Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD), a neurodegenerative disorder, is the most common cause of dementia and characterised clinically by progressive intellectual deterioration together with declining activities of daily living and neuropsychiatric symptoms or behavioral changes. The most striking early symptom is memory loss (amnesia), usually manifest as minor forgetfulness that becomes steadily more dense with illness progression, with relative preservation of older memories. As the disorder progresses, cognitive (intellectual) impairment extends to the domains of language (aphasia), coordinated movement (apraxia), recognition (agnosia) and those functions (such as decision-making and planning) closely related to the frontal lobe of the brain, reflecting extension of the underlying pathological process. This consists principally of neuronal (cell) loss (or atrophy), together with deposition of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Genetic factors are known to be important, and polymorphisms (variations) in three different autosomal dominant genes - Presenilin 1, Presenilin 2, and A-Beta - have been identified that account for a small number of cases of familial, early-onset AD. For late onset AD (LOAD), only one susceptibility gene has so far been identitified - the epsilon 4 allele of the APOE gene. Age of onset itself has a heritability of around 40%.

Nutrition and Alzheimer's

Some work is being done to investigate the role of raised levels of homocysteine, and possible nutritional prevention or treatment through taking of foods high in B vitamins and antioxidants to control the levels of homocysteine.

Related Topics:
Nutrition - Antioxidant

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See: Seshadri S, Beiser A, Selhub J, et al. Plasma homocysteine as a risk factor for dementia and Alzheimer's disease. N Engl J Med. 2002 Feb 14;346(7):476-83.

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A deficiency of DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid, has also been implicated in Alzheimer's.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15339646&query_hl=4

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Insulin resistance has also been associated with Alzheimer's. Remarkably, genetic epidemiology has revealed that the ApoE4 allele is found at the highest rates in populations that are current or recently were hunter-gatherers, and at the lowest rates in populations that have long been adapted to agriculture. Some have suggested that the ApoE4 gene only contributes to Alzheimer's when it is found in conjunction with a high-carbohydrate diet. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15716586&query_hl=8

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