Generation Alzheimer's: The Defining Disease of the Baby Boomers

Yesterday I met a friend and his wife and she has just been diagnosed with Alzheimers. I was so impressed how they were both dealing with it and with listening to their plans to get the most out of life while she was still capable of doing so. I was especially interested therefore to get details of a new US report on this issue which is of course increasingly prevalent as we age and live much longer. Have a look.

So why am I taking Ginkgo biloba?

Elderly people who took Ginkgo biloba every day for six years had as many difficulties with recall as those who took a fake supplement, the largest study of its kind has shown.

At least 100,000 people in Britain are thought to regularly take the supplement, which has been widely credited with improving memory and concentration.

Made from the leaves of the Ginkgo tree, the Chinese herbal remedy has been used as a traditional medicine for centuries.

It is thought to contain chemicals which help the flow of blood around the body, which advocates believe will help protect the brain against decline.

But the researchers who carried out the latest study warned that the supplement appeared to have no effect on warding off age-related memory problems.

Beth Snitz, from the University of Pittsburgh, who led the study, said: “Ginkgo biloba is marketed widely and used with the hope of improving, preventing, or delaying cognitive impairment associated with ageing and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

“We (found) no evidence that Ginkgo biloba slows the rate of cognitive decline in older adults.”

For the study the team followed 3,069 volunteers, all of whom were aged between 72 and 96 years old and were given either a dose of the herbal supplement or a placebo twice a day for more than six years.

The findings are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Earlier studies have suggested that Ginkgo biloba could have other health benefits apart from memory, including reducing damage to the brain during a stroke.

Does work drive you demented or is it the opposite?

British scientists have found a significant link between later retirement age and later onset of dementia in men. The research is published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

This result came from an analysis of 382 men with probable Alzheimer's by scientists from the Institute of Psychiatry and Cardiff University. Information based on education and employment was used to determine the effects of early life education, mid life employment and later life retirement on the age of onset of dementia.

Sounds like yet another good reason to keep working in some capacity or another!

Two glasses of milk a day could help protect against Alzheimer's

Unlike so many of these imperatives to enable us to grow older, live longer and live younger the growing body of research on preventing Alzheimer's gets more and more attractive. I have now come across one study that says that eating chocolate every day is a preventative, another which states that at least one cup of caffeinated coffee a day is a must and another recommending red wine. The latest research, from Oxford University has discovered that milk is one of the best sources of vitamin B12, which is thought to reduce neurological damage to the brain.

The research, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found elderly patients with low levels of B12 suffer twice as much shrinkage of the brain as those with higher levels of the substance in their bodies.

They are now conducting a clinical trial that aims to show it may be possible to treat memory problems in the elderly with vitamin supplements.

Professor David Smith, from the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing, said: "There are 550 people who come down with dementia, mainly Alzheimer's every day in the UK - it is a major epidemic."

He added: "Our study shows that consuming around half a litre of milk or more per day, and it can be skimmed milk, could take someone who has marginal levels of B12 into the safe range. But even drinking just two glasses a day can protect against having low levels."

So I am off to have a coffee with some chocolates and choosing my red wine for tonights meal and delighted to realise that the skimmed milk I have with my cereal every morning will also help me to remember why I have got up that day!

Blueberries 'reverse memory loss'

Eating blueberries can reverse memory loss and may have implications in the treatment of diseases like Alzheimer's, University of Reading scientists claim.

Scientists found adding foods like blueberries to a regular diet, resulted in improvements in memory.The foods, known as flavonoids, were historically believed to act as antioxidants in human bodies.But the study indicates they also activate the part of the brain which controls learning and memory.

Dr Jeremy Spencer, from the department of food biosciences at the university, said: "Scientists have known of the potential health benefits of diets rich in fresh fruits for a long time.

"Our research provides scientific evidence to show that blueberries are good for you and supports the idea that a diet-based approach could potentially be used to increase memory capacity.

"We will be taking these findings to the next level by investigating the effects of diets rich in flavonoids on individuals suffering from cognitive impairment and possibly Alzheimer's disease."

The research has been published in the Free Radical Biology and Medicine journal. And the cost of blueberries in the winter credit crunch - but maybe its worth it!