Vegetarianism: Does it lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease

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Celestial Healing
There are many mental illnesses and disease that are related to the consumption of meat. Take Alzheimer for example. According to the American Alzheimer Association, between 6 and 8% of the population over 60 has Alzheimer's disease, and the rate has been increasing steadily. Several scientific literatures have affirmed that Alzheimer correlates with the consumption of meat and dairy. A review of studies published in Preventive Magazine two years ago sheds important light on a central risk factor in Alzheimers -- high levels of a blood substance called homocysteine.

Homocysteine is an amino acid. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. The only source of homocysteine for use in our bodies is that which the liver forms after the ingestion of another amino acid. Methionine is found in protein foods. Animal protein contains two to three times the amount of methionine as does plant protein. Homocysteine levels can be lowered very effectively by avoiding meat and dairy consumption. In fact, a recent study performed at Harvard Medical School showed that subjects who adopted a vegan diet had their homocysteine levels drop between 13% and 20% in just one week.

A 1993 study found that subjects, who ate meat, including poultry and fish, were more than twice as likely to become demented as their vegetarian counterparts. [Neuroepidemiology, 12:28-36, 1993]

Depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia can be connected to meat consumption. The amount of tryptophan (An amino acid necessary for normal growth in infants and for nitrogen balance in adults.) in the foods that are eaten has only a small influence upon the amount of tryptophan that enters the brain. The most important factor determining the total amount of tryptophan that does enter the brain is the concentration of other large-molecule amino acids concurrently present in the blood. Large-molecule amino acids, among them tryptophan, compete with each other to enter "gates" between the circulating blood stream and the relatively confined brain fluids. A high-protein meal (full of meats, dairy foods, and eggs) provides many other amino acids that compete with tryptophan for entry into the brain; the end result is less tryptophan passing into the brain and a decrease in the synthesis of serotonin (a phenolic amine neurotransmitter that is a powerful vasoconstrictor and is found especially in the brain, blood serum, and gastric mucosa of mammals). Conversely, a low-protein, carbohydrate-rich diet (full of starches, vegetables, and fruits) results in the highest levels of serotonin in the brain, because fewer large-molecule amino acids are competing with tryptophan to enter the brain. For most this means less hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, and insomnia-provided they eat a vegetarian diet.

In some people anxiety, depression, and fatigue are caused by allergic reactions to foods. The most common causes of food allergies are dairy products, followed by eggs. These reactions are often subtle and difficult to recognize until the offending food has been eliminated, either by accident or by intention, and then, later, when the body is challenged with the suspect food, a recognizably adverse reaction occurs.
A serious psychological disease caused by foods in some people is schizophrenia. In hospital-based studies, some patients have been identified who react with dramatic behavioral changes to milk products and animal products. Some people with schizophrenia have actually been cured of their disease by changing their diet, (eliminating meat and dairy) and including more natural foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

I recall an Herbalist saying, “Tell me what a person eats and I shall tell you what sort of person he or she is and what type of character and behavior they hold.” No doubt, there are other factors also that determine a person's personality and behavior, but food also has a great effect on one's mind. Experience tells me that one's diet is closely connected with one's thoughts and conduct. So anyone who wishes to purify their thoughts and to elevate their character must partake in a vegetarian diet. If we eat live food, we will be helping our mind and emotions to remain in a state of peace and self-control. Pure food enables one to feel light and fresh and the mind opens out to the pure life and beauty of the world. The mind becomes undisciplined, wild, agitated or fickle when the diet is exciting, intoxicating or inebriating (intoxicant), the character constantly declines and the result is tension, depression, sorrow and disquiet.
Finally, the subject of meat consumption linked to brain disease has firmly come to the front of my research with the issue of “mad cow” disease. While scientist debate whether it is due to a mysterious prion or a virus, health-conscious advocates and nutritionist are using the scandal to point out numerous disadvantages of the typical animal-based Western diet as well as the corrupt manner in which the meat-producing industry is manufacturing its products. Specifically, it is imagined that ‘mad cow’ disease results from contaminated animal feed which has been fortified with ground up intestines, brains, spinal cords, bones, and other parts from cows, chickens and sheep – in effect turning herbivores into cannibalistic carnivores. Four with “mad cow” disease (also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy – BSE), which is being linked to a correspondingly similar brain disorder in humans known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the symptoms are attributed to microscopic holes in the brain. So how did cows get mad cow disease, known by its medical name as "bovine spongiform encephalopathy," or "BSE"? For several decades, cattle feed had included a cheap protein supplement made from the carcasses of other animals, including sheep and cows. BSE probably arose when sheep infected with scrapie or cows with BSE were turned into feed. The feed then infected other cows that ate it, and when those animals died, they were fed back to more cows, creating a rapidly escalating epidemic. It was a kind of cattle cannibalism. And for two years after BSE was known, infected cattle were still allowed into England's food supply, raising fears that people might get BSE. To assess that risk, the British government called upon the scientific community. The scientific community noticed several behaviors, which has been related to the effects of people who ate beef from cows with “mad cows” disease. Some of those behaviors were hallucination, disorderly conduct, hyperactivity rudeness, agitation, and neglectfulness. With all this information, I see why Oprah stated to millions of Americans that she will never eat another hamburger again.

A vegetarian diet produces higher levels of behavior than a diet containing meat when all types of caloric intake are equal. Vegetarians were shown in one university study to score higher on examinations than meat eaters. Vegetarians also showed less frustration and lower levels of irascibility than meat eaters. (Bulletin of the Psychosomatic Society 10:35-36, July 1977)

Vegetarianism is a cause that addresses several key major social issues: ethics, the environment, and health – mental, spiritual and emotional as well as physical. As Albert Einstein wrote: "Nothing will benefit human health or increase the chances for survival of life on earth as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind."

The correlation between people who eat meat and violence

Is Vitamin B12 the Answer to Reducing Alzheimer's Risk?

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Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care professionals to get an easyceu or two

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities





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DIGITAL JOURNAL

A Finnish study suggests a diet rich in Vitamin B12 protects your brain from Alzheimer’s disease but the trial small.
The findings of a recent study in at the Aging Research Center in Stockholm, Sweden seemingly suggest once again that vitamins can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Studies other than this one have shown mixed results, the researchers said.
"Previous studies have reported that vitamin B12 deficiency is a common condition in the elderly," said lead researcher Dr. Babak Hooshmand, a research assistant with the Aging Research Center at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
"Our results indicate that.....read all of Is Vitamin B12 the Answer to Reducing Alzheimer's Risk?

Blood Test Identifies Women At Risk From Alzheimer's

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redOrbit


Middle-aged women with high levels of a specific amino acid in their blood are twice as likely to suffer from Alzheimer's many years later, reveals a thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. This discovery this could lead to a new and simple way of determining who is at risk long before there are any signs of the illness.

The thesis is based on the Prospective Population Study of Women in Gothenburg, which was started at the end of the 1960s when almost 1,500 women between the ages of 38 and 60 were examined, asked questions about their health and had blood samples taken. Nearly all of the samples have now been analysed and compared with information on who went on to suffer from Alzheimer's and dementia much later.

"Alzheimer's disease was more than twice as common among the women with the highest levels of homocysteine than among those with the lowest, and the risk for any kind of dementia was 70 per cent higher,"

Homocysteine is an amino acid that is important for the body's metabolism. It is known that high levels of homocysteine can damage the blood vessels and increase the risk of blood clots. Previous longitudinal studies linking homocysteine and dementia had 8 years of follow-up at most. The present study is by far the longest one with follow-up time of 35 years. The study is also the first to show association between homocysteine levels in middle aged women and dementia development several decades later. The researchers do not yet know whether it is the homocysteine itself that damages the brain, or whether there is some other underlying factor that both increases levels of the homocysteine and causes dementia.

Historically elevated homocysteine levels were related to certain vitamin defficiencies (B12 anf folate). Today we know that high homocysteine levels might be present even with perfectly normal vitamin status. "These days we in our clinical practice use homocysteine analyses mainly for assessment of vitamin status. However, our results mean that we could use the very same analysis för assessment of individual's risk profile for dementia development. This opens the possibility for future preventive treatment at a very early stage", says Zylberstein.

The thesis also looks at a gene which, in some variants, appears to offer protection against dementia. This gene variant reduces the risk of dementia by no less than 65 percent when present doubled (homozygous) which occures in just one in ten Swedes and by 40 percent when present in mixed form (heterozygous) i additional four of ten Swedes.

"We have only been able to carry out a genetic analysis on just over 550 of the blood samples from the Prospective Population Study of Women, and want to undertake bigger studies before we can say for sure that the gene really does protect against dementia," says professor Lauren Lissner who supervised the thesis. "We hope to be able to perform the same analysis on more samples from the study."

Read more about blood test for Alzheimer's

Naturopathic Vascular Dementia Treatment

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eHow

Vascular dementia is a term describing difficulty in thinking, memory and behavior caused by the narrowing of blood vessels in the brain. Curing vascular dementia is unlikely no matter what treatment you use. Natuopathic or conventional treatments can slow down the progression of the dementia

Naturopathic Treatment
Naturopathic treatmentNaturopathic treatment uses the body's natural healing abilities to remedy or cure diseases. Included as part of natural medicine are mental and physical exercise, eating healthy, stress reduction and taking natural solutions. Naturopathic treatment complements traditional medicine. It treats the whole person.

Increase Antioxidant Consumption
Antioxidants in fruits and vegetablesResearchers from King's College, London found noteworthy proof that antioxidants called flavonoids, found in red wine, cocoa and many fruits and vegetables, increase blood flow to the brain thereby reducing brain cell death and improving brain function in many people with vascular dementia. The body produces antioxidants to defend itself against free radicals in our body, including our brain. Free radicals destroy or render cells useless by attacking the cell membranes, Common thinking is that the brain attacks free radicals there with the formation of plaques and tangles if we do not consume enough antioxidants to do the job. Get antioxidants from eating a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables, and supplement with vitamins A, E, C, B-complex and D. Follow the recommended dosage prescribed by your doctor.

Music Therapy
Music stimulates the brainNew research from the University of California-Davis uncovers associations between music and memory, according to the article "New Music Therapy Research" in the March 1, 2009 issue of Dementia Today. Music elicits strong responses from people with vascular dementia, calming agitated behavior often seen in people with the disease. Listening to music acts as a trigger to old memories. Even those who do not speak can sing many of the words to familiar songs. Exposing people with dementia to music at least once a day helps them retrieve memories that might otherwise be forgotten. Any activity stimulating the brain is a good natural treatment for those with vascular dementia.

Other Mind-Stimulating Activities
Sharing a photographMany activities stimulate the brain of persons with dementia. It depends what the person liked predementia. Involvement in activities slows down the progression of the dementia, elevates the mood of people with dementia, decreases agitated behavior and gives them a feeling of self-worth. Besides music and musicals, doing word puzzles, reading easy short books, looking at pictures--especially baby pictures--and playing simple card games all keep their brain active and are natural with no side effects.

Physical Exercise
Exercise is goodA new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that exercise can slow down memory loss even in those who are already having difficulty, such as those with vascular dementia. Physical exercise costs nothing and is good for both the body and the brain. Like mental exercise, physical exercise slows the decline associated with vascular dementia, elevates the mood of people with dementia, decreases agitated behavior and reduces stress. Walking, simple aerobic exercise including water aerobics, movement to music and sitting exercises all benefit persons with vascular dementia and treats the dementia naturally. Check with a doctor before starting any exercise program.

Homocysteine Reduction
Give the person with vascular dementia the...read all of Naturopathic Vascular Dementia Treatment