The incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) has soared enormously over the past 40 years.
- The incidence of AD in the 1960s was 2% in people over the age of 85 years, whereas today, most experts accept that the incidence of AD in this population is 50%. It is 20% over the age of 75, and 10% in individuals over the age of 65. The “exponential curve” pattern showing the rise in incidence of AD is similar to that of an epidemic. For example, the increased AD incidence began in Europe, moved to North America, then to Japan, China, and finally to India. India, has just started reporting AD cases in the past five years.
When I trained in Pathology in the late 1970s, the findings of amyloid plaque in the brains of patients with AD was novel enough to discuss the case during Grand Rounds. When one looks at the world literature on the disease, little mention occurs prior to 1960.
Another lesson from my pathology days was that the microscopic pattern in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients varied tremendously and our neurological discussions talked about how this would be very unlikely to represent a single disease.
Why the explosion of incidence of Alzheimer’s? Well, no one knows. But for a disease to reach epidemic proportions in little over two generations, one needs to consider other public health megatrends that may be playing a role. To list a few: massive use of pharmaceutical medications and emergence of antibiotics, large scale use of anesthetics and x-ray use, high toxic chemicals and pollutant loads, processed foods, poor water quality, etc. What does our clinical experience tell us? Dementia is represented as a chronic disease process that develops in individuals with a variety of signs and symptoms in different systems. The more you demonstrate dysregulation in your body (warning signs), the more likely you are to develop pathology elsewhere – in this case in the brain, with dementia over time – particularly if you live long enough past your 60s.
What should be done to prevent Alzheimer’s or treat early signs of the disease?
- • Take a whole body approach. For example, for most chronic diseases, we are born with a specific genetic predisposition, but most of our risk is determined by our genes interacting with the environment. For heart disease, we have the interaction of the heart itself, the circulation, fat metabolism, the immune and blot clotting systems; in diabetes, we have the interaction of hormonal, metabolic and nutritional systems. In AD, we have interactions of the brain itself, the circulatory, metabolic, and immunological systems, to name but a few. So, while we cannot control our genes, we can reduce our risks by optimizing in the following ways:
- – Take a much more consistent, serious approach towards a whole food diet. Greatly reduce processed foods. (It’s a new way to live. Learn how.)
- – Invest in an individualized dietary regimen, optimized to suit your specific requirements
Most importantly, don’t leave your health to an amateur (even you) or any single specialist. - – Seek advice from groups that take a whole body systems approach. Neurologists are needed to care for patients with Alzheimer’s disease, but without an integrative team of specialists providing new approaches to nutrition, physical and mental exercise, meditation, and stress management, little can be done except waiting for a magic pill.
The likelihood of a simple cure is not high, since Alzheimer’s is likely a diagnosis including many diseases with the same end look, rather than a single entity.
Like heart disease and most chronic diseases, the best way to approach Alzheimer’s is through prevention.