Fruit juice, regular exercise, clean teeth and a drink in moderation, all help prevent Alzheimer's

Jun 20 2005

According to a new report, drinking fruit juice, getting regular exercise and brushing your teeth could all help prevent Alzheimer's.

Researchers in the U.S. are saying that lifestyle choices may be far closer linked to the brain disease, than was originally thought and there is a lot people can do to lessen the risks and to prevent the disease developing.

Possibly more important the researchers have discovered a change in the memory area of the brain which could determine who will get Alzheimer’s as far ahead as nine years before symptoms appear.

The findings of a number of studies were presented at the first Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Washington last weekend.

Some researchers insist that brain scans and simple blood tests may offer the best ways to predict who has the highest risk of Alzheimer's disease.

One group which scanned the brains of middle-aged and older people while they were still healthy discovered that lower energy use in the hippocampus part of the brain correctly signalled who would get Alzheimer’s or a similar memory-related illness 85% of the time.

Lead researcher, Lisa Mosconi from New York University School of Medicine, says they found the earliest predictor, the hippocampus, seemed to be the very first region to be affected.

But a team of scientists from the University of South Florida College of Public Health found that the skin of fruits and vegetables may have a significant impact on the brain’s health, and drinking fruit or vegetable juice at least three times a week could leave you four times less likely to develop the disease.

Mark Sager of the University of Wisconsin and colleagues, in another study recruited people whose parents had Alzheimer's and found one clear way to predict who would also get the disease, was by how much alcohol they drank.

They found that moderate drinkers had a lower risk of Alzheimer's than either non-drinkers or heavy drinkers.

Meanwhile according to researchers from the University of Southern California, contracting gum disease early in life could present a greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s, as the inflammation can trigger various health problems and the best prevention was to regularly brush your teeth.

It is estimated by the Alzheimer's Association that 4.5 million Americans have the incurable, fatal brain disease which begins with mild memory loss and confusion and progresses gradually to a complete inability to care for oneself.

Worldwide 25 million people are thought to have dementia, and that number is expected to rise as the population ages.

Dr. Marilyn Alberts of Johns Hopkins University, says there is a need to be able to identify people at high risk as early as possible.