Tag Archives: Alzheimer’s

Unless more is done to tackle dementia, one in three people born in the UK today will develop the disease in their lifetime, warns a recent report from Alzheimer’s Research UK. It suggests 27 per cent of men and 37 per cent of women born in 2015 will develop the condition.

Dementia affects 850,000 people in the UK and is caused by brain diseases, most commonly Alzheimer’s, which result in the loss of brain cells and impair the brain’s ability to function properly.

Since age is the biggest risk factor for dementia – the condition is most common among those aged 65 and older – rising dementia rates have been attributed to increases in life expectancy.

Previous research by Alzheimer’s Research UK suggests the number of dementia cases could be reduced by a third if onset of the condition could be delayed by five years. But experts claim lack of funding for dementia research is one of the greatest barriers to prevention and treatment for the condition.

There used to be a regular stream of stories in the media about a cure for cancer being just around the corner. After several decades cancer is much better understood but there is still no ‘magic bullet’.

Alzheimer’s disease is the ‘new cancer’ with millions of pounds being spent looking at the cause of the disease. There was a frisson of excitement in the media in April when a study in the US found that in mice, in the early stages of the disease, some immune cells that normally protect the brain undergo changes and begin to chew up arginine, an important amino acid.

The researchers found they could stop the immune cells destroying arginine with a drug called difluoromethylornithine (DFMO). When they tested it on the mice, it prevented the brain plaques and memory loss that are characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.

This is interesting but only serves to highlight that scientists haven’t been able come up with a cure or treatment for Alzheimer’s disease because they still don’t know exactly what causes it. They can see what happens to patients and predict what will happen but don’t know how or why – yet.