Marama Founder Heather Sandison's "Reversing Alzheimer's" Book Shares Her Experiences with Dementia Reversal

I often refer clients who struggle to incorporate all of Dr. Dale Bredesen's "ReCODE" lifestyle tweaks (and trust me, ticking ALL these boxes is not easy for most people-- but some or many have gotten decent results without doing everything; the trick is to figure out where you can and can't cut corners...) to the growing network of residential ReCode places, like Dr. Sandison's (Marama) in the San Diego area (Vista, CA), as well as the more recent ones in Wichita, Kansas (Avita @ Rolling Hills) and Boothbay, Maine.

(Please let me know if there is one in your community that I have missed, and I will add it here. I'm pretty sure that both George Washington University medical center as well as Weill Cornell in NYC have added programs using the Bredesen or very similar approach, the goal being dementia prevention (Weill Cornell) or prevention-reversal (GW).)

In case you haven't read the Bredesen books or heard about his program, here is a pared down list of what it entails:

1. Ruling out & addressing heavy metals (mercury from seafood, from dental work, from joint replacements, even poorly sourced fish oils; lead & arsenic from many foodstuffs), chronic infections (HSV, EBV, and including mouth), mold toxins, Lyme co-infections

2. Assessing & addressing any hormone issues (most often postmenopausal estrogen plunges, but also testosterone, Dhea & even pregnenolone ("the hormone of memory"))

3. Assessing & addressing any digestive issues (low stomach acid perhaps foremost)

4. Assessing & addressing gut health (and increasingly gut BARRIER INTEGRITY) issues

5. Assessing & addressing nutrient sufficiency (B12 and folate, but many B vitamins, often foremost, but also minerals like magnesium, zinc, even sometimes lithium, boron, iodine; fatty acids; and amino acids (due to stomach acid insufficiency and/or inadequate protein intake)

6. Assessing & addressing sleep sufficiency (including apneic events at night)

7. Assessing & addressing blood glucose level stability (or instability)

8. Adopting a plant-heavy eating plan that includes a pretty generous amount of healthy fats, but is not vegan or even vegetarian

9. Using time restricted eating and both resistance training & aerobic activity to support a ketotic state as well as to stimulate productive hormone production, receptors/receptor density, and overall signaling

10. Adopting a mind-body-spirit nurturing daily routine, often including short meditations & yoga-Tai Qi type activity

Have I left anything out?

And if you happen to live within driving distance to Encinitas, CA, her team even offers "out-patient" services from there. The clinic is called Solcere.

The coolest, newest twist that I discovered having belatedly picked up a copy of her 2024 book, "Reversing Alzheimer's: The New Toolkit to Improve Cognition and Protect Brain Health," is that she has also started video consults as well as a Facebook community support page!

Reverse Alzheimer's At Home Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/740726920550907

Reversing Alzheimer's At Home video "coaching" site: reversingalzheimersathome.com

Her sleep tips and Resources sections are what I have found most useful so far, but I have only skim read the 300-odd pages. She also dedicates quite a few pages-- an ENTIRE CHAPTER actually: "Feed the Brain"-- to ketosis, an indication, I would think, that she has found this piece very helpful or even essential. She also seems to find red light therapy (aka PBM, photobiomodulation) useful, but in her experience mostly for clients who struggle with anger & anxiety.

A separate post on her sleep recs will be forthcoming.

Links:

Marama: www.maramaexperience.com

Solcere: solcere.com

Avita at Rolling Hills (Kansas): www.avitarollinghills.com

Boothbay Region Health Center: www.boothbayhealthcare.org

Bredesen books:

The End of Alzheimer's (2017)

The End of Alzheimer's Program (2020)

The First Survivors of Alzheimer's (2022)

Books by the "First Survivors:"

Francis (Frank) McNear: Defeating Dementia (2018)

(Dr.) Sally Weinrich: TBD

Timeline of research & publications (links forthcoming):

2011: Dr. Bredesen's "ReCODE" (at that time called "MEND" for "Metabolic Enhancement for Neurodegeneration") trial plan rejected by IRB and funding revoked

2014: Dr. Bredesen publishes a case series of 10 people using his approach, 9 of whom improved (link to paper here)

2016: second case series published (link to paper here)

2017: the premier British medical journal, Lancet, publishes first report on 9 modifiable lifestyle factors (obesity, diabetes, hypertension, depression, social isolation, inactivity, smoking, hearing loss, low education) of dementia (link to Lancet paper, abstract only)

2018: Dr. Bredesen publishes a case series of 100 patients

2020: The Lancet adds 3 additional modifiable lifestyle factors (TBI, problem drinking, air pollution) to its original list of 9 to make it 12 (link to Lancet paper, full text)

2020: Dr. Bredesen in collaboration with a handful of other clinicians in the San Francisco area publishes the results of an observational trial of 25 participants where 84% of those who entered with MoCA scores of 19 or above experienced improvement after a nine-month intervention (link to paper, with Kat Toups first author)

2023: SoCal naturopath Dr. Heather Sandison publishes results from Marama's "feasibility" study of 23 patients where 74% (17 o 23) experienced improvement after a six-month intervention. Dr. Sandison & her team accepted people with MoCA scores all the way down to 12 for this! Entry MoCA scores overall ranged from 12 to 23. (link to paper)

2024: "Sustained Improvement" follow-up report (link here)

2024-2025: A multisite, randomized, controlled study is underway under the direction of Dr. Bredesen that is recruiting 70 participants. Stay tuned!