HOW SITTING DOWN CAN GIVE YOU ALZHEIMER’S And how you can protect yourself 4-PAGE PULLOUT
... but the good news is you CAN protect yourself and here’s how
ON SATURDAY, two eminent neurologists who specialise in Alzheimer’s told how their cutting-edge research has led them to believe lifestyle tweaks can help fend off the disease. Today, and in brilliant pullouts all this week, they share the personalised plan that could change your life . . .
The first flashes of forgetfulness often start in our 50s when we find ourselves grasping for a word just out of reach, or feel frustrated when trying to remember a close friend’s name.
We all worry that these ‘ senior moments’ could be an early sign of dementia. With the condition now the number one cause of death in the UK, virtually every family is blighted by some form of the illness, which, until now, has had no effective treatment or cure.
But through decades of in- depth research and tireless work with elderly communities in California we are convinced that we have found a neurological solution more effective than any medication or pill.
In Saturday’s Daily Mail, we introduced The Alzheimer’s Solution — a series of lifestyle changes powerful enough to prevent 90 per cent of Alzheimer’s cases, which can reverse debilitating symptoms and add happy, healthy years to all of our lives — which we write about in our book.
In yesterday’s paper, we highlighted the importance of diet. Our years of research have shown that decades of poor food choices harm the brain, but that switching to a brain-healthy diet can have an immediate brainboosting effect.
Today, we will explain how being inactive can have the same insidious effect, but how regular movement and activity can be a tremendously powerful way to heal your brain and increase its strength.
GROW YOURSELF A NEW BRAIN
OUR analysis of studies and years of work with people at varying stages of cognitive impairment have proved to us that exercising regularly boosts and optimises the brain’s immune system and increases the size of its most important memory structure.
It increases the manufacture of chemicals in the brain that strengthen the connections between the cells.
exercise helps you maintain a healthy weight, cuts your risk of developing diabetes and even aids sleep. But, significantly, it reduces your chances of developing Alzheimer’s — and it takes almost immediate effect.
The problem is that so many of us now live completely without movement. We’re supposed to move a lot, not sit all day.
Many of our patients say they don’t know how to be active after so many years without exercise, especially when work and family commitments make prioritising exercise so hard.
But if, like many, you think you dislike exercise, let us tell you one thing for certain — you will hate Alzheimer’s far more.
exercise doesn’t have to be a burden.
It can be simple, even enjoyable — and you don’t need much to make an impact.
Studies show that a daily brisk walk of just 15 minutes is enough to lower your risk of developing Alzheimer’s by 40 per cent.
Use the magazine which was given away in Saturday’s Daily Mail (if you haven’t got yours, call 0808 272 0808 and we’ll send you a copy) to help you personalise your exercise regime.
The charts will help you identify your strengths and limitations and ease yourself towards clear long-term activity goals.
YOU CAN’T JUST SIT THERE
BEFORE you pull on your trainers, sign up to a gym or nip out to buy a puncture repair kit for your bicycle, there are some
joint and in their nose and throat, according to research from Geneva University Hospital published last month.
A useful clue that your painful joint is linked to an infection is that it flares up after you’ve already suffered from skin or sinus problems or a throat infection, for example. The painful joint normally responds to the usual antibiotic treatment.
Left untreated, the bacteria can quickly destroy parts of the joint and may cause blood poisoning.
Blood tests can detect if you have had a recent bacterial infection and an X- ray of the affected joint will show if it has been damaged.
So presuming you have wear andtear arthritis could be a painful mistake if the culprit was actually a bacterial infection, because you would miss out on treatments that would help.
SCHIZOPHRENIA FROM A CAT BUG
PARASITES often have strange and complex life cycles.
One of the oddest is a tiny microbe only 5 microns long (by comparison, a human hair is around 75 microns thick) called
Toxoplasma gondii, known as T. gondii or Toxo. It can survive in soil, but can only reproduce inside a cat — spores are then distributed via cat faeces. Toxo has developed a remarkable way of increasing its chance of getting into cats by tinkering with the neurochemicals in the brains of mice. It extinguishes their fear of cats, making infected mice more likely to be caught by one.
Toxo can also infect humans via uncooked or ‘pink’ meat, unwashed vegetables, contact with infected soil or cat litter trays.
In most cases, infection won’t cause any symptoms, though sometimes it can lead to a flu-like illness.
However, some experts believe it can penetrate the brain — even if there is no other sign of infection — and that it is far from harmless.
Jaroslav Flegr, an evolutionary biologist at Charles University in Prague, is one of the researchers who believes Toxo can manipulate the chemistry of our brains, making some people more reckless.
Studies have linked infection to a higher chance of having a car crash, committing suicide and even developing schizophrenia.
A Toxo infection also seems to make it more likely you will develop a range of other disorders, especially ones in the joints and muscles, brain, immune system, lungs and digestive system.
Last year, in the journal Parasitology, Flegr commented that the parasite ‘ represents a large and so far underrated public health problem’. While previous research has found an association between the parasite and risktaking behaviour and mental illness, no direct effect on brain chemistry had been shown.
However, earlier this year, researchers at the University of California found that Toxo could trigger an increase in the brain chemical glutamate.
A small rise in glutamate levels can create an optimistic mood, but pushing it too high can damage brain cells, something that happens in brain disorders such as ALS, Alzheimer’s and depression.
The drug ketamine, which damps down glutamate, is currently being tested as an antidepressant.
COELIAC RISK FOR A PARTNER
WE NOW know that the bacteria in our gut — our microbiome — can have a big impact on our health, including our immunity.
But could it also affect our risk of developing an auto- immune condition such as coeliac disease? The condition, which causes the immune system to react to gluten, a protein in wheat and other grains, is known to be genetically linked: first-degree relatives have a raised risk of it or other autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.
So it was a surprise two years ago when Swedish researchers analysing a big database found that the risk was also the same for the non-related family member — the husband or the wife.
They suggested sharing living conditions means sharing gut microbes and that this somehow primed them for the condition.