" whole wheat cereal, for instance.


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#750 Ark

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Posted 01 April 2016 - 09:43 PM

http://www.sciencema...=alzhapses-3369


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