Private clinics praise programs supposed to cure Alzheimer’s disease. THE Rumor detector noted that these claims were not based on any serious study.
The origins
In 2017, Dr. Dale Bredesen published the book The End of Alzheimer’s: The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline (In French “The end of Alzheimer’s: the first program that prevents and reverses the cognitive decline”). He explained how to modify the lifestyle, taking food supplements and interventions against inflammation and toxins could not only slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s, but outright make the symptoms disappear.
In Quebec, ideas touted by Dr. Bredesen are often taken up on the websites of private medical clinics (here and here) or companies that sell supplements, such as this text of a training biologist and entrepreneur who says he is specializing in aging.
More recently, in 2024, a CNN documentary, The Last Alzheimer’s Patienttold how two people with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s healed by modifying their lifestyle.
Who is Bredessen and what is his protocol?
Dale Bredesen is a neurologist who has not practiced medicine for 30 years, can be read in an article in New York Times Posted in May 2025. Known for his distrust of the medical and pharmaceutical industry, he is interested in alternative approaches. Some relatives of the controversial American Minister of Health, Robert F. Kennedy, see Bredesen as a “medical hero”.
The protocol developed by Dale Bredesen, marketed under the recode name, includes several aspects: diet, food supplements, physical exercises, sleep hygiene, reduction in stress, oral hygiene, interventions against inflammation and toxins, games to train the brain. Blood tests and DNA tests are also offered to analyze different risk factors and personalize the protocol
Are there any studies?
In his book and in the media, Bredesen claims that he has scientific evidence to support the fact that we can slow down the progression of Alzheimer, or even reverse the course. Among other things, he quoted three articles which he himself published in 2014, 2016 and 2018.
However, in an analysis published in 2020, Joanna Hellmuth, doctor at the memory and aging center of the University of California in San Francisco, explained that these three studies did not make it possible to assess the effectiveness of the proposed protocol. For example, there is no control group and the items do not have a section detailing the methodology used by Bredesen. In addition, we are talking about improvement in patients, but without giving specific measures, underlined in 2021 a team of French, Brazilian and American researchers who had been interested in the ethical aspects of protocols pretending to cure Alzheimer’s disease.
In addition, as each protocol is very individualized, it is difficult to make comparisons and generalize to all patients with Alzheimer, added these researchers. Finally, these studies were carried out with people who presented a slight cognitive decline, which is not necessarily a diagnosis of Alzheimer, insisted Joanna Hellmuth.
All these shortcomings constitute red flags questioning the credibility of these studies, underlined Joanna Hellmuth. When Bredesen says that the extent of the cognitive improvement he observed with his protocol is unprecedented, he therefore exaggerates the evidence he has, added French, Brazilian and American researchers.
In the documentary broadcast on CNN in 2024, the patients who were claimed to have managed to eliminate their symptoms of Alzheimer’s, had not followed the Bredesen protocol, but a very similar approach. For 20 weeks, they had to adopt a vegan diet, do 30 minutes of exercises per day, manage their stress by meditation, participate in a support group and take several supplements (omega-3, curcumin, multivitamins, etc.).
The project, led by American researchers, included 50 participants and the results were published in the newspaper Alzheimer’s Research & Therapyin 2024. However, we learn that it is not all patients who showed an improvement in their cognitive functions. In fact, in the intervention group, it was the case for 10 out of 24 patients (against none in the control group).
According to the authors of the study, these variations could be explained by the fact that some people have not followed the instructions as well as others. The protocol requires major changes in the lifestyle. To ensure better membership of the participants, the researchers provided them with all meals and snacks for the duration of the study. Despite this, two participants abandoned the experience along the way.
An incurable disease?
In a press release published in 2023, the Alzheimer’s company in Canada recognized that some of the changes offered in the Bredesen protocol can be beneficial to improve the quality of life of people with dementia. However, they cannot reverse the course of the disease or cure those affected. To claim the opposite is to give false hopes, said the organization.
It also recalled that there is no validated clinical protocol, no medication, no change in lifestyle, whose effectiveness has been demonstrated when it comes to healing Alzheimer’s. Indeed, any form of dementia, including Alzheimer’s, is incurable, confirmed the working group on nutrition to prevent dementia in 2022.
Treatments that claim to cure Alzheimer’s can even pose health risks, in addition to leading to a loss of money, underlines on the site of the National Institute of Aging of the United States (NIA). For example, Apollo Health, of which Bredesen is the chief scientific director, offered in 2020 the protocol for the sum of US $ 1399, recalled Joanna Hellmuth. A woman from the United States whose story is told in the 2025 article of New York Times spent $ 25,000 for the eight months when she followed the protocol. His condition has not improved.
Prevent Alzheimer’s?
The brain changes occur several years before the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, said NIA. This therefore means that there could in theory have a conducive period to prevent cognitive decline, wrote the committee on the prevention of dementia and cognitive deficiency, in a report published in 2017.
This American advisory committee, which focuses on the development of prevention strategies, has not however identified an intervention supported by sufficient evidence to justify that the general public is encouraged to adopt them. For example, good studies on food changes generally come to non -conclusive results, added the working group on nutrition to prevent dementia.
The dementia prevention committee has still recognized that certain profits are associated with three types of intervention: cognitive training, hypertension management and physical activity. The results of studies on this subject are encouraging, but not yet conclusive.
Verdict
Even if some changes to the lifestyle may have beneficial effects on the quality of life of people with Alzheimer’s, they cannot reverse the progression of the disease.
