“…Dr. de la Torre boldly asserts that finding a cure for Alzheimer’s is a delusionary quest …
… unlikely to happen in a hundred years … and most probably, never.
He argues that even if you could replace dead neuronal networks … bringing a shrunken Alzheimer’s brain back to life …
… the persona and intellect of the individual would be so altered as to create a different personality.
“Alzheimer’s is incurable, but it is preventable,” he says.
“We need to identify and lower Alzheimer’s risk factors in people when they are still cognitively normal … and long before irreversible symptoms appear.”
While the search for a pharmaceutical cure plays front and center …
… quietly in the background countless neuroscientists worldwide have concluded that Alzheimer’s …
… as well as memory decline and other age-related dementias … are actually slow-developing chronic diseases …
… like heart disease and cancer … partly dependent on lifestyle and other treatable diseases.
De la Torre, for example, is convinced that Alzheimer’s and dementia are particularly tied to cardiovascular factors …
… notably, constricted blood flow to brain cells …
… and that midlife screening to detect and correct such heart-related deficits would help prevent much brain degeneration during aging.
The special journal issue produced by de la Torre, called “Basics of Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention,” also included new research on the relationship between Alzheimer’s and diabetes, high blood pressure, triglycerides, cholesterol and cholesterol- lowering drugs, (statins), a Mediterranean diet, exercise, fish oil, B vitamins and antioxidants.
This special issue of JAD is but the latest example of a shifting paradigm toward prevention.
Other leading medical journals are full of studies, often funded by your tax dollars, filtered through the National Institutes of Health …
… revealing the dangers of alcohol, smoking, toxic chemicals, head injuries, infections, certain forms of anesthesia, excess copper, low vitamin B, excess calories, obesity, diabetes, thyroid problems, sleep deprivation, and depression …
… in raising your risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s.
The wisdom of Alzheimer’s prevention, derived from the famous Nun Study at the University of Minnesota, and the Religious Orders Study, at Rush University in Chicago …
… has been piling up for a decade or two … but is rarely put into practice.
Comparing brains at autopsy with lifestyle and cognitive status …
… allows investigators to proclaim the value of mental, social and physical stimulation …
.. in building a brain more resistant to Alzheimer’s.
Best time to start: when you are young … but even activity in old age can make a huge difference.
Prolific research from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, UCLA, Tufts University and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons …
… as well as dozens of other institutions … reveals a reduced Alzheimer’s risk from consuming berries, nuts, curry powder, fruits and vegetables, fatty fish, olive oil and the Mediterranean diet …
… and various supplements … including folic acid, alpha lipoic acid, Vitamin B12, multivitamins and vitamin D.
We are missing the boat when we allow a small fragment of the scientific conversation about Alzheimer’s …
… centered on ineffective pharmaceuticals … and frightening diagnostic methods …
… drown out the momentous message coming from another research perspective: …
… that we can take action right now to delay the progression and onset of Alzheimer’s … which happens over decades.
The good news is that we know now how to detect and lessen many midlife lifestyle problems …
… that may otherwise lead to irreversible dementia…” (cont..)
go to source/story>>>Jean Carper: Looking for Alzheimer’s Answers in All the Wrong Places