PA, The Independent,
Monday, 22 December 2008

Every GP will be trained to spot the first signs of dementia under plans to provide sufferers with a better quality of life, the Government said today.

“Memory clinics” will also be set up in every town as places where patients can get treatment and support to live their lives as normally as possible, Care Services Minister Phil Hope said.

A total of 700,000 people in the UK have a form of dementia.

By: PA, The Independent

A key vitamin found in meat, fish and milk may help protect the brain as it ages, researchers said.

Vitamin B12 could help stop the brain shrinking – possibly preventing memory loss in older people and dementia.

A study of 107 people aged 61 to 87 found that those with lower vitamin B12 levels in their blood were six times more likely to experience brain shrinkage compared with those who had higher levels of the vitamin.

Seven ways to a healthy brain

People are living longer so Alzheimer’s disease is becoming more common. But there are things you can do to reduce the risk of dementia;

By: Amy Fenton, The Independent
Tuesday, 27 May 2008.

It is estimated that, by 2025, more than a million people in Britain will suffer from Alzheimer’s. Its symptoms include memory loss, confusion and language breakdown, and it is incurable.

Train your brain
When it comes to retaining brain agility, the “use it or lose it” principle holds true. Games such as Brain Age on Nintendo DS can help us to increase brain flexibility and activity

Keep fit
There is good evidence that keeping fit can help to keep your brain in shape. A Swedish study showed that regular exercise can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s by 50 per cent.

Relieve the pain
According to a study by the University of Washington, cholesterol-lowering drugs may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s by almost 80 per cent.

Work at your social life
Having plenty of friends is another factor.

Work by the Alzheimer’s Society has shown that the chances of inheriting the disease from a parent or relative could be moderately low.
“We know that there are a small number of families where there is a very clear inheritance of dementia from one generation to the next,” Sorensen says.

By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, The Independent
Friday, 30 May 2008

The Mediterranean diet, with abundant quantities of virgin olive oil, provides strong protection against diabetes, a study has shown.

The diet, which includes high quantities of fruit, vegetables and wholegrain pulses and cereals is already known to protect against cardiovascular disease and, according to some research, against Alzheimer’s.

Now scientists in Spain have found that it also offers a defence against the epidemic of diabetes associated with growing rates of obesity and the consumption of high-fat fast foods.

Those who followed the diet most rigorously had more risk factors for diabetes, such as being older, having a family history of the illness and a history of smoking. Yet they were less likely to develop the disease.

This suggests the protective effect of the diet might be “substantial“, the authors report in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal. Professor Martinez-Gonzalez said: “Substantial protection against diabetes can be obtained with the traditional Mediterranean diet, rich in olive oil, vegetables, fruit, nuts, cereals, legumes and fish, but relatively low in meat and dairy products.”

A key element is …..

Taylor Smith, from Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, has been diagnosed with Niemann-Pick Type C, also known as Children’s Alzheimer’s.
Stephanie O’Hara, 22, Taylor’s mother, described the disease as like “living with a timebomb”.
She said:………….

BMJ 2008;336:130-133 (19 January), by S Gates et al.
Evidence that multifactorial fall prevention programmes in primary care, community, or emergency care settings are effective in reducing the number of fallers or fall related injuries is limited. Data were insufficient to assess fall and injury rates.

News by Zosia Kmietowicz – BMJ, 25 January 2008
Services for people with dementia should be accorded the same priority as services for cancer and coronary heart disease, the public health spending watchdog for England has said.

Jing Xie and colleagues – 10 January 2008 BMJ

In a large population based sample from England and Wales, survival after the estimated onset of dementia was 4.6 years for women and 4.1 years for men.

In caring for people with dementia, the focus should be on what can be done rather than on the lack of a cure, say Murna Downs and Barbara Bowers in an accompanying editorial.

BMJ 2005;330 (11 June):

Obesity in middle adulthood increases the risk of dementia later in life, independently if you have other medical problems.

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Janice Hopkins Tanne; BMJ  2007;335:226 (4 August).

Patients with severe Alzheimer’s disease who are living at home with family care givers and are treated with donepezil stabilise or decline more slowly than patients given placebo, according to a multinational, randomised, placebo controlled trial published in Neurology (2007;69:459-69).

North American researchers were suspicious of the decision by the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) not to fund donepezil for patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease.

They said donepezil might SLOW decline in these patients.