Could Alzheimer's Disease Have An Iatrogenic Etiology?

[tex]

Hi All,

In another thread, Karen and I were discussing the part that gluten-sensitivity might play in the development of Alzheimer's disease, peripheral neuropathy, ataxia, etc. I didn't want to lose track of the line of thought that one of the references that I cited raises, so I decided to start a new topic about it. The article that I'm referring to can be found at the link below. This is a new article, less than a year old.

http://people.csail.mit.edu/seneff/EJIM_PUBLISHED.pdf

Note that the final "Learning point" listed at the end of the article is:

Simple dietary modification, towards fewer highly-processed carbohydrates and relatively more fats and cholesterol, is likely a protective measure against Alzheimer's disease.

That's a mighty profound observation, since it's in direct opposition to what government guidelines, and conventional medicine, dictates for good health. Is it possible that the recent "epidemic" in Alzheimer's disease might be the result of an iatrogenic effect of the efforts of the government and the medical community over most of the past half-century, to persuade people to eat more carbs, and fewer fats, combined with the aggressive promotion of the use of statins, during the past couple of decades? The combined effect now appears to be a recipe for the development of Alzheimer's disease.

What a bummer. The sad part is, it's not likely that those responsible for this grave error in judgment will ever even admit their mistake. More likely, they'll continue to make the same mistake for at least a few more decades.

Tex

[tex]

A century ago, (before politicians became involved), USDA did a much better job. In their first nutritional guideline booklet, (a USDA Farmer’s Bulletin), written by Wilbur Olin Atwater, Ph.D., an agricultural chemist, the importance of a cheap and efficient diet was stressed. One that included more proteins, beans, and vegetables, and limited amounts of fat, sugar and other starchy carbohydrates. Revised guidelines over the years, weren't too bad, either, until the late 1960's, when Senator George McGovern became involved. It appears that we can blame Senator McGovern for drastically changing the course of American health. In an article titled The Soft Science of Dietary Fat, Gary Taubes described the sequence of events:

"It was Senator George McGovern's bipartisan, nonlegislative Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs--and, to be precise, a handful of McGovern's staff members--that almost single-handedly changed nutritional policy in this country and initiated the process of turning the dietary fat hypothesis into dogma."

In January 1977, after listening to the testimony of Ancel Keys and other doctors and scientists intent on promoting the unsupported Dietary Fat-Heart hypothesis, the Committee published the "Dietary Goals for the United States" recommending that all Americans reduce their fat, saturated fat and cholesterol consumption, and increase their carbohydrate consumption to 55-60% of daily calories.

Taubes then went on to detail the sad sequence of events that describes how such unscientific data could be promoted as valid information:

Then resident wordsmith Nick Mottern, a former labor reporter for The Providence Journal, was assigned the task of researching and writing the first "Dietary Goals for the United States." Mottern, who had no scientific background and no experience writing about science, nutrition, or health, believed his Dietary Goals would launch a "revolution in diet and agriculture in this country." He avoided the scientific and medical controversy by relying almost exclusively on Harvard School of Public Health nutritionist Mark Hegsted for input on dietary fat. Hegsted had studied fat and cholesterol metabolism in the early 1960s, and he believed unconditionally in the benefits of restricting fat intake.

So in a nutshell, that's how the American public was scammed, by an unmitigated hoax. And presumably, the rest of the world soon followed, on this path to guaranteed health decay. There was nothing scientific about it, and yet it was accepted, and promoted as fact, until now, decades later, most people never think to question it. What a ripoff! I'm beginning to wonder if politicians can be trusted to look out for our best interests.

http://www.healthy-eating-politics.com/ ... ramid.html

Tex

[Gloria]

Tex,

This is a fascinating article ( http://people.csail.mit.edu/seneff/EJIM_PUBLISHED.pdf ) and I was considering bring it to my PCP when I discuss resuming Simvastatin with him.

However, I'm curious about the background of the authors:

Stephanie Seneff a, Glyn Wainwright b, Luca Mascitelli c,*

a Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT Cambridge, MA, USA
b Independent Reader of Research, Leeds, United Kingdom
c Comando Brigata alpina “Julia”, Medical Service, 8 Via S. Agostino, Udine 33100, Italy

None of them appear to be MDs. I have a feeling that my PCP will not be as interested in the study if they are not MDs, even though the article is being published in the European Journal of Internal Medicine.

Gloria

[tex]

Gloria,

You may be right, (about professional snobbery among MDs), but the fact that Stephanie Seneff holds a PhD in electrical engineering from MIT, and she's a senior research scientist in the Computer Science and Artficial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, means more to me than an MD degree. Call me prejudiced, but IMO, virtually anyone with a PhD in electrical engineering is more qualified to do scientific research than most researchers who hold an MD degree. (So engineering/medical snobbery works both ways, apparently). The difference, (IMO), is that MDs make far too many invalid assumptions in their research. EEs are far less likely to pull a stunt like that, because they're much more highly disciplined, and not nearly as likely to make a shaky assumption that could taint the results. I'm not sure that some MDs even know the meaning of the word "discipline", especially in a scientific sense. I'll bet that you know what it means, since you're an mathematician, so I think you know what I'm trying to say.

Another thing - EEs with PhDs understand mathematics at a graduate school level, or better. From many of the research reports I've seen that were written by MDs, they would be lucky to pass a high school math exam.

I'm not familiar with the other two, and I didn't bother to look them up, because I'm pretty sure that Dr. Seneff provided most of the brainpower behind that research.

[Gloria]

Well, yes, there are people who think that people with MDs walk on water, but I'm not one of them. I suspect that after reading about our collective experiences here, most of us are not in awe of MDs. They need to earn our respect, just as anyone else does.

From many of the research reports I've seem written by MDs, they would be lucky to pass a high school math exam.

When I told my PCP that I was a retired math teacher, he told me that math wasn't one of his best subjects. My endodontist also told me that he wasn't good in math. I don't think a logical, methodical style of thinking is required in order to be a doctor. That doesn't mean that some of them are not logical thinkers, but it's probably not a prerequisite. I'm trying not to offend Polly here.

Gloria

[tex]

Well, Polly is not your average, run-of-the-mill-doctor. She's open-minded, realistic, and she knows how to think logically. She's also probably the only doctor whose opinion I would trust without having to think twice about it, because she has certain qualities that many doctors don't seem to have - she's real, and she's human.

Tex

[Polly]

Why, thanks so much for the kind words, Tex and Gloria. You have heard me rant and rave about some of my medical colleagues, so I know you know I agree with you - I think what bugs me the most are the ones who are just not open to new ideas, new paradigms. (BTW, I've always loved math, so maybe that is in my favor - LOL. My highest SAT score was on the advanced math exam).

This topic is indeed fascinating - haven't had time yet to fully read and digest it but will return later today to do so. I am wondering about dementia in general. My mom suffered from dementia (non-Alzheimer's) for the last 10 years of her life. I believe she had undiagnosed gluten sensitivity based upon her behaviors (mad dashes to the bathroom, sticking close to home, constant complaints of stomach discomfort for which she drank large amounts of Alka Seltzer). Not only that, but she existed primarily on carbs. We called her the "sandwich queen" - she lived on them. White bread of course. With Sara Lee poundcake for dessert.

Love,

Polly

[tex]

Polly,

Here's a possible clue - apparently dementia caused by gluten-sensitivity is rarely the only symptom. Dr. Hadjivassiliou says this about it:

Isolated dementia is uncommon and most cases tend to have additional neurological features (for example, ataxia or neuropathy).

Of course ataxia is a rather common symptom with advancing age, so one wouldn't expect to see isolated dementia, anyway, IMO.

http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/72/5/560.full

Here's an abstract of a study titled Celiac disease, brain atrophy, and dementia.

We report 5 patients who developed dementia before age 60 and were subsequently found to have celiac disease (CD). Intellectual deterioration ranged from moderate to severe, and diffuse cerebral or cerebellar atrophy was found on brain CT. Diagnosis of CD was confirmed by findings of subtotal villous atrophy in jejunal biopsy specimens and positive serum reticulin and gliadin antibodies. Conspicuously, gastrointestinal symptoms were mild. The gluten-free diet failed to improve the neurologic disability except in 1 patient. CD is a multisystem disorder and may play a role in some cases of presenile dementia. Although the pathogenetic mechanisms are obscure, immunologic mechanisms are implicated.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2006004

My brain shows some white-matter lesions on an MRI, (and some atrophy, of course). Here's a quote from a full article titled: Brain White-Matter Lesions in Celiac Disease: A Prospective Study of 75 Diet-Treated Patients

Conclusions. Focal white-matter lesions in the brain may represent an extraintestinal manifestation of CD. They may be ischemic in origin as a result of a vasculitis or caused by inflammatory demyelination. They seem to be more typical of pediatric CD than cerebral calcifications. Their prognostic value is unclear and needs to be elucidated in additional studies. CD should be suggested as a differential diagnosis in children with unclear white-matter lesions even without intestinal symptoms.

http://www.pediatricsdigest.mobi/content/108/2/e21.full

Here's a quote from an abstract of an article titled: Regional cerebral hypoperfusion in patients with celiac disease. This appears to have some rather profound implications, doesn't it? IOW, gluten appears to limit blood flow to areas of the brain. No wonder it can cause brain damage.

RESULTS: Of the 15 untreated celiac patients, 11 (73%) had at least one hypoperfused brain region, compared with only 1 (7%) of the 15 celiac patients on a gluten-free diet and none of the controls (P = 0.01). Cerebral perfusion was significantly lower (P <0.05) in untreated celiac patients, compared with healthy controls, in 7 of 26 brain regions. No significant differences in cerebral perfusion were found between celiac patients on a gluten-free diet and healthy controls.

CONCLUSION: There is evidence of regional cerebral blood flow alteration in untreated celiac patients.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14984816

Love,
Tex

[sarkin]

I'm a real Stephanie Seneff fan - this is great.

I would love to know whether I have already had micro-strokes, or now have white-matter lesions. But I think I have enough questions for my doctor on this next visit

Looking forward to my grain-free, paleo-inspired dinner, and thanks for this article, all the links and the whole discussion,

Love,
Sara

[Polly]

Tex,

Thanks so much for those additional references. My mom had "multi-infarct" dementia (not Alzheimer's), which sounds exactly like what you have cited in your references. She also had gait abnormalities at the time of her diagnosis - primarily a "shuffling" gait, which can be caused by small brain infarcts. And balance problems too. I think I read somewhere that gait abnormalities are more common in her form of dementia than in Alzheimer's.

Now I am sitting here wondering how many dementia patients are, in fact, suffering the effects of years of untreated gluten sensitivity. It boggles the mind to think about this. Perhaps dementia units should go GF, although I suppose the damage has already been done. Sigh.

Are others here aware of dementia in their families, I wonder? I know Ant has said that his mom suffers from it.

Love,

Polly

[Zizzle]

My maternal grandfather died of Alzheimer's, and my 65 year old mother recently had 2 bouts of sub-acute subdural hematomas requiring surgery. There was no fall or injury that caused the brain bleeds, just suspected weakeneing and stretching of the arteries surrounding the brain and some "brain atrophy" . She also had chronic gastritis, ulcers and h.pylori diagnosed shortly thereafter. Upper endoscopy revealed marsh 1 changes in her duodenum (Lymphocyte infiltration), but they were attributed to the h.pylori, not possible celiac.

She eats a low gluten diet in Guatemala, but still struggles with high cholesterol and anxiety. I sent her the "Wheat Belly" podcast and she and my dad decided to go completely gluten free for a while!!

I hope they report some noticeable changes.

[tex]

It appears that many/most of my relatives who were able to survive into their eighth decade or beyond, had serious dementia problems, especially on my father's side.

Love,
Tex

[sarkin]

Dementia on both sides here - though my maternal grandfather (who I believe passed on my 0201 gene) died of a stroke, I believe in his late 60s. Both grandmothers were incapacitated by dementia (both lived past 90 - my paternal grandmother certainly had hypertension, probably under-treated, and my mother's mother had such decimation of short-term memory, the doc at the nursing home was sure she must have been a heavy drinker - she was actually a near-teetotaller). My mother certainly had at least 'mild-moderate cognitive impairment' - though her physical frailty was so much more dramatic.

My father was probably a little more 'forgetful' than we had caught up to recognize, but lived independently, and was pretty good at it. I wonder whether he would have lost more of his cognitive powers, had he survived his fatal reaction to Crestor. He suffered a long time from depression, but not so much in the last few years of his life.

This is very thought-provoking - I have not yet got my thoughts in order, but hope I can put my finger on the nagging notion this has me stewing about, soon.

Love,
Sara