Episode 7: Is it possible to prevent Alzheimer’s disease?

What is Alzheimer’s disease?

Alzheimer’s disease is one of several causes of dementia. The American Psychiatric Association has renamed “dementia” and now refers to this type of condition as “Neurocognitive Disorder.” Either name refers to a decline in cognitive performance. “Cognition” is a broad term which can include things like: attention, decision-making, recognition of language, faces, or situations, learning, or memory. 

Dementia (or “neurocognitive disorder”) can have many causes and can involve many different facets of cognition. 

What are the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease?

The most common early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are memory loss or confusion. The tricky thing is that everyone can have memory issues or become confused from time to time. Alternately, it’s also possible to have frequent forgetfulness that is entirely benign. 

Alzheimer’s disease is a concern if memory loss happens often enough or is severe enough that it starts to interfere with daily life.

Early-onset and familial cases of Alzheimer’s disease

Dr. Erik explains that some cases of Alzheimer’s disease can begin when a person reaches their 50s. Most people who develop Alzheimer’s disease at this age have a form of illness that is strongly determined by genes. The most well-known Alzheimer’s disease genes cause brain cells to produce a protein called beta amyloid, which appears to be toxic and is associated with cell death in memory circuits. 

Slowing down the production of the beta amyloid protein is a promising opportunity for Alzheimer’s disease prevention and clinical studies of drugs that may slow down beta amyloid production are underway. 

Brain health tips

Although we are still waiting for proven ways to prevent Alzheimer’s disease, we can definitely improve our cognitive health at any time. And some of the most useful ways to protect our brains as we age revolve around reducing the risks of strokes, including so-called “mini-strokes” and what Dr. Erik calls “micro-strokes.” Any type of stroke – whether big or tiny – causes brain cells to die. Preventing strokes is therefore a good way to preserve brain tissue. Meanwhile, exercising the brain is a good way to preserve brain function. 

Here are several ways to prevent strokes:

• Don’t smoke, or stop smoking
• Keep blood pressure at a healthy level
• Maintain a healthy weight 
• Try to avoid developing diabetes (keeping a healthy weight and minimizing dietary sugars or carbohydrates is the best way to do this)
• If you have diabetes, keep your blood sugar levels in the optimum range

Head injuries can also contribute to cognitive decline. So reconsider your involvement in contact sports, hear head protection when needed, and try to avoid situations that might expose you to unnecessary head injury risk.

The bottom line about preventing Alzheimer’s disease is this…

It’s hard to identify surefire methods for Alzheimer’s disease prevention. This is simply because we understand relatively little about what causes it. And it’s hard to design robust prevention strategies for things whose cause isn’t all that clear. 

There are some treatments being studied currently that might be truly effective at preventing Alzheimer’s disease risk. But we will have to wait and see what clinical trial tests show. 

In the meantime, focusing on whole- body health is probably the best way to promote long-term brain health. 

The Paleo lifestyle

What Dr. Erik calls “the paleo lifestyle” might be one of the best ways to promote whole-body health and mental well-being.

Extending the concept of the “paleo diet,” which suggests that the optimum human diet would be similar to the diet humans were genetically designed for, the ideal human lifestyle is designed around things that human beings were designed for: eating natural, minimally-processed foods; living in tightly-connected social groups; being physically active; and doing things that contribute to the welfare of others. These are all linked to long-term cognitive health, and are the best path to resilience, contentment, and happiness.