To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: DG DISPATCH - ISSSAT: Diet May Prevent Alzheimer's Disease URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/195BCE.htm Doctor's Guide April 9, 2000
By Cameron Johnston Special to DG News
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN -- April 9, 2000 -- What might be the only true way to prevent Alzheimer's disease might also be the world's most unusual diet -- a couple of glasses of red wine a day, a little vitamin E, vitamin C, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, and -- just for good measures -- fish, at least once a week.
That's the message from Monique Breteler, MD, a professor of neurology in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at Ersamus University Medical Centre, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Dr. Breteler told a gathering at the 6th International Stockholm-Springfield Symposium on Alzheimer Therapy (ISSSAT), in Stockholm, Sweden, that there are three causes of Alzheimer's disease -- genetic, environmental, and a combination of the two.
Genetic causes cannot be controlled she said, but they only account for a relatively small percentage of Alzheimer's cases anyhow.
Even the presence of the Apoe-E4 allele -- which carries an 11-fold increase in relative risk for the disease -- affects only between 10-20 per cent of all people with Alzheimer's, she said. Autosomal dominant mutations, which are primarily associated with early onset Alzheimer's, account for fewer than two per cent of all cases. Therefore, there has to be something at work -- other than genetics -- and that probably means diet, drugs and vascular risk factors.
As to what is known about certain specific risk factors, Dr. Breteler said it is now known that people who develop Alzheimer's after the age of 85 have probably been hypertensive for at least 15 years before that. Given red wine's known ability to help reduce hypertension -- and other cardio-protective factors as well -- this calls for adding red wine to the Alzheimer diet.
Dr. Breteler is head of a research project called the Rotterdam Study, which has tracked a cohort of almost 9000 elderly people since 1990. That study has access to all prescription medications the patients have received since the beginning of the study and, therefore, is equipped to track all prescriptions for non-steroidal drugs -- except the over-the-counter variety -- as well as all antihypertensive drugs that the patients have received. Those who have used non-steroidals for more than two years have a 80 per cent reduction in their risk of Alzheimer's disease, while those patients who were already taking antihypertensives at baseline had one-third the risk of developing the disease as compared with those who were not on antihypertensives.
The Rotterdam Study also showed that those subjects who were in the highest tertile for eating fish had one-third the risk of developing Alzheimer's as those who were in the lowest tertile. Asked how much one had to eat in order to realize the benefits, she said "only once a week."
Dr. Breteler said that while this kind of diet -- or these dietary habits -- are associated with reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease, preventing the condition is, in reality, not so easy. There is a spectrum of diseases that may be labeled Alzheimer's, she said, and there is increasing evidence to suggest that there might be a clinically relevant time window in which the patient would have to begin exercising preventive measures.
There is also such a thing as the "prevention paradox", she said. Patients who are at low risk tend to be the ones most likely to follow disease preventing dietary tips. But the patients can, in fact, go overboard in trying to prevent the disease.
"A patient who is at low risk for heart attack doesn't lower their risk even more by taking an aspirin a day -- they increase their risk," she said.
Likewise, people who are at low risk of Alzheimer's disease might be the ones most likely to use non-steroidals, even though this does not give them added protection, and might even lessen their protection against the disease.
Ultimately, she said, the goal might be to find ways to seek out those people who are at highest risk of developing the disease -- apart from those who have the genetic factors -- and encourage them to modify their lifestyles. In the end, it might be possible to delay the onset of Alzheimer's to the point that developing this disease becomes moot as other elements of the aging process catch up with the patient before the dementia does. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.