CommentsWELLNESS-Alzheimer’s is a neurodegenerative disease that starts slowly and gets worse over time and affects over 5 million Americans and 35 million people worldwide. In the United States Alzheimer’s is considered the 3rd leading cause of death.
The most common symptom when the disease starts is having difficulty remembering recent events. Once the disease takes hold symptoms can include mood swings, getting lost due to disorientation, depression and challenges with language. As the disease progresses it can lead to loss of bodily functions and ultimately death. This can take anywhere from 3 to 9 years.
Alzheimer’s accounts for 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases and usually begins in people 65 or older. There are exceptions to this as up to 5 percent of cases are considered early onset and begin when one is in their 40’s and 50’s.
There is a new experimental drug being researched to help battle Alzheimer’s disease and it is showing a lot of promise. The drug is called J147, and researchers are finding that it has unexpected anti-aging effects on mice.
What’s important to note here is this drug is a derivative of turmeric curcumin, and healers across the globe including myself have been yelling about the positive brain effects of turmeric for years.
Now western medicine is finally harnessing these benefits in pill form, but there is no need to wait for this drug to start benefitting from turmeric curcumin, which is available in powder or capsules at most health food stores.
The drug they are creating will use this compound but make it more available for the brain. In it’s natural form it is degraded relatively quickly making it difficult to reach the brain. Scientists have noted however, that the rate of Alzheimer’s in India is lower than anywhere else in the world, and this may be due to their high dietary intake of turmeric curcumin.
{module [1177]}
Most Alzheimer’s drugs up until now have focused on the plaque that settles into the brain, which is a major symptom and cause of brain degeneration in Alzheimer’s patients. J147 focuses more on keeping the brain young by increasing the health of brain blood vessels in mice boosting memory and cognitive skills. It battles aging by ridding the brain of toxicities and healing up blood vessels and stopping bleeding in the brains of the mice being infused with the drug.
The next step will be to test this on human subjects and it looks like that will start next year. Abrexa Pharmaceuticals has a patent on the drug and they have been issued license by the Salk institute to produce J147. Abrexa is in the process of raising 10 million dollars to start clinical trials in early 2016 and hopefully take huge steps toward eradicating this life destroying disease.
Christian Cristiano is an acupuncturist in LA, TV host of Wellness for Realists and writes on wellness regularly for CityWatch. Christian can be reached at 323.935.3420. twitter: @CristianoWFR)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 93
Pub: Nov 17, 2015
New Drug for Alzheimer’s Fountain of Youth?
