Prevention Of Alzheimer’s Disease

Eric Reiman, MD, is the executive director of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix, a nonprofit organization supported by donations from the community.

Question: What can you do to prevent Alzheimer’s disease?

Answer: At this time, there is no proven way to reduce a person’s risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Still, a number of risk-reducing strategies have been suggested, including lifestyle interventions with other health-promoting effects.

• While the list of suggested but unproven risk-reducing treatments is long, here are a few recommendations:
• Exercise your body, exercise your mind and remain socially active.
• Stop smoking, lose those extra pounds and treat your diabetes.
• Lower your cholesterol, lower your blood pressure and recognize the growing evidence suggesting a relationship between a healthy heart and healthy brain.

What else can you do? Sign up for the Alzheimer’s Prevention Registry to learn about the latest advances in Alzheimer’s prevention research, and find out what you can do to help researchers find effective prevention therapies. Learn about what we are doing in the Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative (API) in the effort to hasten the evaluation of promising prevention therapies and find one that works as soon as possible.