I FORGOT WHAT I WAS WRITING ABOUT

The Alzheimer’s Association held an international conference in Honolulu recently. Three different studies showed that physical activity, regular tea-drinking and sufficient vitamin D levels could reduce the risk of brain decline. "These are encouraging," says William Thies, chief medical and scientific officer of the Alzheimer's Association and these types of studies make people think, 'Well gosh, maybe I can do something about this disease.’ " It is a disease that scares me because I am already forgetting everything.

This is nothing to be flippant about; 5.3 million Americans have it and half a million Americans in their 30s, 40s and 50s have Alzheimer’s or related dementia. It is the seventh leading cause of death.

One of the studies, conducted at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, was a cardiovascular risk study that followed more than 1,200 elderly people over 20 years; 242 of whom developed dementia. According to Gannett, ”The researchers found that participants who had moderate to heavy levels of physical activity had about a 40 percent lower risk of developing any type of dementia. Those who reported the least amount of activity were 45 percent more likely to develop dementia compared with those who logged higher levels of activity.”

A second study followed more than 4,800 men and women ages 65 and older for up to 14 years. It showed that people who drank tea “had less mental decline than non-tea drinkers. Those who drank tea one to four times a week had average annual rates of decline 37 percent lower than people who didn't drink tea.”

The third study presented by British researchers looked at vitamin D's effect on brain health; they examined data from 3,325 U.S. adults ages 65 and older that revealed “Odds of cognitive impairment were about 42 percent higher in those deficient in vitamin D, and 394 percent higher in people severely deficient.”

“More and more studies are suggesting that lifestyle changes may be able to silence the expression of risk genes, a phenomenon called epigenetics,” says Duke University’s Murali Doraiswamy, an expert on aging. He says learning how to tap into that is going to be a high priority.

The June 6th issue of Time Magazine this year had a fascinating story on epigentics and how people can change their DNA to the betterment of future generations. I won’t quote it here; you can read the article at www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1951968,00.html. Since I have no children, the future of my genes is not important to me or anyone else.

My conclusion after reading these studies is that I am in trouble! My physical activity is practically nil, I don’t drink tea and good sources of Vitamin D are not in the foods that I eat!

With my lifestyle, I will be lucky to make it to 60th birthday. Better hope you are in my will now before I forget who you are!