How to predict (and stop) Alzheimer's years before you have symptoms

Alzheimer's is one of the most feared degenerative diseases. No one wants to lose their memory. And, until now, we couldn't usually diagnose it until rather late in the progression of the disease. If we could pick it up earlier, there might be a lot we could do to prevent its progression — or at least slow it down. Well, we might have a new way to diagnose Alzheimer's — up to 10 years before you have symptoms.

Before researchers discovered this new technique, the diagnosis required a physical exam of the brain. That's a tough nut. It required an actual biopsy of the brain matter. That carries significant risk — and it's fairly expensive. So doctors were slow to order the exam. And the results were not always conclusive.

But a new technique enables a much easier physical examination of your brain. And it can detect Alzheimer's degeneration years early, and without a damaging biopsy. It involves an examination of your eye.

You see, the retina of your eyes is actually brain tissue. It's extremely thin and easy to exam. So an eye doctor can actually see brain cells!

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Researchers are now developing a fluorescent marker, which can attach to dying cells. Such damaged cells will light up a retinal examination. Early experiments on mice suggest that this test will come forward and provide a wonderful means to gauge your risk for the disease years earlier than we thought possible. It could easily provide us with a diagnosis early enough to take steps to stop the damage.

And it gets even better. Without having to do an expensive and dangerous biopsy, doctors will be able to detect either progression or improvement in the process simply by looking in your eyes.

You can be sure that if Pharma finds a way to alter the disease process, it will do everything it can to get tests like this into the mainstream. Much work still needs to be done to show that we can detect Alzheimer's-like damage with accuracy in the retina. I hope it can. I firmly believe that integrative medicine can slow or stop the disease process if we discover it well before it manifests itself clinically.

If any form of dementia runs in your family, it's important you take steps now to prevent this disease. I've listed many ways to stop it in past articles. You can find these on my website. But one of the best places to start is with Advanced Memory Formula from Advanced Bionutritionals. It's so effective, it's one of the few supplements I take regularly. I'm like you — I don't want to lose my memory.

Yours for better health and medical freedom,

Ref: BBC News 1-14-10.