This article is courtesy of Dr Ron Grisanti, D.C., D.A.B.C.O., D.A.C.B.N., M.S. – Director of Functional Medicine University
What do you do when someone has the beginning symptoms of Alzheimer’s, but has not yet been given the official diagnosis?
The answer is– come up with a new disease label.
Well medical science has coined a new term called AAMI. This stands for age-associated memory impairment. Basically it represents a precursor of full-blown Alzheimer’s.
Due to the massive increase of Alzheimer’s disease, the government’s brain-aging experts came to the conclusion that there should be an earlier way to recognize this terrible disease.
With that said, the new AAMI label is now being used for people who have early signs of Alzheimer’s.
The criteria for AAMI includes the following:
- over the age of 50
- not demented
- intellectual function adequate to remain productive
- complaint of gradual memory loss
- objective evidence of memory loss on performance tests.
As it now stands, 40% of people between the ages of 50-59 have it and it increases by 10% every ten years.
Unfortunately, most physicians do not have the knowledge to know how to measure the one ingredient needed every day to keep our brains healthy and memories vibrant.
This important brain ingredient is called phosphatidylserine.
Phosphatidylserine is a key component of the cell membrane and is essential to cell-to-cell communication and transfer of biochemical messages into the cell (especially within the brain and central nervous system).
Phosphatidylserine may help improve memory function in older adults, suggests a 2010 study published in the Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition. For the study, 78 elderly people with mild cognitive impairment were assigned to six months of treatment with phosphatidylserine supplements, or a placebo. In tests performed at the end of the six-month period, participants with relatively low memory scores at the start of the study were found to have experienced a significant improvement in memory.
In another study, a group of people with a brain age of around 64 years were placed on Phosphatidyl Serine 100 mg three times a day for 3 months. Before and after double blind testing showed that this rolled the hands of time back to a brain age of about 52, 12 years younger by providing 30% improvement in memory!
Do you know any drug that does this?
These people had marked improvements in everyday memory items like phone numbers, faces and names and of all things, placement of glasses and keys!
Participants with relatively low memory scores were found to have experienced a significant improvement in memory – Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or AAMI I recommend you seek out the services of a healthcare practitioner thoroughly trained in functional medicine. One of the first test I would consider is the ION test from Genova labs. Click here for more information on the ION test.