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Kaylie Green
Mr. Adam Padgett
English 101
April 5, 2016
The Solution to Alzheimers

Alzheimers; otherwise known as the disease that attacks the human brain. It starts off by
simply forgetting where you placed an object or not remembering the name of an acquaintance,
but then it has the potential to grow into something much worse. Maybe this could just be a side
affect of getting older, or could it be the early stages of Alzheimers disease? Since 1907,
Alzheimers has been affecting millions of people every single day (Christensen). Unfortunately,
the number of humans with the disease is only supposed to grow as the worlds population
increases. Since there has yet to be a cause or a cure discovered for the disease, scientists are
constantly studying and running tests to collect any results that are found regarding this form of
dementia. This raises the question of, Is there a way to prevent Alzheimers disease? The
answer may vary depending on a persons opinion; however, there is scientific proof that
answers yes to the question. Due to the increasing death rates from Alzheimers disease, this
leads to the founding of successful prevention methods, such as diet and lifestyle change, to slow
down the diseases growth.
To understand how to prevent Alzheimers, one must know what exactly the disease is to
begin with. In 1907, Dr. Alois Alzheimer, a German psychiatrist, began to deeply evaluate the
brains of ones who had died from severe forms of dementia. From this, he discovered an
unbalanced amount of protein deposits that surrounded the brains nerve cells. Otherwise known
as plagues and tangles in the human brain, this soon became the symbol of Alzheimers
(Christensen). One of the biggest side affects of the disease and most likely the first one to come
to ones mind is memory loss. This can vary anywhere from forgetting where you set down your

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cell phone to not remembering the name of a close family member or even forgetting who they
are in general. In addition to this, ones behavior and personality can be altered as their
functional status starts to decline (Benjamin). Alzheimers is a seriously fatal disease that, in
more simple terms, eats away the human brain. Not only does this disease affect the mental side
of a patient, but also the physical and financial aspects of that individual and their family. A large
sum of this money comes from families who keep their loved ones in facilities that help patients
with Alzheimers, personally and scientifically. Tests and experiments are constantly being
performed on the living and the passed. In Regina M. Benjamins article, A Plan to Address
Alzheimers, she writes optimistically stating that President Barack Obama approved the increase
of research and support of proposing a plan on how to approach the disease back in 2011.
Although Benjamin herself is not a firm believer that there are 100% successful ways to prevent
Alzheimers yet, she serves as a member on the Advisory Council on Alzheimers Research,
Care, and Services. Benjamin mentions in her article the council is working and planning to find
an effective treatment to Alzheimers by 2025, one that can hopefully put to the brain-eating
disease (Benjamin).
The cause of this disease has still yet to be discovered; although, scientists have been able
to find symptoms and side affects that are commonly seen throughout Alzheimers patients. The
article, The Earlier the Better: Alzheimers Prevention, Early Detection, and the Quest for
Pharmacological Interventions, written by Annette Leibing, provides an immense amount of
basic information regarding the disease and possible ways to prevent it. Leibing provides a
comparison in her article, relating the main risk factors of Alzheimers disease in 1993 to the
main risk factors in 2013. Both lists include family history, age, education, head trauma, etc. and
are almost identical, except for the new additions of social isolation and heart-head

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connections to the 2013 risk factor list (Leibing). The heart-head connections has always been
a noted factor in developing Alzheimers; however, scientists found in 1993 that the specific
APOE gene is what causes this. Not only is this gene involved in different forms of dementia,
but also cardiovascular disease as well (Leibing). APOE is the gene that transports fat within the
human body and now is known as one of the biggest gene mutations for Alzheimers disease.
This goes to show that new information is always being collected and used to further knowledge
ourselves about the disease.
In relation to Leibings article, Advances in the Prevention of Alzheimers Disease and
Dementia, written by several different authors at the Journal of Internal Medicine, there are
different levels of prevention that go about when researching the disease. The article directly
states, The overall goal of primary prevention levels is to reduce the incidence of disease, by
intervening before disease onset through promoting the initiation and maintenance of good health
or eliminating potential causes of disease (Solomon). Amongst the correct definition of
prevention in this specific articles case, there is also the evidence or results to be considered.
This leads to another question among the scientists who research Alzheimers and prevention
methods. That question is, What does the research need to have to be credited as sufficient
evidence (Solomon). This goes to show that even though everyone is working under one main
goal of this purpose, there can still be controversy and disagreement within it.

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Works Cited
Christensen, Damaris. "Attacking Alzheimer's." JSTOR. Science News, 3 Nov. 2001. Web. 5
Apr. 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4012834?
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%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dalzheimer%2527s%26amp%3Bprq%3Dabout
%2Balzheimer%2527s%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp
%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bhp%3D25%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bso
%3Drel&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Benjamin, Regina M. "A Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease." JSTOR. Public Health Reports,
Mar. 2013. Web. 5 Apr. 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23646538?
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%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DAlzheimer%2527s%26amp%3Bprq%3Dpreventing
%2BAlzheimer%2527s%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp
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%3Don&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Leinbing, Annette. "The Earlier the Better: Alzheimer's Prevention, Early Detection, and the
Quest for Pharmacological Interventions." EBSCOhost. University of South Carolina
Library, 26 Mar. 2014. Web. 5 Apr. 2016.
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=0316bb198411-405a-a97b-8788a5729cc4%40sessionmgr4004&vid=4&hid=4205

Solomon, A., F. Mangialasche, E. Richard, S. Andrieu, D. A. Bennett, M. Breteler, L. Fratiglioni,

B. Hooshmand, A. S. Khachaturian, L. S. Schneider, I. Skoog, and M. Kivipelto.

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"Advances in the Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia." EBSCOhost.
University of South Carolina Library, Mar. 2014. Web. 5 Apr. 2016.
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=0316bb198411-405a-a97b-8788a5729cc4%40sessionmgr4004&vid=7&hid=4205