In a current Newsweek report by journalist Sharon Begley, new research exposes a serious flaw in the medical establishment's understanding of Alzheimer's Disease and approach to treating it. Begley describes the story of researcher Sam Gandy, who was skeptical upon first hearing about a Russian antihistamine that had been shown in research to stop the cognitive decline of Alzheimer's, with benefits lasting at least 12 months (compared with the six to nine months symptom improvements associated with current Alzheimer's drugs). Gandy quickly became convinced that there was something to the efficacy data and began studying the drug, called dimebolin. That yielded an even bigger surprise: in studies unveiled at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease, in Vienna, dimebolin was shown to increase the amount of the very molecule that conventional medical belief about Alzheimer's holds is responsible for the disease.

The molecule that has been associated with Alzheimer's Disease is called beta amyloid. Although some scientists have been questioning the belief that it causes Alzheimer's, its culpability in the genesis of this illness has continued as dogma. As a result, drug companies everywhere are focusing research on ways to prevent or destroy beta amyloid and the plaques it forms in the brain. When Gandy, of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and Gandy's colleagues conducted a series of experiments in cells and in Alzheimer's mouse models to gauge the effect of dimebolin on beta amyloid, they found that dimebolin caused a large increase in beta amyloid.

In the words of the Newsweek writer "Obviously, this means that amyloid-busting compounds that companies hope to turn into drugs might be a seriously misguided approach. And plaque-clearing drugs may be not only useless against Alzheimer's, but possibly dangerous. One emerging idea gaining a lot of credibility is that the plaques are like toxic-waste sites, binding up bad-for-the-brain molecules. Open the toxic-waste dump, and you release the brain-poisoning molecules. That makes you wonder just how bad an idea vaccines against amyloid are (and not only because in one high-profile clinical trial they caused brain inflammation in some volunteers, forcing the trial to end early). If vaccines "work," in the sense of stimulating the immune system to destroy plaques, it might be the brain equivalent of releasing all the poisons in an encased Superfund site."

Gandy reports "Long story short: [Alzheimer's mouse models] developed aging-related memory impairment that was NOT exacerbated by adding a second gene that caused much of the amyloid beta to deposit as plaques. The mice that never developed plaques lifelong were just as impaired as those with plaques." To put this research in context, Gandy stated "I would not say that our results refute the amyloid hypothesis, ...but we clearly raise some issues that must be resolved. Perhaps Dimebon (dimebolin) is such a potent neuroprotectant that doubling the amyloid concentration is still completely neutralized. Perhaps Dimebon raises amyloid acutely, but lowers it chronically. Maybe Dimebon does good by flushing amyloid beta out of the neuron." Or maybe targeting amyloid beta is a seriously wrong approach.

This conondrum is common in medical research, where scientists jump to quick conclusions and ignore the maxim that correlation does not equal causation. To understand how a system functions you have to view and understand the activity of the entire system. Most research only examines a few components of a system, imagining them to be isolated from other variables and influences. In the case of the beta amyloid plaques, it is quite possible that the plaques are places where the body seeks to isolate and quarantine hazardous chemicals. In some people there is minimal presence of the toxin buildup and thus no need for the amyloid plaques. In others, there may be a heavy or medium level of toxin buildup but a deficiency in the body's ability to create these plaques. In a third category there could be people with a lot of toxins built up and an average level of beta amyloid activity that can't keep up with the amount of toxins being built up. Thus, both of the later categories would present a great risk for the development of cognitive decline and dementia diagnosed as Alzheimer's disease.

To understand this more clearly researchers will need to look at natural Alzheimer's prevention aids such as antioxidants like turmeric and flavonoid compounds. If these are associated with a decrease in the amyloid plaque then it would seem likely that they are helping the body detoxify chemicals that are so problematic that the body sends the beta amyloids to encase the toxins and limit the damage they might do. This current lack of understanding about the beta amyloid plaque is similar to the ongoing misconception about cholesterol and heart disease. Cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, it is actually the body's attempt to treat the buildup of other compounds that do clog the arteries. Most of the body's cholesterol is created in the liver and is not from dietary sources - the body has an intelligent reason for its cholesterol production. Researchers have found that cow's milk protein and refined sugar are key in causing cholesterol levels to elevate, and when people remove these from their diet cholesterol lowers. It is the refined sugar and casein (milk protein) along with other disruptive compounds such as hydrogenated and fried oils that are contributing to cardiovascular illness, as lowering cholesterol with drugs is not reducing cardiovascular illness significantly even though physicians are prescribing statin drugs to artificially lower cholesterol in millions of patients.

Any drugs that claim to clear plaques in Alzheimer's patients will likely be ineffective in preventing the progression of the illness, while natural foods and supplements that help the brain and body detoxify have already been correlated with improved functioning - plaques might be reduced if the toxins they encase are cleared away, although they might also rise temporarily if they are needed to neutralize toxins in the brain until they can be broken down and cleared in a safe manner. This may become clearer as further research is conducted looking at Alzheimer's in a more holistic way.

Jed Shlackman, LMHC, C.Ht. is a counselor, holistic therapist, and energy healer in Miami FL.
Jed's website is http://www.phinsights.com

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