Mental stimulation postpones dementia - reading, crossword puzzles, museums, board games - but it speeds up dementia when dementia occurs. More than 1,150 people age 65 and older without dementia were scored on a cognitive activity scale - the more frequent their stimulating activities, the higher their score. Approximately 10 years later researchers followed up with cognitive evaluations. Among those without dementia, cognitive decline was decreased 52% for each point on the cognitive activity scale. However, for those who had developed Alzheimer's, the rate of yearly decline increased 42% for each point on the scale. Message: "scale up" mental stimulation.
B vitamins slow the progression of mild cognitive impairment. In a 2-year study at Oxford University, 168 volunteers with MCI were given either a daily vitamin pill containing very high doses of folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 or a placebo. B vitamins control homocysteine and high blood levels of homocysteine have been linked to increased risk of Alzheimer's. Scans showed the average brain shrinkage for those receiving the vitamin was .76% a year, while the average brain shrinkage of the placebo recipients was 1.08%. When given mental tests, those with the least brain shrinkage scored highest - maybe B's.
However, men are more likely than women to experience the memory and thinking problems of mild cognitive impairment. In a Mayo Clinic study of 2,000 adult 70- to 89-year-olds, men were 1.5 times likelier to have MCI - 19% of the men versus 14% of the women. It seems men get MCI earlier in life; but because women tend to live longer, they live through MCI and are likelier to develop Alzheimer's. Nevertheless, age and education have proven to be greater risk factors for mild cognitive impairment than gender. Obviously, we can be too old to know better.
What we all need to know is that the global cost of dementia in 2010 will likely exceed $604 billion or 1% of the world's gross domestic product. European researchers estimate 35 million people have dementia and that number is likely to double every 20 years. After age 65 chances of developing Alzheimer's double every 5 years and at 85 people have a 50% chance of getting the disease. Dementia is the most important health and social crisis of the 21st century. A 15-fold increase in dementia funding would put it on par with heart disease funding and would hopefully "hearten" as much progress in treatment.
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