100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer's and Age-Related Memory Loss

August 16, 2010
If trying something new can delay or offset the effects of Alzheimer's, as former CNN medical correspondent and syndicated "EatSmart" columnist Carper (The Food Pharmacy) contends, then readers would do well to try many of the ideas she offers in this empowering compendium. Genetically disposed to Alzheimer's, Carper, now in her 70s, has compressed the latest research on this and other types of dementia into short sections, each with a bottom-line action plan. While some are basic to all-around good health (e.g., taking a multivitamin, not smoking, limiting alcohol), others might surprise: consuming apple juice and vinegar, meditating, and surfing the Internet. Although Carper admits she has not tried all of them, she recommends that readers experiment with those best suited to their situations. Even a few nutritional (a Mediterranean diet) and lifestyle (exercise, stress relief, sleep) changes, she states, can gain as much as a decade disease-free, and by supplementing with anti-Alzheimer's powerhouses like niacin, choline, folic acid, and alpha lipoic acid, readers can push mental decline even further into the future. Whether in their 20s or well into retirement, readers will likely feel motivated to do the impossible: beat the approaching epidemic of a disease commonly viewed as hopeless.