Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia affecting the older age group . As the population of the world ages this is becoming a problem of huge magnitude for many countries. The financial resources required to take care of this population is likely to increase further in the coming years unless effective preventing strategies are practiced.

Prevention of Alzheimer's should be actively pursued and more so if there is a family history of the disease. The strategies involve the following:

Stay active mentally and physically - Keep oneself physically fit helps the circulation of the body and helps the brain from delaying the progression or onset of the disease even if a person is genetically prone to get the disease. Mental activity is equally important and occupying oneself by doing cross-words , Sudoko , playing chess or a game of Bridge or playing a musical instrument or a board game can help in delaying the onset of the disease or keeping the symptoms of the disease mild.. Watching television however does not help in reducing the risk of the disease.

Studying a new subject after middle age or getting educated can also help in warding off Alzheimer's. This was observed in a 'Swedish study of twins' which was reported at the World Alzheimer's Congress 2000. "The theory is that cognitive reserve -greater levels of which might be marked by educational achievement - may act as a cushion against intellectual impairment," said researcher Margaret Gatz, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

The risk of the disease is reduced to over three times by pursuing keeping onself physically and mentally fit.

Healthy Diet - In various studies what one eats has been shown to be important in preventing Alzheimer's. Food rich in beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E and vegetables help in reducing the incidence of dementia. This was confirmed by the scientific papers presented at the 'World Alzheimer Congress 2000'. It has also been noted that middle-aged people who eat high fat diet have a seven-fold increase in the memory-destroying disease like dementia and Alzheimer's disease. This maybe related to the mutation of the ApoE-E4 gene. This mutation usually affects the storage and transportation of the fat called cholesterol and can predispose individuals to Alzheimer's.