By Gailon Totheroh
CBN Science & Medical Reporter

CBN.com - Alzheimer's, the debilitating brain and memory disease, has no cure and only limited treatments. With four million U.S. sufferers, including former President Reagan, and an aging population, the disease is likely to double in the coming years.

While research on treatments and diagnosis is increasing, helpful lifestyle changes are also being discussed.

Although there is hope for fighting Alzheimer's, the magic bullet is not here yet and the most dire predictions suggest 100 million Alzheimer's sufferers in the world by mid-century.

But anti-aging expert Dr. Ronald Klatz says we can beat Alzheimer's if we get beyond the medical establishment’s limited ideas of treatment.

"If you're not part of that establishment and if your drug or therapy is not coming from that establishment, it is delegated to the back of the line. Or worse, it may actively be suppressed," Klatz said.

Who, in fact, has heard that chess prevents Alzheimer's? After all, research indicates that players are two and a half times less likely to get Alzheimer's.

Dr. Howard Fillit of the Institute for the Study of Aging says there’s a very good reason for this. "Continued mental exercise is very important for keeping your brain sharp, and maybe even preventing Alzheimer's disease or delaying its onset because you have a greater brain reserve,” Fillit said.

Studies of some nuns appear to affirm that form of exercise. Those same nuns who had higher levels of the B vitamin folic acid also suffered less from Alzheimer's.

That seems to indicate that nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables can play a protective role.

And what about the hot new field of genetics? So far little is known about how bad genes might contribute to the onset of Alzheimer's. Genetic pioneer Dr. Victor McKusick of Johns Hopkins University explained how that knowledge would help fight the disease.

“Preventive medicine will be individualized on the basis of one's genomic constitution," McKusick said.

That tailor-made approach will include lifestyle modifications including diet and standard medical interventions such as drugs.

So far, there are no good standard drugs for Alzheimer's, though a vaccine is being tested. But some critics suggest the vaccine may overstimulate the immune system and increase brain damage.

Then there is the debate about antioxidants and Alzheimer's. In this area, Fillit agrees with the establishment. "The Institute of Medicine just came out and said the amount of vitamin E and vitamin C you should take is actually a whole lot smaller than a lot of people are taking these days," he said.

But brain expert Dr. Russell Blaylock disagrees, saying that C and E are very protective of the brain. He also says the food establishment offers up additives like MSG that harm the brain, potentially triggering Alzheimer's earlier in life.

So how early is early enough to find ways to keep Alzheimer's at bay? Experts say that age thirty is a good place to start because that is when Alzheimer's may begin its assault on brain cells.
Although Alzheimer's can currently only be conclusively confirmed after death, many researchers have worked hard to make the diagnosis of Alzheimer's in living people more and more accurate.

Nonetheless, important questions and knowledge gaps remain. Most importantly, there is a great need to diagnose the disease 20 years before it occurs because once the disease shows clear symptoms, the damage is too severe to maintain good brain function.