Study finds couch potatoes in their 40s risk Alzheimer's later

Crossword puzzles and memory games aren't enough to ward off Alzheimer's disease when some middle-aged couch potatoes get older.

A new study finds that people in their early 40s who smoke or have diabetes and high cholesterol or have hypertension are at greater risk to develop Alzheimer's in their late 60s.

But those risk factors can be mitigated through treatment and exercise, the study suggests.

Alzheimer's can spring from heart and artery trouble, not just from neurological damage, said neurologist Rachel Whitmer, who led the study of 8,500 Kaiser Permanente patients.

"Blood pressure, hypertension, cholesterol - they have an effect on the brain and, apparently, damage it," she said.

The study, in the current issue of Neurology magazine, is the first to show that risk factors can damage the brain 10 or 20 years before the person shows symptoms of dementia or Alz-heimer's disease.

"Lifelong exposures to risk factors seem to change your brain and make you more susceptible," Whitmer said.

Diabetes is the greatest risk factor. In the study, one out of seven people who had diabetes in their 40s had developed dementia or Alzheimer's by the time they were in their late 60s or early 70s. That represents an almost 50 percent greater risk.

Those with high cholesterol were 42 percent more likely to get dementia; those who smoked 26 percent more likely and those with hypertension 24 percent more likely.

When people had at least three of those risk factors the likelihood more than doubled.

There are specific treatments for high cholesterol, diabetes and hypertension. But the risk of all can be reduced through exercise and keeping weight down.

"It gives us another good reason to be aggressive about treating these four risk factors," said Dr. Glenn Gade, a gerontologist with Kaiser Permanente in Denver.

"It's another reason why we should keep healthy, exercise and eat well," he added.

"The chance to live a longer, healthier life with good cognitive memory would motivate most people."

"This article mixes Alzheimer's and dementia. They are two different conditions. Very poor reporting."

Sounds like Kaiser has determined that couch potatoes cost Kaiser more money than active older patients, so they came up with this collection and called it a study.

My mother in law died last October, probably with Alzheimer's or maybe dementia. She was active up to her last few months, never had diabetes nor high blood pressure and never smoked. She would have been 90 years old in November.

Two of my mother's older sisters died with Alzheirmers or maybe dementia in their mid to late 80's. They had high bp and cholestrol. My mother about 3 years before her death was developing memory problems, her cardiologist put her on Merck's lipid lowering drug. I discussed this with the doctor, and she (a woman md) said if my Mother's mental ability didn't improve in six months, she would dc the drug.

My Mother's mental ability and memory went back to normal. She became excellent in bridge bidding and playing again, finished several crossword puzzles aday and read everything she could get her hands on. It was very evident in our phone calls up to her death that her memory was excellent with the lipid lowering.

So there may be something with the high cholesterol and hypertension.

My mother was somewhat of a couch potato her last ten years of life, and my MIL who supposedly had Alzheimer's was never a couch potato.

My father who died two years ago with the "A" at the age of 78 was a specimen of perfect physical health and had more energy than a much younger man. He lived a very long time with "A" and would have lived longer because of his physical well-being but there comes a time when the brain doesn't tell the throat to swallow and even saliva gets aspirated into the lungs. He withstood several bouts of pneumonia due to this. He was never a couch potato a single day of his life.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.