Mental and Neurological Disorders 119
a leading immunologist and founder and director of research at the
Neuro Immuno Therapeutics Research Foundation, Inman, South
Carolina, states that the chances of getting Alzheimer’s is ten times
higher if an individual has had fi ve consecutive annual fl u shots.^16Nutritional Supplements for Alzheimer’s Disease
The formation of amyloid plaques begins when enzymes cut the protein
strands that extend outward from the neurons into shorter strands.
These short strands of protein form clusters and are covered with a
metal framework and a sticky, waxy substance. As the by-products of
the brain cells’ metabolism, it is not surprising that everyone has some
amyloid plaques, but Alzheimer’s victims have many more.
Research shows that testosterone in men and estradiol, a form of
estrogen, in women protect the neurons from injury and reduce the
number of amyloid plaques in the brain.^17 The role of these hormones
in preventing neuron infl ammation suggests that like vitamin E, they
increase brain oxygen levels. The oxygen neutralizes the acid waste that
is responsible for infl aming the neurons. Without infl ammation,
Alzheimer’s doesn’t happen.
Because a defi ciency in estradiol and testosterone increases the
chances of Alzheimer’s, if you don’t have optimal levels of these hor-
mones you should take them—testosterone with pregnenolone if you
are a man, and estradiol with progesterone if you are a woman. Take
only the natural form of these hormones. Other protocols that are
benefi cial are thyroid supplements (preferably a natural one such as
Thytrophin) to stimulate sluggish thyroid function, CoQ-10, and vita-
min D 3. (A British study published in the Journal of Geriatric Psychology
and Neurology and that appeared online consisted of 1,766 people
divided into groups according to their vitamin D blood levels. The
lower the level of vitamin D, the more cognitively impaired they were.
Compared to the group with the highest level of vitamin D, people in
the low-end group were 2.3 times as likely to suffer from dementia.^18 )
A research study has found that the best treatment for Alzheimer’s
is lithium. A National Institutes of Health (NIH) report, cited in the
journal Nature, found in studies of mice and human cells that lithium
blocked an enzyme vital to the formation of amyloid plaques and “neu-