Understanding Alzheimer's Disease

Lane Simonian

I have been studying Alzheimer's disease for almost twenty years now. When I started in 2004, my aunt and cousin were in the late stages of the disease and my mother was in the early stages of the disease.

This is an extraordinarily complicted disease, but its underlying basis is fairly simple and can be summarized in the following quote:

"The inflammatory mediator peroxynitrite, when generated in excess, may damage cells by oxidizing and nitrating cellular components. Defense against this reactive species may be at the level of prevention of the formation of peroxynitrite, at the level of interception, or at the level of repair of damage caused by peroxynitrite."

Most Alzheimer's disease treamtents do the first (inhibit the formation of peroxynitrite), but very few due the second and third. Aromatherapy and panax ginseng do all three and this is the results:

"In summary, the natural drug volatile oil may play a role in improving cognition by reducing the neurotoxicity of Aβ, anti-oxidative stress, regulating the central cholinergic system, anti-acetylcholinesterase activity, improving microglia-mediated neuroinflammation, reducing inflammatory factor levels, inhibiting neuronal apoptosis, and regulating the balance of central amino acid levels. Compared to existing drugs, volatile oils from natural medicines are a unique health service resource because they are convenient and inexpensive, have fewer side effects and easily cross the blood–brain barrier. The combination of aromatic inhalation therapy, based on the olfactory pathway, can better reflect the characteristics of volatile oils, which are not affected by peripheral metabolism and BBB to deliver drugs into the brain to improve cognition, and can be used as a treatment or as an adjunctive therapy to improve CI [Cognitive impaiment], with clear efficacy and simple safety."

Effect of aromatherapy in patients with Alzheimer's disease: a randomised controlled clinical trial 

"Conclusion: Aromatherapy can improve sleep, alleviate psychobehavioural symptoms and improve quality of life in patients with AD, which may be related to reducing the level of oxidative stress in patients and inhibiting inflammatory factors; it is a non-drug intervention that can be widely applied. " [lavender, sweet orange, and bergamot essential oils]

Effect of aromatherapy on patients with Alzheimer's disease

Results: All patients showed significant improvement in personal orientation related to cognitive function on both the GBSS-J and TDAS after therapy. In particular, patients with AD showed significant improvement in total TDAS scores. Result of routine laboratory tests showed no significant changes, suggesting that there were no side-effects associated with the use of aromatherapy. Results from Zarit's score showed no significant changes, suggesting that caregivers had no effect on the improved patient scores seen in the other tests.

Conclusions: In conclusion, we found aromatherapy an efficacious non-pharmacological therapy for dementia. Aromatherapy may have some potential for improving cognitive function, especially in AD patients. [rosemary, lemon, orange, and lavender essential oils].

Panax Ginseng in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia

Dementia has become one of the most important diseases threatening human health. Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) have the highest incidence rates among the types of dementia, but until now, therapeutic methods have been limited. Panax ginseng has been used in China for thousands of years to treat dementia, and modern medical studies have found that it contains multiple active components, such as ginsenosides, polysaccharides, amino acids, volatile oils and polyacetylenes, many of which have therapeutic effects in treating AD and VaD. Studies have found that ginsenosides have multitarget therapeutic effects in treating dementia, such as regulation of synaptic plasticity and the cholinergic system, inhibition of Aβ aggravation and tau hyperphosphorylation, anti-neuroinflammation, anti-oxidation effects and anti-apoptosis effects. Other active components of Panax ginseng, such as gintonin, oligosaccharides, polysaccharides and ginseng proteins, also have therapeutic effects on AD and VaD. The effectiveness of ginseng-containing Chinese medicine compounds has also been confirmed by clinical and basic investigations in treating AD and VaD. In this review, we summarized the potential therapeutic effects and related mechanisms of Panax ginseng in treating AD and VaD to provide some examples for further studies.

Heat-processed ginseng enhances the cognitive function in patients with moderately severe Alzheimer's disease [Panax Ginseng steamed at higher temperatures]

Results: The treatment groups showed significant improvement on the MMSE and ADAS. Patients with higher dose group (4.5 g/day) showed improvements in ADAS cognitive, ADAS non-cognitive, and MMSE score as early as at 12 weeks, which sustained for 24-week follow-up.

Discussion: These results demonstrate the potential efficacy of a heat-processed form of ginseng on cognitive function and behavioral symptoms in patients with moderately severe AD.

Improvement of Cognitive Deficit in Alzheimer’s Disease Patients by Long Term Treatment with Korean Red Ginseng [Panax Ginseng]

A 24-week randomized open-label study with Korean red ginseng (KRG) showed cognitive benefits in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. To further determine long-term effect of KRG, the subjects were recruited to be followed up to 2 yr. Cognitive function was evaluated every 12 wk using the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS) and the Korean version of the Mini Mental Status Examination (K-MMSE) with the maintaining dose of 4.5 g or 9.0 g KRG per d. At 24 wk, there had been a significant improvement in KRG-treated groups. In the long-term evaluation of the efficacy of KRG after 24 wk, the improved MMSE score remained without significant decline at the 48th and 96th wk. ADAS-cog showed similar findings. Maximum improvement was found around week 24. In conclusion, the effect of KRG on cognitive functions was sustained for 2 yr follow-up, indicating feasible efficacies of long-term follow-up for Alzheimer’s disease.

Compounds in essential oils via aromatherapy and panax ginseng by inhibiting the formation of peroxynitrite, by scavenging peroxynitrite, and by reversing some of the damage done by oxidation and nitration can stablize mild Alzheimer's disease over long periods of time and can considerably slow down the progression of moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease.