Nutrition, Part 2 “Zinc, Alzheimers & Diet” by Dr. Donaldson
Recently, I was at an age management conference and one of my more brilliant colleagues from medical school was talking about Alzheimers and zinc deficiency as being a possible probable cause. Can you imagine, curing Alzheimers with zinc? The theory he proposed made a lot of sense. He said one of the enzymes that needs zinc in order to be able to perform its function breaks down beta-amyloid. Build up of beta-amyloid in the brain is thought to be the cause of Alzheimers. So if a person is zinc deficient and can’t break down the beta-amyloid in the brain, a zinc deficient person should get Alzheimers. Rather than developing a drug that has side effects and does not treat the cause, should we not be spending money looking at our nutrition as a probable cause and treatment of Alheimers.
Interestingly I am currently working with a new diet on the market called ProLon, a Fasting Mimicking and Enhancing Diet. The diet is done over 5 days and you are supposed to repeat it every month for one year. You are given all the food you need for those 5 days. The food is especially and uniquely prepared to give you a certain percent of each macronutrient, protein, fat, and carbohydrate every day. After the 5 days, you go back to your normal diet. The clinical studies with this diet are voluminous. The most interesting one is yet to be released but the proposal for the study was to be able to increase cognitive functioning in Alzheimer patients by doing this Fasting Mimicking and Enhancing Diet. The early reports are those patients are increasing cognitive functioning. This intrigues me even more. Is the key to most medical illnesses then a lack of proper nutrition. Were Hippocrates and Socrates correct as they proclaimed medicine was our food and food was our medicine?
The other intriguing piece of scientific knowledge is that of fasting. People are catching on to the fact that fasting is good for you, and now people are fasting for 12 to 18 hours a day. In my opinion, that helps to cut down on the mindless calories consumed but does not mimic a true fast. When doing a true fast or the ProLon Fasting Mimicking and Enhancing Diet, after 3 days your good cells make a protective coating around them that makes them stronger. The bad cells can’t make a protective coating so they get flushed away. The result of this plus the body using ketones for energy, is a huge energy jolt for the body with augmented mental clarity. On the 5th day of the ProLon Fasting Mimicking and Enhancing Diet, I could have done 2 hot yoga classes in a row. I felt awesome! I would encourage everyone to try it!
Interested in trying the ProLon Fasting Mimicking and Enhancing Diet, call our office for a consultation (412) 767-9890 get started today!