Past research into this most baffling of diseases has
focused on a number of potentially contributing factors to the
dementia-inducing illness that impacts some 5 million U.S. citizens. There has
been evidence to suggest aluminum poisoning (from soft drink, food, and beer
cans) could contribute to its onset, but
the later research has focused instead on the build-up of cholesterol in the
brain’s venous system, and on proteins which seem to collect is particular
areas of memory and cognition.
What the Stanford scientists, lead by Jenny Johannson,
answered was, in some part, the protein build-up, as well as why the proteins
collect as they do, and how to eliminate the problem. This is potentially
enormous news for Alzheimer’s patients and their families.
The research focused on a brain-specific, “innate immune
cell,” called microglia. Microglia’s job is to cleanse the neural pathways of
foreign objects, like the proteins which earlier studies found collected in the
brains of those with the disease. Stanford’s team found that the microglia was
not functioning properly, if at all, in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, and
thus were not performing their “critical inflammatory and anti-inflammatory”
function. Many diseases, including some
cancers, have now been linked to inflammation, which can be a systemic
condition.
The biochemical signal which orders microglia to clean the
brain’s neural pathways is a lipid compound called prostaglandin.
This signal carrier exists in nearly every cell in the human body. Johannson’s
team’s study found that it is a cessation in the function of PGE within the
prostaglandin and E2 receptors in microglia which cause the breakdown in
microglial function.
They suggest that resetting the PGE and E2 puzzle pieces
will not only inhibit further cognitive depletion, but may well reverse the
effects of Alzheimer’s-caused dementia.
In short, we may be able to prevent and reverse the effects
of Alzheimer’s Disease by resetting/recharging the immune system to eliminate inflammation.
SomaLife’s
supplements, along with a healthy lifestyle, may assist anyone concerned about
aging to do just that.