Dementia-proofing your brain

A neurologist's lifestyle guide to ward off memory loss

- By Lauren Shirreff

Dr Dale Bredesen, a neurologist who has worked in many of California's major universities, is known for boldly claiming that Alzheimer's disease can be reversed, even in the case of severe degeneration after several years of living with the condition.

In 2014, Bredesen was touted as the first doctor to have successfully reversed memory loss in people diagnosed with the disease, after a small study he led at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has since written two books about the power of a dementia treatment regimen he has designed, called ReCODE.

He has now written a third, called The Ageless Brain. It is no less defiant of the current medical consensus. Research has shown that “there is no reason why anyone should get dementia in the first place,” Breseden claims, “and the idea that there is nothing that can be done for people who already have the disease is just outdated at this point”. With dementia cases set to triple worldwide by 2050, this is exactly the news that many of us are desperate to hear. But could such a thing really be true?

That our lifestyles go a long way in determining our dementia risk is solid scientific fact. “There is some evidence that certain diets, such as the MIND diet which is based on the traditional Mediterranean diet, can help to prevent dementia or slow cognitive decline,” says Barbara Sahakian, a professor of clinical neuropsychology at the University of Cambridge. “I am yet to see any method that can reverse Alzheimer’s symptoms, however.”