= Full article availableSlowly but surely, scientists are coming closer to untangling the secrets to treating or possibly even preventing Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. And part of the answer may lie in eating a colorful diet.
Alzheimer’s starts with mild memory problems and ends with severe brain damage. Two abnormal protein structures seem to be involved: Within the brain nerve cells of those with Alzheimer’s, neurofibrillary “tangles” or twisted strands of tau proteins form; outside, deposits of amyloid plaques accumulate. These two proteins are distinctive markers for Alzheimer’s. Scientists have long been working to understand the relationship between these markers and the death of neurons that leads to the dementia characteristic of Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s researchers know that the plaques place oxidative stress on cells. Oxidative stress is part of the aging process, causing wrinkles and cataracts. Brain cells are especially susceptible to it, since the brain uses 10 percent of the body’s oxygen at rest but up to 50 percent during mental activity. Oxidative stress occurs when the body doesn’t have enough antioxidants to take care of free radicals—molecules that interact with other molecules to damage cells. Inflammation, such as that caused by infections, may work in concert with oxidative stress to cause problems with the amyloid beta proteins.
As many as 4.5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, according to the National Institute on Aging’s Alzheimer’s Disease Education and Referral (ADEAR) Center. Typically, the disease begins after age 60; according to ADEAR, the share of people with the disease doubles every five years beyond age 65, and it’s estimated that nearly half of those age 85 and older may have dementia. Patients on average live eight to 10 years after diagnosis, although the disease can last as long as 20 years. A national study released last November by the Alzheimer’s Association showed that brain and memory health ranked second only to heart health among the greatest medical worries of those ages 55 to 64.
Recent research may provide the best hope for treating and possibly even preventing the disease since it first came to medical attention in November 1906, when Alois Alzheimer first blamed a patient’s dementia on organic changes in the brain.
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