If we live long enough, will everyone eventually develop Alzheimer's?

November 26, 1901, Frankfurt, Germany. A young clinician received a female patient named Auguste D. and they started an "interesting" conversation.

"What is your name?"

"August"

"What's your last name?"

"August"

"What is your husband's name?"

"Let me think about it, August."

"Your husband?"

"Ah, my husband"

“…”

Seeing this conversation, many people may wonder if August D did it on purpose. In fact, it was not. The reason why August D did this was because she was an Alzheimer's patient. Her thinking was incoherent and she could not give a correct response to the doctor's words. The person who was talking to August D at that time was Dr. Alros Alzheimer, the discoverer of Alzheimer's disease, who we later knew.

In Jay Ingram's book "The End of Memory: A Natural History of Alzheimer's Disease" (hereinafter referred to as "The End of Memory"), the author tells the story behind this conversation. At the same time, "Alzheimer's disease" has appeared in the lives of the public since then.

01

The first story of Alzheimer's

Now when it comes to Alzheimer's disease, we all know that it is a disease, a disease that cannot be cured at present, and there is no specific cause for it. It deprives victims of their memory and ability to think clearly, and eventually takes their lives . Therefore, it has also been called the " plague of the 21st century " and has attracted great attention around the world.

However, when it was first discovered and named more than 100 years ago, it did not attract much attention. It was not until the mid-1970s, when Alzheimer's disease was officially recognized as a disease, that it gradually attracted attention.

In the past, people believed that memory loss and confusion were just signs of aging, not diseases, so when it came to aging, they rarely associated it with symptoms such as dementia.

For people in the past, especially in Western countries, God, sin and salvation have always occupied an important position in their concepts. In other words, they prefer to believe in the so-called "karma cycle". If a person has good virtues when he is young, he will definitely live a happy and joyful life in his later years; but if a person suffers from dementia or dies early in his old age, it must be because he did too many evil things when he was young, so he will be punished.

But more than 100 years later, as people's longevity genes become stronger, thinking about aging is gradually increasing, and various doubts about Alzheimer's disease are gradually emerging.

For example, many people have raised questions: If we live long enough, will everyone eventually develop Alzheimer's disease? If so, is it the same for men and women?

02

Does everyone get sick? What is the ratio of men to women?

Regarding the questions raised above, perhaps no one can give a definite answer at present. After all, this is a question that scientific research experts are still exploring so far, and it is also a topic that has been controversial for a long time.

In Chapter 15 of the book "The End of Memory", the author talks about a chapter on "Women and Alzheimer's Disease Special Report" in "Alzheimer's Disease 2014: Facts and Figures" published by the Alzheimer's Association. The report clearly states that " We have no evidence that women are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than men at any age. "

However, in the same report, there are still some research reports showing that women do have a higher risk of disease. "Researchers have observed more women than men with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias. The fundamental reason is that women have a longer average life expectancy than men , and advanced age is the most significant risk factor for Alzheimer's disease."

The book mentions that in addition to this, there is a widely popular belief that women are more susceptible to the famous APOE4 gene, and that carrying a copy of the APOE4 gene brings more risks to women than to men.

Although these studies attempt to prove that there are gender differences in Alzheimer's disease, the brains of men and women are chemically and physiologically different , so it would not be surprising if some of these differences caused one sex to be more susceptible to the disease than the other.

By reading the contents of the book, some women may easily fall into a misunderstanding or even be influenced by it, thinking that their disease rate is really higher than that of men.

Please note that this is just a "hypothesis".

0 3

How to reduce the probability of getting sick?

Even if we eventually find out through facts that there is indeed a difference in the rate of Alzheimer's disease between men and women , or that the longer people live, the higher the incidence rate ... this should not be a reason for us to start treating life negatively at this moment.

Although current medical treatment cannot reverse Alzheimer's disease, we still need to maintain an optimistic attitude towards this disease, which is known as the "blind spot of modern medicine." Don't forget that effective prevention may also reduce the probability of developing Alzheimer's disease.

Jay Ingram shared some factors that can reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease in "The End of Memory": for example, education, intellectually challenging work, responsibility, low weight and adequate exercise ; others, such as staying socially active and getting enough sleep, and having good genes can also help. In addition, eating more green leafy vegetables and less sugar are also effective in reducing the probability of Alzheimer's disease. Of course, all behaviors that stand in opposition to these factors are increasing the probability of developing Alzheimer's disease.

But no matter what, we must first make clear one fact: Alzheimer's disease is not a normal phenomenon in the aging process, it is a disease; and based on the current situation, it is "incurable" and difficult to cure.

However, this does not mean that it will be the same in the future. In the corners that we cannot see, there are countless scientists, managers, Alzheimer's patients and their families who are constantly working hard to push the research of Alzheimer's disease forward, hoping to defeat it as soon as possible. Therefore, it is only a matter of time before Alzheimer's disease is successfully conquered.

04

“When the nest is overturned, no egg is left unbroken”

Although Canadian science writer Jay Ingram's book "The End of Memory" does not give us a clear answer, telling us when Alzheimer's disease can be cured and the specific methods of treatment, it leads us into a new field - understanding the entire development process of Alzheimer's disease . At the same time, it also makes more people realize that no egg is left unbroken when the nest is overturned.

Alzheimer's disease is not far away from us, and unfortunately it may happen to ourselves or our family at any time.

As ordinary people, perhaps we cannot make greater contributions to promoting the research of Alzheimer's disease, but we can read more professional and rigorous medical popular science books, learn more about the related causes of Alzheimer's disease, learn more prevention knowledge, and keep ourselves and our families away from Alzheimer's disease!

——Interaction issues——

What do you know about Alzheimer's disease? Comments are welcome~