A former employee from the Alzheimer’s Association just let me in on a dirty little secret.
As they are ramping up their propaganda machine again, they’re pushing women to “take the purple pledge” and “join the movement.”
However as they claim to be raising money for a cure with big showy fundraisers, it’s all going to Big Pharma’s drug research!
When she came to work for me, she told me how unbelievable it was. In no way, do they have women fighting this disease in mind.
And as a woman, the deck is already stacked against you when it comes to your brain. Here’s what I mean…
Today, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia. But this cruel disease hits women much harder than men. In fact, two-thirds of Alzheimer’s patients are women. But there’s even worse news for women…
A project called the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative looked at the cognitive abilities of about 400 men and women. Over the course of eight years, the researchers found that the women declined in memory and brain function twice as fast as men.1
As this disease attacks your brain, it steals your memories and confuses your thinking. And conventional medicine has no answer. Big Pharma drugs have been an epic fail. The solution so far is to isolate and hide women away in locked-down “memory units.”
It doesn’t have to happen to you…
I believe in the brain’s power to heal itself if you give it the proper nutrients. You can rediscover the clear thinking and memory agility of your youth. My practice is full of vintage women who don’t miss a thing. They’re quick-witted, with keen memories and focus.
One of their secrets is a simple nutrient that can help prevent and even reverse dementia and AD. I’m talking about the omega-3 fat called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
DHA is the main structural fat in your brain tissue. It’s involved in the development and the function of your central nervous system and the synapses in your brain.
I’ve known for many years that a diet rich in omega-3 fats like DHA and its cousin EPA cuts your risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. But now brand-new research helps explain why…
DHA acts like a sentinel in the brain. As soon as it detects oxidative stress or other damage, it promptly produces a compound called neuroprotectin D1 (NDP1). It’s one of the first defenses your body activates when brain cells are threatened.2
Studies show NDP1 lowers inflammation in the hippocampus. That’s a seahorse-shaped area deep inside your brain. It’s called the “seat of memory.” In other words, NDP1 helps stop the damage that eats away at your memory function.
NDP1 also activates pro-survival genes in brain cells. At the same time, it suppresses pro-death genes.3
Not surprisingly, NDP1 levels are low in the hippocampus of patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. But you can turn that around by getting more DHA…
Animal studies show DHA supplements can restore brain cell growth and memory in mice with AD.4 Mice given DHA were able to complete a maze test 15% faster. Plus, the mistakes they made in the maze were massively reduced.
It works in people too. A Tufts University study showed that people with high levels of DHA have a 47% lower risk of memory and brain concerns.5
Foods rich in DHA include wild-caught salmon and small, cold-water fish like herring, pollock, mackerel, lake trout, anchovies and sardines. Other good sources are grass-fed beef, pastured poultry and eggs, avocados, olives, walnuts and olive oil.
But I’ve found over the years that most people don’t get enough DHA from their food alone. To be sure you’re getting enough, you have to supplement.
Now, most natural health gurus recommend fish oil to get your DHA. But the fish oil on the market today comes from polluted waters. Heavy metals like mercury contaminate our oceans. So do chemicals like PCBs. These toxins accumulate in the fatty flesh of fish. When you eat those fish, or the oils pressed from them, you ingest high levels of contaminants.
And fish oil has another enormous drawback — it doesn’t contain enough DHA. Fortunately, there’s a better choice…
Throw Away Your Fish Oil to Activate Your Brain’s First Responders
I advise my patients to get their DHA from krill and calamari oil. They’re more concentrated than regular fish oil. And your body absorbs them better.
- Use this unique calamari oil. Calamari, or squid, has one of the highest concentrations of DHA of any food. But even if you eat calamari you’re not getting very high concentrations of oil.
That’s why I recommend supplementing with squid oil. But make sure your calamari oil comes from squid that live off the coast of South America in the pure waters of the South Pacific (illex argentinus). After the oil is distilled, it’s more than 65% DHA6 — the highest concentration of DHA I’ve found yet.
- And combine it with krill oil. Squid oil gets even better when it’s combined with krill oil. The DHA in krill oil can penetrate into nearly every cell in your body. A study published in the journal Nutrition Research compared fish oil, krill oil and olive oil to see which one’s omega-3s would be better absorbed..
They randomly assigned 76 people to get one of the three, and then looked at the results after four weeks. The people taking olive oil had a 2.9% increase in omega-3. The people taking krill oil had their omega-3s skyrocket by 178%.7
Aim to get at least 600 mg of DHA and 400 mg of its cousin EPA every day. And make sure you take them with meals so these omega-3 fats can be digested properly.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD, CNS
1.Park A. “Women at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease than men.” Time. March 19, 2014.
2.Bazan NG, et al. “Docosahexaenoic acid and its derivative neuroprotectin D1 display neuroprotective properties in the retina, brain and central nervous system.” Nestle Nutr Inst Workshop Ser. 2013;77:121-131.
3. Asatryan A and Bazan N. “Molecular mechanisms of signaling via the docosanoid neuroprotectin D1 for cellular homeostasis and neuroprotection.” J Biol Chem. 2017;292(30):12390-12397.
4. Fiol-deRoque MA, et al. “Cognitive recovery and restoration of cell proliferation in the dentate gyrus in the 5XFAD transgenic mice model of Alzheimer’s disease following 2-hydroxy-DHA treatment.” Biogerontology. 2013;14(6):763–775.
5. Przybelski RJ and Binkley NC. “Is vitamin D important for preserving cognition? A positive correlation of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration with cognitive function.” Arch Biochem Biophys. 2007;460(2):202-205.
6. Hwang LS and Liang JH. “Fractionation of urea-pretreated squid visceral oil ethyl esters.” J Am Oil Chem Soc. 2001;78(5):473-476.
7. Maki KC, et al. “Krill oil supplementation increases plasma concentrations of eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids in overweight and obese men and women.” Nutr Res. 2009;29(9):609-615.