Prevention by more testing pushed by government policy likely won't save money. Some forms of low or no cost prevention decided on by individuals can (although maybe not enough to change the whole landscape of the health care debate even if there was a big change in this area and there probably won't be)
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Prevention: Diet and Exercise Lower Alzheimer’s Risk
By RONI CARYN RABIN
Published: August 13, 2009
Elderly people who are physically active appear to be at lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, as are those who eat a heart-healthy Mediterranean style diet, rich in fruits and vegetables and low in red meat. Now, a new study has found that the effects of the two lifestyle behaviors are independent — and the benefits add up.
The Columbia University study followed a diverse group of 1,880 septuagenarian New Yorkers, assessing their diets and levels of physical activity, and screening them periodically for Alzheimer’s disease. After an average of five years, 282 cases of Alzheimer’s were diagnosed.
Those who followed the healthiest diets were 40 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those with the worst diets, and those who got the most exercise were 37 percent less likely to develop the disease than those who got none. But the greatest benefits occurred in those who both ate healthy and remained active. Participants who scored in the top one-third for both diet and exercise were 59 percent less likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s than those who scored in the lowest one-third.
While one in 5 participants with the lowest scores developed Alzheimer’s, fewer than one in 10 of the top scorers developed the disease.
“It’s a bigger effect, because each of the behaviors is independent and each is contributing something unique,” said Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas, an associate professor of neurology at Columbia University Medical Center and the first author of the paper, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Diet may be protective because it can improve metabolic factors and reduce cardiovascular risks, inflammation and oxidative stress, he suggested, while physical activity has been associated with positive changes in the brain along with other positive effects.
The amount of activity needed to make a difference was not very substantial; the most active elderly were only getting about four hours of moderate activity or 1.3 hours of vigorous activity each week, Dr. Scarmeas said.
nytimes.com
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Also some of the possible harm from some forms of exercise may not materialize
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Phys Ed: Can Running Actually Help Your Knees?
By Gretchen Reynolds
well.blogs.nytimes.com |
