Towards Primary Prevention of Alzheimers Disease

Abstract

The incidence of Alzheimer's disease is predicted to rise as life expectation grows across populations. The cause of the disease is unknown, and very likely multifactorial. Pharmacological attempts at curing, stopping or modifying it have, by and large, been unsuccessful, and no breakthrough is in sight. However, a lot of elements that seem to contribute to the disease as risk factors have been identified, mainly from epidemiological and basic research studies. Many of these are amenable to lifestyle modification. We describe what we see as important elements here, along with the supporting evidence. We propose that the following elements would be crucial pillars for a primary prevention program: a) the avoidance and removal of toxins b) a healthy diet c) culture of consciousness with an emphasis on constructive use of cognitive capacities and information load, along with the practice of some mindfulness based exercise on a regular basis to implement stress control d) physical exercise and an active lifestyle e) supportive social relationships. While all these elements are being researched in single fashion or in various combinations, to our knowledge there is no program that combines them all. While most lifestyle intervention studies have used a rather strict formula, we advocate individual adaptation and counselling to find ways of implementing necessary changes in ways that are sustainable. These would then need to be followed up by implementation studies and studies on long term effects.

Advances in the prevention of Alzheimer's Disease

“…Such acquired findings will further improve the methods of future trials. Multimodal lifestyle-related preventive strategies have additional benefits as they are not specific to reducing dementia risk; they also prevent chronic conditions including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer [ 97 ]. Translation of these findings will lead to the implementation of cost-effective interventions at a population level, while tailoring interventions for various sub-populations.…”