Reversal of cognitive decline: A novel therapeutic program

Reversal of cognitive decline: A novel therapeutic program

Bredesen DE. Reversal of cognitive decline: A novel therapeutic program.Aging (Albany NY) 2014;6(9):707-717.




"In the absence of effective prevention and treatment, the prospects for the future are of great concern, with 13 million Americans and 160 million globally projected for 2050, leading to potential bankruptcy of the Medicare system."


"Recent estimates suggest that AD has become the third leading cause of death in the United States"



"Neurodegenerative disease therapeutics has been, arguably, the field of greatest failure of biomedical therapeutics development."


"In the case of Alzheimer's disease, there is not a single therapeutic that exerts anything beyond a marginal, unsustained symptomatic effect, with little or no effect on disease progression. Furthermore, in the past decade alone, hundreds of clinical trials have been conducted for AD, at an aggregate cost of billions of dollars, without success. This has led some to question whether the approach taken to drug development for AD is an optimal one."


"Patient one: 

A 67-year-old woman presented with two years of progressive memory loss.


(1) She eliminated all simple carbohydrates, leading to a weight loss of 20 pounds; 

(2) She eliminated gluten and processed food from her diet, and increased vegetables, fruits, and non-farmed fish; 

(3) in order to reduce stress, she began yoga, and ultimately became a yoga instructor; 

(4) as a second measure to reduce the stress of her job, she began to meditate for 20 minutes twice per day; 

(5) she took melatonin 0.5mg po qhs; 

(6) she increased her sleep from 4-5 hours per night to 7-8 hours per night; 

(7) she took methylcobalamin 1mg each day; 

(8) she took vitamin D3 2000IU each day; 

(9) she took fish oil 2000mg each day; 

(10) she took CoQ10 200mg each day; 

(11) she optimized her oral hygiene using an electric flosser and electric toothbrush; 

(12) following discussion with her primary care provider, she reinstated HRT (hormone replacement therapy) that had been discontinued following the WHI report in 2002; 

(13) she fasted for a minimum of 12 hours between dinner and breakfast, and for a minimum of three hours between dinner and bedtime; 

(14) she exercised for a minimum of 30 minutes, 4-6 days per week.

Patient	History, evaluation	Diagnosis	Status
67F 3/3	2yr memory ; FH+	aMCI	Normal x 2.5 yrs; working

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"The positive results reported here are perhaps not surprising given that therapeutic programs have proven more effective than monotherapeutics in multiple chronic illnesses, such as atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, HIV, and cancer [5, 35]. Indeed, chronic illnesses may be more amenable to therapeutic systems than to monotherapeutics."