Until recently, Dr. Dean Ornish had only ‘anecdotal’, ‘observational’ evidence supporting his theory that dementia could be stopped or even reversed by a combination of diet and lifestyle factors. But now he has ‘real’, scientific proof.
The following is a digest of the November 8, 2024, Chasing Life podcast by CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta…
Lifestyle changes to fight Alzheimer’s?
“In 1990, Dr. Dean Ornish changed the medical world with his groundbreaking work on heart disease,” Gupta begins. “His randomized clinical trial was the first to show that coronary heart disease could be reversed with nothing more than stress reduction, social support, diet and exercise.”
Now, he’s ready to claim that ‘what’s good for the heart is also good for the brain’.
And that’s good news for millions of folks around the world who suffer with Alzheimer’s Disease or other dementias. Or simply carry the burden of knowing they have a high risk of developing demen-tia as they get older. There’s strong evidence that dementia – particular Alzheimer’s – has a high heritability quotient.
Criticism frequent, varied
“Ornish’s approach has sometimes been criticized for being too strict, not practical enough,” Gupta confirms. Yet, predictably, others – traditional adherents to the Scientific Method – say neither Ornish nor others have offered much ‘classic’ research proving plant-based diets could definitively decrease disease.
Nevertheless, there is a constantly growing body of ‘classic’ evidence supporting Ornish’s earlier work.
“These same lifestyle changes could reverse high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type two diabe-tes. Obesity. Early stage prostate cancer can be slowed, stopped, even reversed,” Ornish points out. “And now we’re hoping to show that these same lifestyle changes may reverse the progression of early stage Alzheimer’s.”
Conclusive, controlled, clinical…
Ornish recently completed a long-term (5-year) study of the effects of a vegan diet on the develop-ment of Alzheimer’s. It’s exactly the kind of randomized, controlled, clinical trial his critics have been calling for. And it has shown that the disease can not only be slowed in many victims, but reversed in some.
Some study subjects experienced improvement in as little as 5 months.
But those in the control group, who did not make diet and lifestyle changes, became worse. And only those who made what Ornish calls ‘really big changes’ showed any reversal of their dementia.
The program
Ornish’s program consists of an integrated plan involving the aforementioned vegan diet. The quality of the diet is paramount.
“It’s not just a vegan diet. You know, Twinkies are vegan,” Ornish winks. “It’s a healthy vegan diet. It’s fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, soy products as close to possible as they come in nature.”
In other words, the more you change, the better your results.
And there’s also the program of complementary activities… Like a many a lifestyle-oriented program, Ornish stresses, there’s exercise and meditation involved. And those components of the plan are best undertaken with a partner or in groups.
My take
As I mentioned a few days ago, in a post about our pan-cultural shift to a plant-based future, we’re all headed that way soon, as a matter of survival in the face of climate change.
In that post I stressed the need for us all to start early phasing-in their own, personal plant-based eating approach to avoid both physical and emotional shock. Ornish’s findings about dementia are just another good reason to get off our butts and get on with it.
And what a great prospect… To look forward to a future in which dementia becomes, if not a thing of the past, at least a much-less daunting and socially draining issue!
~ Maggie J.