Alzheimer's Greatest Myth Debunked (VIDEO)
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Gary Small, professor of Psychiatry and Aging at the UCLA School of Medicine, says that perhaps the biggest misconception about Alzheimer's is that the disease is entirely genetically inherited, and thus unpreventable.
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Read more from Huffington Post bloggers:
Lynn Casteel Harper: The Spiritual Implications of Dementia
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Mark Hyman, MD: 9 Steps to Reverse Dementia and Memory Loss As You Age
Growing Alzheimer's rates are preventable. We can slow this trend and reverse it. We have to think about individuals, not diseases.
Barry Petersen: Can a Marriage Die Even When the Loved One Doesn't?
We are not talking about the kind of rifts that can lead to divorce. We are talking about when someone fades and disappears so far away mentally, that there is no longer a relationship.
Rahna Reiko Rizzuto: Quality of Life at the End of Life
One strategy is to turn away from the "illness model" where we try to cure disability or treat it in nursing homes, and assist families who are trying to help their loved ones live quality lives.
Filed by Meghan Neal
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05:03 AM on 06/08/2010
High doses of niacinamide to reverse Alzheimers have been promising in animal studies but won't get much press because it's not a drug. 
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01:59 PM on 06/07/2010
Not widely discussed but helpful1) EGCG reduces Cerebral Amyloidosis
http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/38/8807?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=green+tea&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1127403163954_5553&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=1&journalcode=jneuro
2) Tan said humans would likely need 1500 to 1600 mg of EGCG daily
http://www.yourmedicaldetective.com/public/749.cfm
3) Additional on this EGCG
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Journal+of+Neuroscience+EGCG&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart
4) Some minor searching a couple months ago and I found this
a) I developed our green tea extract to be free of caffeine, so it is not a stimulant, and is safe for caffeine sensitive individuals, or for those wishing to remain caffeine free. Additionally, our EGCG is free of vitamin K, making it safe to take with blood thinning medication.
http://www.drhoffman.com/page.cfm/278
b) It is laboratory certified to be free of all herbicides, pesticides, and fluoride, and contains more than 95% Polyphenols and 62% EGCG
http://www.lifeextensionvitamins.com/chiteasuanli.html
I was looking to help a friend of mine, I have no relation to either a) or b), but it may help one of you out there.
10:12 AM on 06/07/2010
In multiple articles in Neurology Reviews, the problem with Alzheimer's is not genes as much as it is chronic inflammation, systemically, that contributes to amyloid plaquing in the brain. Recently an article sited the preventive effects of the Mediterranean diet, as it contributed to lowering inflammation, when compared with the standard American diet, full of saturated fats, high meat intake, refined starches, etc. Dementia is a multifactoral problem, the Apolipoprotein E being one risk factor, but also, lack of exercise, high blood sugar, high C reactive protein, lack of mental exercise, and multiple nutrient deficiencies, that lead to poorly functioning detoxification processes in the liver, that allow neurotoxins to damage the brain, along with other negative effects on the nervous system.
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01:46 PM on 06/07/2010
I believe inflammation is relevant to AD, and that dementia is a multi-factoral problem as you say.Regarding the Mediterranean diet, I believe in it. However, I also had an Italian friend who spent his life in central Italy eating that diet, and he developed late-onset AD and died from it. Again, this is where the multi-factoral issue applies.
Early-onset AD affects 5% of the cases and has a 50% genetic factor. Those other 95% are what the neuro docs seem to be studying for causes.
Until a couple of years ago, I worked with a number of research Geriatricians and Gerontologists searching out answers. In the end, their goals and expectations were not that they were going to find a cure for Alzheimer's. Their more practical goal was to find a way to delay onset of the disease.
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09:15 AM on 06/07/2010
Just a side note on dementia like symtoms - a bladder infection in the elderly can cause confusion and dementia like sysmtons, with out the usual symtoms for a bladder infection. Don't take my word for it - do just a little bit of google research and check it out. If your parent / partner etc suddenly is not acting their normal self. This happened with my mom who has dementia and early stage AZ - we thought she had gone into extreme AZ suddently and it turned out she was dealing with chornic bladder infections.
10:27 AM on 06/08/2010
So true. Urinary Tract Infections can cause hallucinations in older people as well as confusion so before you go running to a neurologist, check with the doctor for a complete UTI exam. Other things that can cause confusion in older adults don't effect younger adults the same way. Also, if you have any endocrine/horomonal problems and seem confused, or are on many medications, you should have those checked out as well before to rule them out as a cause of confusion before assuming forgetfulness is another sign of AD. Always - get it evaluated - don't wait only because you may be sparing yourself or your parents a lot of worry by finding out exactly what is causing the confusion.
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04:34 AM on 06/07/2010
if AD is not completely genetic........is it communicable? does anyone know of any evidence to suggest so?i've read some people here suggest statins can cause dementia symptoms.
there was an article in nytimes recently about a town in columbia with higher than average rates of AD. (they think it's genetic due to genetic drift?)
certainly there is always the environmental factors aka food/water/air etc. but if one spouse develops AD and the other doesn't it's got to rule out environmental factors right?
case in point....ronald regan (AD) and nancy regan (no AD)
my question is....for those elderly who have not been on statins or any other drugs and develop AD ...........could there be a virus that causes this?
07:51 AM on 06/07/2010
One reason why your "case in point" Reagan and Nancy does not apply is because of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics
Even identical twins could end up down different paths because of the impact the epigenome has on your genome. Nancy could have turned an epigenetic switch on before meeting Ron that saved her, or Ron may have turned an epigenetic switch off somehow that hurt him.
Unfortunately, viruses can impact your genome similar to other environmental epigenetic impacts. Epstein-Barr is a disease where a virus gets into your genome, alters it, and hides there where it cannot be removed by the immune system. At this point, there are many viruses that are evidently capable of such terrible action but they have not yet been linked to AD or AD-like dementias. One that I have been watching closely is how the chicken pox/shingles virus behaves decades after infection.
The fact that there are many paths toward getting AD-like dementias, may give an appearance that it is communicable, but there has not been research finding anything toward something that alarming.
The pharma industry has been fighting like mad to stop anyone from linking statins, but that does not mean that they have it correct. Brain cells and all cells need cholesterol, the problem with honest research of statins is there is, at this point, no abilty to know precisely if statins from pharma harm cells by restricting cholesterol that cells need.
10:16 AM on 06/07/2010
There was a recent article added to an online text called Brainimmuneweb, about this very thing. That chronic infections and viruses take a toll on the brain. Statins interfere with the production of CoQ10, which has many functions in the body, and can affect the brain. The article in the NY times about the Columbian family was interesting, but although they are looking for a specific gene that perhaps causes some kind of protein defect to plaque the brain, they should also be looking for toxic exposures, and nutrient deficiencies specific to that family.
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11:01 PM on 06/06/2010
Won't the joke be on all of us if it is shown that modern medications prescribed in multitudes causes Alzheimer's?When I see people taking 7 or more regularly prescribed drugs, I cannot help but to wonder about the odd chemical reactions that must be occurring in the body.
01:42 AM on 06/07/2010
i think you're closer to the truth than most are willing to admit.BOTH my parents have AD
My mother always had a lot of Anxiety... but was treated for autoimmune disease with prednisone for years.
My father had a heart attack 8 years ago & was promptly prescribed statins and stayed on them for 7 years
They both are from the generation that put a lot of faith in their doctors...
08:01 AM on 06/07/2010
Something that I have been watching closely is the similarity between AD/AD-like dementias, epilepsy, and autism.I am concerned about one generation that did not take as many vaccinations at toddler age NOT getting autism or epilepsy but that generation being instructed to get a flu shot or pneumonia shot or now a shingles shot starting at age 50 and getting AD or AD-like dementia.
Despite recent industry insistence that vaccinations are innocent, I say the jury is still out.
Difficult to know if we stopped polio and measels and picked up autism, epilepsy, or AD.
Since both "modern medications" and vaccinations come from the Pharma Industry determining the answer will be truly difficult.
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09:30 PM on 06/06/2010
Well, um...it actually IS. It has to do with stuff forming on the myelin fibers in the brain....there have been many many studies about this. There is no diet you can conform to or anything else that will STOP this from happening. As a retired Physical Therapist who has worked with many AZs patients I can tell you that it is a tragic situation..mostly for the family members who want to remember Mom or Dad as a happy, involved, loving parent. The patient for the most part can go either way: combative, aggressive, angry or totally in LALALand and the most happy, funny person to be around you could imagine. I remember having an AZ patient who was combative grab my wrists....they were so strong...and I could not break free....had it not been for a nurse passing in the hallway who came to my "rescue" I am not sure what would have happened. The grip this person had on my wrists was just unbelievable. A therapist friend of mine once turned her back on an AZ patient and was hit over the head with a telehpone. It takes a very special approach to deal with these people. As far as physical therapy is concerned, there is not much that can be done. If a patient is basically "unteachable" with no ability to remember then you cannot teach them safety awareness or anything because every time you work with them, you are starting over.
09:38 PM on 06/06/2010
Sorry, there's no scientific consensus yet on the actual lesions that cause memory loss in AD. The "stuff on myelin fibers" is one of several theories.
06:10 PM on 06/28/2010
And a study last summer strongly suggests that the plaque is a result and not a cause of Alzheimer's. Still, a documentary already in the making aired on HBO last Fall assuring patients and their families that a means of destroying amyloid plaque would decrease their symptoms. The families were so grateful and awaiting the cure.
08:08 AM on 06/07/2010
There are many dementias that seem Alzheimer-likeFor example, if you are Type II Diabetic
You may in fact some day behave AD, but not have true AD...instead dementia
But to a caregiver that works with 'AZ', it may seem just like another 'AZ'
Look at this from last year
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/14/eveningnews/main4945476.shtml
09:25 PM on 06/06/2010
The greatest myth about Alzheimer's disease is that the doctors have a remedy. THEY DON'T!
10:55 PM on 06/06/2010
Exactly.I just loved when the guy said that they DO have treatments, then add that those treatment may not be as good as we would like. And people can be kept out of a nursing home for up to one full year!
HA. That's no treatment.
10:18 AM on 06/07/2010
I agree. My mother died of Alzheimer's after 8 years, but there were signs of it in her 40's looking back, but we did not figure it out til she was 78. Aricept is no real treatment for the disease.
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12:02 AM on 06/07/2010
exactly.
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08:49 PM on 06/06/2010
(Watching this stupid cougar ad will give you Alzheimer)Once read that the only physical predictor found was that people with large hat sizes have a lower incidence of dementia. Wonder if it's true?
Also....? I suspect there are all sort of diseases called "Alzheimer" out in small town American nursing homes that are in actuality several different conditions. Like the mad cow. More of that, i suspect than anyone wants to know.
09:27 PM on 06/06/2010
"(Watching this stupid cougar ad will give you Alzheimer)" ???I hit the mute button.
09:35 PM on 06/06/2010
Well, there you have it. I'll bet your hat size is larger than mine too. ;-)
06:28 PM on 06/28/2010
And Albert Einstein, it was finally revealed, had a larger-than-normal brain. His actual brain is preserved and has been sliced a bit for examination. If it's actually true that he had Asperger's (insensitivity to other's feelings, etc.), then he was a bit of a savant. The old folk notion that super-brains can be "different" may occasionally have some basis in truth.
08:47 PM on 06/06/2010
I wonder what the author thinks of the article that came out last week in the NYT about a Columbian family in which many members appear to have early onset Alzheimers for several generations.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/health/02alzheimers.html
09:39 PM on 06/06/2010
He knows very well that a small percentage of cases (about 5%) have mutations in one of the ApoE genes that cause AD and is passed on in families.
10:23 AM on 06/07/2010
whether or not you have the mutation, genetic instability is largely controlled by methylation pathways and how well or poorly they work, which has mostly to do with dietary intake and metabolism of B12, and folic acid. Read Dr. Hyman's article under living on folic acid/vs folate. It explains a lot. 35% of people are missing an enzyme that allows them to use folate, if you're missing it, you'll need to take the chemically modified kind, or eat lots and lots of things like leafy green vegetables, which takes us back to Mediterranean diet...as well as fish oil, because it lowers the inflammatory load. If you can't methylate it leads to all kinds of genetic damage as we are constantly making new cells, and manufacturing energy.
05:45 PM on 06/06/2010
Having lost both my parents to AD, this is encouraging, to say the least. Every time I misplace something or forget what we had for dinner last night, I get that "uh-ohhh" look from my husband.
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12:05 AM on 06/07/2010
Get a test? Yeah, and if the results show you will get Alzheimer's you'll feel really good! And your husband won't worry at all! Life will be better! Make sure to fax the results to your boss!
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11:18 PM on 06/06/2010
Forgetting someone's name or what you had for dinner last night, just means you are getting older. The problem with Alzheimers' is trying to figure out how to use a telephone. Or helping someone look for their phone and giving them a razor and saying, "is that it?" Everybody forgets a name or where you left your keys. When you have to worry is when you look at a pan and wonder what its for. there is a difference. I work in long term care. And everybody in the building (myself included) forgets names and places, and movie stars' names and who is working today in activities, etc. But there is a big difference between someone with dementia and someone forgetting due to age. Believe me.
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01:20 AM on 06/07/2010
Thanks. Very helpful information. I can stop worrying because I misplace my car keys.
10:46 AM on 06/07/2010
In the past, I would tend to agree with you.However, today things have changed.
There are many other dementias besides AD, that must be ruled out.
Any of these dementias, that may be correctable, may be causing memory issues.
Some are very simple, others maybe not
1) Chronic stress (or even post traumatic stress)
2) Depression
3) Peri-menopausal?
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/story?id=7672141&page=1
4) Estrogen Dominance
http://www.drnorthrup.com/womenshealth/healthcenter/topic_details.php?topic_id=118
5) Type II diabetic
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/587909
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/718350
6) Vitamin B12 deficiency can occur in your 40s
http://www.healthline.com/sw/wl-as-you-age-be-aware-of-b12-deficiency
H.pylori, the stomach ulcer bacteria, can throw off B12
http://www.turkgastro.org/pdf/250.pdf
If you are low on B12, you not only could have memory problems, but you could have an H.pylori condition in stomach, which may or may not manifest as an ulcer
7) If you drink, not necessarily alcoholic, but not knowing you are more sensitive than perhaps you thought, you may be Vitamin B1 deficient
B1 deficiency can cause memory issues
8) Pelagra and niacin levels
9) I have mentioned others if you are interested, just click my name
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01:38 PM on 06/06/2010
That has to be the most optimistic-sounding presentation of views that are really entirely pessimistic. We still don't know what causes AD. We still don't have a treatment that does anything but delay the outcome for a few months. And we don't have a blood test or other objective test that says whether you have early AD or are likely to develop the disease. And if we had such a test, we really don't know what would work to delay the disease. Why did he even bother to speak on this?
11:03 AM on 06/07/2010
I cannot disagree with most of what you wrote.However, the problem is that AD cannot be definitively ruled in without a brain autopsy confirming the presence of beta-amyloid plaque. The AD test does not cover all that it should. Click my name to see my prior comments. MEANING a plurality of memory, cognitive decline, or dementia problems MAY be AD, a majority are other AD-like dementias that I attempted to touch on.
In terms of delaying Alzheimer's specifically, this has some big potential promise.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19850110
The treatment that exists in standard medical practice today can vary somewhat. Depends if you have visited an M.D. that works particularly in Functional Medicine or if you just go to a traditional M.D.
A traditional M.D. ordering standard medical practice for AD, may get you to delay the outcome for years, depends if you are proactive or fearful. A Functional Medicine M.D. has a greater likelihood of helping you if it is not AD but AD-like memory issues or AD-like dementia, and may actually stop or reverse AD-like memory or AD-like dementia.
01:31 PM on 06/06/2010
Like so many apparent here, I've been a AD caretaker for three family members. We thought my mom was headed that way too. She's 84 now, so it wasn't a long shot to think it was AD. But something wasn't right - she had few similarities to the others - her mom, my dad, my father-in-law. Then, as happenstance would have it, I ran across an article about statin drugs and how they may cause dementia-like symptoms in users. So I did more research. Holy Cow! Some med professionals still don't buy the claims that statins are to blame, but there's TONS of info out there. I printed off about a hundred pages for mom's doc, sent it to her a few days before an appointment. Mom's doc hadn't heard of any of it, but concurred that we needed to take her off the statin drug. Her recovery was slow, and mom still thinks she's bad - she's not. I'm a trained "observer", and I can see the progress. She's made about a 70% recovery, but it's taken about a year. It's tragic to see this happen. As they push these drugs to people younger and younger, it's becoming more acknowledged. Just a thought for some. Hardest thing out there to deal with is dementia - of any form.
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02:31 PM on 06/06/2010
My doctor put me on a statin and I didn't make the connection at first, but it made me feel like I aged 30 years overnight. I was sore and stiff and just felt incredibly old. I finally made the connection when a friend was telling me about the nerve damage she suffered from a statin. She was having the same symtoms, but she stayed on the statin for almost a year, not knowing that it was causing her problems, and it caused permanent damage. Fortunately, I realized that the problems started when I started on the statin, and went off it immediately, after taking it for a few weeks. It took several weeks after that for me to feel well again.
06:06 PM on 06/06/2010
People differ in their reaction to statins. Some have lots of trouble, many none at all. Drugs are powerful things, and not to be trifled with. There's a lot of over-prescription going on. It's best to take something only when there's a clear need. That includes many over-the-counter meds as well.
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03:17 PM on 06/06/2010
My doc wanted to put me on a statin as well, glad I listened to my sister in law whose father had the same reaction to the drug as your mom.I remember Fen-phen and how long it took for a response on a recall on that drug. An acquaintance of mine lost her husband due to his use of Celebrex.
Spooky stuff.
Best wishes for your Mom's health.
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01:28 PM on 06/06/2010
What medical journal or textbook says that Alzheimer's is genetic? I've never seen it described as such....Please, you need to NOT make up stories to get viewers. The truth is, since we don't know what causes Alzheimer's, we can't predict it and there is no apparent predilection for families
01:34 PM on 06/06/2010
About 5% of people with Alzheimer's have a mutation in their ApoE4 gene, which predisposes them to a genetic form of the disease. The rest isn't genetic.
07:34 AM on 06/06/2010
Wow. What a misleading teaser. The Dr. didn't mention genetic causes of the disease until the very end and only in passing. In fact he said, not all of the causes are genetic. Which implies that some are. Which contradicts the teaser.Who the hell wrote this?
12:26 PM on 06/08/2010
Simply put, your genes are not your fate. I thought his video was kind of misleading, there's no real way to slow down AD, once the brain is damaged beyond a certain point. In part, like a recent article on Parkinson's disease, yes there are genes that have been linked to it, however, when they studied identical twins with the same genes, one twin may have the disease manifested, and the other does not. This brings us back to lifestyle, what you are exposed to internall and externally in terms of toxins and pollutants, as well as how your Cytochrome P-450 enzyme system is working to detox exogenous chemicals; like fire retardants, flea bombs, household and farm related pesticides and fungicides, inhaling pollutants from smoggy cities etc. One's nutrient status affects the process of detoxfication and it's efficacy on a daily basis. Micronutrient deficiencies are linked to long latency disease like AD, and the standard American diet, causes chronic inflammation systemically, leading to CVD and contributes to plaquing the brain. For more info, catch up on PD, and AD in Neurology Reviews. Meanwhile, eat the Mediterranean diet. By the way, another potential cause of dementia, is being under anesthesia for long periods of time, or multiple times, as in the case of triple bypass. 
First Posted: 06/04/10 09:20 PM ET Updated: 11/17/11 09:02 AM ET