Real progress against dementia is finally coming

By Brett Arends

There are glimmers of hope - from nanotechnology and brain games, to diet and exercise

Not all of the findings require medical intervention.

How likely are you to develop Alzheimer's, or another form of dementia, when you get older? The chances are probably a lot better than you think.

About half-a-million Americans develop dementia every year, and that figure is projected to double to 1 million by 2060.

Researchers earlier this year reported that those over the age of 55 have about a 42% chance of developing dementia before they die, or more than a 2-in-5 probability. That includes more than a third of men and nearly half of women. Women face a higher risk because they typically live longer.

But the good news is that promising new research on how to treat dementia has been coming on multiple fronts lately.

A team of scientists from China, Barcelona and London have just reported that they have been able to use nanotechnology to reverse the symptoms of dementia in mice. Their technology got the brain to clear away as much as 45% of the amyloid-beta protein clumps associated with dementia.

"It's pretty exciting," says Dr. Jagan Pillai at the Cleveland Clinic, a neurologist who is an expert in dementia. He says the research is especially interesting because it offers a new way for scientists to think about removing these damaging proteins.

David Gates, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, says the findings are "highly intriguing" and represent "a pretty clever strategy" for removing amyloid from the brain. But, he adds, the findings are "very preliminary and need replication. I am interested to see where they take it, but it is far from being used clinically on humans."

The researchers themselves, contacted by MarketWatch, confirmed that even if all their research continues to go well, it would be five to seven years before human trials.

But that's a lot better than nothing - which, until recently, was all medicine could offer those with dementia. If one of the world's most famous people, the actor Bruce Willis, can't be helped, what is available for the rest of us?

And the latest development isn't an isolated instance: Promising and hopeful research in dementia has been coming thick and fast of late.

Several studies this year - such as this one from Bristol University in Britain, this one from Galway in Ireland, and this one from Britain's Cambridge University - have found that drugs already on the market, including weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy, can help materially lower your risk of getting dementia.

Another study, based on data from Wales, found that vaccinating people against shingles may lower their risk of getting dementia by 20%.

And a global team of researchers led by those at Washington University in St. Louis have reported promising findings from a specific experimental drug designed to reduce amyloid plaques in the brain.

But just as interesting are the findings that aren't about medical interventions.

For example, researchers at McGill University in Toronto have just published research that regular use of a popular brain-training app on your phone, BrainHQ, can make your brain younger. A 10-week study undid about 10 years' worth of brain aging, they found. Astonishing.

A study published recently in the journal Nature confirmed that various versions of the so-called Mediterranean diet - meaning whole grains, fresh vegetables and fruit, fish, olive oil and so on - lower your risk of getting dementia. (Lots of red meat, processed foods and sugar, meanwhile, raise your risk.)

And a new paper in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry reports that finding purpose in your life seems to cut your risk of getting dementia. (This may not come as a surprise to anyone who has read Viktor Frankl's memoir, "Man's Search for Meaning.")

Scientists are also learning more about the causes of dementia, such as pollution, insomnia and drinking alcohol.

A recent report in the American Journal of Medicine concluded that up to 45% of dementia cases might be prevented through things we can do on our own - including eating right, getting exercise and staying socially involved in our older years.

(Earlier this year, researchers reported that staying sociable could delay dementia by a remarkable five years.)

The social and economic burden of dementia is devastating: The University of Southern California puts the figure at $781 billion this year, though that's just an estimate. They reckon family and friends spend 6.8 billion hours looking after people with dementia, which they value at $233 billion, or $34 an hour.

But those gloomy projections for the future rest on two pessimistic assumptions: First, that individuals and society as a whole won't take the steps needed to slash the risks; and second, that scientists won't find massive breakthroughs in treatment.

Will those assumptions prove correct? Stay tuned.

-Brett Arends

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