Have Researchers Finally Found a Cure for Alzheimer’s?

One of the biggest concerns we all have these days is Alzheimer’s disease. I don’t know if you realize it, but the death rate from Alzheimer’s disease has not doubled since 1990. And it hasn’t tripled since 1990. In fact, according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), the death rate from Alzheimer’s has increased by an unbelievable factor of 80 times since 1990!

But there’s more bad news. And that is that you haven’t heard me telling you about anything new to treat Alzheimer’s because there just hasn’t been anything exciting enough to tell you about. But, as of a few months ago, that has changed.

Some Australian scientists have found a way to reverse Alzheimer’s in 75% of the mice they treated. And the method they’re using is completely safe. This might be the big breakthrough that we’ve all been waiting for.

When a person gets Alzheimer’s disease, to a very large extent it’s the result of a build-up of amyloid plaques. Amyloid plaques are dense clusters of a sticky type of protein called beta-amyloid. The plaques clump together between the brain cells and interfere with their function. Specifically, they are responsible for the memory loss and the decline in cognitive function in Alzheimer’s patients. What’s amazing is that these Australian researchers have come up with a non-invasive ultrasound technology that clears the brain of amyloid plaques. They have, for the first time ever, reversed Alzheimer’s disease. Here’s what they did.

They took a group of mice that were bred to develop amyloid plaque and Alzheimer’s disease. Then they tested their cognitive function. How do you test a mouse’s cognitive function you ask? They timed them to see how well they could move through a maze. They also developed a test that could determine how well they were able to recognize new objects. And they also tested them to see how well they were able to remember certain uncomfortable places in the maze that they should avoid. Then they treated their brains with ultrasound.

An ultrasound device is simply a device that generates sound waves. I have an ultrasound in my clinic. I use it to see inside the body similar to what an X-ray can do. But the ultrasound that these researchers used is unique. It’s a special ultrasound called a focused therapeutic ultrasound. This ultrasound produces waves that oscillate super-fast and are able to stimulate the brain’s microglial cells to activate. This is important because microglial cells are the waste removal cells in the brain. And when they become stimulated, they are able to clear out amyloid plaques. Here are the unbelievable results that happened when the mice had the ultrasound treatments.

Using a special microscope with high-resolution three-dimensional reconstruction, the researchers found that the amyloid plaque in the mice was absorbed into the lysosomes of the microglia that had been activated by the ultrasound. The plaque was literally being removed! In fact, it was completely removed in 75% of the mice. And that’s not all.

Not only were the treated mice relieved of their amyloid plaques, they also displayed improved performance on all three of the memory tests. In fact, the mice that had a complete removal of their plaque showed a full restoration of their memory! And what about side effects? None. There was zero damage to any surrounding brain tissue.

I have already told you all kinds of ways to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. You can find all that in the archives. But the fact is that once you get it, there is nothing you can do to stop it. Slow it down, yes. But stop it, no. So this new study makes me extremely hopeful that within the next few years patients with Alzheimer’s can get their brains back. So if you or a loved one has Alzheimer’s be sure to do everything you can to slow down the disease because now we have a way to potentially reverse it.

Yours for better health,

Frank Shallenberger, MD