Senior Advocacy Association, AMAC, Provides an Alzheimer’s Update

WASHINGTON, DC — Alzheimer’s Disease [AD] has an insidiously disproportionate effect on senior citizens and their families. Surveys conducted over the past several years show that a diagnosis of AD sparks terror in the hearts of patients, families and friends, more so than just about any other fatal or chronic illness, according to the Association of Mature American Citizens.

In fact, a Marist Poll conducted in 2012 concluded that Alzheimer’s was America’s most feared illness. And, says AMAC, it still is.

The association’s president, Dan Weber, says that for patients, perhaps it is “the idea of losing their identity and the notion that they will almost certainly lose the ability to recall the most important moments of their lives. For family and friends, it can cause confusion and disbelief that loved ones are slowly, but surely, forgetting who they are. And, for all those whose lives are touched by this seemingly hopeless affliction, the slow progress in developing treatments, let alone a cure, exacerbates their frustration.”

So pervasive is Alzheimer’s Disease that it has created a new class of scammers who target the desperation, particularly among seniors, with “snake oil” concoctions that claim to “cure” the disease and even “reverse” it. It’s gotten so bad that the FDA recently took on the fraudsters who peddle unapproved and misbranded drugs that claim to prevent, treat or cure Alzheimer’s.

Weber notes that it is older Americans who express the most concern about AD since it afflicts mainly senior citizens, more than 5.7 million of them to date, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

I’ve been wondering about Alzheimers...

I started thinking about this when I looked up some info about cholesterol. I had no idea what it was but I noticed most of the people I knew seemed to be freaking out because their doctor had them trying to lower their cholesterol like it was the worst thing to hit the planet since polio.

So I did some checking...and found plenty articles that led me to believe the great cholesterol scare is actually the greatest scam ever perpetrated against the American people, all so doctors and pharmaceutical companies can sell drugs.

But where does this tie into Alzheimers? Patience, weedhopper.

Cholesterol is created by your liver, in addition to getting it in the food you eat. That’s because it is required for several functions.

Cell walls - Every cell in your body requires cholesterol to build strong cell walls.

Vitamin D - Cholesterol is used in your skin to assist in turning sunlight into Vitamin D.

Brain function - Cholesterol has a major affect on the brain’s ability to function properly. Institutional studies have found that people who show violent or suicidal tendencies, those with emotional problems, depression etc, almost always have very low cholesterol levels.

In contrast, studies done by checking autopsy reports found that around 70% of people who died of heart attacks had normal or low cholesterol, NOT high levels. If cholesterol causes heart attacks, why didn’t they find most of them had HIGH levels? In at least 3 large scale studies, (over 1000 autopsies) the same results were found.

ok so back up...cholesterol is required for proper functioning of the brain. Alzheimer’s is mostly a form of brain dysfunction. Same for ADD and ADHD. The brain is not functioning properly. Doctors are trying to get people to lower their cholesterol levels actually below healthy levels.

I’ll say that a different way, The doctor wants you to bring your cholesterol level down to levels that are too low.

So what is the possibility that low cholesterol is the primary cause of Alzheimers? I don’t remember it being such a big problem until AFTER doctors started making everybody reduce their cholesterol, with a few years for it to run its course. Actually, just plain senility might be related to the same thing, if for some reason your liver starts to lose the ability to make cholesterol in old age.

The reason most people find it so difficult to lower their cholesterol, is when you reduce the amount you get in your food, your liver simply makes more. It knows how much you need...

And what about this “bad” cholesterol. Do you really think your body is going to manufacture a substance that is harmful to itself?

Yeah I know, the acids in your stomach. Those are contained inside the proper environment under all but life or death situations. Stomach acids can only make it into your system if you get shot or stabbed, or in an unusual case you develop a hole in the intestinal tract.

No such thing as bad cholesterol, what’s bad is a serious imbalance between the two types.

After looking into it, I think there is a very good possibility Alzheimers could be related to, or even caused by, cholesterol levels that are too low. Results of studies are now beginning to show you will probably live longer with higher cholesterol.

https://spacedoc.com/articles/the-great-cholesterol-scam

https://www.naturalnews.com/035033_cholesterol_disinformation_fats.html#

http://healthimpactnews.com/2015/japanese-research-exposes-statin-scam-people-with-high-cholesterol-live-longer/

http://towncenterwellness.com/uncategorized/is-high-cholesterol-a-hoax/

Look up Cholesterol scam. Lots more out there.

That was easier than I thought. Stay tuned, this will be posted in several parts. Otherwise it would be one really long post...

I Have a text file I saved a while back when I was trying to get my mother to realize cholesterol was not the huge health problem her doctor was telling her it was. Fact is, most doctors don’t know enough about cholesterol to be qualified to tell you diddly about it.

This is the beginning of several posts containing the text of articles I saved for her to read, since I was not able to always get online and search for info when she happened to be over here visiting. I’m glad I saved it, a few months ago I went looking for info and was never able to find a couple of these articles, but didn’t realize I already had them. I guess maybe I could search my article title...

So stay tuned, here comes a ton of info, and it may cover a couple of days, I popped awake at 2AM and it’s about time to go doze for a while.

Two articles by Dr Duane Graveline, former NASA doctor, ship’s doctor on the space shuttle researching the long term effects of zero gravity and general doctor, USAF Flight Surgeon, family doctor and cholesterol drug victim. (memory loss twice)

*********The Great Cholesterol Scam*********

For nearly four decades, those in medicine have been taught that cholesterol was the culprit in cardiovascular disease because it was found in atherosclerotic plaques.

Guilt by association was the primary justification for the decision back in the mid-fifties to force upon our nation the now infamous low fat / low cholesterol diet.

Now forty years later, the prevalence of atherosclerosis remains unchanged and we have become a nation of thoroughly fattened sheep with our present epidemic of gross obesity and type 2 diabetes. For forty years our doctors and their patients have been told that cholesterol was their enemy.

This entire fiasco was fueled by a scientist named Ancel Keys and his studies of the eating habits of people residing in Italy and surrounds and his belief that low dietary cholesterol was the secret of the supposed cardiovascular benefits of the Mediterranean diet.

So firmly did Keys believe his hypothesis that when some 14 of his 22 studies failed to support it, he disregarded them. When his data finally was presented to the Washington decision makers it was based solely upon the seven studies that agreed with his firmly entrenched philosophy and it became our national diet.

Now, longitudinal studies of statin drug use have revealed that cholesterol’s role in cardiovascular disease risk is vanishingly small. I say vanishingly because, week- by-week research results are accumulating, pointing to cholesterol’s irrelevancy. Inflammation is the cause of atherosclerosis, many now say.

Statin drugs exert their impressive effects because they are powerful anti-inflammatory agents, decreasing CV risk regardless of cholesterol’s response. They do this through inhibition of Nuclear Factor kappa B (NF-kB), the essence of our entire immuno-defense system. Why then the continued focus on cholesterol?

Organized medicine is finally beginning to awaken to this reality and in fact has published some amazing truths. On 23 Sept, 2004 thirty-five prominent physicians, epidemiologist and other scientists wrote to the heads of the National Institutes of Health, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) to urge an independent review of the scientific studies on which the new cholesterol guidelines were based. They charged complete lack of objectivity of the originators of these new guidelines because eight of the nine authors had direct financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Signatories of this letter of objection included such medical dignitaries as John Abramson MD of Harvard, Jerome Hoffman MD of UCLA and David Brown MD of Albert Einstein and Beth Israel.

Their letter charged four major objections to the NCEP guidelines.
1) The evidence does not support extending the guidelines to women of moderate risk.
2) The evidence does not support extending the guidelines to older persons without heart disease
3) They claimed that extending the guidelines to diabetics without heart disease was unjustified by the evidence.
4) They observed that tripling the number of people on statins in accordance with the new NCEP directives provided no benefit to any patient, with or without heart disease.

Duane Graveline MD MPH
Former USAF Flight Surgeon
Former NASA Astronaut
Retired Family Doctor

***********The Truth About Cholesterol**************

By Duane Graveline MD, MPH

Cholesterol became an important evolutionary player eons ago when simple one-celled organisms, resembling bacteria, began evolving into complex multi-cellular organisms in which each cell contained a nucleus. The complexity of animal cells today would not be possible without all the membrane structures that define the components of cells.

The nucleus, the mitochondria, the cell walls, the Golgi apparatus and endoplasmic reticulum, all wrapped by this functionally active membrane that controls all traffic into and out of the cell. A very special molecule was necessary for this challenging job. Only one biochemical was uniquely suitable for this role - we call it cholesterol.

For the past four decades we have all been subjected to an intense and carefully calculated program of brainwashing to believe that cholesterol is our enemy. I am sorry to admit that I was one of thousands of doctors trained to absorb this propaganda without question. In retrospect I am angry to have been so completely enmeshed in this web of deceit.

Like puppets we wrote millions of prescriptions for whatever cholesterol buster the drug companies were promoting at the time. I was just like all the other doctors - doing what I was told, never suspecting we had functionally become employees of the pharmaceutical industry. In truth there has never been a scientific study that has been able to demonstrate a causal link between cholesterol and heart disease. The reality is that cholesterol in its natural form cannot be harmful.

Far from being harmful, cholesterol is perhaps the most important biochemical in our bodies. I suppose it was those rabbit studies that “proved” cholesterol causation for me. In this 1955 era study someone demonstrated that if you fed rabbits cholesterol enriched pellets they got severe atherosclerosis. If you took away the cholesterol enrichments, the atherosclerosis went away. If you restarted the cholesterol enrichment, the atherosclerosis reappeared.

What better proof could one have? What more did I need? The truth was not to be revealed to me until 1999 when Kilmer McCully’s The Homocysteine Revolution explained it all for me. Natural cholesterol is harmless Kilmer wrote, but if you allow it to sit around uncovered it rapidly becomes oxidized to its oxy-cholesterol cousin which is highly toxic. He went on to describe how he could inject natural cholesterol into arteries with impunity but to inject oxy-cholesterol created atherosclerosis every time.

The explanation was so simple. Now, a decade later, doctors are finally awakening as if from a bad dream wondering how for the past 40 years they could have been giving their patients the wrong advice about cholesterol.

Pfrieger’s landmark publication in 2003 on the vital role of cholesterol in the formation and function of memory synapses has been followed by one research report after another documenting the importance of cholesterol. The wide ranging demand for cholesterol in so many of our vital bodily functions including nerve, muscle and even personality has been well documented.

Almost all our cholesterol is found in cell membranes. An average of 20% of all the molecules in our cellular membranes is cholesterol. Over the past decade there has been a huge increase in research publications documenting the action of cholesterol-rich structures within these membranes.

Lipid research now describes an amazingly busy schedule for these membrane-cholesterol molecules. Saying that, “Our bodies run on cholesterol,” comes very close to describing what has been learned in just the past few years.

With the emergence of the cholesterol-rich lipid raft observations, the role of cholesterol in cell recognition and communication has been established. That cholesterol strengthens and stabilizes the functional areas of the cell membrane has been demonstrated.

The role of cholesterol in exocytosis and endocytosis has only recently been established. Exocytosis is the process by which a cell guides the contents of secretory vesicles out of the cell membrane as lipid wraps. These lipid wraps (membrane-bound vesicles) contain soluble proteins and lipids destined for functions outside of the originating cell. Endocytosis is the process by which cells absorb these lipid wraps and the molecules they carry (such as proteins) from outside the cell by engulfing it within their cell membrane, amoeba fashion.

Cholesterol in the cell membrane also protects the cells’ contents from leakage and loss. This is important when the cell stores energy, ready for some activity like thought (neuron) or exercise (muscle cell). The process of creating energy in all cells is dependent upon what is called electrochemical gradients; the accumulation of sodium ions or protons on one side of the membrane compared to the other, by pumping action through specialized membrane pores.

If ATP ( adenosine triphosphate ) is the gasoline that fuels our cells, sodium electrochemical gradients are the basis of the process that makes the ATP. The accumulation of sodium ions is accompanied by a natural leakage rate. The reason for the cholesterol-rich layer of lipids in these plasma membranes is to prevent this leakage by serving as what amounts to an insulator.

Biochemist Thomas Haines proposed in 2002 that cholesterol is a key inhibitor of sodium ion leakage. Low cholesterol or any process that artificially lowers membrane cholesterol below natural limits must interfere with ATP production.

Of particular interest is Haines’ discovery that cholesterol’s role in electro-chemical gradient leakage control is quite comparable to that of both CoQ10 and dolichols. Haines maintains that dolichols are responsible for leakage control of lysosomes (our intracellular disposal units) and ubiquinone (CoQ10) serves as leakage control for our mitochondrial sodium ion.

Since statin drugs inhibit the synthesis of all three of these lipids (cholesterol, dolichol and ubiquinone) by the mevalonate blockade common to all reductase inhibitors, this work of Haines and other biochemists serves to document the inevitability of both mitochondrial damage and energy loss associated with statin use.

Indeed it is unfortunate that this information was not available to the developers of the reductase inhibitor class of drugs. Tens of thousands of statin side effects claims have been dismissed as “to be expected at your age.”

You can imagine that in the case of neurons and nerves, all the electrical activity transmitted down the connecting axons requires an elaborate containment of impulse and defense against burn out (oxidation).

Our neurons and nerves have evolved a protective wrapping of myelin. This myelin is continuously maintained by specialist cells. Oligodendrocytes maintain the myelin wrapping for the neurons and Schwann cells maintain the myelin sheathing for our nerves. Myelin is made up of about 40% cholesterol molecules and cholesterol is a very good insulator and antioxidant.

Paul Ridker discussed the effects of statin therapy on incident diabetes, having presented data showing that statins significantly promote diabetes in 6 out of the 7 trials he reviewed. Our internal insulin supply is facilitated by cholesterol and recently Xia and co-workers demonstrated a causal link between membrane cholesterol lowering and the impairment of insulin granule release.

The impairment of the exocytosis of myelin has been cited as an explanation of the reduced myelination of glial cells and Schwann cells (a form of glial cell responsible for the myelination of nerve fibers (as in multiple sclerosis).

The maintenance and repair of neurons and nerves requires huge amounts of cholesterol. Neural systems have significant vulnerability to cholesterol depletion through the reduction in the synaptic exocytosis and endocytosis of essential signaling lipoproteins. The diminished exocytosis of neuromuscular junction (Agrin, LRP4 and MuSK) enzyme secretions has implications in the etiology of neuromuscular junction disease (ALS).

Cholesterol is not only the most common organic molecule in the brain, it is also distributed intimately throughout the entire body. Additionally, cholesterol is the precursor for a whole class of hormones known as the steroid hormones that are absolutely critical for life as we know it. Such hormones include estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, aldosterone, cortisol and calcitrol (vitamin D). These hormones determine our sexuality, control the reproductive process, and regulate blood sugar levels and mineral metabolism.

Beyond this, there is yet another class of cholesterol’s steroid offspring without which our metabolic well-being might be in serious jeopardy: the production of bile acids. Bile makes it possible for us to emulsify fats and other nutrients. Without bile, we could not digest and absorb the fats in our diet and would slowly starve.

We must also note that HMG-CoA reductase, the key enzyme target for statin use, is found in the membrane walls of the endoplasmic reticulum and the mitochondrial wall. These cell membranes contain between 20% and 50% cholesterol molecules.

The large amounts of cholesterol required for both the formation and function of these basic structures argues strongly against the rationality of excessively liberal use of drugs such as statins that inhibit cholesterol synthesis.

Duane Graveline MD MPH
Former USAF Flight Surgeon
Former NASA Astronaut
Retired Family Doctor

Next Article -

*******************The Cholesterol Scam********************

Written by Dr. Joe Carrano
Wednesday, 25 December 2013

We are told that cholesterol is a major cause of heart disease. At least 40 million Americans

are currently taking cholesterol-lowering medications, known as statins, and millions more

people are avoiding foods that contain saturated fat and cholesteroL

The basic idea is that dietary saturated fat raises cholesterol levels, and these two

substances somehow clog-up our arteries, causing a heart attack.

However, a number of doctors and researchers have been challenging this hypothesis for

decades, and the latest heart disease statistics reveal some alarming facts. Such as:

a. People with high cholesterol tend to live longer

b. People with heart disease tend to have low levels of cholesterol

c. Cholesterol-lowering on a population level does not reduce the rate of heart disease

In addition, despite their widespread use, and description as “wonder drugs,” statin

medications do not extend life for the majority of people that take them.

Cholesterol lowering drugs have become a huge global industry, generating around $30

billion each year and climbing. My question is: Have the facts about heart disease,

cholesterol and cholesterol medications been distorted by the pharmaceutical companies

and food manufactures so as to increase their profits?

In the beginning the diet-heart hypothesis also known as the cholesterol hypothesis, has for

many years focused on heart attack prevention strategies around the world.

It is important to note the word “hypothesis.” The fact is that these ideas have never

actually been proven.

Ancel Keys was the father of this hypothesis due to his now infamous six country study in

1953, where he plotted on a graph the dietary fat intake of six countries against the

numbers of deaths from heart disease. His graph showed a straight line relationship

between higher fat intake and increased mortality.

However at the time of the study, there were data also available for another 16 countries.

Keys omitted these 16 countries form his study because they did not fit his suggested linear

relationship.

If the diet heart hypothesis was valid, we would of course expect to find that countries

having a high rate of heart attacks, also have higher cholesterol levels, This was and is not

the case! For example the United Kingdom had one of the highest rates of coronary events

at the same time as having a below average cholesterol level. The UK is not an isolated

case, when we look at the data; there is no correlation between the cholesterol levels of a

country and that country’s rate of heart attack/coronary events. For example, there have

been large reductions in the number of people with high cholesterol in the UK, but the rate

of heart disease has stayed the same.

If we look at the socioeconomic levels we find that people with low income levels have a

much higher risk of dying of heart disease; but their cholesterol levels are lower.

All of the experts agree that heart disease is a complex condition, with several contributing

factors, however, this data raises questions about the importance of high cholesterol.

BAD CHOLESTEROL

Better known as LDL. Statin drugs are prescribed to lower “bad” cholesterol levels (LDLs).

However a large study published in the American Heart Journal 2009 found that the level of

so called BAD cholesterol is actually lower in people with heart disease, not higher!!!!!

This study included 137,000 people admitted to hospitals with heart disease. The

researchers found that the average LDL level for this group was actually lower than the

average level for the American population.

STATINS

Around 75% of all people who take a statin are taking it for primary prevention. This means

they do not have a heart problem but are taking the medication in the hope of preventing a

heart problem in the future. There are a number of large clinical trials that have not been

able to conclusively show any benefit from taking a statin for this reason.

The AFCAPS, ASCOT, CARDS, PROSPER and the WOSCOPS clinical trials all failed to show a

reduction in deaths while taking a statin.

In 2008 pharmaceutical companies trumpeted the results of the JUPITER trial. Serious

cardiac events were reduced by less than one percent. An article published in the Archives

of Internal Medicine 2010 questioned the validity of the data from the JUPITER trial and

raised concerns about the role of the company sponsoring the trial. Another article published

in the journal Cardiology 2011 raised similar concerns.

In 2011 the highly respected Cochran Collaborative conducted a review of statin clinical

trials. Based on this, they said they could not recommend the use of statins for primary

prevention and, they continued, stating that any benefit was so small that it could come

down to chance, and if even if ft was a real benefIt, 1000 people would have to be treated

for one year to prevent one death.

Even if statins do provide a short term benefit for those with a heart problem, it is debatable

that this has anything to do with the cholesterol lowering effect of statins. Quite simply, the

amount of benefit does not match up with the degree of cholesterol- lowering. The potential

beneficial effects of statins for people with heart disease is now widely recognized to be

associated with a reduction in inflammation. And recent evidence suggest that this is

mediated through an improvement in iron metabolism.

Just for thought: Statins reduce COQ1O levels in the heart, this will lead to heart disease,

and decreased energy levels.

New study confirms statins cause EYE problems. Statin users are 50% more likely to

develop age related cataracts and Type 2 diabetics who use statins are at even greater risk

of Cataracts.

Cholesterol is used by the body for over a thousand purposes, one is to make hormones.

The heart is the largest receptor of hormones. If I reduce my hormone production, will that

not cause heart disease?

Cholesterol is used to plug up holes In arteries and veins

Cholesterol interacts with proteins in the inside of cells. These proteins play a vital role in

cell signaling.

Cholesterol makes up 30-40% of every cells membrane (outer shell), which keeps the cell

structurally rigid. This keeps the cells working correctly, thus reducing the chance of

disease.

CHOLESTEROL PLAYS A VITAL ROLE IN THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE CELL

Cholesterol derivatives play an important role in the immune system and could protect

humans from a wide range of viruses. Cholesterol-25-hydroxylase (CH25H) converts

cholesterol to an antiviral factor. This inhibits the growth of a wide range of deadly viwses.

This may be one reason why people with low cholesterol tend to die more frequently from

infections.

1997 researchers in the Netherlands found that life expectancy increases when cholesterol

levels are higher. Those with higher cholesterol levels appeared to be better protected from

cancer and infections.

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