Are there treatments to prevent or reverse Alzheimer's disease?

Sharp Again Naturally was founded in 2012 after we started to aggregate information about causes of memory loss and case studies of individuals who had regained their cognitive health.

Dr. Dale Bredesen of UCLA and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging published his first study in 2014. Since that time, evidence has been mounting that many of the causes of memory loss can be treated, especially in the early and mid-stages, by addressing some or many of the causes at the same time.

Here are the initial Bredesen studies plus several that followed.

• Reversal of Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s Disease (2014)(pdf)
  Dale E. Bredesen, AGING, September 2014, Vol. 6 No.9
  This report describes a novel, comprehensive, and personalized therapeutic program that is based on the underlying pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease, and which involves multiple modalities designed to achieve metabolic enhancement for neurodegeneration (MEND).
• Memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s reversed for first time (pdf)
  A commentary on the 2014 Bredesen study (above) by Mark Wheeler released October 2, 2014
• Reversal of Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s Disease (2016) (pdf)
  Dale E. Bredesen, Edwin C. Amos, Jonathan Canick, Mary Ackerley, Cyrus Raji, Milan Fiala, and Jamila Ahdidan, AGING, June 2016, Vol. 8 No.6
  The results from quantitative MRI and neuropsychological testing in ten patients with cognitive decline, nine ApoE4+ (five homozygous and four heterozygous) and one ApoE4‐, who were treated with the MEND protocol for 5‐24 months.
• Reversal of Cognitive Decline: 100 Patients (2018) (pdf)
  Dale E. Bredesen, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease & Parkinsonism, Volume 8, Issue 5
  An update on patients who have reversed their cognitive decline.

The first phase of the Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER) from 2009 – 2011, replicated many of the positive effects of the multi-therapeutic approach on cognition.

• A 2 year multidomain intervention of diet, exercise, cognitive training, and vascular risk monitoring versus control to prevent cognitive decline in at-risk elderly people (FINGER): a randomised controlled trial
  Ngandu T, Lehtisalo J, Solomon A, Levälahti E, Ahtiluoto S, et al. The Lancet. 2015 Jun 6;385(9984):2255-63.

• A Multidomain Two-Year Randomized Controlled Trial to Prevent Cognitive Impairment – The FINGER Study (pdf)
  Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., President and Medical Director, Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation
  A special report courtesy of the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation, which is one of the funding sources for the FINGER study.

• Multidomain lifestyle intervention benefits a large elderly population at risk for cognitive decline and dementia regardless of baseline characteristics: The FINGER trial
  Rosenberg A, Ngandu T, Rusanen M, Antikainen R, Bäckman L, et al. Alzheimers Dement. 2018 Mar;14(3):263-270.

Other countries have started their own studies (Worldwide FINGERS).  Sharp Again Naturally is eager to see the results! 

• World Wide Fingers will Advance Dementia Prevention. (2018) (pdf)
  Mila Kivipelto, Francesca Mangialasche and Tila Ngandu. The Lancet Vol. 17, Issue 1, January 2018
  An exploration of how the FINGER study is being expanded for further research in many countries across the globe.

Additional studies of interest:

• Dementia prevention, intervention, and care (2020) (pdf)
  Gill Livingston, Jonathan Huntley, Andrew Sommerlad, David Ames, Clive Ballard, Sube Banerjee, Carol Brayne, Alistair Burns, et al. The Lancet Commission |Volume 396, Issue 10248, P413-446, August 08, 2020
• The clinical practice of risk reduction for Alzheimer’s disease: A precision medicine approach.
  Isaacson RS, Ganzer CA, Hristov H, Hackett K, Caesar E, et al. Alzheimers Dement. 2018 Dec;14(12):1663-1673.
• Individualized clinical management of patients at risk for Alzheimer’s dementia.
  Isaacson RS, Hristov H, Saif N, Hackett K, Hendrix S, et al. Alzheimers Dement. 2019 Dec;15(12):1588-1602
• WHO Risk Reduction of Cognitive Decline and Dementia
  World Health Organization, 2019