News from the web:
Dr. Gary Small, a New York Times best-selling author and director of the UCLA Center on Aging, spoke atBaylor College of Medicine last week about his new book, The Alzheimer’s Prevention Program (Workman Publishing). He talked to Chronicle reporter Todd Ackerman about the expected explosion of the brain-robbing disease, the steps people can take to reduce their risks and the effect of the Internet.
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Just about everyone has some loss of memory as the decades collect. Don’t confuse normal aging with Alzheimer’s. But some people as they enter their 50s and 60s experience what is called “mild cognitive impairment” (MCI). They are often forgetful, can become a bit confused and display other symptoms suggestive of mild Alzheimer’s — but they can manage. However, MCI heralds a far greater likelihood of developing AD — as great as 15 times more risk. Some regard MCI as a transition to AD.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the demon of older age. A small percentage of people (5 percent) will fall ill to its neurological destruction before the age of 65. But as we age into the 70s, 80s and beyond the numbers affected grow substantially. Today, every 70 seconds a person in the U.S. develops AD; estimates are that this rate will rise to every 30 seconds by 2050 as we all live longer. Not all dementia is due to Alzheimers: vascular dementia (due to blood vessel narrowing or stroke in the brain) accounts for perhaps 40 percent of severe memory problems (and other symptoms). But AD is the greatest threat to our memory — and even more so to our very sense of identity as we grow old.
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News from the web:
A diet rich in vitamins and fish may protect the brain from ageing while junk food has the opposite effect, research suggests.
Elderly people with high blood levels of vitamins and omega 3 fatty acids had less brain shrinkage and better mental performance, a Neurology study found.
Trans fats found in fast foods were linked to lower scores in tests and more shrinkage typical of Alzheimer’s.
A UK medical charity has called for more work into diet and dementia risk.
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