We had a small and congenial gathering of Rotarians and guests last Thursday, March 5. The highlight of the evening was welcoming two new members, Loretta Steeves and her husband, Bob McKane, both of whom moved to Boothbay late last year.

The topic for the Rotary meeting focused on how to keep your brain healthy as you age. Our guest speaker happened to be this correspondent, speaking about the Boothbay Region Health Center's Brain Health program and what its members have learned about the causes and prevention of Alzheimer's and dementia. I began with a quick review of the relatively recent research findings that tell us that Alzheimer's and various other forms of dementia are not a "disease" but a condition that results from 40+ known causative factors (with more being discovered all the time) that cause pollutants to breach the blood brain barrier, trigger the brain's immune system and cause havoc.

The Health Center's Brain Health Program was started because a patient (me) had a father who had severe Alzheimer's and I was concerned about my risk. In December 2019 I gave my doctor, Dr. Chip Teel, a copy of Dr. Dale Bredesen's book, “The End of Alzheimer's.” After reading the book, Dr. Teel said it made the most sense of anything he had learned to-date, and since a lot of the protocol Bredesen described was a lifestyle program, he thought we should see if some of the Health Center patients wanted to try it. The program started in January 2020 with 20 patients. It has now grown to over 150 patients! Each month, we all meet with Dr. Teel for a seminar about the latest research on brain health and what he has learned from seeing and treating the patients in our group. Each patient has a diagnostic brain MRI and learns which functional parts of their brains have lost brain cells. We also get myriad lab tests to discover which "dementogens" have infected our bodies. Every individual in the group has a different set of pollutants that need to be eradicated.

Most of the talk focused on the 10 lifestyle elements of the "Boothbay Protocol," developed by Dr. Teel, that encompass adequate sleep, exercise, moderate fasting, elimination of processed food and refined sugar, inclusion of berries and veggies, socialization, and music, stress reduction and brain teasers (e.g., crossword puzzles).

There was a spirited Q&A about these lifestyle elements with two Rotarians who are also members of the group offering their personal experiences in adopting the program. For more information about the Health Center's Brain Health program, contact Patty Seybold (pseybold@customers.com). 

This week, please join us March 12 in supporting the Boothbay Region High School's Interact Club's renowned spaghetti dinner! Come to the Rotary Club House 66 Montgomery Ave, Boothbay Harbor starting at 5:30 p.m. for take out or eat in spaghetti, salad and dessert. This is a fundraiser for the Interact Club's service work in the Boothbay region.