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Aging Brain
Michael Lam, MD, MPH
www.DrLam.com
(READING TIPS: For fast reading, scan through the topic headings in BOLD BLACK, important conclusions in BOLD
BLUE, and " Must Know " in BOLD RED. To jump to specific sections in this article, click on
the respective LINKS in the Contents.
Before You Begin
Information presented here is for general
educational purposes only. Each one of us is biochemically and metabolically
different. If you have a specific health concern and wish my personalized
nutritional recommendation, write to me by clicking
here. |
Contents
Introduction
Pathophysiology of Dementia and AD
Diagnosis
What Are Your Chances of Dementia
and AD?
Memory Enhancement
and AD Prevention Protocol
1. Cell membrane instability
2. Atherosclerosis
3. Nutritional Deficiency
4. Deficiency in Antioxidants
5. Depression
6. Over-Medication and Drug Interaction
7. Metal Toxicity
8. Low Hormone Level
9. Under-Utilization of Mental
Capacity
10. Lack of Physical Activity
11. Genetic Factors
Discussion
Promising Treatments
Introduction
 Less
than 30 years ago, the prevailing medical wisdom declared that "senility" was
the result of either normal aging or hardening of the arteries. Today we are
getting closer to truly understanding the causes of the major neurological disease
of old age, the aging brain, for which one of the many symptoms is failing memory.
As the brain ages, mental and physical functions
are impaired. The most extreme form of this process can lead to death.
While the rest of our body reaches its prime around age 30, starting its natural
progression of declining health soon thereafter,
our brain does not start loosing its major functions until our 60s.
The indicator of an aging brain is loss of brain tissue with men losing brain
tissue almost three times faster than women, according to a study conducted
at the University of Pennsylvania in 1999.
Four million Americans suffer from dementia, the hallmark of Alzheimer's
Disease (AD). This number is expected to swell fourfold by the year
2040. 12% of people aged 60 and above, and 50% of those over 80 years of
age, suffer from dementia, and the main cause is AD. Dementia is the fourth
leading cause of death in those over 60. AD alone kills 100,000 people per year
in the U.S.A. Onset of symptoms can start as young as 40 and continue for about
20 years before severe symptoms - such as loss of memory, inability to carry
out normal work and being irritable and suspicious - show.
Current treatment of dementia and AD include
drugs (medications such as Aricept, anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen),
hormones (DHEA, estrogen), nutritional supplementation (membrane stabilizers
such as Phosphatidylserine, herbs such as Gingko Biloba, Butcher's Broom, Cat's
Claw, amino acids such as L-Glutamine and Tyrosine, antioxidants such as Vitamin
A, C, E and Selenium) and brain exercises such as mental stimulation exercises.
Pathophysiology
of Dementia and AD
AD is a degenerative disease characterized by progressive mental deterioration,
memory loss, and dementia. Memory and abstract thought processes are impaired.
Symptoms include depression, disorientation of space and time, inability to
concentrate and communicate, loss of bladder and bowel control, memory loss,
personality change, and severe mood swings. Death usually occurs within 5 to10
years as the individual becomes totally incapacitated. Nerve fibers surrounding
the hippocampus, the brain's memory headquarters, become tangled and shrunken.
Information cannot be properly transmitted, new memory cannot be formed, and
old memories cannot be retrieved. Characteristic plaques of beta-amyloid
protein build up and damage nerve cells.
Diagnosis
There are no reliable and accurate markers,
in the form of blood tests, of dementia and AD. A brain scan is helpful in marking
the progression of the disease by indicating the brain's glucose metabolism
rate. A test measuring electrical activity in the brain can be helpful, but
not definitive. The measurement of the amount of beta-amyloid found in spinal
fluid is not a definitive diagnostic tool either.
Diagnosis of AD is not straightforward and rests largely on a combination of
clinical findings, confirmed by a specific set of physiological changes in the
brain.
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