OUR ALZHEIMER'S RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The research we are doing and the reports we make are based on the following positions, assumptions, methods and limitations.

1. There is no cure for Alzheimer's.

There is as yet no cure for Alzheimer's Disease.  If you get it, it is a terminal illness. 

2. The cure will be in the prevention.

We do not believe that an eventual cure will reverse the neural degeneration or its effects in then-existing Alzheimer's patients.  All indications are that the "cure" will be in the prevention of Alzheimer's in people who have either not yet shown symptoms of the disease or whose symptoms are still mild.

[In this we believe that Alzheimer's will prove to be a disease like hydrophobia (rabies) or Smallpox, in that the "cure" will be in the prevention. Once the symptoms become apparent it is essentially too late to do anything about it.]

3. There is no "silver Bullet".

The disease is complex, with many factors contributing to its onset or avoidance.  There is not a "silver bullet" to stop it dead in its tracks in an instant.  It does not appear likely that such a silver bullet will ever be found or that it even exists. 

4. Our approach: reverse correlation analysis.

Some people get Alzheimer's, some don't.  Of those that get it, some get it earlier in life than others.  Our approach is to study the differences between different groups, try to identify the things that the non-Alzheimer's people did right, and copy that into our own lives.  It is essentially a reverse correlation analysis of controllable contributing factors.

5. There are both genetic and environmental factors to Alzheimer's.

Part of the reason that some people get Alzheimer's is genetic, and we cannot control that.  However, another large part of the reasons that one person gets Alzheimer's and another does not, relates to things we CAN control.  Our work deals with these controllable factors.  Its prevention and avoidance will require a multi-faceted program using all the probably-useful contributing factors that we can identify.

6. We deal with probabilities.

What we are dealing with here are probabilities.  Probabilities are best dealt with using statistics. Statistical analysis is the science of large numbers.  We could say, for example, that you are MORE likely to die in an auto accident if you are NOT using your seatbelt than if you ARE using it. 

Using similar reasoning and available statistical data we could reach other conclusions and come up with recommendations.  We could say, for example, that to avoid being a highway fatality, drive a Volvo or SUV, wear your seatbelts, don't drink and drive, don't exceed the speed limit and take a course in defensive driving.  If you do all these things you would probably reduce your chances of dying in a traffic accident by as much as two-thirds or more! 

But this "2/3 or more" is true in groups of, say, 10,000 motorists.  If you compare two groups of motorists, over a five year period: one which took all these steps and another that took none of them, you would find that there were three times as many traffic fatalities in the second group than there were in the first group. 

Still, from an indivicual point of view, many that took none of these precautions will not die in a traffic accident.  Some who took all of these precautions, and more, will STILL die in traffic accidents. 

There is no absolute guarantee for the individual driver either way... but it IS the way to bet!  Take the preventive steps and your probabilities improve; the odds will be on your side. You would be more likely to survive and prosper. 

Similarly, what we are trying to do in avoiding Alzheimer's is to improve our odds, to "stack the deck in our favor" as much as we can.  We want to put ourselves into the group that has the highest probability of NOT contracting Alzheimer's Disease. 

7. Alzheimer's starts early in life.

Alzheimer's apparently starts years before the symptoms become evident.  Therefore its prevention should begin early in life, when you are in your 40's or maybe even your 30's.

A study led by researchers at the Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix showed that Alzheimer’s disease starts decades before showing any symptoms. Young patients who had a mutation of the APOE gene associated with Alzheimer’s underwent brain PET scans.  The scans revealed some of the same metabolic changes as Alzheimer’s patients. The changes were described as “reduced brain activity in the same areas that are affected in the disease for older patients.” The study hypothesized that because brain changes occur many years before the manifestation of Alzheimer’s disease symptoms, prevention treatment should begin at an early age to avoid the characteristic damage of plaques and tangles.

From this we conclude that, especially in the area of lifestyle decisions, you should start early.  Of course, we cannot change the past, but we must not put off starting until some future date.  If you don’t start to prepare yourself before the first visible symptoms of Alzheimer’s become evident, it will most probably be too late. 

The first thing we need is knowledge.  We need to know what our options are and what effect our daily decisions will likely have on our future.

8. We give no medical advice.

Lastly, we want to point out that we are not giving medical advice here.  We are not medical doctors or pharmacists.  We are highly concerned citizens, at risk for Alzheimer's, ourselves.  From this viewpoint of intense interest and concern, we analyze studies, research findings, statistics and the observations and suggestions of experts. 

From these analyses we synthesize and summarize current knowledge and belief to sort out what is potentially useful and what is not. From the useful knowledge gleaned we  make recommendations of lifestyle, stress management, nutrition changes…. whatever appears to be effective. 

These changes constitute constructive, positive steps that we ourselves take, that anyone can take. Steps that we believe will increase our chances and your chances of avoiding Alzheimer's disease.

We tell you what useful Alzheimer's disease research results we have found, what we believe to be useful, what we are doing about it.  Then you decide, based on the evidence and the costs versus the benefits, if you would like to do the same thing or something similar.