Guarding Against Alzheimer’s Disease

As science and medical technology have advanced, life expectancy has risen, along with survival rates for many diseases that have become more treatable. This is a boon for the elderly (as well as all of us), as it increases both quantity and quality of life for many. This trend toward longer, healthier lives does have some disturbing consequences, however, and one of these is an increase in death rates due to Alzheimer’s disease.

Limitations with Alzheimer’s Disease Research

Interestingly enough, this rise in Alzheimer’s deaths has come with a decrease in dementia rates. This is largely because of advances in diagnosis and treatments for dementia, not all of which are Alzheimer’s-related. So while things are getting better in other, related areas, Alzheimer’s disease is becoming a bigger and bigger issue.

Researchers are quite limited in the ways they study Alzheimer’s in human patients, mostly because the only way to get a really good look at someone’s brain is post-mortem. There are other factors in play, of course, but the long and short of it is that there is still a huge cloud of mystery surrounding Alzheimer’s due to the nature of the disease itself.

But this is slowly changing. We are making some headway with research that’s helping us to better deal with the disease.

Alzheimer’s Disease Research and Protein

One recent Australian study showed that older patients who ate a diet high in protein had lower levels of amyloid-beta – a precursor protein to Alzheimer’s disease and the main ingredient in amyloid plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Not only does this study demonstrate a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s with high-protein diets, but it strongly suggests that the benefit is greater the more protein you eat, with those participants eating the most protein being about 12 times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those eating the least.

Credit: Findatopdoc.com

These are significant results, and they could very well lead us to a whole new way to understand Alzheimer’s disease – eventually a vaccine and a cure are possible – but they also give us some useful information that we can start using right away by taking a look at how we eat.

I’m not suggesting a specific diet for anyone, but I am suggesting that you make sure to include some key ingredients in your diet that will help ensure you’re getting plenty of protein; fish, poultry, nuts, beans, and even lean red meat should all be things you’re eating at least a couple of times a week. This can lead to more healthy eating in general, as you will begin to consider what you’re eating as part of staying healthy and living a long and happy life.

It’s hard to say when, but I think we will get to the bottom of the Alzheimer’s question eventually, and we will be able to stop this disease from ravaging the minds of our elder population. The road to get there may be long, and it may get rougher before it’s all over, but the prize is worthwhile.