Dears,

Oh for God’s sake. Even the news about Alzheimer’s research is confusing.

The Lancet, a renowned medical journal in England, reports that dementia and AD rates are on the decline in Great Britain. Click here for full story. Here’s a quote:

Dr. Marsel Mesulam, director of the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Northwestern University, told reporters the findings are “very exciting. The field had become pretty depressing with the news that the older you get, the more you lose cognition to the point where this could become almost inevitable if you live long enough.”

Experts say that the finding in this study suggests that people can avoid getting dementia and Alzheimer’s by controlling their lifestyle. They say simple lifestyle changes such as eating the right foods, getting exercise, giving up smoking can forestall and even prevent dementia and other age-related diseases.

Before you start jumping up and down, please note that the American Alzheimer’s Association’s league of experts has come to this conclusion: The rate of AD among Americans will triple by 2050. Almost all the researchers in the US agree.

Are the British doing something we aren’t doing? Walking more? Eating less sugar? What? The theory that we can “avoid getting dementia and Alzheimer’s by controlling our lifestyle” raises my ire. BECAUSE IT’S NOT WORKING FOR MILLIONS OF PEOPLE.

Far be it from me to contradict the Lancet or scientific findings in general, but my father did everything possible to avoid getting Alzheimer’s. Everything Single Thing Possible. I believe no one ever in the history of the world tried harder. He was light years ahead of this research. But wound up a victim of genetics.

I really feel like we have be careful/cautious with the amount of “news” coming out about AD. Some claims need to be taken with a grain of salt. Oh wait, no salt. High blood pressure can increase your chances of getting AD, according this report in ABCNews.

But, two years ago, in this issue of Epidemiology, three doctors said, “we cannot determine whether there is a causal association between BP and Alzheimer disease.”

Did the researchers who were mentioned in ABCNews try harder? Why did they find a link between AD and BP and the Epidemiologists did not? Maybe they ate better? Or walked? Or they quit smoking and were able to use their brains better?

I just don’t know anymore.

Love,

Nancy