Alzheimer's Disease Epidemic

Alzheimer’s Disease - A Strange Kind of Epidemic

When we imagine an epidemic, we usually think of an infectious disease that appears suddenly without warning and then quickly sweeps through an entire community at lightening speed.

But today the epidemics we face are of a very different sort. Rather than occurring quickly, today’s epidemics are developing slowly - very slowly.

For example, the Alzheimer’s epidemic is unique in that we can see it coming well in advance. Unfortunately even though we’ve had plenty of notice, we’ve been unable to come up with a cure. Not only that - we haven’t developed a safe and effective treatment or even an accurate and reliable diagnostic test!

There’s a very good reason why no cure has been found. No cure or effective treatment will ever be found for age-related memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease!

Unlike infectious diseases caused by viruses and bacteria, Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic degenerative disorder that’s the result of the slow accumulation of permanent, irreversible damage to billions of brain cells located in certain key areas of the brain.

As we pass through the decades of life most of us lose a steadily increasingly number of brain cells. Because our brains are incredibly resilient organs, they can often compensate for these losses so seamlessly that in most cases we never even notice.

But unfortunately the brain’s ability to compensate has it’s limits. When the damage accumulates to the point where the brain can no longer call on it’s reserves to compensate, we go into rapid mental decline. A formal diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is the usually not far off.

This process doesn’t occur quickly. Instead it often unfolds over 40 years or longer. One recent study found early signs of Alzheimer’s type brain damage in children as young as age 4!

But one thing is certain - no drug is ever going to breathe new life into dead brains cells! The dream of a cure for Alzheimer’s disease will remain just that – a dream. Any discussion of a cure is nothing more than wishful thinking.

Cross-section of the brain of
a healthy 75-year old man

Cross-section of the brain of a 73 year old male
who died of Alzheimer’s disease

The above images show cross-sections of two brains taken from elderly individuals. On the top is the normal brain of an elderly subject. On the bottom is the brain of a patient who died from Alzheimer’s disease. No drug or treatment could ever hope to magically restore all that dead tissue.

If there’s no hope of a cure or even a highly effective treatment what’s left for us? The only option that remains is prevention. And on that front I have good news – very good news.