Diseases/Conditions

Ease Alzheimer’s with Prescription-Only ‘Medical Food’ or Eat Real Food & Avoid It.

July 27, 2012 by admin in Food/Nutrition with 1 Comment

Souvenaid is a so-called “medical food” available only by prescription and sold at medical prices. But, it contains nutrients that you can get to do it yourself and not only slow Alzheimer’s, but possibly prevent it!

Happy older coupleby Heidi Stevenson

In their continuing attempts to take over everything that affects health, modern medicine has patented a combination of nutrients to improve synapse dysfunction in people with early stage Alzheimer’s disease. The product, called Souvenaid, has been investigated and found to be remarkably effective, certainly far superior to any drugs. Patients’ memory performance continuously increased during a 24-week trial, which was extended to double the length with the same memory-improving performance through 48 weeks(1).

The product, Souvenaid, is being touted as “medical nutrition” and is expected to be available in Europe this fall and in the United States next year. In spite of being a “food”, it will be available only with a doctor’s prescription!

As is typical in modern medicine, the product is inferior to what you can produce yourself. One of the ingredients in this patented “medical food” is synthetic Vitamin E, instead of natural. Synthetic Vitamin E can do more harm than good—but of course, modern medicine doesn’t recognize that there’s a difference between natural food and chemical copies.

Described as either yogurt-like or similar to a milkshake, one must wonder what other ingredients are in the product. If it actually contains milk, then it will be ultrapasteurized, since the product is not refrigerated. If it doesn’t contain milk, then it probably includes a mass of other chemicals.

Of course, the study doesn’t compare the results of patients who simply take quality natural nutrients with ones who drink Souvenaid. That might provide some interesting results!

The “Medical Food” Nutrients

So what are these miracle ingredients? Most are commonly available, and all can be obtained:

  • Eicosapentaenoic acid, 300 mg: An omega-3 fatty acid, commonly found in cold-water fatty fish like salmon. Readily obtainable as a supplement.
  • Docosahexaenoic acid, 1200 mg: An omega-3 fatty acid, commonly found in cold-water fatty fish like salmon. Readily obtainable as a supplement.
  • Phospholipids 106 mg: Any of a large group of fatty acids that make up a substantial portion of cell membranes. Readily obtainable as lecithin in a supplement.
  • Choline, 400 mg: Sometimes labeled as a B vitamin, choline is a nutrient that the body makes in small quantities. Readily obtainable as a supplement.
  • Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol equivalents), 40 mg: Vitamin that includes a range of similar chemical compounds. The alpha tocopherol form is often synthesized, but it’s critical to take only naturally-occurring forms, which are readily obtainable as a supplement.
  • Selenium, 60 µg: An element found on the periodic table that’s a required nutrient. Readily obtainable.
  • Vitamin B12, 3 µg: One of the B-complex vitamins, required for cell division and brain function. Readily obtainable as a supplement.
  • Vitamin B6, 1 µg: One of the B-complex vitamins, required for many enzyme functions, digestive processes,  and the nervous system. Readily obtainable as a supplement.
  • Folic acid, 400 µg: Also called Vitamin B9. Spina bifida is associated with folic acid deficiency during pregnancy. Should be taken in the natural form of folate. Readily obtainable as a supplement.
  • Uridine monophosphate, 625 mg: Nutrient required to form RNA and DNA, necessary for brain function. Found in milk. This is the most difficult Souvenaid ingredient to obtain, but it can be found on the internet, though usually in bulk from suppliers for chemistry labs. Alternately, it can be obtained easily through some foods, including brewers yeast, liver and heart organ meats, tomatoes, sugar beets and sugar cane or molasses made from them.

The question needs to be asked: Wouldn’t it be better to simply get these nutrients from good healthy food? It isn’t rocket science. Simply find out what foods contain these particular nutrients and advise people to eat adequate quantities of them.

Real Food Sources of the Nutrients

So, what foods contain these nutrients? Here is a far from exhaustive list:

  • Eicosapentaenoic acid: Fish oil, Cod liver oil, Oily fish such as cod, herring, mackerel, salmon, menhaden, and sardines
  • Docosahexaenoic acid: Flaxseed, Eggs, Fish oil, Cod liver oil, Oily fish
  • Phospholipids: Krill oil, Eggs, Organ meats, Shellfish, Oily fish, Seed oils
  • Choline: Eggs, Liver, Oily fish, Shrimp
  • Vitamin E: Wheatgerm oil, Nuts, Nut oils,
  • Selenium: Brazil nuts, Button mushrooms, Cod, Shrimp, Halibut, Salmon, Mustard seeds
  • Vitamin B12: Liver, Oysters (raw), Crab, Clams (raw),
  • Vitamin B6: Bell peppers, Summer squash, Turnip greens, Shiitake mushrooms, Spinach, Tuna
  • Folic acid: Spinach, Asparagus, Turnip greens, Lettuce, Peas, Lentils, Egg yolk, Bakers yeast, Liver, Kidney
  • Uridine monophosphate: Brewers yeast, Liver, Heart, Organ meats, Tomatoes, Sugar beets, Sugar cane, Molasses made from sugar beets or sugar cane

Modern medicine lags behind alternative medicine in recognizing that food matters. Of course, the standard medical approach tends to focus on profit-producing products, especially the sorts of things that come from Big Pharma. So, it should come as no surprise that the focus is on developing a prescription-only “medical food”, which will require doctor visits to obtain prescriptions for exhorbitantly-priced pseudo foods.

There’s ever-so-much-more money to be made through the modern medicine paradigm of doctor visits and prescriptions than there is by providing real information about real methods of maintaining and regaining health. Suggesting that people eat diets high in the foods identified above might not only ease early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, it might even prevent it.

But obviously, modern medicine isn’t about preventing disease—or even curing it. Modern medicine is about treating diseases. That is, modern medicine’s goal is to create regular customers completely dependent on doctors as the gatekeepers for Big Pharma’s products.

On the off-chance that you’re interested in what the scientists who did the study on this “medical food” have to say, you can watch this video:


 

Sources:

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Related Posts

  • Linda Radford

    Dear Heidi, what a refreshingly honest account of souvenaid and the role of diet in preventing disease. Keep up the good work, Dr Linda Mohr (Radford now) BSc (Hons), Dip Ed, PhD (Monash University). I am now in my late 50′s ands retired from medical research, my diet includes all the things you mentioned and some readily available supplements.

Search Gaia Health
newsletter software