Dr Le Fanu draws attention to problems with regard to drugs prescribed for elderly hospital patients

Dr Le Fanu draws attention to problems with regard to drugs prescribed for elderly hospital patients to take when they leave hospital, particularly if they have memory or cognitive impairment, which, he reminds us, "can be caused or exacerbated by medication, particularly the cholesterol-lowering statins."

Very low carbohydrate intake may improve your memory

See this article.

HRT drugs can shrink brain

Common forms of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can shrink the brains of post-menopausal women. The discovery, reported in the journal Neurology, may explain earlier findings associating HRT with an increased risk of memory loss and dementia.
Read article at scotman.com (Scotland/UK)

Eating oily fish can significantly reduce the risk of memory loss or suffering a stroke, a study has found.

Oily fish can protect brain function
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Consuming fish like tuna, salmon or mackerel three times a week reduces harmful brain lesions which can trigger Alzheimer's disease and stroke.

Researchers claim it could cut the risk of brain problems by 26 per cent.

But the study found that health benefits dramatically reduce if the fish is fried rather than baked or steamed.

Jyrki Virtanen, who led the study at the University of Kuopio in Finland, said: "While eating tuna and other types of fish seems to help protect against memory loss and stroke, these results were not found in people who regularly ate fried fish.

'More research is needed as to why these types of fish may have protective effects, but the omega-3 fatty acids would seem to have a major role.""

Keeping salt/sodium intake low is also good for your memory and mental alertness, and lowers your risk of stroke and of developing vascular dementia.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Risk of brain damage from anti-cancer chemotherapy drug

'Brain damage risk' with chemotherapy drug

Extract from the Telegraph:

"A chemotherapy drug used to treat thousands of cancer patients could cause serious brain damage with effects that are felt for years, research suggests today.

The drug, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), which is one of the most commonly prescribed anti-cancer medicines, is used for tumours of the breast, ovary, colon, stomach, skin, pancreas and bladder.

However, tests showed that it destroys brain cells and could be responsible for side effects known as "chemo brain", which include memory loss, poor concentration, and in more extreme cases, seizures, impaired vision and dementia. Most chemotherapy drugs are toxic to some degree, often noticeable because of hair loss and nausea. They can affect healthy as well as cancerous cells.

Doctors have urged patients not to abandon the drug as it is an effective weapon against cancer.

The findings, reported today in the Journal of Biology, could explain some of the neurological side effects associated with chemotherapy.

Eight out of 10 breast cancer patients reported some form of mental impairment after chemotherapy. Studies have found that up to a fifth had problems that lasted for years. The research, from the University of Rochester Medical Centre in New York state, showed that 5-FU attacks the cells in the brain that play a crucial role in the central nervous system.

They produce myelin, the fatty material that enables signals between cells to be transmitted rapidly and efficiently.

However, myelin deteriorates quickly and has to be constantly replenished.

Without a healthy population of these cells to renew it, normal communication between brain cells is disrupted. Scans of cancer patients with mental difficulties have shown evidence of loss of myelin leading to the loss of nerve fibres making up the "white matter" in the brain.

The researchers treated mice with doses of 5-FU comparable with those given to cancer patients and also exposed brain cells in dishes to the drug.

Months after exposure, the key cells both in the cell cultures and the brains of mice were undergoing extensive damage.

The disruption was so severe that after six months the cells had virtually disappeared from the mice.

Dr Mark Noble, of the medical centre, said: "It is clear that, in some patients, chemotherapy appears to trigger a degenerative condition in the central nervous system."

You can lower your risk of developing most cancers by avoiding salt and salty food.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

Children and Obesity

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Drinking accelerates onset of Alzheimer's Disease

Drinking accelerates onset of Alzheimer's

Extracts from the Telegraph:

"People who have more than two alcoholic drinks a day develop Alzheimer’s disease five years earlier than those who do not drink, a comprehensive study linking the condition to lifestyle has found.

Those who smoke are affected by the illness two years earlier than non-smokers, while those who smoke and drink are likely to hasten the onset of the disease by seven years.

People who suffer from high cholesterol in middle age are one and a half times more likely to go on to develop Alzheimer’s.

The impact of lifestyle on the development and the advance of the disease, which affects more than 400,000 people in Britain, was disclosed in two separate studies presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology’s Anniversary in Chicago."

"Alzheimer’s causes loss of memory, personality changes and is terminal."

You can reduce your risk of dementia and of high cholesterol and high blood pressure and many other health problems by eating less salt.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

Children and Obesity

Teenager with liver failure warns of the harm done by binge drinking

Binge drinking caused teen's liver failure at 14

Extract from the Telegraph:

"A teenager has told how her binge drinking caused her liver to fail at the age of 14.

Natasha Farnham, who is now 18, is believed to be the youngest person in Britain to be diagnosed with alcohol-related liver failure, claims the charity British Liver Failure.

She started drinking at 12 and within a year was consuming up to six bottles of wine a day.

Two years later she was taken to hospital after drinking 16 bottles of wine, cider and spirits in three days.

Doctors diagnosed liver failure - usually suffered by middle-aged alcoholics - and told her to stop drinking. But she ignored the warning and has gone into rehabilitation at the age of 18.

Doctors tell her that she will die if she drinks again.

Miss Farnham now has memory loss problems."

Walking, gardening or doing housework for 30 minutes most days can cut the risk of dementia by more than a third, scientists have found.

Exercise 'cuts risk of dementia'

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Walking, gardening or doing housework for 30 minutes most days can cut the risk of dementia by more than a third, scientists have found.

A team of researchers in Italy measured the calories burnt by more than 700 pensioners each day and found those who were most active were least likely to develop vascular dementia, in which the blood vessels that feed the brain become damaged and lead to mental decline.

Those sticking to guidelines of walking for 30 minutes on at least four days a week were 39 per cent less likely to develop the condition.

Vascular dementia is the second most common form of mental decline after Alzheimer's disease. There are about 700,000 people with dementia in Britain and the vascular form of the condition accounts for 17 per cent of cases.

Symptoms include problems with concentration, memory difficulties, depression, seizures and confusion."

You can also significantly reduce your risk of developing vascular dementia by avoiding eating salt and salty food and avoiding pharmaceutical drugs unless these are essential, because many pharmaceuticals - including steroids like prednisone and prednisolone, HRT and other oestrogen-containing drugs, tricyclic antidepressants like amitriptyline and other psychotropic drugs - do great harm to the blood vessels.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Towards reversing some of the brain damage caused by Alzheimer's disease

Step closer to 'Holy Grail' cure for Alzheimer's - Telegraph

Extract:

"Doctors have moved a step nearer to finding a cure for Alzheimer's and reversing damage already caused by the disease, it was announced yesterday.

A team in Scotland have developed a chemical that can prevent the disease from killing brain cells, which causes memory loss and other symptoms.Although it is likely to be several years before the compound can be developed into a drug for use in humans, campaigners described the breakthrough as "exciting".

Researchers at the University of St Andrews, working with scientists in America, developed man-made compounds capable of blocking a nerve cell interaction known to lead to symptoms of the disease.

In the very early stages of Alzheimer's, a toxic protein called amyloid builds up in nerve cells and kills them. It then moves out of the cells and collects in clumps known as senile plaques. The amyloid latches on to an enzyme called Amyloid Beta Alcohol Dehydrogenase (ABAD) and switches it off.

The researchers at St Andrews developed a three-dimensional shape of ABAD to understand how amyloid attaches itself.

They were then able to develop a chemical decoy called a peptide which attracted the amyloid to stick to it instead of the ABAD.

It also caused some amyloid to decouple from ABAD where it was already attached and link up with the peptide instead. Some symptoms of learning problems and memory loss improved in mice.

Dr Frank Gunn-Moore, a senior lecturer at the university's school of biology, who led the research, said: "We have shown that it is possible to reverse some of the signs associated with Alzheimer's disease. Our research holds a possible key for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, particularly in its early stages."

Dr Gunn-Moore believes it will take another three years to develop the peptide into a drug and then several more years before the first human trials can be carried out."

You can reduce your risk of developing dementia and many other serious chronic illnesses by eating less salt/sodium.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...