How to prevent Alzheimer’s
GLOBALLY, 18 million people have Alzheimer’s disease. In Malaysia, it is estimated there are currently about 50,000 people with the disease. However, most are not diagnosed. This is because family members think the symptoms are a normal part of growing old and do not seek medical advice
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia among adults ranging from 50-60 years old. It is not part of the natural ageing process, but a disease involving the progressive loss of brain nerve cells essential for normal reasoning, memory and other brain functions.
People with Alzheimer’s disease suffer a decline of mental functions that eventually interferes with normal daily activities. Over time, patients lose the ability to perform even the most basic activities of daily living and in the end, the ability to walk and communicate may be lost as well.
Approximately 60% of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease comes from affected families who suffered Alzheimer’s either from their close relatives, parents and grandparents whereby 1% to 6% of all cases range from 30 to 65 years old.
Thirteen per cent inherited genetic disease of Alzheimer’s disease with at least three generations affected.
Therefore, early protection of brain cells is essential. According to Prof Yuen Kah Hay from the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, to date, palm tocotrienols have been well studied for its main function in brain cell protection. He recently reviewed his human clinical study on palm tocotrienols as brain cells protection in STROKE Journal 2014.
A clinical trial was conducted with 121 human volunteers with high chances of brain cells damage with various selection criteria.
Volunteers were then scanned with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to confirm their brain tissues damage and were randomly given tocotrienols 200 mg in the Suprabio delivery system twice a day or control (supplemented with only edible oil without tocotrienols content). The volunteers were scanned with MRI for the first and second years. Results showed that the damage of the brain tissue of the control group became worse after one year and worsened further after the second year. However, the brain tissue for those who consumed tocotrienols remained unchanged, showing that tocotrienols could protect the brain from further damages. The study concluded that consuming 200 mg of palm tocotrienols twice a day could protect our brain cells.
Unfortunately, palm tocotrienols by nature are known to be poorly absorbed into human body. Hovid Berhad, as a pioneer manufacturer in palm tocotrienols first discovered this issue many years ago.
With its expertise and continuous innovation, Hovid’s research team successfully developed a novel self-emulsifying delivery system called Suprabio, which increases absorption of tocotrienols by 300%.
Suprabio system is validated and clinically proven by Prof Chandan Sen from Ohio State University to effectively reach human brain cells.
In clinical practice, palm tocotrienols could be used as a long-term brain health supplement as a preventive measure of various neurodegenerative disorders.
They are not drugs but natural vitamins that are safe to be taken long-term.
If you have parents with Alzheimer’s, wouldn’t it be better to start to protect yourself early? Start today and protect your brain from Alzheimer’s and dementia.
For queries about palm tocotrienols and brain health, call 03-7831 2738 (weekdays from 9am to 4pm).
References
Bekris et al. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 2010 December ; 23(4): 213–227.
Dumanchin et al. Am J Hum Genet 1999;65(3):664–670.
Brickell et al. Arch Neurol 2006;63(9):1307–1311.