By: Jean Johnson for Reflux1Baby boomers have never done anything in a small way. And with the ‘Age of Aquarius’ crowd poised on the cusp of senior-hood, experts expect dementia to increase a whopping 400 percent in the next 20 years.
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Typical dementia symptoms include:
Asking the same questions repeatedly.
Becoming lost in familiar places.
Being unable to follow directions.
Feeling disoriented about time, people and places.
Neglecting personal safety, hygiene and nutrition.
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Added to impending cases of dementia is the current overweight and obesity epidemic in the United States, an unprecedented phenomenon that has gripped boomers no less than it has the larger population. Thus, researchers have done the intelligent thing and turned their attention to links between extra poundage and Alzheimer’s disease. Not surprising, researchers came up with information that those faithful to the ’60s credo and their aging sisters and brothers can tune in to in order to avoid dementia. Indeed, scientists found that high insulin levels associated with overweight and obesity set the stage for Alzheimer’s disease a good 30 to 40 years ahead of the game. So, in addition to financial planning for retirement – if in fact boomers have convinced themselves they won’t “stay forever young” and have finally started to salt a few coins away – those in the know are advised to exercise often and tone down on the groceries for their future well being.
In sum, think lean and mean to avoid indignities down the pike when one’s bones are frail and the independence of the prime of life has dwindled away like the good old days.
Several studies over the past few years have pointed to relationships between carrying extra weight and dementia, and the results have interested the world of science enough to maintain the line of inquiry. Results from the latest of these studies, out of the University of Washington in Seattle, were released in August and are set for publication in the October issue of the Archives of Neurology.
UW’s Suzanne Craft, Ph.D. and her colleagues concluded that the high insulin levels associated with carrying more weight than the body was designed for, inflame not only the blood vessels in the lower body, but also the brain itself. Also, the inflammation in the brain results in increased levels of beta-amyloid which helps produce the artery-clogging plaques associated with Alzheimer’s.
Basically, it’s the same situation in the brain as in the lower body. When increasingly clogged arteries allow less and less blood through, trouble begins brewing. Instead of a cataclysmic stroke or heart attack, however, symptoms in the brain are a bit more insidious and subtle.
Gunk produced from habits at odds with a healthy lifestyle add up like debris along the bank of fouled streams. Over time, like waterways, as arteries get increasingly choked, they bring less life-giving fluid to their intended targets.
The research team also found that, as with the stream analogy, once the degradation begins, it starts to create its own dynamic – or become a vicious cycle.
“What was striking was the magnitude of the effect,” Craft said. “Inflammation can be a result of amyloid elevations but can also create an environment in which amyloid is made more readily. Inflammation can be both the result and cause of amyloid production.”
Craft formulated her research on the basis of science which has established that diabetics, with their high insulin levels, are at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease. To draw clearer links between insulin levels and brain inflammation, the team enlisted 16 volunteers of both genders, ages 55 to 81. Participants permitted Craft’s team to give them enough insulin and sugar to maintain high insulin levels for a two-hour period. Then the volunteers underwent spinal taps so scientists could obtain samples of spinal fluid for analysis.
Results showed that inflammation in the brain was present. A compound found at unusually high levels in Alzheimer’s patients, F2-isoprostane, was also marked. Finally, levels of the plaque producer beta-amyloid increased as well.
Craft’s team pointed out that although the experiment put participants’ bodies in considerable stress for a two-hour period, thousands of Americans are forcing their bodies through the same extreme conditions day after day, year after year.
Marie Golden, an 87 year-old retired secretary in Troutdale, Oregon is a size 3X. Golden says she “gave up fighting my weight a long time ago. For me it’s been more of an emotional thing, I guess. I kept it down when my kids were younger by taking diet pills, but once I quit, I just couldn’t control myself, I guess.”
Still, Golden is skeptical about the latest found links between dementia and obesity. “Look at me. My memory’s slipped a little I suppose, but not all that much. I read around 30 books a month and while they’re not the best, they’re not that trashy romance stuff either. I wouldn’t waste my time on that kind of thing. Also, I even help my granddaughter with her homework when we get a chance. She brought over an article on oil from her third grade teacher the other day, and I worked with her on writing a little essay for her class,” Golden said and pulled her blouse down a little lower over her commodious belly. “Then again, it might be my family history. Mother was heavy too, and both of my grandmothers before her. None of us were ever big exercisers or anything like that. No taking constitutionals or anything like that, but we all kept our marbles right to the end. Knock on wood.”
Samuel Gandy, M.D., Ph.D, chairman of the Alzheimer’s Association’s medical and scientific advisory committee and Director of the Farber Neuroscience Institute at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, agrees that genetic factors do play a role in risk for dementia. Nonetheless, he leans heavily toward the side of hedging one’s bets.
“I think this [latest study] reinforces the idea that it’s wise to maintain your brain,” he said. “Controlling blood sugar and body weight – all those things we know are good for your heart health, are also really good at preventing Alzheimer’s disease. So there are more and more reasons not to be slouchy about getting these things under control.”
