Review: The Anti-Alzheimer's Prescription

Written by Vincent Fortanasce, MD - Board certified in neurology and rehabilitation - Bioethicst - Clinical Professor of Neurology at Univ. of Southern CA. whose patients have included Pope John Paul II, this book piqued my interest when Bostick offered it. My 80 year old father who periodically complains of age-related-memory-loss, yet seems to be able to recall a lot of information from the various periodicals and books he is constantly reading, came to mind. When I gave him the book, a quick scan brought out the comment: “I’d like to read this. It looks like he includes a lot of the things I find on the net and elsewhere.” I asked him to provide a summary and this is the list he came up with:

1. Genetics: Despite the demonstrated risk involved with a certain APOL allele, there is still “hope” and Dr.’s and patients should fight.
   
   
2. Physical: Sound body = sound mind. Simply stated - doing things that keep us healthy protects us from Alzheimer’s. ( The obvious - don't smoke, do exercise, sleep enough ) Often we associate physical well being with our muscular strength and endurance - but tension and stress, while usually associated with the thinking patterns, are important elements of our physical well being.
   
   
3. A subset of physical involves the diet. Here we need to stress omega-3, DHA&EFA. Also folate. More support for the Mediterranean diet.
   
   
4. Mental: Positive attitude and mental exercises (neurobics). The positive attitude affects stress levels and influences multiple physical systems in our body. Neurobics (a clever coined expression for mental aerobics) not only involves doing puzzles etc. but involving the processes with our various sensory modalities.
   
   
5. Informational sources - a well referenced book within the understanding of a wide range of readers. The material is presented in a way that inspires confidence (VERY IMPORTANT) Many convenient charts and pictorial illustrations. Even recipes.
   

Some of the books I've seen from Bostick have been of questionable authority--self-published by people of questionable credentials. This book is certainly not in that category. The author is highly credentialed and my dad, who has a Ph.D., knows junk science when he sees it. My dad recommends the book, so I do too.

To purchase from Amazon: The Anti-Alzheimer's Prescription: The Science-Proven Plan to Start at Any Age

Click here to see the author's website.