The National Institutes of Health reports that an independent panel convened to determine the value of strategies to prevent or slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease has not found any evidence of their success.
“To tell the truth, there is just no known way to prevent Alzheimer’s, despite many claims that you can take steps to reduce the risk of disease,” says Dr. Whelan.
Dr. Ross agrees: “Smoking and cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes and hyperlipidemia have been found to be linked to increase risk, but that doesn’t mean that preventing or treating those risk factors will reduce the risk. The only established risk factor that we know about is advancing age, which is, unfortunately, not modifiable. In addition, none of the numerous treatments approved to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s has been shown to have any more than what I euphemistically call ‘incremental impact’ on the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease.”
