UCLA On Alzheimer's Disease
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UCLA On Alzheimer's Disease - for the old and young to read and understand..
Best for everyone to read and understand now... it can be prevented...
An excerpt Jean Carper's newest book: "100 Simple Things You Can Do to
Prevent Alzheimer's".
UCLA on Alzheimer's Disease - young or old should read
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 2011
Food for Thought
"The idea that Alzheimer's is entirely genetic and unpreventable is perhaps
the greatest misconception about the disease," says Gary Small, M.D.,
director of the UCLA Center on Aging. Researchers now know that Alzheimer's,
like heart disease and cancer, develops over decades and can be influenced
by lifestyle factors including cholesterol, blood pressure, obesity,
depression, education, nutrition, sleep and mental, physical and social
activity.
The big news: Mountains of research reveals that simple things you do every
day might cut your odds of losing your mind to Alzheimer's.
In search of scientific ways to delay and outlive Alzheimer's and other
dementias, I tracked down thousands of studies and interviewed dozens of
experts. The results in a new book: 100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent
Alzheimer's and Age-Related Memory Loss
Here are 10 strategies I found most surprising.
1. Have coffee. In an amazing flip-flop, coffee is the new brain tonic. A
large European study showed that drinking three to five cups of coffee a day
in midlife cut Alzheimer's risk 65% in late life. University of South
Florida researcher Gary Arendash credits caffeine: He says it reduces
dementia-causing amyloid in animal brains. Others credit coffee's
antioxidants. So drink up, Arendash advises, unless your doctor says you
shouldn't.
2. Floss. Oddly, the health of your teeth and gums can help predict
dementia. University of Southern California research found that having
periodontal disease before age 35 quadrupled the odds of dementia years
later. Older people with tooth and gum disease score lower on memory and
cognition tests, other studies show. Experts speculate that inflammation in
diseased mouths migrates to the brain.
3. Google. Doing an online search can stimulate your aging brain even more
than reading a book, says UCLA's Gary Small, who used brain MRIs to prove
it. The biggest surprise: Novice Internet surfers, ages 55 to 78, activated
key memory and learning centers in the brain after only a week of Web
surfing for an hour a day.
4. Grow new brain cells. Impossible, scientists used to say. Now it's
believed that thousands of brain cells are born daily. The trick is to keep
the newborns alive. What works: aerobic exercise (such as a brisk 30-minute
walk every day), strenuous mental activity, eating salmon and other fatty
fish, and avoiding obesity, chronic stress, sleep deprivation, heavy
drinking and vitamin B deficiency.
5. Drink apple juice. Apple juice can push production of the "memory
chemical" acetylcholine; that's the way the popular Alzheimer's drug Aricept
works, says Thomas Shea, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts. He was
surprised that old mice given apple juice did better on learning and memory
tests than mice that received water. A dose for humans: 16 ounces, or two to
three apples a day.
6. Protect your head. Blows to the head, even mild ones early in life,
increase odds of dementia years later. Pro football players have 19 times
the typical rate of memory-related diseases. Alzheimer's is four times more
common in elderly who suffer a head injury, Columbia University finds.
Accidental falls doubled an older person's odds of dementia five years later
in another study. Wear seat belts and helmets, fall-proof your house, and
don't take risks.
7. Meditate. Brain scans show that people who meditate regularly have less
cognitive decline and brain shrinkage - a classic sign of Alzheimer's - as
they age. Andrew Newberg of the University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine says yoga meditation of 12 minutes a day for two months improved
blood flow and cognitive functioning in seniors with memory problems.
8. Take D. A "severe deficiency" of vitamin D boosts older Americans' risk
of cognitive impairment 394%, an alarming study by England's University of
Exeter finds. And most Americans lack vitamin D. Experts recommend a daily
dose of 800 IU to 2,000 IU of vitamin D3.
9. Fill your brain. It's called "cognitive reserve." A rich accumulation of
life experiences - education, marriage, socializing, a stimulating job,
language skills, having a purpose in life, physical activity and mentally
demanding leisure activities - makes your brain better able to tolerate
plaques and tangles. You can even have significant Alzheimer's pathology and
no symptoms of dementia if you have high cognitive reserve, says David
Bennett, M.D., of Chicago's Rush University Medical Center.
10. Avoid infection. Astonishing new evidence ties Alzheimer's to cold
sores, gastric ulcers, Lyme disease, pneumonia and the flu. Ruth Itzhaki,
Ph.D., of the University of Manchester in England estimates the cold-sore
herpes simplex virus is incriminated in 60% of Alzheimer's cases. The
theory: Infections trigger excessive beta amyloid "gunk" that kills brain
cells. Proof is still lacking, but why not avoid common infections and take
appropriate vaccines, antibiotics and antiviral agents?
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