Multi Mineral Mix Saves Brains (In Mice)
June 09, 2016Multi-Mineral Mix Saves Brains, (In Mice)
Reference: Environment Mol Mut June 2016, Life Extension, Science Daily June 2016,
The human brain is particularly vulnerable to chemical stress. It uses a lot of oxygen (20% of our use), doesn't have any anti-oxidants to cool off the oxidation that comes along with burning energy and has a lot of very delicate omega fats in its membranes, (some 40% by dry weight is DHA and EPA). This creates the environment for brain damage to occur when the delicate balance is tipped towards more oxidation.
And that oxidative environment exists and been shown to be present in natural aging, and is thought to be accelerated in virtually all major brain diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinsons. There is clear advantage to having a brain, but its existence is fragile. When it gets into trouble, it does so by this route.
Ok, chilling off oxidation then becomes the method that will prevent these diseases. That's what the team at McMaster University in Canada has done. They took mice bred to have accelerated brain degeneration that looks a lot like Alzheimer's with loss of neurons. Hunt and try many different dietary and food items that have "antioxidant" qualities and make them into a combination mix. Mice are convenient because they live out their lives in two years, and it is possible to then open their brains and see what happened in response to different mixes of nutrients.
In this reported study, the untreated mice showed severe cognitive decline with as much as half their brain cells gone by one year of age. With the 30-ingredient mix, there was no decline in cognition or cell count. Complete reversal! And, almost more interesting, they had improvement in vision and smell over normal mice. Loss of smell is a common indicator of coming Alzheimer's. They had many tests they ran the mice through, like finding a submerged platform in a small pool that also showed enhanced learning in the treated mice.
What were the magic ingredients? All stuff you can find in a health food store. Read the Life Extension article to get the details but suffice it to say that it was just B vitamins, Vitamin D, C, acetyl-L-carnitine, alpha-lipoic acid, and 25 other ingredients all of which play roles in the healthy maintenance of brain. They looked at five vital functions these ingredients play: oxidative stress reduction, mitochondrial function, inflammation, insulin resistance, and membrane integrity. You take care of these five, you have healthy brain cells.
This combination overlaps strongly with Bredesen's recommendations. You can do this in mice and look for optimal levels of supplements because you can make altered mice and then sacrifice them and look at their brains. Can't do that in humans. And in humans, we view vitamins and minerals from the perspective of the minimal dose needed to prevent deficiency illness, not the optimal dose to achieve peak performance. Our brains need close to peak performance to be safe.
WWW.What will work for me? I suspect the first step has to be reducing flour and sugar, as those two foods are the equivalent of oxidative gasoline on your brain. (I just pushed the coffee cake away) Too bad. The combination of ingredients in this mix will soon be commercially available. Right now, I'm taking about half of it as supplements anyway. You should start on Vitamin D, fish oil, magnesium, melatonin.
Pop Quiz
1. It's possible to breed mice that get Alzheimer's equivalent? T or F Answer: True
2. These mice die early with limited ability to learn, smell and remember. T or F Answer: Yup, just like in humans
3. With the right mix of minerals and supplements, this decline in these mice can be completely prevented. T or F Answer: Yup
4. Oddly enough, the Alzheimer's mice can smell better. T or F Answer: False, false, false. The treated mice with the mineral and vitamin supplement could smell better.
5. This has been proven to work in humans. T or F Answer: False. Unless you accept Bredesen's work which overlaps about 80% of these ingredients.