How to avoid Alzheimer’s, even if you have a family history of this dreaded disease

Revolutionary road

Imagine going on Ancestry.com and finding that your family history is dotted with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, senility and whatever else they’ve called it over the eons.

This sort of thing probably happens daily, and I’m sure it comes with a dire foreboding of the future. But this news can also be empowering.

In 2010 I told you about a revolution in Alzheimer’s research. Two years later, this quiet revolution continues, delivering dramatic new evidence that needs to be seen by every person with a family history of Alzheimer’s.

Armed with this new information, you can take action to delay the onset of this horrific disease and maybe even overcome it altogether.

Walking the walk

A few years ago, two University of Pittsburgh researchers had a remarkable idea: They set out to create a fluorescent dye that would bind to the beta-amyloid deposits that corrupt the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, and then use a PET scan to pinpoint the location and amount of beta-amyloid buildup.

In 2008 they had a breakthrough.

Previously, researchers could only determine beta-amyloid progression with a brain autopsy. But using the Pittsburgh dye — called PiB — they were able to accurately judge AD progression in a living patient for the very first time. (Accuracy was later confirmed with an autopsy.)

Two years ago, I told you about the results of one of the first studies to put the PiB technique to use.

PiB injection followed by PET scans showed that those with a family history of AD were four times more likely to have beta-amyloid deposits. The results also confirmed previous research suggesting that AD risk is even higher in those with AD mothers.

Now PiB is breaking important new ground again.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis recruited more than 200 cognitively normal adults over the age of 45. Using PiB and PET scan imaging, researchers confirmed that subjects who tended to be sedentary and also had a family history of AD were much more likely to show early stages of amyloid buildup compared to subjects with AD family history who stayed active.

These results closely follow another study I told you about a few months ago. In that research, results showed that walking just five miles each week protects vital brain structure (specifically the brain’s memory and learning centers) in AD patients and those with mild cognitive impairment.

This is huge information for the approximately 20 percent of people who inherit the specific gene variant that makes them much more likely to develop AD compared to those without the variant. (A blood test will show if you have the variant.)

Just get out of the house and walk. This will do you good in a dozen different ways, but none of them are more important than saving your mind from a tragic decent into the darkness of Alzheimer’s disease.

Sources: 
“Exercise Engagement as a Moderator of the Effects of APOE Genotype on Amyloid Deposition” Archives of Neurology, Published online ahead of print 1/9/12, archneur.ama-assn.org

“Walking slows progression of Alzheimer’s” Radiological Society of North America, Press release, 11/29/10, eurekalert.org