Neurodegenerative Disease
Carl Mohner turned eighty in August of 2001. Art Lovers around the world celebrated his birthday but especially those in McAllen, Texas. Carl, who would become a legend, started out as an actor in Salzburg, Austria, in 1941. After the Second World War disrupted his career for a time, Carl returned to film, and in 1951 he starred in Vagabunden der Liebe, the first of more than sixty films.
Table of Contents
- Among his most notable is The Last Bridge, which won the Golden Palm Award at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, as did the French production Rififii the following year, now considered a classic.
- American audiences would best remember Carl as Captain Lindeman in Sink the Bismark or as Peter the fish cook in The Kitchen. Despite his success in film, Carl’s first love was painting.
- Textures and depth became as fascinating to him as the characters in a movie, and to Carl, color spoke the words of life’s drama. The canvas became the stage upon which the artist displayed his passion.
Read And Learn More: Nutrition Medicine Physicians Defense Notes
- One day Carl recognized this same passion in the heart of another painter, Wilma Langhamer, who became his wife in 1978. They left Europe for America, the land of opportunity.
- They dreamed big dreams and moved to the heart of Texas. Life was good and both artists produced an impressive body of work until 1988, when Carl’s life was forever changed.
- Carl was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The illness rose dark on the horizon of his and Wilma’s future and threatened to rob them of all they lived for. But for Carl, change has never been synonymous with a lack of success.
- Predictably, speech became increasingly more difficult for Carl and his ability to walk declined dramatically. But color and drama still danced before his eyes, driving him back to the canvas day after day.
- In spite of an unknown future, Carl would paint as long as he could. Some days he felt as though he was swimming through quicksand. Carl’s body became the largest obstacle of his life. But the challenge was nothing new.
- While recalling his early years, the painter remembered the rigidity (one hallmark of Parkinson’s disease) that was present even years prior to his diagnosis.
- Carl’s strength of will simply had to outmaneuver the limits of his body. He pushed on and continued to paint at a torrential pace, producing more than fifteen hundred paintings between 1990 and 1995.
- Though traditional medications helped initially, by the mid-nineties the artist was essentially wheelchair-bound, though he never stopped painting. In the summer of 1999, Carl consulted me to see if nutrition could offer any help.
Following my recommendations, Carl started a potent antioxidant and mineral tablet along with a high dose of grape-seed extract and Coenzyme Q10.
- After about six months Carl noted some recovery in the movement of his tongue, and he was able to get up and walk for short distances. I decided to increase the amount of grape-seed extract.
- He reported back to me that he was now able to get up and down to walk about twenty times each day. His physical therapy also helped, and his overall strength began to improve.
- The most exciting thing for Carl was the fact that he was able to continue to paint. When he painted, he could forget about Parkinson’s disease, at least for a while.
- Most would look at Parkinson’s as an artist’s worst enemy because it significantly affects muscle movements. But Carl continues to show his work at some of the nation’s most competitive art shows.
- In September of 2000, he won first place in 2-D Mixed Media at the highly regarded Plaza Art Fair in Kansas City, Missouri. In March of 2001 at the Bayou City Art Festival in Houston, he again received Best of Mixed Media 2-D.
- In honor of Carl’s eightieth birthday, Vernon Weckbacher, curator of the collection with McAllen International Museum, wrote, “Carl, you see the beautiful and thought-provoking in ordinary things, and through your artwork, you impart your special insights to those around you.
- As a human being, I am awed by the beauty Carl communicates through art. As a physician, I am amazed by the fact that he is still able to paint at all, let alone communicate through the medium of art and compete at the highest level of his craft.
- “People respond strongly to his art,” says Carl’s wife, Wilma. “This is what he lives for. When he is absorbed in his work, Parkinson’s disease ceases to exist for that moment. It’s just him and the painting.”
- Not only is Carl’s life a tribute to his character; it speaks of the empowering results of nutritional medicine. The legend of Carl Mohner is still alive today.
Oxidative Stress And The Brain
Have you ever thought about your ability to think? Thinking about thinking-now there’s a concept! When you reach back into your memory banks and recall a vivid childhood experience or that special moment with your family.
- Do you ever marvel at how you can remember even some of the smallest details? Stop reading for a moment and take a look out your window.
- Have you ever considered with amazement your colored, wide-angled, binocular vision? This is all possible only with God’s marvelous creation, the brain.
- The brain is our most precious organ because without its full function, we humans simply exist, unable to relate to the world around us. My mother died of an aggressive brain tumor that affected her ability to interpret speech and speak.
- It was the most frustrating time of my life because she couldn’t understand what we were saying. When we told her we loved her, all we got in return was a blank stare. Her own words were garbled and made no sense at all.
- Needless to say, protecting my brain has definitely become a priority. It should come as no surprise to you now that even the brain (central nervous system) and our nerves (peripheral nervous system) are not out of the reach of oxidative stress.
- This common enemy has been strongly implicated in a variety of diseases that wreak devastating damage on the brain and nerves, known as neurodegenerative diseases.
- Some of these include Alzheimer’s dementia, Parkinson’s disease, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), multiple sclerosis, and Huntington’s chorea.
In fact, there are several reasons why the brain and the nerves are especially vulnerable to oxidative stress:
- Relative to its size, the brain experiences an increased rate of oxidative activity, which creates a significant number of free radicals.
- The normal activity that various chemicals create to establish nerve conduction is a major producer of free radicals.
- The brain and nerve tissue contain relatively low levels of antioxidants.
- Millions of nonreplicable cells make up the central nervous system. This means that once they are damaged, they are most likely dysfunctional for life.
- The brain and nervous system are easily disrupted. A small amount of damage in a critical area can cause severe problems.
The brain is the most important organ of our body. Our thoughts, emotions, and our ability to reason and communicate with the outside world are all in danger if something damages our brains.
How can we best defend this most precious asset? It is not just a matter of trying to avoid the devastation of neurodegenerative diseases, but first and foremost, it is a matter of protecting our ability to think and reason.
Aging Of The Brain
Oxidative stress is the leading cause of the aging process. Nowhere is evidence for this concept stronger than when it comes to the actual aging of the brain.
- Several scientific studies have shown oxidative damage to the mitochondria (the furnace of the cell) and to the DNA of the brain cell. This can lead to the malfunction or even the death of these very sensitive brain cells.
- As I have pointed out, brain cells do not have the ability to regenerate themselves. So as we lose more and more brain cells throughout our lifetime due to this oxidative damage, the brain simply does not function as well as it did when we were younger.
- In medical terms, this leads to what is called loss of cognition. In lay terms, this is a decrease in our ability to think or reason. Therefore, oxidative damage to our sensitive brain cells is the greatest enemy to the functioning of our brain.
- Aging of the brain is essentially the first stage of degeneration of these very important cells in our body.
- Just as we don’t contract other degenerative diseases out of the blue, people don’t just wake up one day and have Alzheimer’s dementia or Parkinson’s disease.
- These diseases represent the end stages of oxidative damage to the brain. They are merely part of a progression that begins with the aging of the brain. When eventually enough brain cells are damaged, a disease manifests.
- When a patient is first diagnosed as having Parkinson’s disease, more than 80 percent of the brain cells in a particular part of the brain called the substantia nigra have already been destroyed.
- The same is true for someone who develops Alzheimer’s dementia. These neurodegenerative diseases have actually been developing over a period of ten to twenty years.
- Let’s look at some of these diseases individually.
Aging Of The Brain Alzheimers Dementia
Alzheimer’s dementia affects more than 2 million Americans and is the major cause for admission to nursing homes.’ Alzheimer patients not only don’t know what day it is, they don’t even recognize their own families.
- Nothing is more devastating than losing the ability to think. Anyone who has had to deal with Alzheimer’s dementia within his family understands just how tragic this is.
- If you have a loved one who suffers from Alzheimer’s, you appreciate the fact that it is the quality of life, not the quantity of life, with which most of us are concerned.
- I have treated hundreds of Alzheimer’s patients over my career. I have seen them live ten to fifteen years of their lives isolated mentally from their family and friends.
- As I am writing this chapter, former President Ronald Reagan “celebrated” his ninety-first birthday. Sadly, the news media reported that he has not made a public speech in more than ten years.
- The passage of another birthday becomes an empty and painful event for those suffering from Alzheimer’s dementia and their families.
- Numerous studies have presented evidence that clearly demonstrates free radical damage as the cause of Alzheimer’s dementia.
Recent findings by researchers at Case Western Reserve University concluded that increasing oxidative stress with age most likely accounts for all aspects of Alzheimer’s disease.
- Strong evidence exists that patients with Alzheimer’s have significantly depleted levels of antioxidants in their brains as well as high levels of oxidative stress.
- There is now great interest in the therapeutic benefits that Alzheimer’s patients could receive from antioxidants. The New England Journal of Medicine reported in April 1997.
- A study showed that high doses of vitamin E could significantly decrease the progression of Alzheimer’s dementia.
- Patients with moderate Alzheimer’s who took 2,000 IU of vitamin E in supplementation were able to remain at home an additional two to three years longer than the control group members, who took a placebo.
- It is not hard to realize the cost savings (not to mention the peace of mind) each family could enjoy by postponing nursing-home care for any length of time.
- Other clinical trials in which patients with Alzheimer’s dementia used various antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E, zinc, selenium, and rutin (a bioflavonoid antioxidant) have also been encouraging.
Aging Of The Brain Parkinson’s Disease
- A stooped posture, slow voluntary movement, rigidity, and a “pill-rolling” tremor that causes the hands to move back and forth in a “rolling” action characterize Parkinson’s disease.
- Public appearances by Muhammad Ali have made us all more aware of the effects of this debilitating disease. These encumbrances are the reason Carl’s story is so profound.
- Unbelievably, Carl’s disease is much more severe than Ali’s, and yet he is still able to paint. A wide variety of studies support the role of free radicals as the underlying cause of Parkinson’s.
- The actual cell death (approximately 80 percent) in the area of the brain called the substantia nigra leads to decreased production of dopamine, a substance that allows the brain to function normally.
- Studies indicate that patients with early Parkinson’s disease who received high doses of vitamin C and vitamin E were able to slow the progression of their disease.
- They actually avoided taking any medication for their disease for approximately two years longer than the control group.
- Glutathione and N-acetyl-L-cysteine (both antioxidants) were also effective in protecting the nerves in the substantia nigra from further damage by oxidative stress.
Aging Of The Brain Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis affects about 250,000 Americans and is about twice as common in women as in men.10 Unlike Alzheimer’s dementia and Parkinson’s disease, in which the brain cells are actually damaged.
- This disorder affects the myelin sheath (the insulation around the nerve). This breakdown of the myelin, called demyelination, results in impairment of the function of the nerve.
- It is like an electrical wire that shorts out because of a breakdown in the insulation around the wire, and it is responsible for the clinical symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
- Dr. S. M. LeVine proposed in 1992 that the hydroxyl free radical found in excess within the myelin sheath caused multiple sclerosis.
- ” Other investigators have documented the fact that oxidative stress was significantly higher in patients with MS during a flare-up when compared to MS patients who were stable.”
- MS differs from other neurodegenerative diseases in that the mechanism of injury to the central nervous system and peripheral nerves is the immune system, rather than outside toxins.
- When one’s own immune system attacks the myelin sheath, this creates oxidative stress that then damages the nerve. Multiple sclerosis responds amazingly well to cellular nutrition.
- There is no doubt in my mind that unlike Alzheimer’s dementia and Parkinson’s disease, in which irreversible damage has been done to brain cells, the body does have the potential to repair damage to the myelin sheath.
Placing MS patients on potent antioxidants is critical. In an attempt to slow or even reverse Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, or Alzheimer’s dementia, we haven’t yet used antioxidants to their full potential.
- This is true for a couple of major reasons. First, as I said earlier, by the time a physician is able to diagnose Alzheimer’s dementia or Parkinson’s disease, a significant number of cells in the brain have already been destroyed.
- We just don’t start treatment soon enough. Second, if we are going to see any success in decreased risk or delayed progression of neurodegenerative diseases, we must research the effects of antioxidants that cross over into the brain easily.
- Third, for patients with a disease like multiple sclerosis, we need to also use antioxidants that are going to be more effective in getting into both the brain and the nerves.
- Researchers are not yet studying antioxidants that can smoothly pass through what is known as the blood-brain barrier.
The Blood Brain Barrier
The brain needs a barrier that separates it from the blood to permit complex nerve signaling. The blood-brain barrier is a thick lining of epithelial cells that are present in the small arteries that course through the brain.
- This lining is designed with very tight junctions, which makes the crossover of nutrients into the brain cells particularly difficult.
- Important nutrients needed by the brain actually have specialized transporting proteins available allowing them to cross this barrier.
- At the same time toxic substances, infectious organisms, and most other nutrients have difficulty passing through this barrier. This keeps the brain isolated with only its most essential nutrients able to enter.
- Much like a medieval castle surrounded by water and a high wall whose entry is a drawbridge, our brain also has significant protection from the dangers of the outside world.
- God created this amazing defensive barrier for the protection of this very sensitive area of our body. So you wonder, What has gone wrong in the case of aging of the brain and neurological disease?
- The neurology department at the Rabin Medical Center in Tel Aviv concluded that as a result of today’s environment, the brain is exposed to a significantly increased amount of toxins, such as heavy metals, and thus oxidative stress.
The antioxidant defense system is no longer completely effective in protecting this vital organ.
- They believe that additional antioxidants, which particularly need to be taken in supplementation, have the potential for diminishing or maybe even preventing the damage increased oxidative stress causes.
- They warn, however, that the antioxidants must be ones that can readily cross over the blood-brain barrier.” Let’s take a look at each of the important antioxidants needed to protect the sensitive cells in our brain and how well they traverse the blood-brain barrier.
The Right Antioxidants For The Brain
The Right Antioxidants For The Brain Vitamin E
- Vitamin E is a fat-soluble antioxidant, which is very important in the protection of brain and peripheral nerve cells. Vitamin E is able to cross through the blood-brain barrier, but it does have some difficulty.
- Researchers have to use very high doses of vitamin E in supplementation in order to increase the level of vitamin E in this area of the body.
- Therefore, vitamin E is an important antioxidant in protecting brain cells but probably not the best one in this situation.
The Right Antioxidants For The Brain Vitamin C
- Vitamin C can concentrate in the tissue and fluid around the brain and nerves. It is able to pass through the blood-brain barrier, and in fact, vitamin C levels are ten times higher in this tissue than in the plasma.
- ” When you realize that vitamin C is not only a great antioxidant but also has the ability to regenerate vitamin E and glutathione, it becomes a very important nutrient in protecting brain and nerve cells.
- Dr. M. C. Morris reported a study showing that vitamin C and vitamin E given in supplementation to normal patients over the age of sixty-five actually decreased their risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia.
- This was a small study and larger, more aggressive studies need to be done.
The Right Antioxidants For The Brain Glutathione
- Glutathione is the most important antioxidant within the brain and nerve cells. But this nutrient is difficult to absorb from oral supplements, and its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier is not yet clear.
- Some studies using IV glutathione have shown significant improvements in patients with Parkinson’s disease; however, these studies involved only a few patients.
- The best strategy at this time is to supplement the nutrients the body needs to make its own glutathione (N-acetyl-L-cysteine, niacin, selenium, and vitamin B2).
- You also need to have those antioxidant nutrients available that regenerate the glutathione so it can be used again and again (vitamin C, alpha-lipoic acid, and CoQ10).
The Right Antioxidants For The Brain Alpha-Lipoic acid
- The medical community is recognizing alpha-lipoic acid more and more as an important antioxidant.” It is not only both fat and water-soluble, it also has the ability to readily cross over the blood-brain barrier.
- It can regenerate vitamin C, vitamin E, intracellular glutathione, and CoQ10.
- Another important aspect of alpha-lipoic acid is that it can attach itself to toxic metals in the brain and help eliminate them from the body. Heavy metals such as mercury, aluminum, and cadmium.
- And lead has been implicated in increasing the risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases. These metals tend to deposit themselves in brain tissue because of the high amount of fat concentrated in that part of the body.
- ” These metals can cause a significantly increased amount of oxidative stress and are extremely difficult to remove from the central nervous system once they are there.
Antioxidants that not only are potent but have the ability to help remove these toxic heavy metals will become increasingly important in the prevention and treatment of these diseases.
- As a side note, I believe it is wise to eliminate the use of products, such as deodorants and cooking utensils, that contain aluminum.
- When you realize that heavy metals actually increase the amount of oxidative stress in the body, especially the brain, you will want to decrease your exposure to them.
- I anticipate that over the next several years we will hear more and more about mercury toxicity and how it too can cause significant damage to the brain.
- I would encourage everyone, but especially those with children, to avoid getting mercury amalgam fillings in their teeth. If you ask your dentist about possible alternatives to these mercury amalgams, he does have much safer options.
- (Don’t run out and have all of your mercury fillings removed, though. If it is not done properly, it may cause more harm than if you just leave them alone.)
The Right Antioxidants For The Brain Coenzyme Q10
- Coenzyme Q10, as you will recall, is a very potent antioxidant as well as one of the most important nutrients for the production of energy within the cell.
- Clinical studies have shown that oxidative damage in the mitochondria (this is where CoQ10 works) is an important aspect in the development of neurodegenerative diseases.
- As we age, the level of CoQ10 in our brains and nerve cells decreases significantly. CoQ10 may be a missing link in the prevention of diseases like Alzheimer’s dementia and Parkinson’s disease; however, further human clinical studies are still necessary.
- How well CoQ10 passes through the blood-brain barrier has not yet been fully evaluated.
The Right Antioxidants For The Brain Grape-Seed Extract
- Studies show that grape-seed extract crosses the blood-brain barrier quite readily.
- It is an exceptionally potent antioxidant, and the mere fact that high concentrations can be obtained in the fluid and cells of the brain and nerve tissue makes it an ideal antioxidant for the brain.
- My experience shows that this nutrient is a major player in the amazing results I have seen among patients who are suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. I believe it is by far the most important optimizer in these diseases.
- It is obviously one of the antioxidants that researchers should use further in studies involving these diseases.
Protecting Our Most Precious Asset
Everyone desires to maintain and protect the ability to reason and think. In fact, losing this ability is probably the number one fear of most of my patients. When a person forgets where he put his keys or can’t remember his neighbor’s name, he often comes to my office fearing he has developed Alzheimer’s dementia.
- As we age, we will all have this concern at one time or another. I do not have a fear of dying because of my faith in Christ: to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
- 20 But after practicing medicine for over three decades and seeing so many disabled patients, I do live with a nagging concern of being trapped in my body.
- I have patients with Alzheimer’s dementia who have not recognized their spouses or kids for more than a decade, and yet their general physical health is still good. Walk through a nursing home and you will understand why I am so concerned.
- The principle of optimizing our own natural antioxidant defense system is paramount when it comes to protecting the cells in our brain against our common enemy, oxidative stress.
Remember, we must focus on prevention and protection, because once a brain cell is destroyed it is not readily replaced.
- There are two main concepts to keep in mind if we are going to have any effect on decreasing the incidence of these seriously disabling diseases: First, we must use a cocktail of antioxidants that will work in synergy while readily crossing over the blood-brain barrier.
- Second, we need to avoid any excessive exposure to the heavy metals I mentioned and other toxins in our environment. Balance is the key, and we must work on decreasing our toxic exposures as well as building up our body’s natural defenses.
- I believe the cellular nutrition program that I present will help the individual who is healthy accomplish his goals for brain health and preservation.
- If you are already concerned about a decline in your ability to remember things or have a strong history of Alzheimer’s in your family, you may want to add some additional nutrients that I call optimizers.
- These are those antioxidants that are known to cross over this blood-brain barrier readily, such as grape-seed extract.
Rosss Story
Ross is a cowboy who seems to have walked right off the screen of an old Western. His love of horses goes hand in glove with his love for the sport of roping. And he’s good. Western competitors cringe when they see Ross ride into the arena-they know he’s stiff competition. For years Ross was one of the best.
- He cleaned house at the South Dakota “jackpots.” But a few years ago, Ross began noting numbness in his legs. At first, he was not too concerned, but then the numbness spread up to his hips and eventually his lower back.
- The cowboy finally made an appointment with his doctor and after many, many tests, he received the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Ross was devastated. I don’t know if cowboys cry, but they can sure be a stubborn lot.
- This roper wasn’t about to give up. He would literally get on his horse, unable to feel the bottom half of his body and participate in team roping events.
- Ross now admits it probably wasn’t the smartest thing he’s ever done, since his balance in the saddle was significantly compromised, but he had to keep living, and roping was his life.
- It was about this time that Ross began looking into additional therapies for his MS. He heard me speak at a local meeting, and soon after began the nutritional supplement program I recommend to my patients with MS. Within months he began to feel better.
- The numbness and weakness in his legs began to improve. Today, about three years later, Ross believes that he has fully recovered.
- The strength in his legs is back to normal, and he has absolutely no numbness in his legs, feet, or lower back. He is back to roping and again feels safe in the saddle.
- No doubt his fellow roping competitors are back to cringing when Ross pulls up to the rodeo grounds.
Leave a Reply