Based on a reader’s suggestion, I have modified the suggestions filter by adding filtering of ‘mixed’ suggestions. Mixed suggestions are items that improve some bacteria and deteriorate other bacteria. In other words, we really do not know if we are doing good or bad.
Defaut is show above — it produces the shortest list.
This is the second of a series of posts dealing with various forms of cognitive impairment that are often age related. My first post dealt with Alzheimer’s Disease and later posts on ALS. My personal suspicion is that a significant catalyst (if not actual cause) is the lost of microbiome as we age.
Almost a decade ago, I had a relapse of a condition that I had before and was sent for a SPECT scan. The radiologist suggested that it may be early onset Alzheimer’s. I was having problems with memory then, especially retaining recent memories. In 2017, for the same condition, a patient died and when their brain was examined, this study found
“Among the most remarkable pathological features of the case are focal areas of white matter loss, neurite beading, and neuritic pathology of axons in the white matter with axonal spheroids. Atypical neurons displaying aberrant sprouting processes in response to injury are observed throughout cortical gray and white matter. Abundant amyloid deposits identical to Alzheimer’s disease plaques with accompanying intracellular granular structures are observed as well. Neurofibrillary tangles are also present in the white matter of the frontal cortex, thalamus and basal ganglia. “
For myself, I went into remission. Memory and other issues faded — I am not 100% as strong in some cognitive aspects that I was prior, but to most people they cannot detect the remaining issues.
The condition that I had was successfully treated using a protocol that altered the microbiome. What if this was true for other similar conditions — especially the untreatable ones? Recent literature appears to support this.
A 2011 Study found that Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteomes were different for my condition, a normal population and PTSD. These CFP’s are also heavily studied with Parkinson’s Disease ( 2009 Study) “proteins were identified that were able to differentiate atypical parkinsonian syndrome patients from healthy controls. Our study indicates that markers that may reflect neuronal function and/or plasticity, such as the amyloid precursor protein, and inflammatory markers may hold future promise as candidate biomarkers in parkinsonism.” [2017] – both have novel proteins (i.e. proteins not seen in a healthy population).
My working hypothesis is that these CSF proteins are due to microbiome disruption. This disruption may not be a magic bacteria that causes it, but due to undersupply or oversupply of metabolites causing epigenetic changes in the bacteria resulting in these new proteins. Changes in Bacteroides fragilis is seen with both Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
The hypothesis implies that there would distinctive shifts in bacteria seen with AD. What does the literature say?
If you are a carer for someone with Parkinson’s Disease, you may wish to get a 16S analysis done ( for example uBiome.com – < $100) and upload the results to http://microbiomeprescription.com/. The suggestions there are based on hundreds of studies of what shifts different members of the microbiome. It’s a free site and the information is not available easily any wherelse.
An example of getting suggestions is shown in this post.
I have updated the Parkinson’s Microbiome template on the site, i.e.
Look at the suggestions and discuss them with your treating physician.
This is an education post to facilitate discussing this approach with your medical professionals. It is not medical advice for the treatment of any medical condition. Always consult with your medical professional before doing any changes of diet, supplements or activity. Some items cites may interfere with prescription medicines.
In my last post, Dementia: Alzheimer’s Disease, I gave background on why microbiome alteration may moderate, perhaps reverse, the progression Alzheimer’s disease. In this post, I will show how you can get suggestions.
After uploading your 16S Microbiome (this can be done here), you will see displayed a link to analysis. Clicking it will take you to this page. Click any of the yellow items.
This will then go to the suggestions page.
Instead of trying to change everything, we focus on the bacteria associated with Alzheimer’s. This is simple. Just pick Alzheimer’s
Uncheck all items under Modifier Types except probiotics. There can be information overload with suggestions. Click the button “Modify Recommendation by above choices”
The yellow items above are items where it will make some of the bacteria better and some worst. I usually suggest avoiding all of them unless there are no other choices.
For probiotics, often they are mixtures — if all of them are on the Take list (without any yellow), then that is ideal. For this example, if it contains any lactobacillus acidophilus then do not use it.
If you cannot find some of them, or any mixtures containing poor one, you may wish to go to https://www.customprobiotics.com/ — this site sells single strain probiotics so you just order precisely what you. The price seems high but the actual cost per community forming units is very low. Some, like Mutaflor escherichia coli nissle 1917 (probiotics) is available in only some countries (Canada, Europe, Australia).
Some vitamins act as antibiotics when taken in sufficient dosage. For this sample, only vitamin D, magnesium and selenium are clear suggestions with no known negative aspects. Iron and selenium levels should be checked by your MD before starting. All of them should be at least at the average level according to the lab. For Vitamin D levels I prefer to be close to the top of the range – for older people, this may mean 15,000 IU/day to raise levels.
Explore the other choices. For the above sample, Mediterranean Diet was the strongest suggestion. Using raffinose(sugar beet) for a sweetner.
Interpret “Take” as increase or add to diet. “Avoid” as decrease or remove. Each item should contribute — you do not need to do everything.
This is an education post to facilitate discussing this approach with your medical professionals. It is not medical advice for the treatment of any medical condition. Always consult with your medical professional before doing any changes of diet, supplements or activity. Some items cites may interfere with prescription medicines.
This is the first of a series of posts dealing with various forms of cognitive impairment that are often age related. The next posts deal with Parkinson’s and ALS. My personal suspicion is that a significant catalyst (if not actual cause) is the lost of microbiome as we age.
Almost a decade ago, I had a relapse of a condition that I had before and was sent for a SPECT scan. The radiologist suggested that it may be early onset Alzheimer’s. I was having problems with memory then, especially retaining recent memories. In 2017, for the same condition, a patient died and when their brain was examined, this study found
“Among the most remarkable pathological features of the case are focal areas of white matter loss, neurite beading, and neuritic pathology of axons in the white matter with axonal spheroids. Atypical neurons displaying aberrant sprouting processes in response to injury are observed throughout cortical gray and white matter. Abundant amyloid deposits identical to Alzheimer’s disease plaques with accompanying intracellular granular structures are observed as well. Neurofibrillary tangles are also present in the white matter of the frontal cortex, thalamus and basal ganglia. “
For myself, I went into remission. Memory and other issues faded — I am not 100% as strong in some cognitive aspects that I was prior, but to most people they cannot detect the remaining issues.
The condition that I had was successfully treated using a protocol that altered the microbiome. What if this was true for other similar conditions — especially the untreatable ones? Recent literature appears to support this.
A 2011 Study found that Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteomes were different for my condition, a normal population and PTSD. These CFP’s are also heavily studied with Alzheimer’s Disease (2016 study), “We report strong evidence of previously reported CSF proteins and several novel CSF proteins specifically associated with amyloid pathology or neuronal injury and tau hyperphosphorylation.” [2018] – both have novel proteins (i.e. proteins not seen in a healthy population).
My working hypothesis is that these CSF proteins are due to microbiome disruption. This disruption may not be a magic bacteria that causes it, but due to undersupply or oversupply of metabolites causing epigenetic changes in the bacteria resulting in these new proteins.
The hypothesis implies that there would distinctive shifts in bacteria seen with AD. What does the literature say?
If you are a carer for someone with Alzheimer’s Disease, you may wish to get a 16S analysis done ( for example uBiome.com – < $100) and upload the results to http://microbiomeprescription.com/. The suggestions there are based on hundreds of studies of what shifts different members of the microbiome. It’s a free site and the information is not available easily any wherelse.
An example of getting suggestions is shown in this post.
I have updated the Alzheimer’s Microbiome template, i.e.
Look at the suggestions and discuss them with your treating physician.
This is an education post to facilitate discussing this approach with your medical professionals. It is not medical advice for the treatment of any medical condition. Always consult with your medical professional before doing any changes of diet, supplements or activity. Some items cites may interfere with prescription medicines.
A reader found a bug for low levels of bacteria. To empower readers to be able to check the basic logic being used, I created this post (after fixing the above bug caused by a misplaced minus sign).
One of the goals of the rework was to consolidate the suggestions logic into a single piece of code that will be used everywhere. It means that quality assurance becomes less manpower intensive.
CFS Remission 