Alzheimer's Prevention and Control of Hypertension Go Hand in Hand...

Want to kill two birds with one rock? Take care of you heart's health...

Up until fairly recently, the known risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD) were few and clear. These were A. Advancing age, B. Genetic association (AD runs in families) and C. Genetic markers, specifically a gene that makes one form of a protein called apolipoprotein E (APOE 4).

The relative uncontrollability of these factors meant that there was little emphasis on Alzheimers prevention.

But then, in recent years there has been an increasing flow of information from long-term studies of populations that have brought in new understandings. We now understand AD better and several more risk factors have been identified. These risk factors appear to be controllable.

Factors of cardio-vascular health and the lifestyles that people adopt and follow have been shown to affect not only heart disease but also AD. Some of the same advice applies to both.  People who follow lifestyles that are not heart-healthy are more prone to heart attacks and they are also more likely to have AD.

It's true that we cannot yet do anything about your genetic profile and its built-in proclivities. However, we can do a great deal to affect the interactions between genetic susceptibility and environmental factors. These factors are what trigger certain reactions, which may never happen if they are controlled.

AD is an affliction that becomes apparent in older people. But we now know that there is a decades-long development stage in which bad things are happening to the brain and the disease is developing. Eventually it will become bad enough to show up in measurable impairment of your ability to think.

Understanding that, it becomes clear that taking a life-long approach to Alzheimers prevention is much more appropriate than the old late-life view. AD dementia risk is the result of exposure to both protective and harmful factors over a lifetime. Most of these factors can be influenced and controlled.

The risk factors for dementia/AD, important in Alzheimers prevention, identified so far are:

Hypertension - High blood pressure in mid-life is a risk factor for AD in later life.

Hypercholesterolemia - High serum total cholesterol levels at midlife increase the risk of AD in later-life.

Obesity - is increasing across the world, with severe consequences on cardiovascular health. Its association with the risk of AD has not been extensively studied, but there appear to be links to AD.

Vascular diseases - Whether it is the vascular disease itself or the risk factors present for it to develop is unknown, but it is linked to AD. Vascular disease prevention would be Alzheimers prevention.

Dietary factors - what you eat is an important lifestyle factor that affects vascular health. A diet high in saturated fat and cholesterol may increase the risk of AD whereas polyunsaturated fatty acids and fish may be protective.

Physical exercise and active lifestyle - Some shorter term longitudinal studies have indicated an inverse association between some form of regular physical activity (dancing, walking) and dementia/AD risk.

Smoking and alcohol drinking - Smoking (which is a strong risk factor for vascular diseases) may result in slightly increased risk for AD. Heavy drinking may increase dementia risk, but light-to-moderate alcohol use, especially with red wine, may have a protective effect related to AD.

Apolipoprotein E and other genetic factors - ApoE 4 is as yet the only genetic risk factor of established general significance for AD. It is a susceptibility gene for AD, being neither necessary nor sufficient for AD development. This is a problem for Alzheimers prevention, but is not at all insurmountable.

All of these risk factors but one are subject to change and control. The one that is not controllable, the ApoE 4, is one that can be worked around or neutralized. We are beginning to understand that AD is not inevitable, that prevention is possible. The dream of Alzheimers prevention, once all but dead, is now reborn!

As Alzheimers disease seems to begin very early in adulthood, the  midlife period becomes especially important for Alzheimers prevention. As with many other chronic diseases, Alzheimers prevention can only be achieved by taking a life-long view, attacking at the point of outset, stopping it before it begins.

The clearest single message we get is that even though we don't know exactly how it works or why, it seems that taking care of your heart's health may also protect your brain as well.

For more information on Alzheimers prevention and what you can do to avoid AD, follow the links below...

For more information about Alzheimers disease research and Alzheimers prevention, visit:  Alzheimers Prevention
To learn more about Alzheimers Treatment and prevention, visit: Alzheimers Disease Research
Jorge G. Chavez is an experienced independent Alzheimer's researcher. Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed. Receive valuable free reports! Visit: http://alz-not.com/Newsletter.html