What if I told you there was a way to make sure you never came down with Alzheimer’s disease? Let’s face it, Alzheimer’s is one of the scariest diseases around. No one wants to lose their mind. Fortunately, you don’t have to because this disease can be prevented.

I have been preaching for almost 20 years that the primary factor in all age-related diseases is a drop in mitochondrial metabolic function. In those 20 years, I’ve observed that those with optimally functioning mitochondria never get sick with anything – no cancer, no heart disease, no diabetes, no nothing. I have written two books and published several papers describing my findings. While I wasn’t certain it would prevent Alzheimer’s, I had never seen any of my patients with optimally functioning mitochondria ever develop the disease. So I suspected it worked.

Well, today, I am reporting to you on two recent papers that just put Alzheimer’s disease on that list.

As you may know, the most accepted theory of what causes Alzheimer’s is the formation of increasing levels of amyloid-beta protein in the brain cells. The amyloid-beta protein then forms amyloid-beta plaque, which is what causes the brain cell damage in Alzheimer’s.

In one of the studies, a team led by Assistant Professor Jan Gruber from Yale-National University Singapore College discovered the cause of that plaque formation. The team found that suppressed mitochondrial function occurs well before any significant increase in the amount of amyloid-beta protein can be detected. In other words, it looks like decreased mitochondrial function is what causes the increase in the formation of amyloid-beta protein, which ends up causing Alzheimer’s. The researchers used a tiny worm called Caenorhabditis elegans to identify these changes because it shares many similarities at the molecular level with human cells. When the researchers treated the worms with a drug that improves the mitochondrial function, the worms' health span and lifespan normalized.

According to Dr. Gruber, “Current trials of Alzheimer's drugs targeting proteins [meaning amyloid-beta proteins] have failed despite billions of dollars being invested. Based on the emerging strong links between mitochondrial dysfunction and Alzheimer's pathology, it might be better to adopt a preventative strategy by targeting metabolic defects, especially mitochondrial defects, directly and early, well before protein aggregates are even present.” No kidding Dr. Gruber. I've been saying this for years. The best treatment for Alzheimer’s and any age-related disease is not to get it in the first place. And that’s exactly what happens when you optimize mitochondrial function.

But Dr. Gruber did not stop there. He agrees with me that decreased mitochondrial function should be viewed as a fundamental feature of aging. As I said in my book “Bursting With Energy,” we don’t have decreased mitochondrial function as a result of our bodies aging, our bodies age as a direct result of decreased mitochondrial function. Or, in other words, you can get old, really old, but if you keep your mitochondrial function young, you can prevent Alzheimer’s, and every other age-related disease.

According to Dr. Gruber, Mitochondrial dysfunction has been proposed as a key event in the etiology of Alzheimer's disease.” And, Dr. Gruber is not the only researcher to see this relationship. Other researchers have used the same drug to literally reverse Alzheimer’s.

In one study, the researchers caused Alzheimer’s disease in the same worms used by Gruber by inducing the formation of amyloid-beta protein. Then, when they gave the drug, it reversed the metabolic defects, which led to a reduction in the formation of amyloid-beta protein plaque and normalized their lifespan. These researchers concluded:

“Our results point to metabolic dysfunction as an early and causative event in amyloid-beta protein induced pathology and a promising target for intervention.”

Once again, they are emphasizing how the core cause of Alzheimer’s is sub-optimal mitochondrial function.

One of the most common diseases caused by decreased mitochondrial function is type-2 diabetes. I lay out the evidence for this in my book “The Type 2 Diabetes Breakthrough.” So, it should not be too surprising that several epidemiological studies have shown that type-2 diabetics are much more likely to get Alzheimer’s. In fact, many researchers correctly refer to Alzheimer’s as type-3 diabetes.

With that in mind, researchers looked at 20 non-diabetic men and women with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s. They gave them the diabetes drug metformin (1,000 mg, twice daily). Metformin was also the drug that Gruber used for his studies. Then, they gave them a placebo for eight weeks. According to the researchers, “Metformin was associated with improved executive functioning, and trends suggested improvement in learning/memory and attention.” Just like the worms, their cognitive function actually started to improve.

The researchers concluded that their findings suggest that the metabolic-improving drug metformin is an alternative therapy for Alzheimer’s. “In conclusion, our results suggest metabolic failure as an early and central event in Alzheimer’s. Metabolic interventions that normalize metabolic dysfunction may therefore be beneficial to prevent or reduce Alzheimer’s.”

So how can you test your mitochondrial function to make sure it is up to par? It’s easy. I invented the only clinically reliable test that measures mitochondrial metabolic function. I call it Bio-Energy Testing®. Bio-Energy Testing uses a patented computer program that analyses oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production data over time to determine mitochondrial function in real time. The science is there. And, I’ve proven it over the last 20 years after using this technology to evaluate the mitochondrial function of thousands of men and women.

Get your mitochondrial function checked today. The earlier you start working on this, the more effective it is going to be. If it is optimal, that’s great. Just make sure to check it every one to two years to insure it stays that way. If it isn’t, work with your doctor to find out what is wrong, and then optimize it. And, don’t make the mistake of assuming your mitochondria are working optimally just because you feel good.

Mitochondrial function and metabolic function in general can start to significantly decline as early as your 30s. In one study I published in 2004, using Bio-Energy Testing, we were surprised to learn that 46% of young men and women in their 30s, all of whom felt great, already had a degree of decreased mitochondrial function. These are the people who are especially at risk for all the age-related diseases including Alzheimer’s as they get older because it only gets worse the older you get.

So, the moral is don’t wait. You can find doctors offering Bio-Energy Testing (which by the way at this time is the only reliable way to measure mitochondrial function) on the Bio-Energy Testing website.