How to Reduce Your Risk of Alzheimer’s Without Taking Drugs

Scientists now know a lot about Alzheimer’s disease, and preventive therapies probably aren’t far off. But even when they become available, such therapies will almost certainly be very expensive. The only products currently being tested in large-scale Alzheimer’s prevention trials are antibodies against the Alzheimer’s-associated amyloid beta (Aβ) protein. Antibodies are large and delicate proteins that must be produced in cells and delivered to patients by needle in a clinic or doctor’s office. Therapies based on solutions of antibodies are increasingly common in medicine, and include the blockbusters Humira for arthritis and Herceptin for cancer, but they typically cost thousands of dollars for a single infusion. Giving such a product on a continuing basis to all the over-60s in America, to help keep them from getting Alzheimer’s, would cost trillions of dollars each year. Someday, elderly people may be able to take much cheaper Alzheimer’s preventives, in the form of statin-like one-a-day pills, or even a several-jab vaccination against Aβ. But that day still seems far off. Fortunately, most of us can start lowering our Alzheimer’s risk right now, without expensive patented drugs. A study published last July in Lancet Neurology examined prior Alzheimer’s risk-factor research around the world, and estimated that about one-third of the Alzheimer’s cases in Western countries are attributable to just seven lifestyle-related “modifiable risk factors.” That suggests that, while most cases may be unavoidable, a great many may be preventable via simple changes in diet and other habits—changes that tend to benefit health generally. In principle, the earlier in life a person starts making these changes to minimize Alzheimer’s risk factors, the better the preventive effect will be.