10 Million Baby Boomers Face Alzheimer's Epidemic

[Guest guest]

10 Million Baby Boomers Face Alzheimer's Epidemic http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/04/01/10-million-baby-boomers-face-alzheimer-s-epidemic.aspxApproximately 10 million American baby boomers will develop Alzheimer's disease in their lifetime. This will place enormous strains on the U.S. health-care system.At least 5.2 million Americans currently suffer from Alzheimer's. By 2010, there will be 500,000 new cases each year, and nearly one million new cases annually by 2050. The disease is now the seventh deadliest illness in the nation.Sources:Washington Post March 18, 2008Alzheimer’s Association, 2008 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures (Full Length PDF Report)Dr. Mercola's Comments: In last year’s Alzheimer’s Facts and Figures Report, the number of Americans stricken with the disease was 5.1 million. This year’s report brings us up to 5.2 million, including some 200,000 to 250,000 people under the age 65 who are inexplicably stricken with so-called “early-onset Alzheimer’s.” By 2050, the report estimates that a full 10 million U.S. “baby boomers” will have come down with Alzheimer’s, which translates to 1 out of 8!The strain this will place on the already faltering U.S. federal Medicare program boggles the mind, as most people with Alzheimer’s are eligible for Medicare. More than three times as much money is spent on people with Alzheimer's and other dementias than the average Medicare recipient. Currently, Medicare spends over $148 billion per year on Alzheimer’s patient care. A mere two years from now, that number is expected to reach $160 billion annually. Alzheimer’s is just as much a threat to the future of American adults as the rampant rise in autism is to our children. Clearly something is wrong, but what? Because Alzheimer’s is not a normal part of aging, any more than autism is a “stage” that children commonly go through. What is Alzheimer’s?Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic form of dementia that results in severe memory loss and eventually death. The average lifespan of someone with Alzheimer’s is about eight years, although many can survive up to 20 years with proper care. It’s not entirely clear what causes Alzheimer's disease, but it (as well as autism) are related to thyroid hormone dysfunction, intracellular T3 (immune system cells) deficiency, and diabetes. One type of Alzheimer’s, called frontotemporal dementia, is characterized by cellular damage in the front and side regions of your brain. Researchers still have no idea what causes it—only that excess production of a tiny protein fragment called beta-amyloid starts jamming the signals between your brain synapses, blocking information flow, leading to a cascade of damaging events that end in cell death. Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s DiseaseThe risk factors for AD include genetic, environmental and dietary factors. Certain diseases also heighten your risk. People with diabetes, for example, have up to 65 percent higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. The primary genetic risk factor is the presence of the Apo lipoprotein E epsilon4 (APOE e4) allele, which is more common among Africans, Inuits, Amerindians, Northern Europeans than southern Europeans. Primary dietary risk factors include trans-fatty acids that are found in so many processed foods (labeled as partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils). One prospective study also found that elevated homocysteine levels were associated with an increased risk for Alzheimer’s. Homocysteine levels are elevated when you are deficient in vitamin B6, folate, and vitamin B12. Primary environmental factors include: smoking, obesity, and exposure to fluoride, aluminum and mercury. How to Prevent Alzheimer’s Fortunately, there are ways to reduce your chances of getting Alzheimer’s. These simple lifestyle changes can help keep your brain in optimal working order well past your 60’s. Eat a nutritious diet with plenty of vegetables based on your nutritional type, and pay special attention to avoiding sugar Eat plenty of high-quality omega-3 krill oil or fish oil. Avoid most fish (high in omega-3, but often contaminated with mercury)Avoid and remove mercury from your body. Dental amalgam fillings are one of the major sources of mercury, however you should be healthy prior to having them removed. Once you have adjusted to following the diet described in my Total Health Program, you can follow the mercury detox protocol and then find a biological dentist to have your amalgams removed. Be careful as you could be jumping from the frying pan into the fire like I did if you see a conventional dentist to do the exchange. ONLY see a high quality biologically trained dentist or your health could get ruined.Avoid aluminum, such as in antiperspirants, cookware, etc. Exercise for three to five hours per week. According to one study, the odds of developing Alzheimer's were nearly quadrupled in people who were less active during their leisure time, between the ages of 20 and 60, compared with their peers.Avoid flu vaccinations as they contain both mercury and aluminum!Wild blueberries, which have high anthocyanin and antioxidant content are known to guard against Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases.Challenge your mind daily. Mental stimulation, such as traveling, learning to play an instrument or doing crossword puzzles, is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer's. Researchers suspect that mental challenge helps to build up your brain, making it less susceptible to the lesions associated with Alzheimer's disease.Related Articles: Aluminum and Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease Mercury Contributes To Alzheimer's Disease! Vaccines, Depression and Neurodegeneration After Age 50 « Previous Article Next Article » Did you find this article interesting? Community Comments ( 31 ) Please or to submit your comment. HealthCoachSandraG[ Joined on 03/08 ] [ Posted on March 20, 2008 ]18 Points View HealthCoachSandraG's Profile Receive updates from HealthCoachSandraG by News Feed Apprentice User I wonder what would happen if 10 million Americans stopped consuming Aspartame & MSG (hydrolized vegetable protein)? These are two major ingredients that can pass through the blood-brain barrier and reak havoc on the cells. As cells die the potential for Alzheimers, Parkensons etc exist. Aluminium and mercury (vaccinations) are also huge factors. [ Reply ] bmc[ Joined on 02/07 ] [ Posted on March 20, 2008 ]12 Points View bmc's Profile Receive updates from bmc by News Feed Apprentice User Vaccines, pollution, junk foods, sedentary life style, do you think a combination of these could be the problem..? My mother is in late stages Alzheimer's. She drank diet pepsi non-stop every day. She also ate margarine and every kind of processed food imaginable. Although Alzheimer's runs strong in her family, I have always felt that her diet. brought it on earlier in life than other wise. [ Reply ] proatc[ Joined on 12/06 ] [ Posted on March 20, 2008] 10 Points View proatc's Profile Receive updates from proatc by News Feed Savvy User Have we ever looked at the possibility that are overuse of aluminum from drinking the soft drinks and beer since the 70's could have started this phenomenon? This has always been my gut hunch! Not too many aluminum cans in the 60's. Since they started using them, it is more readily available and consumptions of soda and beer in aluminum cans have skyrocketed out of proportion now its the predominate medium to sell them. Only this decade have we seen a predominant use of plastic which brings out a whole new set of problems, maybe related. Interesting I think. PepperR23[ Joined on 06/06 ] [ Posted on March 20, 2008] 8 Points View PepperR23's Profile Receive updates from PepperR23 by News Feed Savvy User This goes along the lines of proatc's thoughts on aluminum cans. Every year seniors are strongly encouraged to get their yearly flu shot! It is my understanding that aluminum is one of the many toxic ingredients in each and every flu vaccine. Now it is my belief that every single person from the age of 6 months and up is going to be encouraged to receive the flu vaccine. It is just a matter of time before the pharmaceutical companies will push to make these vaccines mandatory! Cases of alzheimer's and autism will skyrock e t! pezland[ Joined on 02/08 ] [ Posted on March 20, 2008] 11 Points View pezland's Profile Receive updates from pezland by News Feed Novice User I agree with bmc, and proatc's comment about aluminum cans got me thinking about how those cans are also coated with BPA inside, and this quote from an article I read... ...when the ability to make estrogen is impaired, as in old age, exposure to BPA could adversely affect hippocampal function and contribute to age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, in which hippocampal function is impaired.The cause of all this disease is so complex, cumulative, and individual based on each person's different toxic load and ability to metabolize all these nasty chemicals we take in, scientists will keep scratching their heads. They will never get the cookie-cutter answer they're looking for. And of course, drug companies will keep raking in the dough frencharomatics[ Joined on 02/08 ] [ Posted on March 20, 2008 ]5 Points View frencharomatics's Profile Receive updates from frencharomatics by News Feed Novice User Independant lab tests in the US, in Europe and New Zealand have found an extremely high level of aluminum particles, as well as barium and other "suspect" substances, in the white mists resulting from high altitude jet sprayings. I am not talking about the natural phenomena of contrails that disappear after a few seconds or minutes. I am talking about these long white double white trails that stay long after the passage of high altitude jets and that spread into some white haze. Often, you can wake up to a perfect blue sky, then the jets start spraying and in the afternoon, the sky is white/greyish or it looks like foggy. These white trails are sprayed regularly all over the US, and also above European countries, New Zealand and Australia. The substances found in these "sprayings" are entering into our lungs all the time. Tens of thousands of people have reported feeling flu-symptoms, enlarged lymph nodes, migraines and irritated eyes after these sprayings, as well as foggy mind, memory impairment, confusion and increase of aggressive behaviors among people around them. My personal studies and observations both in the US and Europe (I live on both continents) leave me with no doubt that these sprayings are very harmful for the immune system and are partly responsible, with toxic food, vaccination and germs phobia, for the enormous increase in auto-immune disorders. [ Reply ] KiwiMatt[ Joined on 07/07 ] [ Posted on March 20, 2008] View KiwiMatt's Profile Receive updates from KiwiMatt by News Feed This user is BELOW novice level and all their comments need to be reviewed with great caution. Load of nonsence. The people telling us it is happening, tell us that the people carrying out the attacks are the ones controlling us. Perfect unprovable conspiracy. Besides, why would they do it? They breath the same air as us, or are they actually aliens and need chemtrail additives to survive/ maintain their camoflage? There is the same level of evidence for aliens as chemtrails http://www.doomsdayguide.org/UFO/ufo_aliens_among_us.htm KiwiMatt[ Joined on 07/07 ] [ Posted on March 20, 2008] 3 Points View KiwiMatt's Profile Receive updates from KiwiMatt by News Feed This user is BELOW novice level and all their comments need to be reviewed with great caution. Summer solstice, it is hard to prove your point, I can't find any maps on density v. disease around airports. Statistics are inherently tricky to understand http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/msstats.html what you accept as proof positive may have an incorrect initial assumption. Neurological diseases are horrible on so many levels, just as well real science is looking for cures and holistic practitioners are looking for causes. PPARGammaGirl[ Joined on 06/06 ] [ Posted on March 20, 2008] 1 Points View PPARGammaGirl's Profile Receive updates from PPARGammaGirl by News Feed Savvy User Actually KiwiMatt – there is evidence for the claim about metal ions and noise in neurological disease put together by the late, but very smart Mark Purdey. Here he provides a table with plenty of scientific references for this hypothesis. KiwiMatt[ Joined on 07/07 ] [ Posted on March 21, 2008] -4 Points View KiwiMatt's Profile Receive updates from KiwiMatt by News Feed This user is BELOW novice level and all their comments need to be reviewed with great caution. PPARGammaGirl, fantstically complex hypothesis, can't see why more researches haven't picked up on it. It would require heaps of funding and many years work to complete any studies. Only problem I see with the hipothesis is that he has missed out half the worlds population and massive geographical areas. India should figure prominently- heaps of munitions bad handling and fault lines. What about the Giant Panda Bear, and Australasia? All my engineer brothers-in-arms should stand no chance of not getting a neuralogical condition, they work very closely with explosives (the nearer the explosion the better it is!) I still think scrapie is the most likely cause, and introduction from North American deer can't be ruled out- but less lik e ly. kellymars281951[ Joined on 01/08 ] [ Posted on April 1, 2008] 3 Points View kellymars281951's Profile Receive updates from kellymars281951 by News Feed Novice User Absolutely, aluminum and barium have been detected in the fallout from these sprayings. You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows and you sure don't need governments to admit they're spraying something from airplanes causing those weird "clouds" and "contrails" that hang in the sky for hours & hours that have to be coming down on top of us or tell us why they're doing it -- not that they'd ever tell us the truth about it -- nor do we need to question whether or not the government cares they're poisoning us because it's going to be a cold day in Hell before they care whether we live or die and truth be known it might be being done to eliminate people in certain areas; more likely though it's an experiment and we're, as usual, the guinea pigs. Collateral damage -- like spraying our soldiers in Vietnam with 100 X concentrated Agent Orange; like that could be healthy for them? "Conspiracy theory" us all you want, KiwiMatt, but the facts do speak for themselves and what viable explanation do you offer that contradicts what I'm saying?