1. HEART FAILURE is a disease that can pose difficult challenge. But some promising medicines are on the horizon. A new type of medication called Sodium Glucose Cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor has shown good results in studies done to treat heart failure. It was originally approved to help people manage diabetes for it controls blood glucose levels. But this medicine and others of the same class have been found to give the heart muscle a boost, support your kidneys and relieve symptoms of heart failure. Studies have shown that people with heart failure who use these drugs can live longer, spend less time in the hospital and enjoy better quality of life.
If you have heart failure speak with your doctor about whether this class of drugs may be an option for you.
2. LIFE STYLE CHANGES MAY SLOW OR PREVENT ALZHEIMER’S DEMENTIA.
New research shows that a set of healthy lifestyle habits can help preserve brain function in folks with mild cognitive impairment or early dementia.
About 71% of patients who ate healthy, exercised regularly and engaged in stress management had their dementia symptoms either remain stable or improve without the use of any drugs. This was reported by researchers in June this year in the journal Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy.
By comparison, about 68% of patients in a control group without these lifestyle changes experienced a worsening of their symptoms.
Researchers also found that the more a patient changed his/her life style in healthy ways and stuck to it, the greater the benefit for their brain power.
This is the first time that lifestyle changes have been shown to have any impact on the progression of dementia and Alzheimer’s.
“I’m cautiously optimistic and very encouraged by these findings, which may empower many people with new hope and new choices,” said lead researcher Dr. Dean Ornish, founder and president of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute.
“We do not yet have a cure for Alzheimer’s, but as the scientific community continues to pursue all avenues to identify potential treatments, we are now able to offer an improved quality of life to many people suffering from this terrible disease,” Ornish added.
One participant said it used to take him weeks to finish reading a book, but after the life-style changes he made, he was able to do so in three to four days while remembering most of whathe read.
A former business executive reported regaining the ability to manage his own finances and retirement.
“It was so much a part of my life — who I am, and who I was — it was hard saying that part of me was just gone,” researchers quoted him as saying. “I’m back to reconciling our finances monthly; I keep up to date on our investments. A lot of self-worth comes back.”
And a woman said that she now is able to accurately prepare the financial reports for the family business, something she’d been unable to do for five years.
“A deep sense of identity is returning,” she told researchers. “It has given me a new life, and I’m coming back like I was prior to the disease being diagnosed. I feel like I’m me again — an older but better version of me.”
For the study, researchers recruited 51 people with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment or early dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease. They were randomly assigned to either the lifestyle change group or a control group.
The people in the lifestyle change group participated in an intensive program with four components:
• A whole-foods, plant-based diet low in harmful fats, refined carbs, alcohol and sweeteners.
• Moderate aerobic exercise and strength training at least a half-hour each day.
• Stress management, including meditation, stretching, breathing and guided imagery, for one hour a day.
• Support groups for patients and their partners for one hour three times a week.
Results after 20 weeks showed significant differences in the lifestyle group versus the control group, both in brain function and in blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer’s, especially the protein amyloid.
Amyloid levels increase in Alzheimer’s dementia. They improved in the lifestyle group but worsened in the control group. In addition, amyloid levels improved more in people who stuck to the lifestyle changes more consistently.
This sort of reduction in amyloid was one piece of evidence that contributed to last year’s FDA approval of a medicine called lecanemab (Leqembi) to treat Alzheimer’s. Amyloid tends to form plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
Lifestyle participants’ gut bacterial make-up also showed a significant decrease in bacteria that increase risk of Alzheimer’s, and an increase in good bacteria that appear to be protective against Alzheimer’s.
This research study has shown a significant advancement in the treatment and protection of cognitive impairment and early dementia. It is an effective tool in the hands of elderly people to protect their mental function.