Alzheimer's Strikes Entire Population

Social scientists admit  "it kinda sneaked up on us"

Sure, it's no laughing matter, especially at SheepOverboard press room where aging journos eye each other with increasing distress, if not incomprehension. Serious advice included below!

VIENNA - In a shock joint announcement scientists declared total populations of U.S. and Europe - and possibly all Western-style democracies (ie: societies based on takeaway food and videos) could be considered 'Alzheimic' (the spokesperson was not sure if that is a real word).

Devastated researchers conceded their approach was seriously compromised by an undergrad thesis which, to put it bluntly, stated the bleedin' obvious. "It was a huge blind spot in our methodology! That student drove an eighteen-wheeler through our constructs" cried one.

"I can't believe it", confided another. " To miss something so obvious - like, it's common sense and the procedures don't cover that. I can't see any explanation other than brain fade."

With the exception of a 'greater than expected percentile' of delegates not certain why the press conference was called, they agreed Alzheimer's symptoms "presented" in pretty well the entire population of all non-Muslim countries.

Further research was needed to confirm that frontal lobe dementia, often mistaken for Alzheimer's, was responsible for personality instability in significant other groups - typically politicians, actors and musicians.

Symptoms of Alzheimer's as published by US NIH's ADEAR web site (which disconcertingly repeats the points twice on the same page, at least according to some bilingual readers) are reproduced below, with this reporter's distressing, personal verifications (in parneths.. err thingys).

Seven Warnings of Alzheimer's:

1. Asking the same question over and over again.
     (Television journalists do that - and spouses, children, bosses, police interviews, ... yikes!)

2. Repeating the same story, word for word, again and again.
     (Syndicated news services, regional newsrooms, 'by-line' columnists, 99% of web sites)

3. Forgetting how to cook, or how to make repairs, or how to play cards — activities that were previously done with ease and regularity.
     (I found this hard to answer - then it struck me, I never could do any of these)

4. Losing one’s ability to pay bills or balance one’s checkbook.
     (Suffered by at least ONE member of EVERY partnership, sometimes both inversely. Develops rapidly upon formalizing relationship. ie: "moving in")

5. Getting lost in familiar surroundings, or misplacing household objects.
     (True also, yet no longer have a house due to #4 above)

6. Neglecting to bathe, or wearing the same clothes over and over again, while insisting that they have taken a bath or that their clothes are still clean.
     (Entire male population under age 95 - Duuhh!)

7. Relying on someone else, such as a spouse, to make decisions or answer questions they previously would have handled themselves.
     (See #4 above)

But seriously folks - and it's no fun tending a distressingly afflicted mum or dad - here is hope and simple effective advice about diet and activities shown to protect us from this sad (and 50% likely) fate.

The New England Journal of Medicine reports Dr. Joe Verghese and colleagues at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx studied "469 subjects older than 75 years of age who resided in the community and did not have dementia at base line."

They startlingly and delightfully concluded: "Participation in leisure activities is associated with a reduced risk of dementia (even after adjustment for base-line cognitive status and after the exclusion of subjects with possible preclinical dementia)."

More precisely, old-timers who played mind puzzles - writing, chess, reading, cards, etc., and especially playing a musical instrument - had a 63% lower risk of developing dementia compared with people who said they hardly ever played .."

And playing harder created better results, eg: "seniors who did crossword puzzles four days a week had a 47% lower risk of dementia than those who did the puzzles once a week," though "doing crossword puzzles showed a trend towards reduced risk but the association wasn't significant according to our analysis" - which illustrates the traps of drawing conclusions based on assumptions.

The simple lesson summarized: " .. if you exercise your brain then you are also resistant to the effects of dementing illnesses such as Alzheimer's."

But why? How?

The jury, as usual with research, is nearly always out. However, mulling over the theories could protect quiet a few doddering geriatrics from premature intellectual atrophy. So, Ma, Pa, put your brain into gear and your teeth back in and get 'em stuck into this:

" .. there's .. two possible explanations, probably even more, .. for our finding.

"One is to do with something called a cognitive reserve theory, which is that by engaging in these activities you're building a buffer or a reserve in the brain by increasing the connections between the cells or promoting new cell growth ..

" .. when you do get the disease, you're resistant to the effects of the disease for a few more years. Then you only manifest the disease say three or four years later. (the study ran a median 5.1 years - presumably per person)

"The other .. could be that the brain is plastic and if you challenge .. and stress the brain by these mental activities you lay down new connections and even .. promote growth of new cells in areas which are affected by Alzheimer's disease.

What can YOU do right NOW?

Alzheimer's is a serious condition nearing pandemic stages, and you cannot afford to waste time whatever age you are.

Though Alzheimer's is a slow-growing disorder, by the time the sufferer or family admits the memory lapses are not 'normal' it's usually late, and if it's Alzheimer's - EVEN if it is NOT, you don't have a moment to spare.

Right now, before anymore research is in, go to your health food store and buy a bottle of DHA - and some alpha-lipoic acid capsules. ALA is the most powerful of antioxidants. a bonus. Why not consume DHA from its natural sources? You can, but ...

The human brain absorbs DHA rapidly, hence a constant supply is critical for proper cognitive function, eye development and mental tasks. DHA helps keep the brain membrane fluid, moves proteins and helps to convert signals from other parts of the body into action.

Natural sources of DHA include cold water fish - salmon, halibut, mackerel, sardines and herring. They consume algae, which is high in DHA, but their " oiliness" makes them absorb more mercury, dioxin, PCP and other metals which are increasingly in abundance in their feeding grounds with the advance of industrial processes.

Therefore a less risky yet more costly strategy is to consume fish oil or purified DHA supplements made from algae, or perhaps DHA-rich eggs laid by chickens fed on DHA-supplemented feed.

Research published in Neuron by neuroscientists at UCLA announced that DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), an omega-3 fatty acid, holds Alzheimer's at bay in mice.

They induced Alzheimer's in several groups of lab mice to the point where they had brain lesions. Half those mice then got a DHA-deficient diet for 5 months. The other half got plenty of DHA. Then they put the mice into a tank of water and trained them to swim to a raised platform in it to rest on, then submerged the platform of sight so the mice had to remember its location.

The DHA-fed mice usually located it with no trouble. But the DHA-deprived mice, more often than not, couldn't find it at all! They swam in circles at the edge of the tank, says a co-author of the study.

In collaborative studies at German universities in Hannover, Wurzburg, and Leipzig, researchers gave 600 mg a day of ALA (alpha-lipoic acid) to 9 human subjects (average age, 67) with Alzheimer's. After 337 days none of the patients showed any decline using the standard MMSE and the cognitive subscale ADASCog (Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale).

Normal youthful brains have 'healthy' quantities of neurotransmitter acetylcholine, but in Alzheimer's that acetylcholine declines and gets broken down rapidly by an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase (AChE).

Almost TWENTY YEARS AGO a research team found that Huperzine-A, an extract of the ancient Chinese herb Huperzia serrata, easily goes through the blood-brain barrier and stops AChE from destroying your precious acetylcholine. In a placebo-controlled, double-blind study they discovered that 58% of Alzheimer's-patient subjects had a 'significant improvement in cognitive and memory function' taking 0.2 mg of Huperzine a day.

Some bulb flowers flowers contain galantamine that stops Alzheimer's by boosting acetylcholine.

A 5-part study in Belgium indicated Alzheimer's patients taking galantamine lost none of their mental abilities, while the control subjects given placebos deteriorated.

In another study, doctors at the Helsinki University Central Hospital in Finland started giving 24 mg of galantamine to 359 of 537 Alzheimer's patients each day (the rest got placebos). After 6 months, the placebo group was allowed to switch to galantamine.

At the end of a year, both groups were given 3 brain tests. On 2 of the tests, those on galantamine for the whole 12 months scored twice as high as those started with placebos. On the third test, they equaled or bettered their previous scores.

Timo Erkinjuntti from Helsinki University Central Hospital,comments: “Galantamine, being equally effective in dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease and in dementia due to cerebrovascular disease, provides a treatment option to a broad range of patients for whom little pharmacological help has been available. We found that galantamine provides an effective symptomatic treatment for patients with these disorders, offering a range of therapeutic effects that will give important benefits to patients with dementia.”

Prevention, if not cure, is within affordable reach of all.