FoundationMED

What is the Bredesen Protocol?

The Bredesen Protocol is a comprehensive personalized program designed to improve cognition and reverse the cognitive decline Alzheimer’s and related disorders. It prevents Alzheimer’s in those at risk.

It brings together the best of modern Western and traditional Eastern approaches to medical treatment – including nutritional supplements, dietary, lifestyle modifications, and meditation.

Continued research and testing by Dr. Bredesen began by evolving MEND into The Bredesen Protocol, which has identified new and previously unrecognized causes of Alzheimer’s disease.

September 6, 2017 – CBN News – Doctor Finds Natural Ways to Reverse and Prevent Alzheimer’s
Augusts 28, 2017 – CBN News – New Alzheimer’s Treatment, Prevention Shows Impressive Results
January 20, 2016 – The Scientist – Another Role for ApoE? Key Alzheimer’s disease-related protein may be a transcriptional regulator
January 20, 2016 – The Journal of Neuroscience – Direct Transcriptional Effects of Apolipoprotein E
January 4, 2016 – HuffPost Impact – Creativity and a Cure for Alzheimer’s Disease
November 26, 2015 – New Zealand Listener – Hope On the Horizon
October 2015 – Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal – Dale E. Bredesen, MD: Reversing Cognitive Decline

Why is the Bredesen Protocol Needed?

Of the 318 million Americans currently living, 45 million will develop Alzheimer’s disease during their lifetimes if we do not do something to prevent and reverse cognitive decline. Many others will suffer from vascular dementia or Lewy body dementia or other forms of dementia. Loss of mental faculties has become the #1 concern of aging Americans.

Medicine is undergoing a radical transformation, from 20th-century medicine to 21st-century medicine: 20th-century medicine uses small data sets—like looking at sodium and potassium but not the genome or metabolome or epigenome—to attempt to diagnose very complex illnesses in very complicated organisms—human beings. 20th-century medicine makes a diagnosis of what—Alzheimer’s or cardiovascular disease or hypertension—without understanding why.

20th-century medicine uses a one-size-fits-all, monotherapeutic approach, and has been largely unsuccessful in treating chronic illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease, other neurodegenerative conditions, cancer, and cerebrovascular disease.

21st-century medicine is completely different: larger data sets are used to identify network changes that characterize chronic illnesses, revealing the “why” for each person—this is the etiodiagnosis. Prevention and early symptomatic approaches are emphasized. Addressing the cause of each condition in a comprehensive and personalized, programmatic way leads to improved outcomes, and each program is repeatedly optimized over time, to ensure sustained improvement.

Such an approach was used to bring about the first reversal of cognitive decline in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease or its precursors, MCI (mild cognitive impairment) and SCI (subjective cognitive impairment), published in 2014 (Bredesen, Aging 2014).

MPI Cognition was established to provide the research, support, and information to make this approach available to all. We have identified multiple subtypes of Alzheimer’s disease using the extensive metabolic profiling of 21st-century medicine (Bredesen, Aging 2015), identified new and previously unrecognized causes of Alzheimer’s disease (Aging 2016), and developed a continuously evolving version of Dr. Bredesen’s original MEND program.

We hope that this information, research, and support will be valuable to all in our shared goal of reducing the global burden of dementia.  

Recommended Reading

FoundationMED recommends reading "The End of Alzheimer's" to better understand the process of the Bredesen Protocol. This is NOT a "how-to" book but rather a fascinating overview into the Functional Medicine approach that encompasses the results-proven Bredesen Protocol.

What is Involved in the Bredesen Protocol, Including Costs?

FoundationMED is accepting patients for the Bredesen Protocol, and will be seen by Dr. Sachar - fully trained and certified in the Bredesen Protocol.

The Bredesen Protocol was developed by Dr. Dale Bredesen to address Cognitive Decline and Alzheimers using the intense application of Functional Medicine principles with a research-driven focus on key markers and processes such as methylation, micronutrient balance, mycotoxins, cell danger response and others (all of which in the aggregate constitute "The Bredesen Protocol").

As FoundationMED already is a Medical Practice based on the intense application of Functional Medicine principles, properly implementing the Bredesen Protocol is a natural fit. Implementing the Bredesen Protocol has required us to develop a program that addresses all of its requirements and nuances. Listed below is an outline of the FoundationMED Bredesen Program.

Dr. Bredesen requires all of the patients in his Bredesen Protocol to sign up for the ReCode software system. Please note that the ReCode program and costs are completely independent of FoundationMED. In addition, the practicing physician is required to interact with the ReCode software in specific ways to provide information as required by Dr. Bredesen. The monthly cost of the ReCode software system is determined solely by Dr. Bredesen

For ALL visits, it is highly recommended that patients be accompanied by their spouse, relative, or close friend or care-giver to help with accommodating the information that will be exchanged at the visit.

Initial Consultation with FoundationMED

1. 1.5h to 2h of direct consultation with the FoundationMED physician and initial therapeutic plan
2. Cognitive testing via the advanced CNS Vital Signs or MOCA testing
3. Physical Exam and advanced InBody body composition testing
4. Patient Orientation with health coach

Between Initial Consultation and Followup Consultation with Physician

1. 1h health coach visit to work on proper integration of Bredesen Protocol/Functional Medicine recommendations
2. ReCode software required data input by FoundationMED physician and staff as needed
3. Physician evaluates extensive lab data
4. Physician refines therapeutic approach and focus based on initial consultation and lab data

Followup Consultation with FoundationMED
(usually 4-6 weeks after the initial consultation)

1. 2h direct consultation with FoundationMED physician and refined therapeutic plan
2. 2 additional heath coach visits (45min each, separately scheduled) to further work on plan implementation

The Fee for all of the above listed services is $1495. It is important to note that the ReCode monthly software fee is NOT included and is independent of FoundationMED entirely, and there will be additional fees for both laboratory testing and supplements that may be required.

Further consultations and health coach visits will be determined individually with the patient and physician and health coach. The fees will be the normal FoundationMED fee structure. Followup CNS Vital Signs testing (assesses progress) will cost $130.

We do work hard to obtain lower/wholesale/special pricing on the various laboratory testing and pass these savings to our patients. In addition, although we do not stock or sell supplements out of our office, we do require our patients to obtain supplements precisely as listed and to make no substitutions or modifications to the source or to the actual supplement. Supplements vary wildly in quality and effectiveness, and so we work hard to assure only reliable, quality supplements are used by our patients. Supplements are all provided at significant discount for our patients, from rock-solid reliable companies (mostly obtained directly from these companies). Our patients are given clear directions on where to obtain the discounted supplements and precisely which supplements to use.

Do I Have Any Other Options?

We are thrilled to see patients officially under the Bredesen Protocol. IF you are not sure you belong in the Bredesen Protocol, you can certainly be seen as a valued FoundationMED patient. If the physician determines that the Bredesen Protocol would be best for you, the physician would advise you of this. Since much of what FoundationMED already does is the intense application of Functional Medicine principles, this may be sufficient for you (particularly as an initial approach).