ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE - DEMENTIA
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE, DEMENTIA
Note: The following information is not from the book "The Miracle of MSM" but from published medical and biochemical articles and studies. It is meant to show that the MSM sulfur nutritional supplement may help prevent these diseases and help already affected sufferers.
Some six million people in the U.S. and many more worldwide suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), which gradually attacks areas of the brain needed for memory, reasoning, communication, and daily tasks.
According to the Alzheimer's Association, 1 in 3 seniors die of Alzheimer's or another dementia, noting the disease kills more than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined.
Just as for cancer, the US has a high number of cases per capita and is the eighth country in the world for the highest numbers.
As a mental disease, AD is the most common type of dementia. Dementia is a syndrome and there are many types of dementia that affect various parts of the brain. Dementia is the seventh cause of death and Alzheimer’s disease contributes to 60-70% of cases.
AD is a progressive loss of mental ability and function often accompanied by personality changes and emotional instability. It affects both men (+/- 40%) and women (+/- 60%) and usually starts between ages fifty and seventy often with memory lapses and changes in behavior.
It can also include symptoms of confusion, restlessness, inability to plan and conduct activities and sometimes hallucinations, etc. The cause is unknown, but amyloid plaques are commonly found in the brain tissue of affected patients. These plaques are of inflammatory characteristics at the cell level as reported in (E) below.
1. (A) However, more people than before are diagnosed with dementia at a younger age, even as early as in their thirties. See:
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/news/2023-03-27/new-campaign-reveals-how-dementia-puts-ultimate-vow-sickness-and-health-test
2. (B) According to WHO’s statistics, the countries with the least number of cases have a better diet. These statistics corroborate that changes in dietary behaviors could help this disease as concluded by Dr. Mamo, in (E1) below. It may also be due to lack of sulfur rich food diet per the books and peer reviewed studies (C), (D), (E), and (F) below.
PUBLISHED BOOKS AND PEER REVIEWED STUDIES POINT TO:
3. MENTAL DISEASES ARE ASSOCIATED WITH LACK OF SULFUR OR METHIONINE, A NEEDED SULFUR AMINO ACID.
(C) In his book Mental and Elemental Nutrients “A Physician’s Guide to Nutrition and Health,” published in 1976, Carl Pfeiffer, Ph.D., M.D., mentioned two particularly important statements along with others:
a.- Sulfur is the forgotten essential element.
b.- It is too bad that the use of supplements for mental health has not been supported by mainstream medicine.
One must remember that these two statements were given a few years before Dr. Jacob, M.D., the first physician who experimented with MSM, started to treat patients for many health disorders with the MSM sulfur Because of MSM’s clinical proven help with autoimmune diseases, if I knew someone with this health condition, I would recommend them to try the MSM sulfur nutritional supplement and use an MSM topical application to the site affected to see if it may help. supplement. And it is only after many years of medical experimentation that Dr. Jacob realized all the possible therapeutic benefits of MSM as a sulfur nutritional supplement.
(D) In a 1995 analysis of nutritional and metabolic data by Jon B. Pangborn, Ph.D., a well-known nutritional biochemist found that the metabolism of methionine was the "most frequently impaired or disordered amino acid" among 1,500 individuals with food and chemical intolerances, degenerative diseases, neuromuscular dysfunction, and mental diseases.
As we already saw in WHAT IS MSM AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN OUR LIFE, scientific studies have shown that a small amount of MSM is converted into methionine in the body.
4. TOXIC FAT-PROTEIN COMPLEXES CAUSE NEURO VASCULAR INFLAMMATION, BRAIN CELL DEATH, AND IS THE MAIN CAUSE OF MENTAL DISEASES.
(E) Many Alcohol Use Disorder patients end up with Alzheimer's disease, many studies and research tend to study the relationship between Alzheimer’s disease and alcohol consumption. Recent research has shown that moderate drinking may reduce one’s chance of developing Alzheimer’s, while regular heavy drinking can increase your chances of developing Alzheimer’s by three hundred percent.
My Note: It comes back to everything in moderation should not hurt your body.
This breakthrough discovery was reported in a peer-reviewed study published in the journal PLOS Biology, on September 14, 2021, by the Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute at Curtin University in Perth, Australia.
See study here: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001358
The lead study author, Dr. John Mamo, Ph.D. says that this study shows that exaggerated abundance in blood of potentially toxic fat-protein complexes can damage microscopic brain blood vessels called capillaries and, thereafter, leak into the brain, causing neuro vascular inflammation and brain cell death.
(E1) Changes in dietary behaviors and certain medications could potentially reduce blood concentration of these toxic fat-protein complexes, subsequently reducing the risk for Alzheimer’s or slowing down the disease progression,” Dr. Mamo concluded.
(F) By studying the brain of people with Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, scientists from the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), the University of Washington (UM), and the Allen Institute for Brain Science (AIBS) have uncovered a new cause affecting the brain’s white matter of these people.
A new August 21, 2023, study published in Annals of Neurology by OHSU, UW and the AIBS scientists have uncovered those microglia, a type of cells making 10-15% of the brain acting as the first and main form of immune defense in the brain in fighting inflammation were themselves dying in large numbers.
This means that microglia the body’s natural immune defense against inflammation in the brain is not able to do its job.
See study here: https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.26770
IMPORTANCE OF EXERCISE BOTH FOR THE BODY AND THE BRAIN:
(G) A study presented on July 2, 2022, at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in San Diego, California shows that, just four days a week of regular stretching and motion exercises can help older people with cognitive decline, the precursor of Alzheimer's disease, and stop the progress of their cognitive decline.
The study was done at Wake Forest University School of Medicine with three hundred sedentary older adults with mild cognitive impairment. Half did aerobic exercises, and the rest stretching-and-balance moves that only modestly raised their heart rate. After a year, cognitive testing showed overall neither group had worsened.
Also noted by the study's author that having a social group, or a network of support was crucial for the elder participants.
MY NOTE: The social group or network of support provide people exercise for the brain. See EXERCISE.
In another study published on August 23, 2023, consisting of data from 282,421 people ages 40 to 69 in the U.K. Biobank who enrolled between 2006 and 2010. Participants were followed for an average of seven years. Approximately 1.1% of participants developed dementia during the study period.
Researchers found that participants who took part in adult education classes reduced their risk of Dementia.
See this second study here:
Per Maria Carrillo, Ph.D., the chief scientist at the Alzheimer's Association, research in the past has indicated that daily physical activity has helped reduce inflammation in the brain and increase the amount of blood flowing to it.
As you may remember, in his more than thirty years of medical clinical experience using MSM, Dr. Jacob has observed that MSM reduces inflammation and increases blood flow. Refresh here "MSM'S KNOWN BENEFITS".
The blood’s plasma contains a small amount of MSM (sulfur), so the brain must contain a significant amount of sulfur in its 100,000 miles of blood vessels and thirty-four to fifty ounces of blood going through the brain every minute. These numbers come from:
Dr. Jacob’s and other scientists’ observations have demonstrated that the brain contains a small amount of MSM. This is why it is said that MSM has helped relieve the effects of Alzheimer’s for some of these disease sufferers. Like other mineral deficiency in the human body, these sufferers are eating a diet deficient in sulfur rich food which provides us with our needed MSM.
Because of MSM's anti-inflammation property and its ability to increase blood flow, there is nothing to lose by trying and observing if the increase in blood flow, in oxygen, in MSM, and in sulfur might remove the plaques in the brain of these sufferers and even prevent their occurrence for people without any disease symptoms. Just like it has been observed in many peer reviewed studies with MSM for cancer.
As we see in "SULFUR", sulfur is a major ingredient of important amino acids—the building blocks of proteins. Proteins are the primary constituents of enzymes, hormones, antibodies, and the countless biochemical activities continually going on in the body. Proteins also provide the structural raw material of muscles, bones, hair, teeth, red blood cells, brain, skin, and the other organs of the body. If you do not get enough protein, you suffer all over. In children, a sulfur deficiency retards growth. In adults, it shows up as chronic fatigue, mental depression, weakness, poor resistance to infection, and slow healing from wounds or disease.
There is a high possibility that our diet lack of sulfur affects the brain tissue allowing the formation of these plaques in the brain.
(H) GARLIC AND ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE:
There are many studies on the benefits of garlic, one of the herbs that contain a substantial amount of sulfur. Like with MSM, studies have shown that garlic can help protect against several types of cancer, including stomach, colon, and ovarian cancer.
Just like MSM, garlic has potent antibiotic properties, may improve brain function, and may improve athletic performance by increasing blood flow and reducing inflammation in athletes.
(I) A recent study has found that garlic may help prevent Alzheimer’s and dementia. The study looked at the effect of a compound found in garlic called diallyl sulfide (DAS), a sulfur compound used in some medical drugs. The researchers found that diallyl sulfide was able to prevent the formation of the amyloid plaques in the brain, which are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. See My Notes below.
Diallyl sulfide is insoluble in water and has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
(J) However, DAS has shown appreciable allergic reactions and toxicity that can also affect normal cells. Thus, their use in the prevention and treatment of cancer is limited. DAS is a selective inhibitor of cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1), which is known to metabolize many xenobiotics including alcohol and analgesic drugs in the liver.
This study analyzing the benefits of using DAS in Novel Therapeutic Interventions in Alcohol, Drugs, and Disease Mediated Cellular Toxicity show it has dangerous side effects.
See study here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26264202/
Portion of the study's abstract reads as follow:
CYP2E1-mediated alcohol/drug metabolism produces reactive oxygen species and reactive metabolites, which damage DNA, protein, and lipid membranes, subsequently causing liver damage.
My Notes:
1. DAS is an organosulfur compound but just like sulfites, it creates damaging adverse body reactions while MSM, which is already a constituent of our body does not.2. If the study (G) had used MSM instead of DAS, would the results have been similar? Based on MSM’s methionine metabolic observed properties, there is a high possibility it would have been conclusively more beneficial in a fully nontoxic natural process without any side effects.3. What is most important here to understand is the fact that garlic contains a relatively large amount of sulfur compared to other food, but this amount of sulfur is still minuscule compared to what MSM provides.
(K) ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE APPROVED DRUGS:
The FDA has approved three different Alzheimer’s drugs in the last three years that cost between $26,000 to $60,000 a year.
The first one, aduhelm, approved in 2021, came short of slowing the progress of the disease and had a death in the first six months and a large number of patients suffering brain swelling and brain bleeding.
The second one, lecanemab Lequembi, approved in 2023, has also been plagued with many deaths by brain hemorrhage. It is still considered experimental by many medical experts and insurers.
The third one, donanemab, approved in 2023, had 1.6% deaths in the clinical study. A research note by SVB Securities analyst David Risinger was headlined: "Donanemab Succeeds, But Safety Remains a Concern".
The most important factors to consider are the fact that all approved Alzheimer's medications have been tested on less than two thousand patients and have extremely dangerous side effects of brain swelling and brain bleeding. And they come with possible detrimental interactions between the patients different other drugs.
IN SUMMARY, WE SAW ABOVE THAT:
In the US, approximately six million people are suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), it affects women +/- 60% and men +/- 40%, and one in three seniors die of AD or another dementia.
(A) More younger people are diagnosed with dementia than in previous decades, even as early as in their thirties.
(B) WHO’s statistics show that a better diet seems to help reduce the number of cases per capita of the different world countries.
(C) and (D) Over the years, we saw that many nutritional experts have mentioned that the lack of elemental sulfur nutritional supplements and methionine in their diet affect mental disease sufferers. Two of them mentioned in (C) in 1976, and (D) in 1995 above.
(E) AD is the result of toxic fat-protein complexes that cause neuro vascular inflammation and brain cell death.
(F) Microglia, 10–15% of the brain cells acting as the first and main form of immune defense in the brain to fight inflammation are overwhelmed, cannot perform their job, and die.
(G) Exercise of the body and the brain increase blood flow and by doing so helps reduce inflammation in the brain.
(H) Many studies show that garlic, an herb containing a substantial amount of sulfur, can help protect against various types of cancer just like MSM.
(I) Diallyl Sulfide, one of garlic’s compound was able to prevent the formation of the amyloid plaques in the brain and by so, prevent AD.
(J) However, Diallyl Sulfide has dangerous side effects and should not be used.
(K) The three different FDA approved Alzheimer’s drugs in the last three years cost between $26,000 to $60,000 a year. And all these drugs have extremely dangerous side effects of brain swelling, brain bleeding, and they may interact with patients different other drugs.
In (F), we saw that the brain lost microglia, its natural means of defense, and there is a high possibility that an improvement in diet may help, as mentioned above in (B), (C), (D1), and (H).
It all comes back to the first three paragraphs of this website, knowledge. People must do their own research to help themselves and their elders, not just blindly accept their physicians opinion that is often based only on the physician’s knowledge of drugs.
One must understand that the discovery of MSM in the human body happened only some sixty years ago. And MSM’s clinical use as a natural source of sulfur nutritional supplement started only forty some years ago and it has been used by only a few medical physicians around the world.
Mostly all MSM clinical experience has been done only in Dr. Jacob’s research and medical clinic for thirty some years until he retired in his eighties in the late 2000's.
The importance of sulfur deficiency in our diet has not even been accepted yet in mainstream medicine, forty-seven years after Dr. Pfeiffer’s statement (C). And the study of the importance of sulfur as a nutritional supplement has never been made so that the U.S. Academy of Sciences' Food and Nutrition Board would establish a recommended daily amount for good health.
The indisputable MSM auto normalizing effects at the cell level in other health disorders as reported in many different cancer studies are certainly a reassuring factor and most importantly is the fact that MSM does not interact with any medicine and has very mild side effects. One can take MSM as a complement to any existing treatment without fear.
Dr. Jacob discovered that many disorders involving the brain, the central nervous system, the immune system, and the allergic reactions of some people are well mitigated with MSM.
One important consideration is the fact that the person is taking a natural substance that is already part of his body’s constituents and will not create any adverse side effect, unlike all medications do. And as another benefit it may cost only $400-$1,000 a year.
Because sulfur deficiency is well documented in other similar conditions, because of the methionine information mentioned above, I would feel greatly confident that MSM will not hurt and MSM should improve the patient's overall condition.
Clinical experience and many peer reviewed studies show that MSM, a natural constituent of our body, is vastly available and inexpensive, because of its anti-inflammatory and increased blood flow properties should provide the same benefits, without side effect, and without interaction with any other drug the patient may be on.
If I had or knew someone with symptoms or a diagnosis of this disorder, I sure would invest or recommend them to invest $30 to $80 dollars a month in MSM sulfur nutritional supplement to see if it may help. Just make it part of your food budget.
Because most people with this disorder are already over fifty years old, they need a lot of sulfur for the good functioning of their body due to the lack of it for so long.
The most often suggested dosage is 2,000 to 6,000 mg of MSM daily in the form of crystals or capsules. Start slowly and increase the daily dose every week up to 20,000 to 25,000 mg, which is what I personally take, or even more if needed to see the results. It sure does not cost much to try. Consult with your physician.
But it is of the greatest importance to keep your brain and body exercise as mentioned above.
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