Reducing dementia risk

[RetMD21]

There is a new report from an expert panel reviewing modifiable risk factors. Some are more actionable for most of us than others. The new factors for 2020 are avoiding head injury, reducing excess alcohol and avoiding air pollution. I like this because it is more than just an individual physician's opinion and the authors aren't selling anything. The first link is to science daily, the second is to the lance article which can be downloaded as a pdf.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200730123651.htm

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30367-6/fulltext

 

[braumeister]

Reasonable advice, but I have to laugh at "prevent head injury". I mean, who would have thought of that on their own?

 

[donheff]

Summaries are nice. The Science Daily article says 12 interventions can help and then lists nine bullets:

- Aim to maintain systolic blood pressure of 130 mm Hg or less from the age of 40.
- Encourage use of hearing aids for hearing loss and reduce hearing loss by protecting ears from high noise levels.
- Reduce exposure to air pollution and second-hand tobacco smoke.
- Prevent head injury (particularly by targeting high-risk occupations).
- Limit alcohol intake to no more than 21 units per week (one unit of alcohol equals 10 ml or 8 g pure alcohol).
- Stop smoking and support others to stop smoking.
- Provide all children with primary and secondary education.
- Lead an active life into mid-life and possibly later life.
- Reduce obesity and the linked condition of diabetes

Elsewhere it recommends evidence based care for dementia patients and interventions for caregivers with anxiety or depression. Thats 11. And if you consider hearing aids and avoiding loud noises (above) as two recommendations, that gets you to 12..

 

[Winemaker]

My 85 year old BIL has had at least 3 martinis every evening for the 27 years that I have known him. He is still employed, working as a consultant, but reads at least one book at week.

 

[njhowie]

Reasonable advice, but I have to laugh at "prevent head injury". I mean, who would have thought of that on their own?

==> Don't take up boxing as a retirement hobby/activity.

 

[zinger1457]

More reasons to keep your teeth/gums in good shape.
https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/large-study-links-gum-disease-dementia

A recent analysis led by NIA scientists suggests that bacteria that cause gum disease are also associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, especially vascular dementia. The results were reported in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

 

[sengsational]

That might be cuz those people forgot to brush their teeth.



I didn't read the articles, but I'd put the diabetes/obesity thing at the top. Nobody wants to hear that because it's a hard one to remedy.

 

[BigNick]

The trouble with these kinds of lists is that most of the items on them are things that everyone agrees are good for your health anyway. There is not a single item on that list of nine interventions where anyone is currently thinking, "Hmm, I wonder if I ought to do/have more of X, or less? It's so unclear. I wish I had a handy checklist to tell me if I should limit my alcohol intake". We get dementia (and cancer, and heart disease) because most of these things are hard or unexciting to do.

Anyway, the single biggest risk factor for dementia (and indeed most forms of cancer) is age. We could practically eliminate dementia overnight if we encouraged Ättestupa for the over-60s, but I don't see that course of action having many takers here.

 

[aja8888]

My 85 year old BIL has had at least 3 martinis every evening for the 27 years that I have known him. He is still employed, working as a consultant, but reads at least one book at week.

Gin or vodka?

 

[Nemo2]

We could practically eliminate dementia overnight if we encouraged Ättestupa

"Logan's Run call home, all is forgiven.."

 

[braumeister]

We could practically eliminate dementia overnight if we encouraged Ättestupa for the over-60s, but I don't see that course of action having many takers here.

Well, sure, but we're too obese to make it up to the top of the cliff, so that's clearly a nonstarter.

Much easier would be the (apocryphal) Inuit custom of just setting the elderly adrift on an ice floe.

 

[euro]

I didn't read the articles, but I'd put the diabetes/obesity thing at the top. Nobody wants to hear that because it's a hard one to remedy.

Low-carb diet

 

[timo2]

A different look on this from the Clinical Science and Engineering Research Lab at Binghamton University: "Low blood pressure is associated with decreased blood flow to the brain when an individual is sitting or standing. Many researchers have come to believe that insufficient brain blood flow plays a critical role in the development of dementia, Alzheimer’s, and perhaps even Parkinson’s disease.............
And low cardiac output occurs when not enough blood is being returned to the heart from the lower body.

The soleus muscles, specialized muscles in the middle of your lower legs, are responsible for pumping blood back up to the heart. Over the last decade, our research team has demonstrated how the soleus muscles plays a critical role in maintaining normal blood pressure during sedentary activities.

An effective strategy for maintaining normal blood pressure, and brain blood flow, is to “re-train” your soleus muscles. These deep postural muscles are most active during activities such as sustained squatting or toe standing."

https://www.considerable.com/health/symptoms-health/low-blood-pressure-dementia/

 

[donheff]

That blood pressure article is interesting. Sounds like retraining your calf muscles is not easy.

 

[DallasGuy]

My 85 year old BIL has had at least 3 martinis every evening for the 27 years that I have known him. He is still employed, working as a consultant, but reads at least one book at week.

My mother was fine until she hit her 90's. In her early 90's her memory got worse slowly. Her memory loss started accelerating around 93-95. She's 98 now and can't remember what we talked about 10 minutes ago. I know this is a very limited case study of 1 but my guess is that it's just a normal part of aging. You can slow it down but unless you're lucky with your genetics, you can't stop it completely. Of course, everyone is different.

 

[Nemo2]

Sounds like retraining your calf muscles is not easy.

One of the guys at the gym I attended in the mid 1970s had participated unsuccessfully in the Mr. Toronto bodybuilding competition a few times - his problem was his calves.....I recall him doing Donkey Raises with two or three of us sitting on his back/shoulders.....to no avail....hardest muscles to work apparently.

 

[sengsational]

Low-carb diet

Agreed. But when you're up against donuts, donuts win with most people, present company excluded.

 

[Winemaker]

Gin or vodka?

Gin, of course. Tanqueray is favorite, then Blue Sapphire, with 2 olives. Hey, maybe the olives are the key?!

 

[Winemaker]

My mother was fine until she hit her 90's. In her early 90's her memory got worse slowly. Her memory loss started accelerating around 93-95. She's 98 now and can't remember what we talked about 10 minutes ago. I know this is a very limited case study of 1 but my guess is that it's just a normal part of aging. You can slow it down but unless you're lucky with your genetics, you can't stop it completely. Of course, everyone is different.

If I can make it to my 90's with my all my wits, I will be extremely happy, if I can remember that. But that's 28 years away, they might have a cure for Covid-19 by then.

 

[MichaelB]

If I can make it to my 90's with my all my wits, I will be extremely happy, if I can remember that. But that's 28 years away, they might have a cure for Covid-19 by then.

I suspect over that period of time COVID is less of a threat than dementia.

 

[Winemaker]

I suspect over that period of time COVID is less of a threat than dementia.

That's what I said. If I have my wits about me at 28 years from now at 90, my biggest worry is surviving Covid-19 til then. There is probably more threads on this Forum on Covid-19 than there are on dementia.

 

[aja8888]

That's what I said. If I have my wits about me at 28 years from now at 90, my biggest worry is surviving Covid-19 til then. There is probably more threads on this Forum on Covid-19 than there are on dementia.

Members on this board with dementia can't remember how to post threads about dementia (or if they already did).

 

[Sunset]

Agreed. But when you're up against donuts, donuts win with most people, present company excluded.

I had my first donut this year.... it was delightful.

Problem now is I'll probably not remember it later .

 

[RAE]

I didn't read the articles, but I'd put the diabetes/obesity thing at the top. Nobody wants to hear that because it's a hard one to remedy.

I'd put it at the top also. You could also call this maintaining good metabolic health, and one study from a few years ago found that only 12% of Americans are metabolically healthy. That is pretty sobering, when you think about it. In my view, it's really not that hard to remedy, but you do have to have motivation and discipline. Ridding your diet of most processed foods is a good start. About half of the grocery store (or more) is filled with stuff you really should not consume, which is where the discipline comes in. Stick with eating real foods.........meat, fish, eggs, all kinds of veggies,full-fat dairy, nuts. And consume only healthy fats/oils - the good ones are olive oil, butter, avocado oil, tallow. Stay away from the "industrial seed oils" (corn oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, safflower oil, etc) like the plague - that stuff should be in the hardware store with the cleaning products or lubricants - it is absolutely not fit for human consumption.


Do all of these things, and you will see a dramatic improvement in your metabolic health over time.

 

[RetMD21]

Avoiding head injuries seemed like a good idea before this. The settled science like control your weight and blood pressure, don't smoke etc are not exciting but a lot of people fail at these. There is appeal to something with less effort. Some of Bredesen's ideas may be right but you can't tell which.