How to Reverse Cognitive Decline in early Alzheimer’s Disease

A guest article by Dr. Rammohan Rao PhD, CAS, Research Associate Professor at The Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, CA. 

Help with symptoms of Alzheimers disease

An infection-fighting protein that helped our human ancestors is now a major genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease, the sixth leading cause of death in 21st century America. The protein, called ApoE4, helped protect the cavemen from their pathogen-laden environment. However, we now live about twice as long as our distant ancestors, and that same protein promotes Alzheimer’s disease later in our lives.

Today, 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease. Even though our understanding of what causes Alzheimer’s is better than ever before, we are still so far from a cure. Alzheimer’s disease is influenced by many factors including vascular health, inflammation, hormone levels, lifestyle, diet, toxins and infections – meaning that it is highly unlikely that there will ever be a single drug to treat it. Without a cure or a therapy to slow its progress, Alzheimer’s will afflict 16 million Americans and cost $1 trillion by 2050.

The good news is that even without an effective Alzheimer’s drug therapy, people with early Alzheimer’s disease or those at risk can take basic preventive measures that will successfully delay or reverse the cognitive decline and memory loss associated with the disease.