Recent headlines talk about Dr. Dean Ornish’s study, which suggests that a whole-food, plant-based diet might help treat Alzheimer’s dementia. This idea sounds hopeful since current treatments have limited efficacy. But how solid is the science behind this claim? In this video, we take a closer look at the Ornish study, checking its methods, results, and limits to see what it really tells us about using a comprehensive lifestyle approach and a plant-based diet for Alzheimer’s.
Transcript:
Introduction
Have you seen headlines that Dr. Dean Ornish published a randomized controlled trial demonstrating a whole foods plant-based diet can treat Alzheimer’s dementia. That would be incredibly encouraging since kind of we have to acknowledge the treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia are kind of poor with limited benefit, unfortunately. But the problem is that the study in question is not nearly as good as the news headline suggested, and it’s a prime example of the dangers of how we interpret scientific studies. This study did nothing to help us understand the best dietary approach for improving dementia. So let’s get into the details and finish with a proposal for a much better study to help us answer the question we all want to know about diet. Welcome to Metabolic Mind, a nonprofit initiative of Baszucki Group transforming the study and treatment of mental disorders by exploring the connection between metabolism and brain health. Thank you for joining us on this journey. Now let me start by saying any study that demonstrates improvement in Alzheimer’s dementia and other forms of dementia is a welcome sight. And doctor Ornish’s study does demonstrate cognitive improvement, and that’s fantastic. I’m in favor of anything we can do to improve the lives of individuals with dementia and their families. But this is a prime example of overreacting to a study with misleading headlines and drawing inappropriate conclusions. This study does not prove that a whole foods plant-based diet treats dementia. Now, before we get into the details, please remember our channel is for informational purposes only. We’re not providing individual or group medical or healthcare advice or establishing a provider patient relationship. Many of the interventions we can discuss can have potentially dangerous effects if done without proper supervision. Consult your healthcare provider before changing your lifestyle or medications. In addition, please recognize that people may respond differently to ketosis and there isn’t one recognized universal response.
About the study
Alright, so here’s the study. 25 patients with early Alzheimer’s or dementia were randomized to a control group. Now, the control group meant they were keeping their usual care, they were getting their usual care, but even more, they were specifically instructed not to change their diet or lifestyle in any way. If they wanted to start exercising? Sorry, got to wait till the end of the study. If they wanted to eat better? Sorry, you got to wait for a while. Now, 26 other patients were randomized to the Ornish program where they regularly met with trainers to help them increase their exercise. They met with support staff to help them with stress management. They had regular group support sessions. They were given a list of supplements including Omega-3 and curcumin, multivitamins, probiotic, lion’s mane, magnesium, vitamin C, coq 10, et cetera. And they were fed a whole food vegan diet. Now, as I said, the study showed significant cognitive improvements after 20 weeks in the lifestyle program.
Thinking about the study results
But let’s think about this for a second, right? If you took anyone eating a standard American diet who is fairly sedentary and getting standard care for dementia, which is unfortunately not very effective, and you had them start exercising, do you think you would see an improvement? I do. Or what if you had them in weekly group support and stress management classes where they had social interactions? Probably would see a benefit. And what if they took a long list of supplements to help their poor dietary choices also likely to see some improvement? And what if you cleaned up their diet in any way, taking out refined sugars and processed foods? Again, they’re likely to see benefit. Now what if you did all of those interventions at once? Well, of course they’re going to see benefit and that’s fantastic, right? That is absolutely the way we should be treating and helping people living with dementia. But in no way does this study prove that a vegan diet is the cure for Alzheimer’s.
Comparing Dr. Ornish’s Study
Now, I want to take a minute to compare Dr. Ornish’s study with the one done by Dr. Matthew Phillips. He also randomized 25 patients with early Alzheimer’s disease. But in his study, they either ate to ketogenic diet or had identical amounts of coaching and support to follow the healthy eating guidelines for Australia. There were no other changes, but the key is that both groups had equal touch points, equal attention. And then after 12 weeks there was a washout period and they crossed over to the other group. And lo and behold, the ketogenic diet group saw improvements in quality of life and activities of daily living. But you can see how the design of this study is far superior if you want to answer the question about diet and its impact on dementia. Now, maybe that wasn’t even Dr. Ornish’s intent, right? He wanted to study his program, which is obviously his prerogative to design the study as he sees.
How we should interpret the study results
But we have to interpret the results as such. Studying an intensive and comprehensive lifestyle program and not studying a diet. But there’s a clear next step, right?
Proposal for a study of ketogenic therapy for dementia
Let’s do the same study but with half randomized to Dr. Ornish’s program with a whole food plant-based diet, and the other half also in his program, but with a ketogenic diet. So that the only difference is the diet. Now, that study would answer some questions about diet. Or we could do it differently, right? We could run a study with just standard of care and randomize one group to a Mediterranean diet and the other group to a Mediterranean keto diet with nothing else changing, right? So there are different versions we can do, but these are the studies I would like to see get funded. And look, I mean, I wish we all had the resources to take part in extensive lifestyle management programs. That’d be fantastic. But let’s be honest, most people don’t have those resources, but we all eat, right? So it would be much more helpful and scalable, I believe, to know if one diet had more of an impact than another, and that’s the study I’d like to see. So let’s spread this around, right? Let’s get this to Dr. Ornish or to other researchers or funders to make this happen. Because that’s how we’ll learn how to find scalable solutions to help people living with dementia.
Conclusion
Thanks for watching. I hope this was helpful. Please remember to like and subscribe. I’m Dr. Bret Scher, and we’ll see you here next time at Metabolic Mind a nonprofit initiative of Baszucki Group.
