
The Bredesen protocol for treating Alzheimer’s - sjcsjc
https://joshmitteldorf.scienceblog.com/2018/10/14/a-cure-for-alzheimers-yes-a-cure-for-alzheimers/
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sterlind
As a theory of Alzheimer's, I'm not sure how useful the Bredesen protocol is.
The APP pathway is at its core, but there are thousands of components acting
in complex ways. Theories need to be falsifiable; it'd be hard to refute
Bredesen since it's a sort of Gestalt of the entire field.

As a treatment though, it seems excellent! We know thousands of tiny details
about the Alzheimer's process, what better intervention in a complex, poorly-
understood disease than to use everything we've got? Bredesen has published
successful trials of this "protocol;" that's all we really need to bear in
mind.

After all, many drugs are approved despite the mechanisms not being known.
Figuring out the mechanism first failed (as all the blockbuster wipeouts have
shown us with AD.) Throw the kitchen sink at it, if you can afford the medical
bills.

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alexandercrohde
This reads more like a PR-stunt than science article.

And as far as PR-stunts go, it's not a very good one. If you want to do an
end-run around the medical community (which is sometimes quite justified, such
as medical marijuana) you need something compelling.

What he should do is get 10 more patients/volunteers, and youtube his progress
over 60 days so we can all see before-and-after.

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henearkr
Unfortunately this totally ignores the latest discovery of antivirals
efficiency and the probable root cause of viruses from the herpes family.

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dpatrick86
On the contrary, Bredesen talks about viruses quite a bit in this recent
interview...

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq7uVZ_0D3U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq7uVZ_0D3U)

Specific time points listed in the show notes...

[https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/dale-
bredesen](https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/dale-bredesen)

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devit
Is there any description of the actual interventions?

Could this be useful even for healthy people as a way to boost cognitive
performance and prevent dementia later in life?

~~~
manmal
The list of interventions in that article is really long.

"Increase telomere length" \- is that even doable at the moment?

"Increase GABA" \- I thought oral GABA supplements do not cross the blood-
brain barrier?

Others sure are doable:

"Enhance leptin sensitivity" and "Increase autophagy" can be done AFAIK by
intermittent fasting (even better, water fasting several days).

"Enhance mitochondnal function and biogenesis" \- any kind of sports, CoQ10
and photobiomodulation come to mind (BTW I've heard of a pilot study where
they greatly improved Alzheimer's for ~2 weeks after a treatment with a near-
infrared radiation helmet).

"Reduce homocysteine" \- supplement B12 (ideally, methylcobalamin).

Most of the mentioned hormones (upper half of right column) can be optimized
with medication.

"Reduce inflammation" is likely very beneficial, but tricky; eliminate all
foods that cause autoimmune reactions?

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mrfusion
Do they give a dosage for CoQ10?

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manmal
I haven't seen what the authors recommend..

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bigbluedots
Do studies of the efficacy of this method exist, and if so does anyone have a
link?

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Ice_cream_suit
More quack science.

See [https://respectfulinsolence.com/2016/06/17/the-mend-
protocol...](https://respectfulinsolence.com/2016/06/17/the-mend-protocol-for-
alzheimers-disease-functional-medicine-on-steroids/) for a slightly less
breathless account.

~~~
dingdingdang
From the respectfulinsolencecom article:

" '... Interventions targeting specific biological mechanisms are then
prioritized and prescribed to optimize key biological mechanisms. Medication
doses are specified to an individual’s needs. Individuals are re-tested
periodically and the protocol is updated as necessary.'

What the hell does this even mean?"

With that type of attitude it will be hard to accept anything novel regardless
of it's merits.

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bitwize
The author is an M.D. and oncological researcher. New developments in medicine
are his bread and butter. That blurb sounds impressive and "oh, I'm really
being taken care of!" to a layman, but to someone with actual domain expertise
it sounds like "I'll create a GUI interface in Visual Basic to track an IP
address".

Key questions to consider: What, exactly, is being tested? How? How do the
results affect medication dosage? Which medications? How does this differ from
existing medical practice where doctors routinely adjust dosages to balance
efficacy and unwanted side effects?

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anon49124
"A cure" is a very deceptive headline; it's an allegedly curative personalized
protocol, The Bredesen Protocol™.

