New Research Suggests Ways to Slow—or Prevent—Alzheimer's
Treating the common risk factors of heart disease—high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes—can slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study released June 10 at the Alzheimer's Association Prevention Conference in Washington, D.C.
Worldwide, 26 million people have this dreaded affliction, which kills memory and destroys independence. Some 5 million Americans are among them. The number of victims is expected to rise by 450,000 new cases a year, as baby boomers age and become more susceptible; all told, the number of cases worldwide is expected to quadruple to 106 million by 2050, according to a new study in Alzheimer's & Dementia. There's no good way yet to predict who will get it, and treatments have been limited to drugs that reduce symptoms but don't halt the disease's destructive path through the brain.
That grim situation is brightening, thanks to 15 years of concerted effort by scientists. Better diagnostic tools and treatments that may slow Alzheimer's progression are in the works. And doctors are now talking about preventing Alzheimer's, an idea thought impossible just a few years ago.
In the new prevention study, researchers at the Memory Center in Lille, France, tracked 891 dementia patients for four years. The ones who were treated for diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol did better on thinking and memory tests than people who didn't. A second study in the journal Neuron, suggests that avoiding brain injury may have a protective benefit. Researchers found that the death of brain cells caused by stroke or head trauma triggers the production of amyloid-beta protein, which forms the brain-tangling plaques of Alzheimer's. The risk of stroke can be reduced by treating high blood pressure. Wearing helmets when bicycling, skiing, or doing other high-speed sports substantially reduces the risk of head injury.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday unveiled its Healthy Brain Initiative, calling for better efforts to help people understand the risk factors associated with Alzheimer's and other dementias. Nine out of 10 people say they think it's impossible to improve mental fitness, but many studies have shown that's not so.
The first step to a brain-healthy lifestyle: "Move more," says William Thies, vice president of medical and scientific affairs for the Alzheimer's Association. "It is really simple." Multiple studies show that people who are more physically active, even if that activity is just walking, are less apt to show the cognitive decline of Alzheimer's and other dementias. The second key piece of advice from Alzheimer's experts echoes the findings of the new French study: Get treated early on for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes, and keep on the treatment plan.