By Lyonel Doherty

Oliver Chronicle

Out of all the measures you can take to reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease, feeding the mind appears to top them all.

That was the message science writer and broadcaster Jay Ingram left his audience with Wednesday night at the close of his talk at Frank Venables Theatre.

Ingram was guest speaker on the topic as part of an Embrace Aging Month seminar hosted by Interior Savings, Interior Health and UBC Okanagan’s Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention.

According to the Alzheimer Society of BC, an estimated 70,000 people in the province live with dementia, and more than 564,000 Canadians live with the disease. Numbers are expected to reach nearly one million in the next 15 years.

Ingram, an author of 15 books and Order of Canada recipient, began his talk with a history lesson on Dr. Alois Alzheimer and his 51-year old patient named Auguste Deter who died in 1906. Deter fascinated the doctor because of her strange behaviour, including short-term memory loss. After her death, Alzheimer studied the woman’s brain and found “plaques” and “tangles,” which were brain anomalies later identified as the culprits responsible for the disease.

Ingram said Alzheimer’s findings aroused no interest, and dementia was ultimately considered a product of aging, not a disease. But that was later debunked.

Ingram also told the story of the amazingly talented actress Rita Hayworth who lived in a housing project where her neighbours said she was drunk all the time and wanted her evicted. But intoxication wasn’t the problem; it was Alzheimer’s disease, Ingram pointed out.

Will I get it?

Ingram said his mother had the disease, showing symptoms at age 85. He then explained that family genetics plays a role in early onset Alzheimer’s, noting if a child’s parent has it, that child has a 50-50 chance of inheriting the bad genes.

“Much of the anxiety people have at being at risk because of genes is misplaced,” he stated.

However, there are many factors that contribute to the disease. For example, less education is one.

“If you stay in school, the risk diminishes,” Ingram said, adding the mind is forced to learn new things, building new neurons that stave off the disease.

Another factor is physical exercise, which also lowers your risk, he pointed out. Walking 40 minutes a day certainly helps, he suggested.

Ingram also said hearing loss raises the risk of Alzheimer’s disease because it creates social isolation – the more you tune out, the less mental experience you have.

High blood pressure, obesity, smoking and depression are other factors, too, he said.

Ingram cited one of the most exciting pieces of research is a study that claims watching television raises your risk of Alzheimer’s. Laughter erupted when he informed the audience that he hosted a TV show for 16 years.

If I get it, what then?

“To be honest, there’s very little you can do,” he stated emphatically.

Ingram said it has been a very disappointing decade for new drugs to treat the disease. “Most drugs in the last 10 years haven’t worked. Some reduce the amount of plaques but the dementia continues.”

Ingram said if a drug is developed to fight plaques, but is not given to the patient until the early stages of Alzheimer’s, it’s too late – the train has already left the station.

He said the strategy is figuring out when to give the drug after detecting the presence of plaques; in this case, giving the patient the drug before he or she shows any symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

During question period, one lady said she suffered a stroke 10 years ago and wanted to know if she is now at higher risk of getting the disease.

Ingram said he’s not aware of any association between stroke and Alzheimer’s.

But he did say brain injury does increase the risk a little.

“I would say I don’t think it’s anything to lose sleep over.”

Speaking of sleep, though – poor sleep or lack of it raises your risk of getting Alzheimer’s, he added.

“If any of you are not sleeping well, it might be worth improving that.”

What about diet? another person asked.

Ingram said his general recommendation is akin to the Mediterranean diet – lots of fruit and vegetables, plus fish.

One member of the audience asked if cannabis would be helpful in dealing with Alzheimer’s.

Ingram said marijuana might be helpful, but until you can properly test a group of people that heavily use cannabis, the jury is out.

But studies have offered evidence that cannabinoids might protect against symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, Salk Institute scientists say they found preliminary evidence that cannabinoids remove plaques-forming Alzheimer proteins from brain cells.

Ingram said being conscientious reduces your risk of getting Alzheimer’s, and that being cynical increases your risk. He admitted he was initially cynical about the first claim [more laughter from the audience].

Another person asked if vitamin supplements reduce the risks. Ingram said vitamins are “generally useless,” so the chances of them decreasing your risk of Alzheimer’s is less than that.

Although there is no cure for the disease, Ingram said there will likely be a day – probably in 25 years – when an effective treatment will be available.

“I stopped worrying about it,” he said.

His final word of advice to audience members was to keep themselves cognitively occupied and challenged.