Weekly
Healthy Advice From VÄXA
Alzheimer's - Start
Thinking About It Now
The majority of us
tend to think that Alzheimer's Disease is something we do
not have to concern ourselves with until we are much older,
or we think "it won't happen to me." The fact is,
it can happen to you, or a loved one, it is more common
than you may think, and there are preventative measures you
can take which may lower your risk of developing Alzheimer's
later in life.
The Facts On Alzheimer's
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized
by progressive cognitive deterioration together with declining
activities of daily living and neuropsychiatric symptoms or
behavioral changes. It is the most common type of dementia.
The most striking early symptom is loss of short term memory
(amnesia), which usually manifests as minor forgetfulness
that becomes steadily more pronounced with illness progression,
with relative preservation of older memories. As the disorder
progresses, cognitive (intellectual) impairment extends to
the domains of language (aphasia), skilled movements (apraxia),
recognition (agnosia), and those functions (such as decision-making
and planning) closely related to the frontal and temporal
lobes of the brain as they become disconnected from the limbic
system.
Risk reducers
- Intellectual stimulation (e.g., playing
chess or doing a crossword)
- Regular physical exercise
- A generally healthy diet low in saturated
fat, supplemented in particular with B vitamins
- Omega-3 fatty acids, especially Docosahexaenoic
acid
- Fruit and vegetable juice
- High doses of the antioxidant Vitamin
E (in combination with vitamin C)
- Regular use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs like ibuprofen and aspirin reduces the chance of dementia
but the risks appear to outweigh the drugs' benefit as a
method of primary prevention
Risk factors
- Advancing age
- ApoE epsilon 4 genotype (in some populations)
- Head injury
- Poor cardiovascular health (diabetes,
hypertension, high cholesterol)
Statistics on Alzheimer's disease
- In the USA, AD was the 7th leading cause
of death in 2004, with 65,829 number of deaths (and rising).
- At over $100 billion per year, AD is
the third most costly disease in the U.S., after heart disease
and cancer.
- There are an estimated 24 million people
with dementia worldwide.
- By 2040, it is projected that this figure
will have increased to 81 million.
- An estimated 4.5 million Americans have
Alzheimer's disease.
- It is projected that 14.3 million Americans
will have the disease by mid-century: a 350 percent increase
from 2000.
- The federal government estimates spending
approximately $647 million for Alzheimer's disease research
in fiscal year 2005.
- The average lifetime cost of care for
an individual with Alzheimer's is $174,000.
There is currently no cure for Alzheimer's
disease. Available medications offer relatively small symptomatic
benefit for some patients but do not slow disease progression.
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