This is the story of Simon Nichols, who managed to reverse Alzheimer’s by making lifestyle changes and taking preventive actions. The narrative highlights the role of the APO E four gene, which increases Alzheimer’s risk but can be managed through diet and other interventions. Simon’s journey involved dietary changes, regular exercise, and B vitamin supplementation, leading to improved cognitive function, reduced amyloid levels, and increased brain thickness.
RESPONSE VIDEO: CNN Story on Reversing Dementia Risk (“Signs of Alzheimer’s were everywhere. Then his brain improved”)
Transcript
Here’s a story I really like. It’s from CNN, uh, the title is Signs of Alzheimer’s were Everywhere. Then his brain improved. And it’s talking about a guy, uh, called Simon Nichols, who had developed early Alzheimer’s disease and was advised and treated by a wonderful preventive neurologist, Dr. Richard Isaacson. Richard Isaacson actually used our cognitive function test in his, um, in his early research at Cornell University. And basically what happened, and this is very important, uh, is that Simon Nichols had what’s sometimes called the Alzheimer’s gene. This is a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s APO E four. We all have a gene called apoe, and some people maybe 20%, have a variation of it called APO E four. In and of itself, it increases risk of Alzheimer’s by four to five to 6%. But what I find really fascinating is that in all the studies where people with APO E four have changed something better, diet Omegas, B vitamins, et cetera, there’s no difference in the outcome of those with or without the APO E four gene. So if you are, if you, if you’ve got it and you’re scared, please understand this is like a weak light, which in the darkness does increase risk. But as soon as you are in the strong light of preventive action, it has no effect. So what happened with the, this fellow Simon, as he changed his diet, he started to eat more fish, a Mediterranean style diet, uh, good whole plant foods. Uh, they measured his homocysteine, which is a very important indicator of needing more B vitamins. He took additional supplements of B vitamins. He exercised, this is really, really important. Uh, so he started to do all the things that you and I can do, which are part of everything that I talk about in my book. Upgrade Your Brain. And what happened, uh, after a year is his cognitive function had improved the measure of amyloid, uh, this is what the drugs are focusing on, had also improved. And his brain thickness, the central area of the brain, the hippocampus, which is really what Alzheimer’s is all about, the degeneration of that part of the brain had also improved. So he took charge of his health, did all the right things, and in effect has reversed Alzheimer’s. That’s fantastic news and I like this bit. And Dr. Isaacson drove all the way from, uh, Boca Raton to Miami. Excited, very happy Nichols said. We walked on the beach together and we were ecstatic that we’d actually been able to go from positive to negative amyloid results. So the point is, you can prevent this disease even better to take the cognitive function test before you have any problems, so you can learn what you need to do to never have to reverse it in the first place. Good story.