Shining a Light on Dementia & Alzheimer's Disease: Natural Treatments You May Have Never Heard Of Mental Health Diseases/Disorders

A new study in the journal Brain and Behavior (Wiley Online Library) shows promising results for treating dementia with light. The recent meta-analysis of 12 randomized studies with 766 dementia patients shows that phototherapy with bright light (full-spectrum, usually over 2500 lux) significantly improves cognition.

The research suggests that phototherapy – used as a standard treatment for Seasonal Affective Disorder – may be one of the most promising non-pharmacological interventions for improving core symptoms of dementia, and inexpensively, non-invasively and safely.

If it was a medication, every doctor would be using it because the marketing muscle of the pharmaceutical industry would be behind it, full force! In addition to phototherapy, published research has shown other “natural” approaches may bring dramatic results for dementia, as well:

1. Multivitamin-Mineral Supplementation

One study presented at the 14th Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease Conference in November 2021 showed that daily multivitamin-mineral supplementation appears to slow cognitive aging by 60 percent or by 1.8 years. According to the researchers, the study “provides new evidence that daily multivitamin supplementation may benefit cognitive function in older women and men, and the multivitamin effects may be more pronounced in participants with cardiovascular disease.

2. Folic Acid

A study in Frontiers in Neuroscience found that folic acid may be helpful at decreasing dementia risk. Low folic acid levels were associated with as much as a doubling of Alzheimer’s risk. It also slowed progression in mild cognitive impairment. Again, if this were a patentable drug, it would be worth multi-billions a year!

3. Curcumin

A meta-analysis on the prevalence of dementia in India – where turmeric and its potent active ingredient curcumin are consumed in virtually every meal – is 70 percent lower than in the United States. Results indicated the number of elderly in India suffering from dementia amounts to 20 per 1000 population, or 2 percent of the elderly. In the U.S., it’s nearly 10 percent of the elderly population. In addition, a study in Neural Regen Res found that "for prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease, curcumin has been shown to effectively maintain the normal structure and function of cerebral vessels, mitochondria and synapses, reduce risk factors for a variety of chronic diseases, and decrease the risk of Alzheimer's disease.” (Check out these recipes using turmeric.)

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