It is a disease that destroys brain cells, shrinks the brain and ultimately leads to death.
Alzheimer’s disease is not only a life-changing illness for patients but for their families as well.
It causes a slow decline in memory, thinking and reasoning skills.
Canadian science author and broadcaster Jay Ingram was in Kelowna Tuesday night sharing details of his latest book called “The End of Memory: A Natural History of Aging and Alzheimer’s”.
“It (Alzheimer’s) spreads through the brain in a fairly predictable way,” Ingram told Global News before he hit the stage at the Kelowna CommunityTheatre. “The brain actually physically shrinks and you die.”
Ingram addressed the three most commonly questions which are: “Am I going to get it?”, “Is there anything or what things can I do to lessen the risk?” and “If I get it, what happens next?”.
Ingram said the news on the treatment front is discouraging.
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“Clinical trials of new drugs, of which there have been many over the last decade, have all failed so there’s really not a great candidate drug sitting there that anyone is excited about,” he said.
But progress is being made on the best timing to start the medication that is currently available.
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“Much better understanding of when we should start giving people medication for Alzheimer’s is emerging,” he said. “But it’s got a little bit of a trick factor to it. So the best time to start is before you even show any symptoms but how do you identify a person who’s not showing any symptoms.”
Even though there is no cure, Ingram says there are a number of factors that can reduce the risks.
They include daily exercise, staying in school as long as possible, lowering blood pressure, keeping socially active, reducing weight, and cutting down on sugar if edging towards diabetes.
Recent studies have shown this advice is already having an effect on Alzheimer’s rates around the world.
“This is a surprise. Over the last five years there have been studies in Europe and North America showing that the rate of new cases is slowly dropping, no one expected this.” Ingram said.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association of Canada, there are some 800,000 Canadians living with the disease, a number that was expected to nearly double by 2030.
But now that estimation has been reduced from 1.5 million to about 1.2 million.
“No one knows exactly what’s happening except better cardiovascular health like lowering blood pressure seems to be a cause. More education; the 70 year olds of today generally went further in school than the 70 year olds of 30 years ago,” he said.
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