Warding off Alzheimer's with B Vitamins & Omega 3

September is World Alzheimer's Month. My dad had Alzheimer's so it's a disease which I particularly loathe as it ravaged his brain and rendered him unrecognisable. It also nearly killed my mother looking after him. Eventually he was found a place in a care home and died of a heart attack - a welcome relief.

It seems that Alzheimer's is not hereditary, but I don't intend to take any chances.

I subscribe to an e-newsletter called Food for the Brain which aims to help people ward off the disease and increase their awareness of it in others. This month it talks about steps you can take to ward off the onset of Alzheimer's. They can be summarized very simply as: lead as healthy a life as possible.

Diet is the front line in the anti-Alzheimer's campaign. Eat more essential fatty acids to increase the levels of omega 3 and decrease levels of omega 6 (found in high levels in AD patients). This means eating more oily fish, nuts and seeds and raw dark green leafy vegetables. I've stopped eating salmon however because it's contaminated with toxic chemicals so I stick to sardines, mackerel, and smoked herring instead.

On the flanks are sufficient levels of the antioxidants vitamins C and E to combat oxidative stress in our bodies. Eat lots of fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds. Sunflower, chia and hemp seeds sprinkled on salad gives a nice crunch, for example.

Early subversive attacks by Alzheimer's can be analysed by checking your homo-cysteine levels. If too high (above 10µmol/l), this amino-acid will cause toxicity in the body, in which case combat it with supplements of B6, B12 and folic acid.

Lifestyle is central to the anti-Alzheimer's campaign in that it influences risk factors, so the best way to avoid it is to lead a healthy life - do exercise to stay physically and mentally fit, keep socially active, keep learning to stimulate your brain, and stop smoking. Still smoking? Do 50 press-ups!

If the worst happens, damage control can be administered through drugs and medication which can minimally affect the Clinical Dementia Rating. Solanezumab, for example, has been shown to reduce brain shrinkage over eighteen months by... 2%! I wouldn't call that much of a result for a massive blast of chemicals, and who knows what the side-effects are!

A much better result has been found from giving patients B vitamins with high levels of omega 3 reducing shrinkage by up to 73%!

So patients with high homo-cysteine levels should take B vitamins and omega 3 for a treatment that is thirty times more effective than the current most hopeful drug treatment, with no side-effects and at a fraction of the cost.

For a super anti-Alzheimer's recipe, try the fishcakes on the Food for the Brain website.

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 250g of roasted vegetables (eg. potatoes, carrots, parsnip, onions)
• 150g of mackerel (tinned or fresh) – other fish works too
• 4 tbsp of ground flaxseeds
• 2 tbsp of ground chia seeds (chia and flaxseeds can be ground together)
• 1 medium sized egg
• 1 tsp of Dijon mustard (English mustard works fine too, but use slightly less as it is hotter)
• 2 shallots (finely chopped - only add if there are no onions in your roast vegetables)
• Himalayan salt and pepper to taste
• Honey & mustard sauce (just mix one tbsp of mustard, 1 tsp of honey)
• Capers to garnish (you can add a table spoon to the fish mix if you like, it is quite delicious)

Directions:
Mash roast vegetables, add shallots, salt, pepper, beaten egg and mix well. Then add the fish, this is best done in flaking it on top of the mashed ingredients and then carefully folding the fish into the mix (at this point fold in the capers if you are adding them)

Pre-heat the oven at 160c and lay out parchment paper on a roasting tray. Place the ground chia and linseed on a plate - season with salt and pepper. 

Use a large spoon to divide the mix and make equally sized balls, then one by one flatten with the palm of your hand and coat with the chia and flaxseed mix before placing them on the baking tray. Do this very carefully as the fishcakes are quite fragile at this point. 

Bake for 30-45 minutes.Garnish the fishcakes with honey & mustard sauce and capers - Add minted mushy peas and/or a kale and lemon salad for an extra boost of nutrients!

Have at ye! Menopause!

Back in September I went to see a naturopathe and came out with a list of menopause-defying food supplements to get my teeth into.

So, how's it going? Actually, very well; I'm totally won over. There are two outstanding products which I must tell you about (and Mariella Frostrup could do worse than listen up too...!).


Hydra7 - this gives you the most amazingly soft skin. It's made from the berries and seeds of argousier (sea-buckthorn) and is packed with a bunch of omegas (3,6,7,9). You just need a course of one pot to see the incredible difference it makes, which is good as it's sold at a fairly pricey 29.90 Eur for 60 capsules.

It contributes to the hydration not just of skin but of the body's mucus zones too (eyes, mouth, down below, gastric, nasal). It helps iron out small wrinkles, and replaces totally the need for lotions and potions to moisturise body skin. This stuff is brilliant!

The other outstanding product is pomegranate oil. It's rich in omega 5 which has nifty anti-ageing properties and does wonders for women's dryness issues. Dr Sellman advises dabbing it on the vulva to promote hydration. It's not easy to find pure organic pomegranate oil but this stuff is excellent: Pomegranate oil 14.39 Eur for 100ml. I also use a little on my face instead of cream morning and night.

As I can't get enough of pomegranate oil, I'm taking a course of capsules. They are also pretty pricey, but my libido has returned and my hot flashes are reduced in intensity and number since I started taking these capsules along with the oil above: Pomegranate oil capsules 28.58 Eur for 60 capsules.

I was doing okay with the other supplements (borage, houblon, salsepareille) that the naturopathe prescribed, but the pomegranate oil really took things to a much higher level, so thank you Dr Sellman for that recommendation! I feel just like the old me again before menopausal crustiness took over.

It's all about balancing the hormones again, much like what happens with adolescence. Keeping it all stable is quite tricky what with upsets, stress, dodgy diet and medical drugs (which I'm not on).

I read this week that many menopausal women are lacking in testosterone which is responsible for quite a list of issues. For example, it makes them get upset easily when faced with confrontation, plus:

• disruption to libido and sexual function
• temperamental
• decrease in energy and feelings of well-being
• anxiety, indecision
• easily tired during physical activity

Testosterone tones up the muscles and improves the health of bones, and blood vessels by making the blood more fluid; it improves physical performance and psychological well-being, and helps with mental toughness.

Doctors can test for testosterone deficiency, but for those who would like to reap the benefits without too much effort, you just have to drink water, and eat meat and sprouted grains. Avoid alcohol, sodas, sugar and non-sprouted grains including bread. The most enjoyable way though of increasing testosterone levels is to make love at least twice a week with a "très viril" partner. No chance of getting a hairy face, deep booming voice or acne if you stick to a good shag... or two...

A Kitchen-Sink Post

Here's a round-up of odds and sods.

Family
It was my eldest's 18th birthday last Sunday (28th). He went out the night before, blew most of his birthday money and as a result had a quiet day on Sunday which included a mega treat of a KFC take-away lunch... He decided on a birthday dinner of roast chicken at 4pm despite me asking him regularly since the previous day (Me: "Do you want a birthday roast chicken dinner?" Him: "Dunno, I may eat out."). Naturally, not having already obtained a response, the organic chicken was still in the freezer. I got it out, chucked it in the oven on 'defrost' mode, then prised it apart to cut into pieces, chucked them in the microwave to defrost faster, and actually managed to dish up a fully cooked roast chicken (pieces) by 8pm. I was sorry to treat it in such a cavalier way, but 18th birthdays don't happen every day...

Montpellier under water. Photo Midi Libre

Weather
You may have seen on the tele the torrential rain and flooding in Montpellier at the beginning of the week. We got five months of rain in three hours. On Monday lunch time, I took my son to the tram station to go to lectures. Mistake. It was already pissing down and the roads were awash. I had very little petrol (35km worth) and had to get to work so really didn't want to be travelling much. I got to work after a very scary drive only to hear not long after that all lectures were cancelled and he was stranded in town because the buses and trams were no longer running.

Luckily it was the end of our fiscal year at work and manic, so I couldn't go to his rescue even if I'd wanted to, and a good thing too, because the roads became rivers and people were having to leave their cars stranded where they broke down. I would have been caught up in all that, and been stranded too.

In the end, he walked with a friend to the tram station where I'd left him, in the pouring rain, and got a lift back. His new computer was fighting for its life overnight drying out... It hiccuped to life the next day, thank goodness.

Vitamin D
The world wide recommended dose for vitamin D3 is 1400 to 2000 UI per day, with a maximum of 10,000. In France, it's 200 UI. Why the difference? Because of a calculation error by the Conseil (not so-)supérieur d'hygiene publique de France (CSHPF), the people tasked with deciding on the dose. Instead of fixing 10,000 as a maximum dose (like in the rest of the world), they calculated it as 1,000. D'oh. The result is that vitamin D3 is only sold in capsules of 200 UI which means you have to take at least five to get the right dose.

It's important, because three out of four people are deficient in vitamin D, and this is a shame because vitamin D helps prevent and treat some cancers, auto-immune diseases (multiple scleroses, diabetes I), depression, fractures, and infections like the flu.

I've just ordered some vitamin D3 for us all in the form of drops because it's easier to take five drops rather than five capsules.

Food supplements
I'm very excited because they have all been ordered and are due to be delivered from tomorrow. I had to wait until this month to order them due to the financial strain of September. The ones I already had have been excellent in improving the quality of my sleep (rhadiola and magnesium). I've been eating a quarter of pomegranate every day for my breakfast too as their juice is very good for balancing women's hormones. I'd eat more, but they cost a fortune each!

Cooking
My naturopathic doctor gave me a recipe for rice flour bread which I decided to try the other day. It contained rice flour, buckwheat flour, some oat flour, olive oil, an egg, bicarb, and water. She said to put it in the oven at 130°C for half an hour. I was dubious but followed her instructions. Well, of course it wasn't cooked and it tasted quite disgusting. I'm sure there's an error in there somewhere... must email and ask!

I went to see a naturopathe

(To the tune of 'Half a pound of tuppenny rice')
"No more eggs and no more Pills
Hello steamy hot flush
Down below's a no-go zone
I'm menopausal"

Since reading Sherrill Sellman's book Hormone Heresy: What women must know about their hormones I've decided that I have to find a natural alternative to Hormone Replacement Therapy. I'm already not keen on medication, and the idea of pumping my body with a cocktail of synthetic hormones yet again (since I stopped the Pill) does not appeal.

At the first sign of menopausal symptoms (hot flushes, dryness you-know-where), I rushed to my doc. He advised HRT or I would be in danger of aging rapidly - find myself suddenly dried out and an old hag in a couple of years. There was a definite hint of 'your partner won't find you attractive any more and will probably dump you for a more luscious alternative because what can you do with an old prune?' Fun...

He prescribed estriol (a form of oestrogen) for down below, and, to his credit, instead of imposing HRT on me, suggested I ask my buddies about HRT, and to do some research on the internet. So I did. Well I did the internet bit because I don't have many friends who have hit menopause yet.

I discovered that HRT is not all it's made out to be, and that some women have disastrous reactions to it. Instead of taking it and risk becoming oestrogen dominant which is not a good thing, I wanted to balance out the hormonal imbalance between oestrogen and progesterone in my menopausal body as naturally and side-effect-free as possible.

Dr Sellman suggests seeing a naturopathic doctor, and as luck would have it, the Pages Jaunes for Montpellier threw up two: a man and a woman. I looked at the woman's web page and noted she has 25 years of experience, and, from her photo saw that she has very probably gone through menopause. It seemed an obvious choice to select her rather than the man who did not have a web site and thus was just a name on a page.

Today was the day when I had my appointment. I took along my blood test analyses (usual stuff plus FSH which determines whether you're in menopause or not because it's a reproductive hormone - I am) and found myself in a little outhouse in the doc's garden.

She started by looking at my eyes. Apparently you can tell a lot from eyes. Before she looked at my blood tests, she flashed a torch at me and asked me whether I had some intestinal issues, and some joint problems, and said I have an excellent 'hygiene de vie' which means I'm in roaring good health.

I was pleased to hear that because I have made a lot of effort in the past year, and it's obviously paid off, not that I was abusing my health before, but I'm taking more care now (organic fruit and veg, less meat, dairy and bread, sport).

I do have a little intestinal problem (she said it was some inflammation) and my joints get tired when I walk a lot, so top marks the doc! I also wake up too early which annoys me. We had a chat about my eating habits and she decided to prescribe a number of food supplements to rectify my hormonal imbalances:

• Houblon which is like oestrogen
• Salsepareille which is like progesterone
• Bourrache (borage) oil which, from what she said, is like an elixir of life
• plus a bit of Hydra 7 which will help things along
• Optiflore to get my intestines sorted out
• Rhadiola Rosea and Magnesium Marin to improve the quality of my sleep and help me relax.

I was in there for an hour and it cost me 65 Eur which should be reimbursed by my mutuelle. I have to get most of the supplements on the internet, and she indicated where I could go because there's such a variety out there.

I'll be chucking out the estriol which had revolting consequences.

In the same vein, I started doing a local yoga course this evening. It was a trial session, and although there was some noise from the other activities going on in the communal centre, I found it relaxing and pretty promising.

Then I came home and had sausage and spuds, broccoli, and a glass of wine for dinner. :)

Got to keep my strength up for all this healthy living!